I posted previously about my experiences upgrading CRM 3.0 SBE (the Small Business Server edition) to CRM 4.0 Professional. One major area I wanted to address also was the upgrade of the Outlook client. We've dealt with a lot of upgrades of the laptop, or offline, client, and run into some issues.

Basically, you want to uninstall the 3.0 client and then do a clean install of the 4.0 client. Of course, you need to be logged in as the user who will be using Outlook/CRM, and have local admin rights.

The problem is that the uninstall of the 3.0 client is not very clean, especially with the laptop client, because it leaves behind the SQL Express databases, and there's no easy way to see them. Simply deleting the files after the uninstall is not enough. You actually have to delete the databases from SQL using Management Studio. Since most people don't have management studio installed on their machines, and due to networking differences, many computers w ... Read More »

Microsoft has released the much-anticipated CRM Online (formerly called CRM Live), the Microsoft-hosted, SaaS version of Dynamics CRM 4.0. To sign up, go to the website or contact your Dynamics partner.

I recently performed my first upgrade of CRM 3.0 SBE (on Small Business Server 2003 R2) to CRM 4.0 Professional. Here are some important considerations if you are planning for your own upgrade.

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CRM 4.0 now offers the ability to turn off the tracking token and still track most email messages.

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Just got word today that I've been re-awarded the Microsoft MVP award for CRM for 2008. Thanks to Microsoft, Customer Connect, and the CRM community!

Microsoft has announced a name change to their hosted CRM service. The service, now known as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is still targeted for a Q2 release.

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Microsoft has released Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft CRM 3.0. There are server and client install files that include all the hotfixes and updates that have been released for version 3.0 to date. To download it click here.