The latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 is now available online and on premises (SP1). Below is a summary of some of the primary features included. Please be aware that some of the functionality provided in this latest release is available in previous versions (case routing via workflow for example). With this release we are able to achieve the same business functionality in a way that is much easier to configure further driving down the cost of your CRM implementation and increases the flexibility for non technical users.

CRM online updates will be auto applied but you still need to enable the features. On premises users will need to install SP1. You can check what version you are running by going to the about page in the browser (look for 6.1 to confirm that you have been upgraded).

To enable the new features:

Goto Settings > Administration >  Install Product Updates

On this page you will find links to additional resources (whats new) on the Customer centre such as : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/what-s-new.aspx

In this article I am going to focus on the main application features. Other enhancements that I will go into more detail another time include:

• SharePoint
• Microsoft Office Outlook
• CRM for Tablets
• Unified Service Desk
• SDK
• CRM Online

I’ll post details of the enhancements in the above list next time.

So right now I am going to focus on the following Feature Enhancements:

• Case & Service Management
• Queue Enhancements and routing
• Automatic Case Creation
• Social Profiles & Activities
• Status Reason Transitions
• Solutions
• Other small changes

One of the main areas added is the service  management area:

Case and Service Management

Main changes include a new entity called “social profiles” and modification to entities to Account, Contact, Case, Queues & User.

Your custom forms will not be effected. We only modify the forms with the same name of the entity, For example on the Case entity the “Case” form will be modified. Changes include:

• Link to Entitlement
• Associated Entitlements
• Applicable SLA’s
• Case Relationships (merged and child cases)
• Additional detailed (escalated, sla’s etc
• Social Details
• Article sand Contract Information
• New commands include apply routing rule, create child case etc
• Quick Create for Case

On the Account and Contact form changes include:

• Active entitlements on the form
• Social Profiles relationship
• Entitlements relationship

On the User entity changes include:

• Queues I am a member of subgrid

Case Hierarchy (Parent / Child Cases)

You can now natively create parent / child cases and the behaviour of what happens can be configured (configurable cascading, close rules and inheritance options).

Associate and Merge Cases

You can now bulk associate cases and you can also merge cases (similar to the way we would merge account and contact).

Entitlements

Entitlement is a new and allows you to specify the type of service a customer receives.

As you can see above you can specify and restrict a service based on Primary customer, SLA, Terms, Type, Channels, Products and Contacts. You can create entitlement based on a template.

Service Level Agreements (SLA)

The SLA determines the service levels and actions that you want to apply, such as what happens when response times and resolution times are  not met.

Timer Control

It is now possible to place a timer control on forms to make take resolution times and SLA conditions more visible to end users.

Queues and Routing Rules

Private queues are now available to reduce the complexity and number of queues in the system. Users can create queues that are only visible to certain people (members). A number of other usability enhancements have been included such as additional fields and information on views and filters on lookups and commands to enable end users to more easily work with queues.

Routing Rules

Allows users to set up conditions in order to automatically route cases depending on the met criteria (e.g. high priority cases).

Automatic Case Creation

Enables users to automatically create cases from emails (or social channels). It is simple as enabling the queue and choosing a few case creation rules.

Social Profiles

Allows you associate profiles, channels and posts to records in CRM via the API. Look into the SDK for more information.

Status Reason Transitions

Enables users to more easily manage and configures the status’s of a record(s) status. For example you can use this to determine what status values might be available to a particular user at any moment. For example when a record is in the in-progress state you might only want certain options to be available (e.g. closed or on hold)

Solution and Software Lifecycle Management – Target a CRM Version

This feature enables you export a solution to target a specific version of Microsoft CRM.

Other Enhancements

• We have expanded the command bar options from 5 to 7
• Ability to group conditions in workflow (AND/OR)
• Duplicate detection is back available on the entity forms/in-line and includes autosave
• Lync Presence available on lookup fields and activity feeds

This post was originally published on https://markmargolis.wordpress.com. This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.