What and Why Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 ?

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is a fully integrated Customer Relationship Management(CRM) System which gives capability to easily create and maintain a clear view of customers from first contact through purchase and post-sales. MS Dynamics CRM 4.0 is an affordable tehnology solution that helps automate and streamline organization's CRM Strategy. It provides members across the organization with access to up-to-date information and to respond quickly. Working on .Net framework application, MS Dynamics CRM is built on highly flexible platform and is designed to adapt business to scale along with growth. MS Dynamics CRM targets rapid Return On Investment (ROI) and offer an attractive Total Cost of Ownersip (TCO).

Top 10 Reasons why MS Dynamics CRM 4.0

This is for beginners in MS CRM 4.0 wanting to understand the Security Architecture in MS CRM 4.0. Download the whitepaper from:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fb4bb16b-586f-4aae-aa4b-790023e95b61

Nearly every successful company to date has been built by the management team and employees inside of it. Staying current and choosing the right tools for employees can be a daunting task, especially with the numberof options available today. So how can companies keep their employees properly equipped with technology that will both boost their productivity and amplify their efforts in the workplace? Top organizationsaround the world are turning to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2011 to create world-class customer experiences. If you or your management team is evaluating investing in a CRM Solution, there’s not just one reason to choose CRM Online 2011, there are10!

1. Value – Costs are known to add up quickly when deploying new solutions. Licensing, services, training, deployment, administration, and maintenance can quickly cut deep into a project’s budget. With CRM Online 2011, not only do customers get competitive pricing, Microsoft also provides several CRM Accelerators that are available to customers at no extra charge, extending the functionality and value.

2. Productivity – CRM Online 2011 helps increase employee productivity and creates a connected workplace that is equipped to handle all of the daily challenges that a company is sure to meet. The result is a rock solid and industry proven experience that elevatesa business above the competitors.

3. Innovation – Microsoft has been consistently recognized for leading the technology industry in CRM Solutions including in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation and The Forrester Wave in all 3 categoriesCRM Suites for Small Organizations, CRM Suites for Medium Organizations, CRM Suites for Large Organizations).

4. The Cloud – Microsoft has shown a lasting commitment to the Cloud by continuing to invest over $2 billion dollars in Cloud infrastructure every year. CRM Online 2011 is one of the most sensible ways for a business to take advantage of cloud services. Looking for more reasons tomove your CRM solution to the Cloud? Moving to the Cloud can help your business reduce system management and maintenance costs.

5. Partner Network – Becoming a CRM Online 2011 customer doesn’t just give a company access to a CRM solution; it gives that company access to the world-renowned Microsoft partner network. The partner network has one of the largest selections of readily available solutions, professional services, and third-party applications to complement CRM Online 2011.

6. Global Availability – Choose CRM Online 2011 and provide teams around the world with the tools they need to succeed, regardless of location. Additional languages and currenciesare included in CRM Online 2011, and just need to be enabled by an administrator for use.

7. Microsoft Office – CRM Online 2011 works seamlessly with Microsoft OfficeOutlookand other Microsoft Officeproductivity tools, including Excel and SharePoint. Why force an employee to work withmultiple interfaces or tools? You don’t have too. Empower employees to work with these familiar tools in a more connected and collaborative way using CRM Online 2011.

8. Business Insights – Want to view sales data through a different paradigm? CRM Online 2011 contains a multitude of advanced reporting and charting features. Instantly generate accurate up-to-date information including sales forecasts, targets, quotas, customer buying patterns, and promotions.

9. Extensibility – The default CRM Online 2011 environment is flexible, powerful, and reliable. Despite how easy this environment is to start using, the real magic tends to happen for businesses when they begin to take control of CRM Online 2011 and customize it to their needs. CRM Online 2011 can be customized to support any business scenario imaginable, either in-house or by an outside consultant.

10. Dynamics Workplace – Are you interested in a CRM Online 2011 customization, but not sure if development is the right path for your business? The Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace can help customers discover previously developed and packaged applications to extend the value of CRM Online 2011.

A brief summary for the Role Based Security and the Object based security is explained from the article:

To determine the extent to which users have access to the system and the resources it stores, Microsoft Dynamics CRM leverages two complementary security mechanisms:

1. Role-based security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM focuses on grouping a set of privileges together that describe the tasks that are performed for a user in a specific job function. The basic concepts of role-based security include the following:
   o Users are assigned one or more roles based on their job function or tasks
   o Roles are associated with permissions (privileges and access levels) for the different business objects (entities)
   o Users gain access to entities or groups of entities in the system via membership in a role that has been assigned the necessary privileges and access levels to perform the users’ jobs.
2. Object-based security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM focuses on how users gain access to individual instances of business objects (entities).

Role-based Security

Role-based security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is based on the interaction of privileges and access levels, which work together through the use of security roles.

Privileges define what actions a user can perform on each entity in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Privileges are pre-defined in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and cannot be changed; examples of privileges include Create, Read, Write, and Delete.

Access levels indicate which records associated with each entity the user can perform actions upon.The access level associated with a privilege determines (for a given entity type) the levels within the organizational hierarchy (User, team and Business Unit) at which a user belonging to a specific role can act on that type of entity.


Each security role provides a combination of privileges and access levels specific to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM job function.

Object-based Security

Object-based security applies to individual instances of entities and is provided by using access rights. An access right is granted to a user for a particular entity instance.
The relationship between an access right and a privilege is that access rights apply only after privileges have taken effect. For example, if users do not have the privilege to read accounts, they will be unable to read any account, regardless of the access rights another user might grant them to a specific account through sharing.

The article also provides greate examples for different combinations of privileges, access levels and access rights. Happy reading!!

Microsoft CRM Outlook Client

use a tip for the user installing Microsoft CRM Outlook Client for Outlook 2003. Ensure that you install the Update Rollup 7 for the Outlook client, else couple of menu items (Change Organization, Options) will not be available from the CRM menu installed.

Also, use the CRM->Options->Synchronization tab to change the duration of synchronization between MS Outlook and the web client (which is 15 minutes by default).

Get the Update Rollup 7 for Outlook Client at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=A4893988-7804-4E23-AB58-740441CC696E&displaylang=ja&displaylang=en

Read more about synchronization of records and activities between MS CRM and Outlook at:

http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/regcont/en_us/OP/help/ug_ol_RecordsActivities.html

Fig. 1 Microsoft CRM Outlook Design

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Background of CRM:

Customer relationship management (CRM) has been a focus of a lot of applications with the recent advances in technology. The traditional customer relationship management has relied heavily on the likes of customer satisfaction. The benefits of performing customer centric processes within organizations have led organizations to gain a competitive advantage. Seeing this advantage, many companies have implemented CRM solutions to boost their businesses (Bosse 2006). The growing use of CRM applications has made it possible for companies to self-evaluate their performance. According to Kotler (1991, p19) high customer satisfaction rates are believed to be the best indicator of a company’s future profits. Therefore, the need to evaluate customer satisfaction becomes prominent. The importance of understanding customer satisfaction as a key tool for diagnosing product or service performance has also been mentioned for executive and employee compensation methods (Business Week, 1990). CRM systems built today are all capable of evaluating the level of satisfaction amongst customers. While evaluating the customer satisfaction, CRM systems can also indicate how a customer behaves in a particular surrounding. It can also help in detecting the purchase behaviour and the factors that promote a consumer towards the purchase of a new product. Thus, with ample of importance to the concept of customer relationship management, it is imminent that this research shall play a pivotal role in understanding further the important business concept of customer relationship management.

Customer Relationship Management in the Telecom Industry:

A lot of work has been done previously on managing customer relationships in the telecom industry. Out of a variety of works, there is a common pattern that is being observed. This pattern tends to suggest that the focus of CRM in all of these works is to forge a closer relationship with the customers that can be willing to change their behaviour towards the company. According to Peppers et al (1999) being able to decide what the customer tells you and then changing your behaviour accordingly is what defines core CRM. There have been several examples of implementation of customer relationship management within the telecom industry itself. Moreover, these examples are also evident within the UK since a long time. Examples of CRM include the introduction of a “call me” button on the websites of Telecom companies such as Vodafone. This introduction is nothing but a good gesture that tells the customer that the company “cares for them”. The importance of rendering service quality has been emphasized in ample of researches (see Parasuraman et al 1985, Reichelld & Sasser, 1990; Zeithaml et al, 1990). Further, in the telecom sector which falls into the service category Parasuraman et al (1985) observes that service firms find it extremely difficult to anticipate the factors that can cause high quality and what the customer feels is the right amount of quality. The “core service” is considered as one of the vital components of providing quality in services (Parasuraman et al 1985). However, it is still very difficult to decide what exactly comprises of “core service” and whether or not organizations should strive hard to give extra benefits in an attempt to capture market share. With this dilemma, firms find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on their core service which further gives rise to decrease in the quality. CRM systems in the telecom industry generally make use of I.T powered systems that can automatically cater to the clients. The role of I.T has also been mentioned in CRM related applications and it must be said that the role of IT is heavy in the case of the telecom giants.

References:

1. Achrol, Ravi S. (1991), “Evolution of the Marketing Organization: New Forms for Turbulent Environments,” Journal of Marketing, Pg. 55, 77-94
2. Anderson, Eugene W., Claes Fornell, and Donald R. Lehmann (1994), “Customer Satisfaction, Market share, and Profitability: Findings from Sweden,” Journal of Marketing, Pg. 53, 58-67.
3. Agnew, M. (2001), “CRM Plus Lots of Data Equals More Sales for Borders,” InformationWeek.Com, Pg. 52.
4. Adebanjo D (2003), Classifying and selecting e-CRM applications: An analysis based proposal, Management Decision”, Vol 41, Pg. 570-577.
5. Bose R & Sugumaran V, (2003) “Application of Knowledge Management Technology in Customer Relationship Management Knowledge and Processes Management” Vol 10, Pg. 3-17.
6. Berry, Leonard L. (1983), “Relationship Marketing,” in “Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing, Leonard L. Berry, G. Lynn Shostak, and Gregory D. Upah, eds. Chicago: American Marketing Associationd”, Pg. 223.

Software Development lifecycles:

V-Model improves the presence of testing activities to display a more balanced approach. The following figure shows how each testing activity ties with each development phase.

V-Model demonstrates relationship between end phase of a software development lifecycle and its associated phases of testing.

In the Requirement Analysis phase, the requirements of proposed system are analyzed by the needs of the user which is considered about what the ideal system has to perform. However, it doesn’t determine the design of how software document will typically describe the system’s functional and physical interface performance.

The system design and system testing contains general system organization, menu and data structures. Finally, V-Model provides a basis for defining who is responsible for performing the testing at each stage.

WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES

WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES

INTRODUCTION

Web 2.0 is the most widely used technologies beyond HTML. They have changed the way the web is used and perceived. These web 2.0 technologies have been designed to explain the phenomenon like social networking, collective intelligence (Chisholm, 1999). In recent technology, the ‘Second life’ and ‘world of war craft’ were the virtual creations that have been developed where people can assume new personalities and build an online reputation.

ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS

The main accessibility concerns of web 2.0 rely on the web for everyday tasks as well as for employment, entertainment and also for learning purposes. One of the main utility factors is online shopping which allows people or users with visual or mobility to shop independently without travelling to a particular location or hub. Web 2.0 can provide enormous benefits among those which are new paradigm are not easily manageable (Reilly, 2005).

Coming to the toolkits, the new generation sources are available in web 2.0 which individual has its own identity and its own applications. Among them, RSS, wiki, Blogging and Podcasting are the tools which has beneficiaries such as mutual sharing of knowledge explicitly.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOOLS USED

Really simple syndicate

The RSS is the social tool designated by symbol .)) RSS stands for Really simple syndicate. It is not totally a document based system rather it is a database system which makes searching possible and easier. It is usually seen in the blogs where the words are displayed in different sizes depending on the priority of the number of time it has been used by the users.

Wiki

Wiki is just like one of the search engine where information is collected with the help of RSS. It can obtain the information regarding the data that is provided in the searching option. The material like journals, case studies and reference materials can be found related to a particular topic chosen. It helps to make the lesser time constraints.

Blogging

Blogging helps organization in sharing the views of one another. It can share files, pictures and also can comment on each other. This type of communication is open to all sources and accessible to everyone. One can also post their questions in their blogs and can get answers from experts within no time. In this way, the knowledge is shared explicitly among the people of organization.

Podcasting

Podcasting is one of the technologies which helps I communication between the user and the client through audio sharing. This enables us to maintain regular contact with the clients and can solve any doubts regarding their subject in an efficient manner.

These are the several open sources that are providing base functionalities with respect to the social tools that can be utilized by an organisation for running effectively and efficiently.

REFERENCES

1. Smith, B. University of Toronto: ‘’ leads project for adaptive Web applications’’, Canadian Technology News, April 12, 2007.

2. Seeman, L.,’’ The Semantic Web, Web Accesibility, and Device Independence. ACM SIGCAPH Newsletter’’, No. 76, June 2003.

3. Chisholm, W., Vanderheiden, G. and Jacobs, ‘’ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’’

Pg. no. 34, 1999.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

INTRODUCTION

Many companies reported to success with the introduction of Knowledge Management Systems into their project environment. By the introduction of KMS, the organization will run efficiently and effectively. The workers of organisation has to be able to choose what is effective concept to the organization that can be able to create a language and process some techniques and tools that are appropriate to the organization(Fleming, 1995).

WHAT IT IS

Knowledge Management Systems provides knowledge sharing, knowledge enhancing and knowledge preserving (Fleming, 1996). It deals with multiple activities of an organization. It also supports knowledge sharing networks and issues like training programs and operating manuals. The members had pursued the way of adapting a new system to support themselves in the field of what the people of organization are really trying to accomplish (Borghoff, 1997).

KMS can also be used for a wide range of cooperative, collaborative, hierarchy communities, virtual organizations, societies and other virtual networks, to manage media contents and activities, interactions and work-flows purposes in projects, networks, departments, privileges, roles, participants and other active users in order to extract and generate new knowledge and to enhance.

MY PERSPECTIVE

Here I can come out through discussing one of my example that relates to an organization which has already introduced KMS for its effective growth. My chosen organization is English film industry Hollywood. The type of KMS introduced here is the technology with different modern aspects so called WEB 2.0. It includes all types of communication between the media and the audience. It acts like a barrier in utilizing all the sources and functions to the maximum.

As it came into discussion alone, the techniques and tools that are used for the achievement of initializing growth of the organization is by using blogging, online telecasting, visual diagramming reviews.

Blogging is done from the creation of the user where regular updates are being carried out. The reviews about the films and details about the upcoming releases are also posted in the related sites to create interest in the audience.

The online telecasting is one of the vastly used processes helpful for the industry which enables the users to reduce the time factor and difficulties by providing data through broadband. The live broadcast of the programs which enhances faster communication relates techniques similar to visual diagramming. This feature enables podcasting for the effective communication between user and server.

The Web 2.0 technology is itself the system that is introduced in the industry for its effective running using the social tools. By the introduction of these tools, it is found that the system has enhanced faster communication compared to earlier and also as every industry desires, like the reputation increases enormously.

CONCLUSION

So the multiple activities are carried out in organization because as organization process maturity, differentiation takes place through policies, standards and organizational structures (Hammer, 1996). The workers would be able to choose an effective concept to the organization and thus create techniques and tools that are appropriate to it. In this way, the system server improvement factor uses the advanced technologies and processes.

REFERENCES

1. Langton, N & Robbins, S. ‘’ Organizational Behaviour ‘’ (Fourth Canadian Edition).: published by: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

2. Seeman, L. ‘’ The Implementation of KMS, Industrial Behaviour ,. Published by: acm sigcaph Newsletter, pg.no. 76, June 2003.

3. Alavi. M &Leidner. E (1999),”knowledge management systems : issues, challenges , and benefits”, Communications of the association for information systems, vol.1,artcle 7, 1994.

Knowledge Management in Organisation

Knowledge Management in an Organisation

Knowledge management enables the members of organisation in dealing the situations effectively and creating the vision to their future. There are certain needs for Knowledge Management practices in Organisation workplace in order to promote knowledge sharing among the managers and the employees of the organisation. Knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout the organisation [Zack, 1999]. In addition to the organisational Knowledge Management, the KM of the people and KM of infrastructure and process [Sveiby, 1994] are the subsystems that are to be balanced in order to attain a successful KM effort. It is very important to assign a KM strategy to the overall business of the organisation [Carlson, 1996].

Fig. Extracted from Theoritical Framework of KM by Nakkiran, 1996.

Designing Framework

It is more important to focus on the employees and their contribution towards the organisation. Each should be motivated thoroughly in order to make them feel that they are also a part of it. This can be done by encouraging them in individual learning [Holland, 1998], creating vision [Tiwana, 2000] and announcing rewards to those employees who come front with innovative ideas.

Performing a knowledge based SWOT analysis [Humphrey, 1998] is also recommended which helps in identifying the organisation in filling the knowledge gap by designing the organisation strategy. This is one of the best ways to achieve better initiative growth in the organisation.

For example, TVS is a motor company in India. In this company, the KM of the people and KM of the organisation is managed by allocating incentives to the employees who are with good customer service record and feedback. It is also important to motivate members so that they can see themselves as part of organisation, so that it would be easier for them to take up the values and standards of their organisation. They are set to some goals and objectives. In addition to these, they are also awarded with best titles for their service. There was a gradual growth in sales after this attempt and it is in better position by implementing this innovative idea.

As discussed above, creating vision [Tiwana, 2000] helps in designing the organisation. It helps the employees in creating better understanding in what they are being asked to contribute to the knowledge management effort. Vision also creates a sense of belonging for the employees and make them to participate in change process. The CEO should act as a barrier between employees of organisaiton and the Knowledge Management hierarchy that exists in the organisation.

REFERENCES

1. Desouza, K. C., ‘’ Facilitating tacit knowledge exchange: Communications of the ACM ‘’ , 2003, pg: 85-88.

2. Grover, V., and Davenport, T. H., ‘’ General perspectives on knowledge management: Fostering a research agenda, Journalof Management Information Systems ’’, 2001, pg : 5 -21.

3. Maier, R. and Remus, U. ‘’ Towards a framework for knowledge management strategies: Process orientation as strategic starting point, in Proceedings of the International Conference on System Sciences’’, 2001.

4. Lee, H., and Choi, B.,’’ Knowledge management enablers, processes, and organizational performance: An integrative view and empirical examination, Journal of Management Information Systems’’, 2003, pg: 179-228.

5. Jennex, M. E., and Olfman L., ‘’ Development recommendations for knowledge management /organizational memory systems, in Contemporary Trends in IS Development ’’, Kluwer, 2001.

6. Misra, D., Hariharan, R., and Khaneja, ‘’knowledge management framework for government organizations, Information Systems Management’’, 2003, pg: 38-48.

CHALLENGES, BENEFITS AND ISSUES OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Organisations are developing information systems designed specifically to facilitate the sharing and integration of knowledge. Such systems are called knowledge management systems.

This study is to do a little research

· How field data exists

· The implementation and development of such systems

· It also provides the analysis of current practices, outcomes and the nature of knowledge management systems.

The concept of coding and transmitting knowledge is not new. This type of training , employee development programmes, organisational policies, reports and manuals have served KMS for years.

For example,

The McDonalds restaurant operating manual capture almost every aspect of the restaurant. Management includes cooking, nutrition, hygiene, marketing, food production and accounting. This process of coding and disseminating knowledge again repeats improving the effectiveness of its operations.

Knowledge is subjective information related to facts, procedures, concepts, interpretations, ideas, observations and judgements. Major challenge of knowledge management is less its creation and more its capture and integration.

A program was conducted on Management of Information Technology at Northeast university in july 1997. It included 109 participants from 12 different countries. The participants were Chief information officers, Information system managers and general area executives.

10 US and 4 non Us respondents report having an existing KMS in their organisations. Three Us and 4 non US respondents reported developing the KMs in their organisations.

Issues of knowledge Management:

Information:

Building vast amount of data into usable form

Avoiding overloading users with unnecessary data

Eliminating wrong or old data

Ensuring customer confidentiality

Keeping the information current

Management:

Change management implications

Getting individuals to volunteer knowledge

Getting business units to share knowledge

Demonstrating business value

Bringing together many people from various units

Determining responsibility for managing the knowledge

Technology:

Determining infrastructure requirements

Keeping up with new technologies

Security of data on internet

Benifits of existing knowledge management systems:

Process outcomes:

Communication:

Enhanced communication
Faster communication
Morevisible opinion of staff
Increased staff participants

Efficiency:

Reducing problem solving time
Shortening proposal times
Faster results

Faster delivery to market

Organisational outcomes:

Financial:

Increased sales
Decreased cost
Higher profitability

Marketing:

Better service
Customer focus
Targeted marketing
Proactive marketing

'' This is a draft.. references will be added in due course.. ''