I finally took the MB2-703 exam and passed, YIPPPEEEE
This is the 3rd time I have taken the customization and configuration exam because I have taken it for
CRM 4
CRM 2011
CRM 2013
Every time I take the exam, during my studying and preparation for the exam I always learn or understand how CRM works a bit better. The certifications involve studying new functionality added in each new release of CRM but my understanding is different and I focus on different aspects of CRM and try to understand how the internal CRM mechanics are working and I wrote articles like these
I have also createde some links to some good free articles on subjects on the exam but alas there isn’t many links there because I started to late with that idea
The value of the certification comes from the studying and reading for the certification rather than having the certification. It was a great motivator to learn the new functionality because to make the exams different there is usually an emphasis on new functionality, which is logical because otherwise the exams could be quite similar.
I find it useful to refresh my knowledge on areas I haven’t used for a while, forgotten and the new functionality which I may not have used yet.
Learning the information to a level you can pass a certification does reinforce the information and helps it stick in your mind.
The MOC should be the solid base to build your studying for the certification around. The MOC covers all the areas which will be in the exam and unlike CRM 2013 books, only focuses on the areas which will be on the exam.
Read articles on the subjects
The MOC’s are great but they can be a bit dry and I like to read articles on areas of the exam. Articles are small bite sized chunks with the added benefit of usually containing examples and screen shots. The real world usage of CRM 2013 functionality is very useful for understanding how the CRM 2013 functionality can be used and limitations
Take notes
Taking notes is a good way of highlighting the important points for revision and condescending the MOC’s, blog posts and other sources of information into a smaller collection, which you can revise from.
Using CRM 2013 trial
There is no better way to learn the functionality of CRM 2013 than by using it. If you are fortunate you will use CRM 2013 every day in your job, but there are still areas you don’t use very often, but make sure you know how they work rather than just the theoretical knowledge of how they work.
Tips on passing the certification
New Functionality
Study the new functionality added into CRM 2013
Business Process Flow
Business Rules
Access Teams
Use CRM 2013
Don’t just read and study about CRM 2013 topics, but actually try it out with a CRM 2013 trial
This will give you some practical knowledge/experience of the functionality
It will help you understand how it really works, which isn’t always the same as it says in the manual
You learn how it doesn’t work (important, particularly for the exam)
It creates experiences and visual images which will help you recall information in the exam
You will have experience of using the functionality, which is useful for your job
Write your own study notes
Going through the process of making notes when reading the MOC’s or articles on the exam subjects I would make notes. The process of taking notes means you have to understand the material and select the key points. To do this you have to actively think about the topic and subjectively understand it to the key features/limitations. I believe this will help you learn and increase your understanding.
The benefit of taking notes is you can use them to study with later.
Blog about the CRM 2013 functionality
Teaching and explaining about a topic makes you learn and understand the topic in more detail. This will give you a deeper understanding of the functionality.
I found writing about the security and business rules very useful
Create your own study notes, you will be learning and reinforcing the information by creating the notes and reading study notes is quicker and easier than MOC’s or blogs
Get there early, sometimes the test centers are in odd places which could take some time to
Take your time in the exam (you will have plenty)
On each question, first eliminate the answers you know are wrong, usually there are some obvious answers which are wrong. This will leave you with a smaller choice
Review all the questions, just to make sure you haven’t made any silly mistakes
I have uploaded a power point file into slide share because this is a really easy and quick way to do the question. There are 13 questions and doing these should take you 5 minutes, more if you really concentrate. So come on test your knowledge and see if you are ready to take the real exam
Here is the video where I go through the questions and explain the answers
Don’t forget all the MB2-703 studying information can be found here
A new feature in CRM 2013 is Access Teams. For those people studying for the MB2-703 – CRM 2013 customization and configuration exam, you will need to know the difference between access teams and Owner teams.
I personally have not understood the real benefit of Access teams and access team templates, I understood it was an quick way to share individual records but I wasn’t sure how this was different to the current sharing functionality.
First I will go through the Access Teams functionality and then we will focus on the differences
I will also mention Microsoft have a very good white paper on Access Teams which you can download by going to the link below
Access Teams And Access Team Template Demo can be seen in the video below
The standard owner team/user functionality allows you to share records and components (views, dashboards) to users or owner teams.
This functionality is very useful but the sharing process is not very visible and can be difficult to manage. Sharing records is done by an individual user and the only way to see what records are shared and to whom is by going to the record/component and clicking the sharing button
Access Teams and Access team templates are a method to share permissions and records, which is easier to manage, quicker to add/remove users/teams because Access team templates will applying a standard set of privileges (read, write, delete, append, append to) rather than having to set this up for each individual user/team.
An overhead of Owner Teams and sharing is they write records to the POA (Principal Object Access) table and this may eventually can result in performance overhead. It should be noted that sharing records with teams is a lot more efficient than sharing records with individual users because it only writes less records to the POA table (for the team) rather than each individual user.
Enable the entity
Access Team templates are enabled on an entity basis and you have to enable Access Teams on the entity in the communications and collaboration as you can see below on the screen shot.
Once you have ticked the access teams check box, save and publish (I don’t think you have to publish but just to make sure).
Create your Access Team
Go to SETTINGS –> Administration –> Access Team Templates
Click the New button
You now have to create you team name, specify the entity the Access Team will work on and the access rights
Now the next step is not straight forward, when I say that I don’t mean it’s difficult but I do mean most people would never guess what to do next.
Add the Access Team sub grid to the form
You need to customize the form of the entity you want to add the Access Team Template to and in my case it’s the account form
You need to add a sub grid to the form
Records – All Types
Entity – Users
Default View – Associated Record Team Members
Team Template – Hosk Account Access Team – this is the team template I created in the step before, yours is probably called something different.
save and publish the changes
now you can go to account records and there will be a sub grid which will allow you to add users to it. These users
Odd things happen when you add a user to the user grid it will automatically create an Access Team but the odd things is you can’t view this team in the Teams section in Administration even if you select All Teams or Access Teams.
The only way to view the teams is to create an advanced find, search for Teams and choose of type Access.
You will then see some odd teams with Guid names
if you click on one you can then view the details. So you will get a new team for each entity and access template type.
To help identify the different teams you can put something in the description
You can also add and remove members in this screen. If you remove all members the team will disappear until you add another user to it.
Facts and stats about Access Teams, the bits below are useful for those study MB2-703
You can more than one Access Team template for each entity
The default number of access teams templates for each entity is two
The number of access team templates you can have for each entity is controlled by the MaxAutoCreatedAccessTeamsPerEntity deployment setting.
MaxEntitiesEnabledForAutoCreatedAccessTeams deployment setting has a default value of 5. This controls the number of entities it’s possible to enable for auto-created access teams.
You can change the MaxEntitiesEnabledForAutoCreatedAccessTeams , MaxAutoCreatedAccessTeamsPerEntityonly on Premise installations and you cannot edit them for Online.
A system generated Access Team isn’t created for each record until you add a user to the sub grid on the entity.
if you delete the team, this is the same removing all the members in the sub grid on the record.
if you change the access rights on Team Template this will only change the access right to new entity records/access teams. Any records already created will use the previous set of privileges.
Access teams with Share access right ticked will mean any user who is in access team will be able to add (share) others to the access team for that record.
Users cannot grant privileges they do not have. So a user can only add new members to an access team where the access team template has create privilege only if that user has the create privilege for the entity.
Access Teams created automatically by adding users to them are not shown in the system team views
Access Teams created automatically can be seen by doing an advanced find and select Team Type = access
Access Team created automatically have the is system managed field set to true
Access Teams can be un ticked on an entity (unlike Queues)
If you want to delete a Access Team Template you will need to remove all the sub grids using that specific Access Team Template before you can delete it.
Access teams don’t user the POA table
The final import thing about access team is they do not write to the POA (Principal Object Access table). This table holds all the rules about sharing for users/teams for each entity. The POV table holds information about sharing and security/access and is read every time a user accesses a record to make sure they have privileges to view and then update/delete it. A big POA table with lots of sharing of records can in some cases slow down the system.
After reading CRM MVP Adam Vero’s comments it seems access teams do write to the POA table so this isn’t where the advantage of Access teams comes from. On the efficiency side Teams do write fewer records to the POA table than sharing to individual users.
Owner teams are good when you want to share records to teams and those teams should have their privileges set by security roles.
access teams are good for quick ad hoc sharing of records where the users who will need to use a record may change often. Access teams allow you to quickly add and remove users.
Reading the White paper it has a good summary of the key features
Owner Team
As teams in Microsoft Dynamics CRM with security roles
Can own records
Privileges are granted by security roles and change dynamically as the role definition changes
Needs to be manually or programmatically created and managed
Will be cached in CRM Server when a user accesses the application
Can act as resource in service scheduling
Access Team
Can’t be granted security roles
Can’t own records
Accesses records through sharing
Sharing privileges are defined by an access team template but don’t change dynamically for existing records if the template changes
Won’t be displayed in most team views
Can be system managed, directly from the form of the record that it relates to
Won’t be cached because it doesn’t derive privilege or ownership checks
Can’t be scheduled as a resource in Service Scheduling
Not shown in team views as typically used at high volumes
15 percent of the exam is based around security so you need to know it and know it good.
In this blog I will cover one part of the security concepts
This topic may include: describe Business Units; describe Microsoft Dynamics CRM security features; describe privileges and access levels
I have found 3 blog posts which I often find my way to when searching for CRM Security. So I would recommend you go through those because they will give you a good idea how security roles work in CRM 2013, links to them can be found in the blog post below.
To learn about security and business units the best way is to get into your CRM trial and try adding business units and security roles.
First have a good look
second get in there and add some new business units and security roles
thirdly get renaming and deleting them
I will run through this in the video but I recommend you do it yourself, this will help cement the knowledge into your brain and provide more paths to the information (which means you will be able to recall it easier in the exam, yippee). The blog post and the video work together, the video shows you security roles and business units in CRM and the blog post is a succinct summary of it.
I am only going to skip through what I think are the vital points, I expect you to read the three blog posts below, watch my video explanation and have a play in your CRM trial
I will first start with this great table from the power objects blog, this is a good introduction to security
To help understand how this works, consider the following definitions of the Dynamics CRM security components:
Component
Description
Business Unit
A scoping mechanism that defines a grouping of users for security modeling purposes; business units are hierarchical in nature. Business Units are a framework upon which a security model is built.
Security Role
A collection of privileges (that are given a name) that reflect common user roles of your organization and/or business units; security roles are assigned to users or owner teams. See below for more details on Security Roles.
Privilege (access rights)
The definition of a specific type of data access or action that can be granted as a right; privileges are granted through a security role and are cumulative. The following Privileges that can be assigned:
Create
Read
Write
Delete
Append
Append To
Assign
Share
Access Level
While the Privilege defines the type of data access, the Access Level defines exactly to which records the privileges apply. You can assign the Access Levels of:
None
User
Business Unit
Parent: Child Business Unit
Organization
For example, if you assign Read privileges to a Security Role at the Access Level of “Business Unit”, users with that Security Role will only have the privileges to see records owned by a user within their Business Unit.
Business Units
As you can see the security in CRM is created from a few pieces of functionality working together. You have business units and security roles, within these you have privileges and access levels.
Access level controls what the user can see(read)/edit
Privilege controls what you can do to the entity
It all starts with business units and the Parent Business unit which is also known as the Root business unit, you can think of this as the mother of all business units.
The Root business unit is a default business unit which has the same name as the organisation.
You cannot delete the Root business unit, you cannot disable it
You cannot create a business unit above the Root business unit, e.g. you cannot give it a parent.
Business Units = Tree Structure
Business units are used to create a hierarchy and this is in a tree structure. The Root business unit will be at the top.
Here are two examples of some very simple Business unit structures. The common way people use business units is geographical or departmental, although you can split up your organisation and business units anyway that suits you.
Here is a geographical structure
Here is departmental
You can see from the pictures above that the business units have create a hierarchy and the root business unit is at the top.
What can you do to Business Units
Classic certification questions usually revolve around what you can and can’t do in CRM. Examples of things they will test
You cannot delete or disable the root business unit
you can rename, disable non root business units (e.g. all the other business units)
Disabling Business Units
You need to know what happens when you disable a business unit, what happens to all the users who have that business unit as their default business unit?
When you disable a business unit, it also disables all the child business units below it (and thus all the users who those business units as their default business unit).
none of the data is affected by disabling business units, its only the users who cannot then log in but it is important to take into account all the child business units will also be disabled.
The users are not disabled but cannot login into CRM whilst the business unit is disabled. As soon as the business unit is enabled they will be able to log into CRM again.
Deleting Business Units
It’s possible to delete business units (not the root business unit) but you have to clear them up ready to be removed.
Firstly you have to disable the business unit and you can only do this when
you have removed any the child business unit, now you can either disable and delete them or you can re-parent them. To re-parent a business unit you can select a new parent business unit.
If you re-parent a business unit this will have the effect of removing all the security roles from the users, this is because security roles are inherited and can be different in each business unit. This will mean all the users in the business unit you are re-parenting will now have no security roles and won’t be able to log into CRM. This is explained by an excellent comment by CRM MVP Adam Vero (also a CRM Master)
if you want to delete the business unit then you will need to change all the users/teams that are assigned to that business unit. You also need to disable the business unit before you delete it.
You cannot delete the default business unit team but it won’t stop you deleting the business unit because this will be deleting automatically when you delete the business unit.
Like all things in CRM, Microsoft recommend you disable business units rather than delete them, the reason being disable business units just like disabled records can be re-enabled but once something is deleted it’s gone forever.
Security Roles
Security roles are a vital part of the security in CRM because if a user doesn’t have a security role he cannot access the system, so every user must have at least one security role.
Security roles are linked with the user business unit to calculate what records the user can access.
Users receive their permissions to work on records or use features based on the combination of Security Roles they are assigned and the Business Units to which the users belong.
Security roles can also be assigned to teams and if the team a user is a member of has higher security privileges then this will override their individual security roles. The user will also use the highest security levels it is assigned, whether that’s from a security roles assigned to the team or individual security role
Users can be assigned multiple security roles, this means it’s possible to create security roles just for single purposes.
Default security roles
There are 15 default security roles in CRM, this provide a good basis to start creating your security roles. The default security roles are all created in the root business unit.
You need to understand how security roles work with business unit, they can be a bit cheeky. A security role stays in the business unit it is created in and they copy down to any child business units.
The above line is import because if you create a security role in the root business unit then the security role will be copied to all the child business units below it.
So you should be careful about creating security roles not in the root business unit because this means you will have a security role that doesn’t exist in any parent business units and in particular the default business unit. Another consideration is only security roles which exist in the root business unit can be added to a solution file.
What I am saying is don’t create security roles not in the root business unit because you cannot export these out and it may cause a bit of headache if you need the parent business units to use the same security role.
User can be assigned any security role which exist in their business unit.
Modify, Don’t create security roles
When you set up a new security role there are hundreds of settings you need to setup, there are 8 privileges for each entity. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to copy an existing role and modify it.
Microsoft recommend you don’t delete the default security roles so you can have them as a reference but once you have a few security roles I personally don’t think it matters but remember the MB2-703 certification is written by Microsoft and they want the answers they are expecting.
System Administrator Role is all powerful
All security roles are the same except the System Administrator role which is a super role.
The System Administrator role automatically has access to all records and entities, including all custom entities. It has the default access level of organisation for all privileges.
One user must have the System Administrator role, this is by default given to the user who installed CRM. Multiple users can be assigned the System Administrator role and you can remove the role from users but you cannot remove the role if that user is the only user who has the System Administrator role.
The System Administrator role also is given the System Admin field level security role, which as I’m sure you can guess gives them access to all field level security.
It’s possible to copy the System Administrator role and it will create a security role but the security role will not automatically have access to any new custom entities added and it basically won’t have the special powers of the System Administrator role.
Security roles Privileges and access levels
At this point I am going to refer you to the excellent blog on security roles written by CRM MVP Richard Knudson, this blog post has 40 comments, which shows you how many people have read it.
I would also say that this part of the CRM security can be tricky to understand but with regards to the exam does not have as many gotcha’s.
There are some privileges which do not have organisation levels these are always show under miscellaneous privileges and these are either true or false. These are things like
Go Offline
Export to Excel
Publish articles
This is a good place to leave security with more to come
I published the video before the blog article and very kindly Adam Vero (CRM MVP and an expert on CRM as he wrote some of the MOC’s on the subject) left me a couple of excellent comments where I got slightly mixed up in the video.
When you disable a Business Unit, it disables the BUs below it, that is correct. But it does NOT disable the users in the BU or any of the children. They are prevented from logging on while they are in a disabled BU, but when you re-enable the BU they can. (If it disabled them all then when you re-enabled the BU it would have no way to know which users to re-enable if some were already disabled manually previously).
good point, I think you have basically said what I was thinking and meant to say. I guess it can seem like the users are disabled because they can’t login but you are right because they aren’t disabled but stopped from being able to login.
Notice that when you change the parent business unit of a BU, this is not just changing the position in the hierarchy and therefore changing the impact of the access levels that people have to records in that BU. It will also REMOVE all inherited Security Roles (and rebuild them) – it does not move the roles with it. So at the moment you move it, the users in that BU have no roles other than any that exist directly in that BU (which often is zero, if everything is always created in the root or imported via Solutions). In most cases this means those users just stopped being able to log on, and you’d better remember who had which roles originally. Users may be able to log on if they are a member of a team that has a suitable role, and they have logged on at least once before, but this is an edge case – expect problems with logons when you move a BU.
so changing the parent business unit of a BU can remove all the security roles from the users in that business unit. I guess this makes sense because it (as you say) has to rebuild the security roles because you are potentially removing all the inherited roles it had.
This is a good point to consider for the CRM exam. I will include this in my Security role exam cram notes and maybe make a test question on it.
These notes are the to revise the key concepts of solutions for the MB2-703 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Customization and Configuration certification
Config – teams, security roles, business units, Entities, views
Customization – standard GUI changes, forms, entities, views, GUI workflows, business rules
Configuration and customization could be used when talking about changing the same components e.g. Entities, Views
Extending = code related changes.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Software Development Kit is used to create and deploy plugins, Web Resources and custom workflows.
What cannot be added to a solution
Business Units
Teams
Queues
Goals
Subjects
Product Catalog
The items above must be either created manually or imported. If you want to create manual data and use the same guids between systems then you will need to export and import the data so you can specify the guids used.
What Can be Added to a Solution?
The following is a list of solution components that you can view within a solution
Application Ribbon
Article Template
Business Rule
Chart
Connection Role
Contract Template
Dashboard
Email Template
Entity
Entity Relationship
Field
Field Security Profile
Form
Mail Merge Template
Message
Option Set
Plug-in Assembly
Process
Report
Sdk Message Processing Step
Security Role
Service Endpoint
Site Map
Web Resource
Solutions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a method to let you group and manage your custom components for a particular set of functionality or release
solutions are optional
When an organisation is created a Default Solution is created which contains all the components
You can export the default solution but only as an unmanaged solution
Solution best practice is use it to split up business requirements probably either in Sprints/releases or in business requirements.
It’s possible to export the Default Solution and import this solution into another CRM Instance but you cannot export Default solution from a CRM On Premise to a CRM On line or vice versa.
There is no limit to the number of solutions you can create
Before you can create a solution you must create a publisher, Publisher is a business required field on solution
A publisher has a prefix, The prefix will then be added before the schema name for the entity or field e.g.
hosk_newField
hosk_entityName
Managed solutions cannot be exported
unManaged solutions can be exported
Managed solutions can be deleted, this will delete the solution and all the entities and data
Managed solutions can’t be changed or altered, except by the publisher/owner
There are privileges needed to import a solution and publish it.
Managed solutions use managed properties
Managed solutions automatically publish on import
unmanaged solutions have to be published
Unmanaged solution components cannot be uninstalled
when you delete an unmanaged solution you are only deleted the solution file, all the changes remain in the default solution
Unmanaged solutions can be exported as an unmanaged or managed solution
Managed solutions can expose some components to be customized by the end user
solutions have built in versioning, if version 1 is imported and then solution 2 is imported, CRM will prompt you to see if you want to overwrite the changes in version 1.
Solution version is major.minor.build.revision
Custom solutions developed using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can be imported into Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online organizations.
Custom solutions developed using future versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM cannot be installed into earlier versions without first being ‘down-leveled’ to match the earlier version.
When you export a managed solution, you can’t import it back into the organization it was imported from.
be careful when importing an unmanaged solution because those changes cannot be removed and they will overwrite any current changes
Solutions are additive, you cannot delete any components by importing a solution
You need the System Administrator role to import solutions
You cannot import entities or fields with the same schema name to components that exist in the CRM database.
All imported security roles are created in the root business unit
managed properties are fully customizable by default.
Solutions created in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 cannot be imported into a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 database.
The maximum size for a solution file for Microsoft Dynamics CRM online is 29.296 MB
For On-premise CRM 2013, the default maximum size for a solution is 6 MB but this can be increased.
You must have the System Administrator security role to import , organization settings, security roles, plug-in assemblies, sdk message processing steps.
I will be covering the information in the exam but whilst I am making some study information, you will also need to do some studying yourself and below I will go through what material I would advise you to use. If you are not sure if you want to take the exam read this and then come back ready to study.
Looking at the exam criteria you may think that the MB2-703 – CRM 2013 Customization and Configuration exam will be easy because most of the topics and functionality you use on a regular basis
Create and Customize Solutions (10-15 percent)
Customize Entities and Entity Relationships (10-15 percent)
Customize Fields (10-15 percent)
Manage Forms (10-15 percent)
Manage Views (10-15 percent)
Create and Customize Charts and Dashboards (10-15 percent)
Manage Security (10-15 percent)
Manage Business Processes and Rules (10-15 percent)
HA, don’t be fooled the exam is still hard, you need to get 70 percent that isn’t many you can get wrong You will need to know the topics in exact detail, this means you will need to revise and be able to answer precise questions. Roughly knowing the answer won’t be good enough because in most questions there will be two possible answers which could be right What I am basically saying is you will have to study and revise so the knowledge is
The best way to learn about features and functionaity in the exam is get stuck in and try it. I have even made a video to walk you through getting a CRM 2013 setup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRSyOEt-MUQ
If I were to use only one source material to study for the exam, then the MOC above would be it, it goes through all the functionality that will appear in the exam. It has examples and tasks, not to mention practice questions. I think you have to work for a Microsoft partner
MB2-866 study notes from mscrmgeek.com by Buddy Guido took the exam and he has given some hints and tips to me and everyone, he also has a link to the study notes from mscrmgeek.com.
The “Overview” and “Skill Measured” sections give you a good summary of the exam, and clarify the targets. Because this exam is the natural evolution of the CRM 2011 version and several concepts are still the same, I studied again the MB2-866 study notes from mscrmgeek.com (the site is currently offline, so I made a doc from the google cache and shared here: http://sdrv.ms/1bzq6Ny)
Notes From Dynamics CRM Chat
This blog has a great page on what you need to know to pass the exam and then some very detailed and free notes helping you study for thecertification.
Hosk CRM 2011 – Exam Cram NotesFinally I have some study notes I made for the CRM 2011 Configuration and Customization exam, these notes are not detailed but for the final revision stage of the exam, they are basically exam cram notes My exam notes will show you the detailed knowledge you will need for the exam because any of the information below could appear in the exam.
a maximum of 2 columns can be used to sort a view
The CRM Administrator can see everything
Audit logs management is done by a system job
decimal precision is set on each currency attribute AND in system settings
Connection roles, security roles, optionsets, Web Resources, templates, field security profiles are all included in Solutions
editing CRM website files is unsupported
Auditing is enabled in System settings and then for each individual entity
business units can have separate security roles, even with the same name!
When assigned a security role to a user, the choice is filtered by business unit and the security roles in that business unit
Disabling a business unit (and child business units) will mean all the users in that business unit won’t be able to login to CRM.
Teams have security roles (this can affect which form is used)
moving business units is done by changing the business units parent
Managed solutions cannot be exported
unManaged solutions can be exported
Managed solutions can be deleted, this will delete the solution and all the entities and data
Managed solutions can’t be changed or altered, except by the publisher/owner
There are privileges needed to import a solution and publish it.
Managed solutions use managed properties
Managed solutions automatically publish on import, unmanaged solutions have to be published
when you delete an un-managed solution you are only deleted the solution file, all the changes stay.
To add 3d effects or modify charts you need to export the chart, change the XML and then import it.
Optionsets can be used by many entities
Many to Many relationships can be either Manual or Native
Native many to many (N:N) is done automatically by CRM (it creates the intersect entity but hides it)
Manual Many to Many relationships are done manually an entity to sit between the two entities and have a 1 to many relationship with them both.
Custom fields can be used for field level security
built in fields cannot be used for field level security
Each form has a fallback form
A Teams security role can influence what form is used
Queue functionality cannot be unticked once it has been ticked
Relationships – Cascade active – assigns active entities
Relationships – Cascade all – assigns all entities
Primary keys, created by, creation on, modified on cannot be audited
Find columns are set in the Quick Find view for entities
Business required fields don’t have to have a value if they are not included on a form
importing data does not go through the same validation (e.g. business required) because validation is done only on the forms.
an entity can only have one 1:M (one to many) parental relationship
Display option must be filled in for Many to Many relationships
WEB RESOURCE – Silverlight XAP
WEB RESOURCE – Web page HTML
WEB RESOURCE – Script (JSCRIPT)
WEB RESOURCE – Data (XML)
WEB RESOURCE – Style Sheet (XSL)
WEB RESOURCE – graphics – JPG, PNG, GIF
Mapping fields must be the same type
mappingoptionset values must be the same
APPEND – the entity you want to append
APPEND TO – The entity have things appended to it
fields used in reports do not create a dependency and can be deleted
I am going to talk about the CRM 2013 certification MB2-703 or otherwise known as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Customization and Configuration. One reason I am talking about the CRM 2013 configuration and customization certification is I have recently started a YouTube channel Hosk’s CRM Dev and although CRM Developers will be required to do a lot of coding they will also need to do a lot of customization’s using the standard GUI tools and functionality in CRM.
I myself am going to pass the certification and I am interested in learning the new CRM 2013 functionality so I thought I would create some YouTube video’s on the exam criteria and would like you all to join me on the journey of passing the CRM 2013 Configuration and Customization exam.
There are probably a bunch of people reading this blog going I would like to pass that certification but I’m too busy, I will get round to it at some point later in the year.
STOP RIGHT THERE BUDDY
stop procrastinating and do it, give yourself a two month deadline and study and pass that certification and what’s more I’m going to help you do it, The Hosk will be cheering you on.
If you are still not on board let me tell you why you are going to do it (if you haven’t already), you have a choice you can see and hear me
or you can read why you should
1. Money
People who have certifications get paid more.
“43 percent of survey respondents report salary increases as a result of Microsoft Certification.”
– Redmond magazine’s 2006 survey of compensation for Microsoft IT professionals
A certification is something you can take into your next pay review to help persuade your bosses to give you more cash. The way I see it if you have a certification and your colleagues don’t, if over the year you have both done a good job then that certification is going to be something extra you have, not only do you have a certification but you also have all the knowledge to go with it.
2. Learn the new features in CRM 2013
The certifications always have sections on the new features, so this is a great way to learn the new CRM 2013 features and get certified at the same time. In fact it will give you focus and motivate you to get the learning done. The other benefit will be you will brush up on some of the other parts of system you might not use.
3. Broad range of knowledge
I have taken the CRM 4 and CRM 2011 Configuration and Customization certifications and I found them very useful in learning parts of the CRM that I wasn’t currently using in the projects I was working on. I learnt about Goals, Dashboards, reporting, security, solutions before I used them at work. In the CRM 2013 exam I will have to learn about Business Process Flows, Business Rules, Access teams, quick create forms. What I am trying to say is I will learn about the functionality before I have to use it in my job, so if it comes up I will already have an idea of what it does, how it works. A lot of being a good CRM Developer is knowing the correct tool to use at the correct time.
4. (some) People respect certifications
if you have 2 or 3 CRM certification then people in the workplace will start to see you as knowledgeable in CRM, their perception will change and this is particularly useful if you are starting out in your CRM career. Certifications don’t make you a better CRM Developer or Consultant but it does mean that you have a good knowledge of CRM because you have to do a fair bit of studying to get the certification.
5. Companies like Certifications
Companies like certifications because they need certified employees so they can get the Microsoft Gold or Silver partner status. Companies also like certified employees because it sounds great to tell perspective clients about are certified developer/consultant. If you have a certification you are more valuable to your company and they will often reward you for the time and effort it took to obtain the certification.
6. Success feels good
It feels good to pass a certification, it may only be a piece of paper and something to put on LinkedIn/Rockstar 365 cv but you have set out to pass a certification and by golly you did it. Once you get that certification no one can take it away
7. You are committed to becoming a great CRM developer/Consultant
Ultimately, getting one or two certifications will prove you’re capable of learning and retaining knowledge (or at least passing a test) but several under your belt shows that you’re committed to a career path, well versed in it, and knowledgeable. As those certifications grow to require experience and dedication to earn, they’re exponentially more valuable and prove that you’re familiar with industry best practices, have worked in the field, and have retained your knowledge (especially if it’s a cert that has to be renewed or kept up to date). So even if you don’t think the low-level ones are useful, don’t shy away from them—at best they’re a slight differentiator, but at worst they’re a stepping stone to greater things
8. You know most of it already
Here is the headline skills measured, come on, you know at least half of that stuff already, you are half way there
Create and Customize Solutions (10-15 percent)
Customize Entities and Entity Relationships (10-15 percent)
Customize Fields (10-15 percent)
Manage Forms (10-15 percent)
Manage Views (10-15 percent)
Create and Customize Charts and Dashboards (10-15 percent)
Manage Security (10-15 percent)
Manage Business Processes and Rules (10-15 percent)
click here to read the skills needed in more details.
So after reading all that and knowing I am going to create some Video’s and information to help you (AND ME) study for the certification, what excuse can you (I will accept you already having passed the certification) have
I have written about the benefits of certifications before if you still aren’t quite persuaded.
Hosk's Dynamic Blog 