How do I access the Outlook-based CRM tools in OWA?
-If a contact is already in CRM, can they be converted to a lead?
- How do I access the Outlook-based CRM tools in OWA? Is there an OWA plugin?
- If an activity (e.g. e-mail, task, appointment) is generated and tracked
in Outlook, what happens if it's deleted in Outlook? Will CRM still keep
track of it?
- If an e-mail is sent from CRM, how come I don't see it in my Outlook Sent
box like all other e-mails sent from Outlook? Is there no synchronization?
- If I add a personal contact to Outlook, then later want to make it a lead,
I have to enter the contents into as a lead. Is there a way to automatically
'promote' this contact in CRM to be a lead? What's the best way to handle
this?
- Can anyone recommend any good CRM forums or mesage boards?
- CRM has been out for awhile. Are there any necessary patches available? I
don't see anything on the Microsoft site.
- What's the best way to backup CRM if we don't have a tape backup? The
documentation is a bit vague especially when SQL Server cannot be backed up
when all its primary service are running.
- What's the process to restore a CRM backup?
A Lead is used in MS CRM to represent someone who you have no idea whether
or not you might have a business relationship with them (like a purchased
address list). Once you have determine they "might" buy from you, you would
convert them to a Contact/Account and possibly an Opportunity. For people
you have existing relationships with, you would then create Opportunities to
represent prospective business. This allows you to eliminate clutter in
your main contact tables with people who you have little hope of selling to.
There are companies that do not even use the Lead object and instead put
everything in as Accounts & COntacts and Opportunites (with a status of
Lead). What you are talking about should probably be an Opportunity as it
is someone you already have some relationship with.
On the "patch" topic, there are Hotfixes available for CRM. However, you
need to be experiencing the spefi issue related to the hotfix in order to
get it from support.
You can also setup a DB Maintennace Plan in SQL Server which will allow you
to backup the DB to a file. You can then make backups of that file.