Working with Microsoft Dynamics(TM) CRM 3.0

We divided Working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 into three parts and eleven chapters. The three parts are:

• Part I: Configuration and Settings Provides a quick overview of the components of Microsoft CRM, and explains how to configure some of the more frequently used parts of the software.

• Part II: Customization Provides deep coverage on modifying Microsoft CRM to match the way your business works. This includes adding new data fields, revising the user interface, creating reports, and automating business processes with workflow.

• Part III: Extending Microsoft CRM Explains how to create custom code that will integrate with Microsoft CRM through its predefined software interface. This section includes lots of code samples and examples that you can implement in your organization immediately.

Obviously, software developers and development managers will get the most benefit from Part III, but we tried to explain the coding and extensions concepts so that anyone can understand the examples, even if you don't understand the coding syntax.

Microsoft CRM 3.0 includes over 1,500 pages of product documentation in resources such as the Implementation Guide, the SDK, the Report Writers Guide, the User Interface Style Guide, and the online Help. Our goal is to focus on the key needs that most companies will have when setting up, customizing, and extending the software, while providing plenty of examples and real-world advice. If you want to learn more about using the software (as opposed to setting up and customizing it), we recommend that you take advantage of the many training options that Microsoft offers, such as E-Learning, classroom training, and the Foundation Library. Because of the book's space constraints, we decided not to repeat any information or samples already covered in the product documentation. Therefore, you'll find that we will frequently refer you to the SDK and the Implementation Guide.

A final point about the organization of this book is that we tried to eliminate any "marketing fluff" so that we can cram as much information as possible into the book. So you're not going to read about why other CRM projects fail, for example, or a discussion about the future of CRM software. We're straight-forward and direct people, so we appreciate it when books present information in the same manner. Hopefully you like this style too.