Import has encountered an error and has been canceled

Another error resolving post.

Here's the error:

Import has encountered an error and has been canceled. Your system has been restored to its original state. Import has been canceled because the ISV.Config file could not be imported. Check that the file format is valid.

Also connecting to the CRM Workflow Manager will probably not work. This error message is thrown:

The specified Microsoft CRM server is not responding. This might happen if it is currently unavailable, it is not a Microsoft CRM server, or you are not a valid user. For more information, contact your system administrator.

This is -probably- being caused by incorrect settings in the srf files. Check this by going to the CRM website folder (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\) and browse to the folder MSCRMServices. In that folder open the file bizusersdl.srf in notepad. In that file you do see a folder. Try to browse to that folder by copying the folder name and paste it in Windows Explorer. You'll see that the name is in short format like: c:\progra~1\micros~3\.... This format does not match the location of the crm folder.

I have been able to solve these errors by repairing CRM. Go to the control panel, click add/remove programs and select Microsoft CRM. Then choose for 'Repair'. Another option would be to follow the steps in kb859798 (partner source required). That KB article describes how to reset the .srf mapping in step 8.

Reducing the transaction log file size in MS SQL 2005

In the past, when using MS SQL 2000, it was fairly easy to reduce the file size used by the transaction log. Just backup the transaction log, perform a shrink command and then the file size has dropped to a minimum.

In MS SQL 2005 this won't work. If you do so, then the file might be shrinked a bit, but it is not very small yet. To do this you would need to do the shrink command (including reorganizing the pages to the beginning of the file) before doing the backup and once again after the backup. If you do so, then the file has been really minimalized.

To do this automatically, you would set up a maintenance plan. In that plan it would be sufficient to do a shrink and then the backup.

The reason that you have to shrink the file first has to do with the active log pages and the order of it. For more information on why you need to shrink the file first, take a look at this page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907511

Column on Channelweb

The power of choice. It's one of the powerful marketing slogans Microsoft uses for promoting Microsoft CRM. And it is the title of a column that I wrote for Channelweb. If you go to the website at http://www.channelweb.nl and browse to 'business software', then you'll find my article. Ofcourse you can also go to this link directly: http://www.channelweb.nl/artikel.jsp?id=1906469

The article takes a glimpse in what will be offered as soon as Microsoft released Titan. Warning, it is in Dutch though :)

Update: Here's the English version:
http://ronaldlemmen.blogspot.com/2007/04/english-version-of-column-on-channelweb.html

CRM as Development Platform

One of the questions that Steve Ballmer got after his keynote session was:

Question:
Love where we're going with CRM, it's beautiful. If we look at the CRM platform and generize it, what it really is, is a platform enabling tool. A framework for quickly developing and deploying any type of application. Make it web enabled, webservice enabled, all right out of the box. Do you plan to generize, or let me change that, productize that in a certain way? So... It's not CRM, CRM is the first implementation.

Answer:
Uhm... YES!
But today would not be the day for me to go through any more then that. You were right in understanding the direction and vision and path we need to take. And when we have details, we would certainly be glad to share them. But that is probably not today unfortunately. We're still working some things through.

So:
In the future we'll see what this exactly means...

Update:
Updated this post with the exact question and answer.

CRM Titan Release Date

No I don't have the release date yet, though I'd like to share the update from the Convergence with you. The release date has been set to the end of the year. Altough an exact date is not set, Brad made us believe that the target RTM date will be November, similar to the release of v3.0. I think that they will work as hard as they can to achieve this goal. That could ofcourse mean that features will be removed from scope prior to RTM.

CRM Live screenshots!

Hi all of you,


Just before going to sleep I'd like to share some images with you. They are images I made of the presentation of CRM Live during Steve Ballmers keynote. The presentation was given by Brad Wilson, General Manger for Microsoft CRM. The presentation actually was live from the internet, so these bits are online right at this time in the Microsoft data center! I'll give you some of the pictures that are best and some information around what is on the screen. You can click the images for a detailed image. Unfortunately I didn't had the best place to sit, but these are the best shots I could get off the screen.

After logging in via the Live Passport, Brad got this screen. He was able to select an organisation because he is assigned multiple accounts to multiple organisations. If you only have one organisation to choose from, then this screen will ofcourse be skipped.



This image shows the activity overview screen on the workplace window. The differences with CRM 3.0 as we see on the screen is the button "imports" on the left side of the screen between Calendar and Queues. Another change is the new module "resource center". This is a button under Settings. This resource center allows users to directly access the community and search for answers to their questions.

We can see on the title that the name here is "Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 Community Technology Preview 1". There has not been any statement on the name yet, but it might be CRM 4. It also could become CRM 2008 because it will be released before the end of the year.

This is the last picture which is quite ok. On this shot you can see Steve Ballmer and Brad Wilson looking to the "Service Calendar" in the Service module.

During his presentation Brad mentioned something about Duplicate Detection as well. On the screens of the contacts and accounts, there has been shown a button which stated "Detect Duplicates". Thats all that has been said about this subject for now, but I think it will be great if the same functionality would be in the system as what is in the addon of c360.

Brad also shown the Outlook client for CRM Live. This worked just as fine as the webclient. Also modifications made to the sitemap are immediately replicated to the Outlook client.

Thats about all I have seen on the presentation, so thats all I was allowed to say. I have been said that I'll get access to these bits, if I do so then I'll post some clearer shots of the same screens that were shown today.

Now we just have to wait until the next releases in the TAP program and for some of you even end of the year... But it will be worth the wait!

Good night,

Ronald

Free Dynamics e-courses training

In the Convergence Update 2 I have mentioned that the E-Courses for Dynamics products are becoming available for free if you're inrolled in customersource or partnersource. Another MVP and Mujo who has replied to that posting have informed me that the e-courses are not available yet. They still get an access denied error message.

Now I've been in direct contact with the person in charge with this. He told me that not all the customer accounts got changed correctly. If you do not get access to the e-courses, then send an email to voice@microsoft. In the email make clear that you wish to get access to the dynamics e-courses, your company name as well as your account number (look in voice, accessible from the customer/partner source website).

Try again after confirmation that your account has been changed and start learning. The courses are great, especially for getting started or exam training!

Convergence Update 3

Hi all,

Just before going to sleep I'd like to share some interesting things which became public today. In Brad Wilsons presentation these facts were mentioned:
- Our Titan release is heading for release this year
- Early Titan code is in the hands of our partners trough our Technology Adoption Program (TAP)
- It's available via software bits and Live CRM instances
- TAP releases will continue throughout the year
- Early customer access via Live CRM will start in Q3
- A customer showcase program for a select number of on-premise customers will kick off in Q3
- Full RTM (Release to Market) and RTW (Release to Web) will occur by end of year

The rest is still a big secret, but tomorrow will be the great day. I'm looking forward to Steve's presentation and so should you!

Convergence MVP foto

Here's a picture just made some seconds ago. From left to right: JaAG, Ronald Lemmen, Frank Lee, Scott Colson. Matt Parks is running around somewhere as well, but he didn't make it to the photoshoot.

I'll add some more pictures of the event later.

Convergence Update 2

Another great day in San Diego.

Not too many announcements today yet, but i'm having a great time anyway. Ever since I've been here I've been in contact with a lot of people I mailed with a lot but never saw before. I met a lot of partners, other MVP's, ISV's, Microsoft employees and above all, people who just want to thank me for my active participation in the community.

A nice thing I'd like to share with you is the fact that the e-courses for dynamics products are now available for free (if you're enrolled in customer or partnersource). Take a look at this site: http://dynamics.microsoftelearning.com/catalog/default.aspx.
Together with another MVP I discovered that it didn't work for him, but it will definately be working soon.

Another announcement I forgot yesterday is around C360. They have acquired the rights to sell many applications of other ISV's. These include:
- ImportManager by CRM Extensions
- CRM Mobile by CWR Mobility
- Many others I do not remember :)

More updates to follow soon!

Convergence Update

This event is amazing!

I'm astonished by the set-up of this event, the attendees and all the good news which is being announced. I just attended the keynote session by Satya Nadella. There were made quite some interesting announcements:
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 will be available on March 31 2007
- Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 will be available in June 2007
- Microsoft Dynamics SL 7 will be available in June 2007
- Microsoft Dynamics Client for Microsoft Office and SharePoint® Server, a new Dynamics client, will be released in May 2007
- Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, a new tool set for implementation,
- Online finance community, a new online community being introduced today that enables finance professionals

Just a bit more information on some of the new products.

The Microsoft Dynamics Client for Microsoft Office and SharePoint® Server will be available for GP 10.0, AX 4.0 and SL 7 in May 2007. It will become available for Nav with the 5.1 release. For more information about the announcement see: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/mar07/03-12Day1DynamicsOfficePR.mspx

Microsoft Sure Step is an implementation methodology and a set of tools to make the implementation of Dynamics products a lot more predictable. In the keynote session a tool was shown which reflects a company structure on which you can drill down to each department, employee, process etc.

Online finance community is the first community released by Microsoft which includes blogs, rich forums, tagging, syndication and many other interaction methods. I can't wait for them to set up the community for CRM!

For more information on Sure Step and the new community see this announcement: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/mar07/03-12ConvergenceDayOnePR.mspx

All these announcements were made today, I cant wait for other announcements to be made. I can tell that the sessions on wednesday will be very interesing for CRM users ;) Make sure you're there!