Installing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and getting this message.
Resolution turns out to be to create a reverse DNS zone in the DNS Server (on the domain controller in my case). Seems that this zone is not set up by default.
Archive for September, 2009
Microsoft CRM Unable to Browse for Active Directory Objects
Published September 30, 2009 Technical 2 CommentsTags: Active Directory objects, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Solution
PointBeyond at the Microsoft Partner Network 2009
Published September 26, 2009 Business , Technical Leave a CommentTags: Conference, Event, Expenses, Microsoft Partner Network 2009, MPN, Straightforward, Timesheets, Wembley
Meet PointBeyond at the Microsoft Partner Network 2009 event on 7th October 2009 in Wembley, London. This day is promising to be a big and exciting event – possibly the largest one ever held for Microsoft Partners.
Our team at PointBeyond is very pleased to confirm that we will have a “partner pod” on the day.
We look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the event, and presenting our software – Straightforward™ Timesheets and Expenses – which is built by partners for partners.
Holiday tracking with Straightforward Timesheets
Published September 23, 2009 Business , SharePoint Leave a CommentTags: Holiday tracking, PointBeyond, Straightforward, Timesheets for Sharepoint
We are often asked whether Straightforward Timesheets allows one to track holidays. The short answer is yes, it does.
If you set up a project and mark it “internal”, you can then create an activity called, for instance, ”Holidays 2009″.
You can set these activities up to have no overall time limit on them – setting maximum days to Unlimited.
The control of who can book how many days to holidays will come at the next stage – when employees are assigned to the activity. As employees are assigned to activity = “Holiday 2009″, you can specify their holiday allowance as the maximum number of days they can book here. For instance, it might be 25 or 27.
At the end of the calendar year 2009, if days not taken as holiday leave remain on an employee’s account, an Administrator should edit the allowance and zero it out. After that, an employee will not be able to book any more days to “Holidays 2009″.
At the same time, an Administrator should create the next year’s holiday activity on the system – “Holidays 2010″, and allocate employees to it again.
If a carryover of days is allowed in your organisation, days not used up in 2009 can be added to the employee’s holiday balance.
If you have any queries on this, let us know via contact@pointbeyond.com.
Ksenia Woodgate
How do you like your software?
Published September 18, 2009 Business , SharePoint Leave a CommentTags: Back office, Cost control, Expenses, Gross margins, Information transparency, Management, Software, Straightforward, Timesheets
How do you like your software?
Do you like it complex, bespoke and all-encompassing, or suitable to most processes whilst being easy and intuitive to use?
One can argue that in the current climate, giving your business software that delivers many quick wins at a very affordable price is a great approach.
In the current cash- and resource-constrained business environment, good cost control and information transparency are certainly top priorities for any busy manager. This issue can be relevant to any company:
- If your organisation is a relative newcomer but has been rapidly expanding in the past, you might have some complex and time-consuming back office processes that are causing administrative headaches as well as prevent you from understanding the cost drivers early enough
- Even established companies with prior investment in automation and IT can miss out on opportunities if current software stops meeting the needs of an organisation in a changing climate.
On many occasions, PointBeyond have seen the same question come up on businesses’ agenda – how to improve cost control, understand gross profit margins as early as possible, or achieve better visibility of where the employees’ time really goes – all in one place, at a click of a button and without requiring employees to use multiple systems to enter data.
The feedback also suggested that customers who have already rolled out SharePoint wanted to integrate their existing SharePoint intranet site with compatible software that helps bring in back office processes – such as input of timesheets and expenses – under one roof, creating a one-stop-shop.
Another concern that many have is that software tracking time and cost can be too complex, try to do too much and require extensive training. Many people prefer instead to see intuitive easy-to-use out-of-the-box solutions that achieve their main aims easily and inexpensively.
This was the feedback we referred to when developing the Straightforward range of products – Timesheets and Expenses. The goal for the software is to
- Achieve transparency: to help a busy management team get a simple, real-time view of what is going on
- Manage the bottom line effectively: to see where costs are incurred and their impact on margins
- Be user-friendly and cost effective
We continuously look for feedback and new ideas for the next steps with Straightforward range of products, so please tell us what you think!
