Summary

Implementing CRM is about more than installing a software package. A successful CRM project requires planning, communication, and the participation of all involved parties. Because CRM is a shared corporate system, consensus must be reached among the various players.

Understanding how security and organization works in Microsoft CRM is critical to setting up your system so that it will provide the flexibility you need as you continue to expand its use further into your organization. Microsoft CRM is organized in Business Units that are made up of Users having access to system resources through a system of Roles, Privileges, and Access Levels. Microsoft CRM's tight integration with Exchange and Active Directory promote the concept of an integrated security system where applications leverage the authentication mechanism of the operating system.

Subjects and Products are keys to organizing the data in Microsoft CRM. Understanding the relationship between these concepts and the other records in the system is important in setting up your data in a logical manner.

Email templates provide a great deal of power and potential for efficiency. Templates can be created for specific objects and can merge data from the object and related objects. Templates enable you to personalize your messages, and save you time creating them.