Dynamics CRM workflow ownership and disappearing tiles issue solved

One

if you have recently changed the ownership of workflows, they might still be referencing their old owners.

We recently had a situation where we changed ownership of a workflow and disabled the old owner, everything looked fine until the workflow was triggered. it failed with an error message having to do with user rights and privileges

How did we resolve the issue? well we found that all you have to do is deactivate the workflow and reactivate it gain, that seemed to clear any references to the old owner and the error messages went away.

Two

if you find that you all the tiles at the top  of the screen are suddenly now showing again click on the button below (see image below), the tiles will suddenly appear. 

This is quite a simple one but caused some confusion as we initially thought the page was not loading correctly.

Dynamics 365 forms loading forever after the upgrade? here's a fix

If your dynamics 365 forms are loading forever after the upgrade to Dynamics 365, try clearing the cache on the browser, the pages should start to load fine after that.

We had the above issue at a clients, and the solution above fixed it.

My theory is that its cookies left behind by the previous version of CRM confusing the application and clearing the cache loads new and updated cookies that are compatible with the new version.

Dynamics CRM 365 Service End Point Changes and You

There has been a lot of confusion about the changes Microsoft has made to its Dynamics crm odata crm 2011 end point, the are even rumors that the endpoint has been removed completely!!

As far as I can tell from check here and here, its not so bad, these are the following things to note.

1. Microsoft is trying to make the Dynamics CRM API more interoperable to allow for more access by mobile devices and other non Microsoft service consumers.
2. In order to achieve the above, a new endpoint has been created called the WEB API end point, it appears in Dynamics 365 in place of the old ODATA end point
3. The new web API end point still uses the ODATA format but with slight modifications to the syntax.
4. The crm 2011 end point has been deprecated, meaning its advised to NOT be used anymore, however is still available to consumers.
5. The old endpoint will be available for while, probably to give consumers time to make any necessary updates.
6. The end game by Microsoft is for the retirement of the other endpoints (CRM 2011 SOAP and REST) endpoints in favour of the new WEB API endpoint.

so what should you do?

1. If you are using the SDK or some other Library for REST or SOAP calls to CRM then getting the latest version of the library should solve the problem. 
2. However it is important to confirm that the library above has been updated to use the WEB API end point and your code also has any necessary changes recommended by the library author.
3. if you made direct calls to the CRM 2011 REST or SOAP endpoints then you should update them asap. 

CCHub disapora challenge - part 1

CCHUB is doing an event christened the diaspora challenge which is designed to start the process of the exploitation of the vast economic potential that the Nigerian diaspora (me and my ilk) have to offer the country.

Its happening on may the 5th 2017 at Facebook London, 10 Brock street, Kings Cross, London, NW13FG, it promises to be fun.

I expect to be there so I may put some of my thoughts in a blog post, probably the part 2 of this post.

Badass Api's released by Microsoft

Amazing news, Microsoft just announced the general availability of some awesome APIs, its called microsoft cognitive services.

Its essentially a service that can be passed queries on the content of images, it can recognize land marks, celebrity faces, emotion on faces and even understand hand writing and convert to text.

Its scary easy to use (see code examples here) and kinda worrying that such power is now available to the masses.

The above just points to the ever speedier move towards full A.I, scary but awesome at the same time..

Great Article on Unified Service Desk or USD

I struggled with figuring out what Unified Service Desk was, this blog post cleared it all up for me.

Turns out its actually an iteration of customer service accelerator (CCA) and customer care desktop (CCD), a set of tools I sparred with a few years ago on a project which took me to Krakow in Poland and Frankfurt in Germany.

Anyways it was nice to see it again and be reminded of the (kind of Frankenstein's monster) product we created from CCA and CCD and the good times I had in Poland and Germany.

Read the article and enjoy

Best time in life to start a start up

my first bog post in while.. over a year!!!

Anyway was just thinking this morning and thought I'd share my thoughts on what I think a lot of people might be struggling with; the best time to quit your job and run your start-up. 

The way I see it there are 2 optimal points in life to try your hand at full time or full income start-up entrepreneurship (a large percentage of your earnings or time devoted to the venture).

The points below are by no means scientific and make major assumptions about what I feel someone a certain age may or may not have achieved.

Undergraduate or fresh graduate (16 – 26 or till you get married or have kids)

Pros

1. No dependents
2. lots of time
3. No major commitments.
4. Lots of energy, zeal, passion and drive.
5. Youth
6. If your business fails no bother, you can always try another venture or become an employee and try again later.

Cons

1. Lack of professional experience
2. Lack of strong professional networks
3. Lack of access to customer base
4. Lack of business management experience
5. Lack of access to capital
6. Possibly small idea mind-set simply because of lack of exposure to your own potentials

35 to 45 years

Pros

1. Fully developed professional experience
2. Strong professional networks
3. Possibly good understanding of business management
4. Greatly improved access to capital, perhaps from savings or business associates
5. Big idea mind-set
6. Likely leadership experience
7. Less risky if there is financial buffer saved over the years
8. If you have been continuing formal education, then more education form degrees, certifications etc.
9. If you have been running business gradually, business might be fully developed and self-sustaining or even very successful by this time
10. Possibly decent family life during the build-up to the switch to full time entrepreneurship, of course depending on how much time and money is devoted to business idea or business on the side.
11. Likely have created a decent life for family and set things on motion for a decent life through the initially risky entrepreneurship cut-over period
12. If your venture fails you can always go back to being an employee, you have the work experience to get you another job

Cons

1. Dependents
2. No time
3. Major commitments to family, friends, work etc.
4. Might watch several big opportunities go by
5. Very risky because failure will might adverse effect on family life.