A New Search Engine Eases the Challenge of Locating Data Across Functions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM

If you're a user of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you probably know how frustrating it can be to have no way of conducting efficient searches.

It was that frustration that led business and technology consulting firm Akvelon Inc. to develop a new, unified search engine for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 that makes locating data within the application a snap, said Sergei Dreizin, CEO of the Bellevue, Wash.-based company.

The new search engine, which can be sold by any reseller, will enable users to search across all entities, fields and records via a Web-like search and navigation. Just one search query will yield results from various data fields, including customers, accounts and activities, according to Dreizin.

"The way the data is organized in CRM is you have different types of objects," he said. "You have leads, you have contracts, you have contacts, you have accounts and anything else you can dream up.  So in the native CRM, the model to search is specific to an object you're currently in. So if I'm inside leads and I do a search, I will find things that are specific only to leads. If I'm inside contacts and I do a search I will only find contacts that match my search query. If I'm in accounts, I will only find accounts that match my query."

So that makes it a little bit difficult if you know what you want to find but you don't know where it is, he said.

Here's an example Dreizin provides: Imagine you know you talked to someone a year ago and you know the company name, but you don't know where it is. So you go into accounts and search, but you ...