6 Steps to Successfully Manage Your Microsoft Dynamics CRM or ERP Environment

At a recent cross-user group session for CRMUG, AXUG, NAVUG, and GPUG, a product manager for a major bank's management group offered attendees several tips on how to manage their Microsoft Dynamics implementation environment. While the recommendations were applied to Dynamics CRM in this case, they will also apply to the strong management and ownership of a range of IT systems.

1. Develop a "long view" strategic roadmap

"Our roadmap is about twelve to eighteen months out and it's our high-level priorities for our system and our application," she says. "We're working now to secure funding for 2016 projects that we want to do. So if we don't know what we want to do in 2016, we're not going to get that funding."

Having a long-term view is going to allow you to set milestones for your team, the speaker says. "It will give you a baseline from which to measure yourself against. Priorities change all the time, but at least if you have a baseline and you broke down what you thought you wanted to do, you can use that to measure yourself against later."

Additionally, if Dynamics CRM integrated with other systems or other partner applications within your company, it's important to have that long view to ensure you are on your partners' roadmaps so you're aligned when you want to do a new integration or make some changes.

2. Actively manage change

Managing change with regard to a system like Dynamics CRM means planning for flexibility and understanding which changes are important enough to require new releases.

"Our environment is very locked ...