Microsoft Dynamics CRM Analytics Foundation

Microsoft recently released the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Analytics Foundation, a shared-source download for Microsoft CRM customers and partners. The Analytics Foundation is available as a free of charge shared-source download at CodePlex. The current release is in beta and includes sample code, pre-built templates and components, and guidelines for building business intelligence solutions for Microsoft CRM.

I got a chance to see a demo last month in San Diego at the Convergence event for Microsoft Dynamics and speak with the Wan Li Zhu, who is the coordinator of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Analytics Foundation project. It looked good. Wan showed us some very nice OLAP integration with Excel 2007, a service dashboard, lead qualification and sales analysis. The views were very easy to understand and it was all right inside of CRM.

Based on this release and a few of the presentation sessions at Convergence it looks like Microsoft Dynamics is definitely trying to enhance the value of their CRM solution with analytics. Wan Li Zhu spoke with us at the exposition and described the Analytics Foundation as something Microsoft would like to see partners run with. More recently on the CodePlex message board Wan stated that Microsoft is intending to make the Analytics Foundation a product but did not have a schedule to share.

The Analytics Foundation data sheet presents the software as "a suite of business intelligence products that work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0." The CodePlex description of the Analytics Foundation as a "business intelligence solution accelerator" to help partners deliver analytics to customers is more accurate. Wan stated to us that support for the Analytics Foundation was still available only by blog and forum. Based on the communication thus far it does not look like Microsoft is ready to fully support the Analytics Foundation.

That does not mean that the Analytics Foundation is without value to end-users. As a Microsoft Partner and developers of analysis software, we see some great things in the Analytics Foundation to take advantage of to benefit CRM customers. Data analysis by nature is not a cookie cutter solution. Quality results require the analysis to be fitted to specific problems and business processes. When trying to extract useful information out of complex business data, CRM customers that do not have the benefit of in-house analysis experts will want the assistance of partner with experience in analysis and CRM. A good analysis partner will tailor what Microsoft has provided through the Analysis Foundation to address the unique needs and problems of individual organizations.

ProWorks is interested in working with CRM partners and customers who would like to get a head start with CRM analytics. We can help you take advantage of the Analytics Foundation or even create customized analyses designed specifically to meet a special need. ProWorks is particularly interested in the areas of predictive analysis, data mining and analyising unstructured data such as the text found in blogs. Even if you just want to chat about the future direction of CRM analytics, shoot us an email at crm@proworks.com.

Some of the customer benefits of the Analytics Foundation listed by Microsoft include:

• Executives can better track and manage business performance
  through dashboards
• Managers and employees can create reports quickly and
  make better decisions
• Sales, marketing, service employees can identify new opportunities
  to grow revenue and increase efficiency through
  predictive analytics.

Analytics Foundation Requirements:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1
• SQL Server 2005 (Standard or above)
• Internet Information Services (IIS)
• Both .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0
• Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or Windows SharePoint Services with SP2
• Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (required for editing and creating new scorecards)
• Visual Studio 2005
• Excel 2007 (recommended)