The Microsoft CRM Product Team has been hard at work getting ready to deliver CRM “Orion” to the masses. We have heard we will receive the preview releases to begin testing very soon – (NDA-Safe :). We have also heard that Microsoft support was also training on the Orion Release. From Convergence 2013, there’s a lot of items we need to consider when getting ready Orion!

Remember, if you’re running CRM 3/4 you will still have to upgrade to CRM 2011 BEFORE moving to ORION.

Here’s my short list:

1. CRM namespace (jscript with crm.XXX) will no longer work and has been fully depreciated.)

2. Design Considerations for implementing the Process Flow UI – have you seen the process flow
UI available with (CRM Online code name Polaris)? If not, setup a trial or review my Convergence
debrief for screen shots. Sales users absolutely love the new Process Flow UI, great performance gains,
auto saves and one place instead of navigating to leads, accounts and contacts when working on an
opportunity. But consider how your business process can be revised in your existing CRM solution
to take advantage of this feature and the new form design. I expect that new features would only
be available to these new forms similar to the previous CRM Online Polaris release.

3. Consideration for running on SQL 2012 – CRM 2011 supports both 2008/2012 but for your new launch
consider migrating your servers to the latest releases.

4. Consideration for Windows Server 2012 – CRM 2011 supports both 2008/2012 but for your new launch
consider migrating your servers to the latest releases. ADFS 2.1 is also provided for Windows Server 2012,
but be currently not compatible with Online to OnPremise ADFS Federation if needed. (Use ADFS 2.0).

5. Remember to setup your test and development environments first! You will want to completely test this
rollout before deploying to your production servers. Also keep in mind that you need support your existing
CRM installation so a new development environment would be a good choice while you work thru testing Orion.

Stay tuned for more exciting announcements, screen shares and updates as we get closer!