CRM 2013 (Orion): Administration and Management Features in Dynamics CRM 2013

Dynamics CRM 2013 - Administration and Management Updates

Performance Optimisation Feature
Microsoft has released a new feature in Dynamics CRM 2013 to optimise the performance of the Quick Find queries. Every 24 hours, Quick Find Views are processed to add or remove indexes based on the Find Columns.

Dynamics 2013 Best Practises Analyser (BPA)
Best Practises Analyser (BPA) is a diagnostic tool that performs the following

- Gathers information about server roles that are installed on that server.
- Determines if the configurations are set according to the recommended best practises.
- Reports on all configurations, indicating settings that differ from the recommendations.
- Indicates potential problems in Dynamics CRM 2013 server features installed.
- Recommends solutions to potential problems.

PowerShell Changes
Microsoft has made some enhancements to the available PowerShell Commands, remote execution of PowerShell commands is now possible.

Data Encryption
All new and upgraded organisations will have data encryption enabled and cannot be disabled. Data encryption prevents the Database administrator from accessing encrypted data.

Three new privileges to manage SQL encryption

o   Manage SQL Encryption key – Read

o   Manage SQL Encryption key – Change

o   Manage SQL Encryption key – Activate

Yammer Integration
Microsoft introduced Yammer integration with the December 2012 service update for Dynamics CRM Online. With the release of Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft has made the same functionality available for the on-premise deployments. 

Activity Feeds
Activity Feeds is now part of core solution and cannot be un-installed.

When Activity Feeds functionality is enabled for an entity

o   Follow and Unfollow buttons appear on the form.

o   Post tab appears on the social pane within the form.

VSS Writer Service (Data Protection Manager)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 introduces new functionality for backup and restore of Dynamics CRM database through Volume Shadow Copy Service framework. However, it is dependent on System Centre 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM) –earlier versions of System Centre Data Protection Manager are not supported

For more information, Please refer to Microsoft's documentation. 

CRM 2013 (Orion): Known Issues with CRM 2013 as of September 2013

There are some known issues with CRM 2013 as of September 2013, please refer to the link for more details.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/readme.htm

CRM 2013 (Orion): Upgrade

Upgrade/Re-implement Legacy features

The following legacy features will no longer be supported in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013

• CRM 4 plug-ins and custom workflow activities
• CRM 4 client-side scripting
• 2007 web service endpoint
• ISV folder for custom web applications

Following two tools can be used to detect the legacy features/custom code.

Legacy Feature Check Tool - On-Premise Only
It detects the use of the server side code such as CRM 4 plug-ins, custom workflow activities and the ISV folder (for custom web applications). 

Dynamics CRM 2011 Custom Code Validation Tool - CRM Online and On-Premise
This tool is focused on detecting the use of unsupported client-side code in the JavaScript web resources (includes CRM 4 client APIs).

Upgrade Methods

• Migrate by using a new instance of SQL Server (recommended by Microsoft)
• Migrate by using the same instance of SQL Server
• In-place Upgrade (simply run Dynamics CRM 2013 Setup on Dynamics CRM 2011 application server) - Optionally choose to upgrade one organisation database (only one database can be upgraded with the server upgrade), all other organisations will be disabled during the upgrade process and will need to be upgraded separately. 

   The only supported upgrade path to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 is from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

   Refer to Microsoft's documentation for further information.