FW: Lesson Learned from Customers- A Good Article.

Lessons I've Learned from my Customers

 by Cheryl Strege

As a person who has the enviable job of telling other people what to do (in a nice way, of course), one of the basic principles I advocate as a marketing consultant is “listen to your customers.” Too often we become disengaged from our customers while we focus on tackling marketing strategies, tracking metrics, creating presentations, following up on prospects, and 100 other things that can consume our time.

In the last four-plus years of consulting, I’ve had the opportunity to work with numerous wonderful clients (aka Partners and ISVs) and a few less-than-wonderful clients. Every one of them has taught me valuable management lessons, pushed me to learn more, and made me better for the experience. Here are my top five marketing takeaways that you can apply to your own customer base:

Change Your Mindset

Are you part of the team? Or are you regarded as “just a vendor” who is only contacted when absolutely necessary? If you are part of the team, then congratulations! It means you’ve established that “trusted advisor” relationship with your customers that we all desire. It also means that not only will your customers call you when they need your products and services, but they will also talk about you positively with their associates, they will be a great referral or influencer resource, and they will be happy to give you testimonials for your marketing collateral.

If you’re not part of your customers’ team, they will often search for other vendors or resellers when they need something. We all know how easy it is to just pop on the Internet and start looking for the product/service needed instead of calling the Partner. Case in point: one of my clients expressed great frustration to find out that a customer had bought Microsoft Dynamics® CRM from a competitor. When I asked how often this Partner contacted the customer, the answer was, “We check in once a year to see if they need anything.” No wonder the competitor was able to get the business – the original Partner wasn’t even in the running when the customer needed new software.

Don’t Be Afraid to Give

When economic conditions are tough, it can be hard to think about giving something away. After all, you’re concerned about making payroll, paying the bills, supporting the marketing budget, and everything else that comes with running a business. But something I’ve learned from my customers is the value of giving. Sure, it’s likely to mean you’re not going to get paid for some of your time, and that potentially means lost billable revenue. On the positive side, you’ve made an impression on those customers they’re not likely to forget. And better yet, they might even tell one, two, or five more people about it.

However, that shouldn’t be the sole reason you give. Do it because you want to, do it because it’s the right thing, and/or do it because it makes YOU feel good.

Remember to Say “Thank You”

This can be/should be a hugely important part of your relationship with your customers (and your spouse, your children, your friends, and so on). It’s not hard to say thank you when on the phone or in an e-mail, but taking it the extra step is well worth the time.

»» Send a hand-written note of thanks to your client (tuck your business card in it) for their business, for a referral, for a testimonial, or for completing a favorable review of your firm on Microsoft PinPoint™ (www.pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/).

»» Send a gift to commemorate their company anniversary, your company anniversary, or other significant occasion. For example, I sent environmentally friendly water-powered clocks to clients and associates to celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Partner Marketing Group. A personal note of thanks for their support was included.

»» Thank your customers by making a donation to their favorite cause. Everyone benefits (you, the customer, the charity)!

»»Thank your customers for attending functions – user groups, lunch ’n’ learns, launch events – by having the event collateral (presentation, handouts, brochures) on a company-branded jump drive they can take back to the office. Another example: when at Great Plains, we always stashed a few t-shirts or hats behind the booth to thank any customers who happened to stop by and say hello. It doesn’t cost a lot, and people will remember it.

Have Fun

This lesson might seem a bit odd. We all want to have fun working with our customers, don’t we? Examine your attitude: do you convey enthusiasm, excitement, anticipation, and happiness when you’re communicating with a customer? Do they feel appreciated and welcomed when speaking with you? Or do you make them feel like they’ve interrupted your important day, and you’ll get to their questions when you’re good and ready?

When I get on the phone with a client for our weekly marketing call, I’m ALWAYS in a great mood. (Or at least the client should think so.) My customer doesn’t really care if I’m tired, or suffering from a cold, or in the “I don’t feel like working today” mood. Plus, if I act as if I’m cheerful, then it doesn’t take long before I truly am.

NOTE: After you’ve left the meeting, the customer should remember that (a) you were prepared, (b) you were enthusiastic about his/her business, and (c) you had a solution for him/her or will find a solution.

See You Around

My local Sunday newspaper has a section called “See You Around.” The roving photographer takes photographs of people at events, ice cream socials, fun in the park, craft fairs, and the like. Readers examine this section closely each week to see if they or their friends show up in the photos.

Do your customers “see you around”? Are you featured in any press releases or customer stories? Do you participate in networking functions at your local Chamber of Commerce or Small Business Administration? Do you hold user group meetings or a holiday gathering so you can personally meet with your customers? Do you advertise in the publications or on the Web sites where your customers are reading?

Take that one step further – in a virtual way. Are you connected to your customers via LinkedIn or Twitter? Do you write a blog or send a newsletter so they can see you around (online)?

All in all, my lessons learned are probably not much different from the ones you already know. It all goes back to the concept of nurturing the relationship with the customer. You don’t have to “friend them” (to use a Facebook term), but they do want to know you’re more than just a salesperson looking at your own bottom line.

Remember, you have the ability to create the experience a customer has with you. After all, they can get “debits and credits” from anyone up the street. Customers buy the experience (you and your team!) in addition to the product you’re selling. If it is a good experience before, during, and after the sale, that customer will keep returning, referring, and being your biggest asset. If you incorporate the five lessons above into your customer marketing, you’ll notice the results!

 

Thanks & Regards,

 

Muhammad Sajid,

Manager Projects-South,

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Arabic AX 2009 Online Help

Dynamics AX 2009 Help available in Arabic

 

The AX 2009 Online Help (in Arabic) is available for download from the site below:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e3ef211e-5e0e-409d-9708-5381823fe79f

 

(Change the language to Arabic to see the translated download page.)

 

An Update from AX Decisions 2009

 

With AX Decisions 2009 just a month away on Wednesday October 14th, we'd like to share some of the developments that are getting us so excited about this virtual conference and trade show.

Where to start? How about the tremendous variety of timely and strategic sessions that will inform, educate, and hopefully motivate you to improve the quality and value of your AX investment. Leading off is Ray Wang's Keynote on maximizing your Dynamics ERP investment in tough economic times, and Jeff Onesto and Cindy Jutras's talk on the rise of the Dynamics AX "Value Engineer". And for anyone interested in lean manufacturing, we're fortunate to have one of the true thought leaders on lean manufacturing for AX, Dr. Scott Hamilton.

And we can't say enough about the support and participation of Microsoft leaders including Crispin Read and Kees Hertogh. They'll share the latest views on maximizing value with AX, as well as looking to the future of the product. The goal of this conference from the start was to bring the most timely analysis and strategy of the times in which we live, and we think our speakers live up to that goal. Even better, all the general sessions will be taking questions live. When is the next time you'll have direct access to so many leading Dynamics thinkers from both inside and outside of Microsoft?

There's also the opportunity to talk to representatives from leading vendors for AX add-on solutions in the expo hall. Their sponsorships are what makes this event free to the attendees. And if you consider that these vendors probably have some of the deepest knowledge in their respective competencies, it's worth attending just to get a chance to meet them without the hassle and expense of a physical show.

And don't forget about the great opportunities to connect with your fellow attendees - people who are as interested, informed, and passionate as you about Dynamics AX. Chat about sessions, vendors, and any other AX topics that are your mind.  The virtual conference experience is more than presentations and sponsors, it's about connections with people who share your interests.  If you haven't had a chance, take 3 minutes to view a demo of the virtual environment.

We'll check in again with more thoughts and updates before the live event.  We hope you are anticipating the event as much as we are.  See you there!

Best Regards,
The AX Decisions Team

Support Alert ....!!! How to correct posted transactions that have incorrect exchange rates without reversing each transaction individually in Microsoft Dynamics AX

How to correct posted transactions that have incorrect exchange rates without reversing each transaction individually in Microsoft Dynamics AX

 

Example

In this example, you post a transaction that has an incorrect exchange rate, as follows:

1.	You set the exchange rate as follows: a. Click General ledger, expand Setup, and then click Exchange rates. b. In the Exchange rates dialog box, select EUR, enter the start date in the "Exchange rate" form, and then enter the exchange rate in the "Exchange rate" form. In this example, you set the following exchange rate: 110 United States dollars (USD) = 100 euros (EUR)
2.	You create a free text invoice for customer 4033. The invoice is for 100 euros. Note To open the Free text invoice dialog box, click Accounts receivable, and then click Free text invoice.
3.	You post this free text invoice. Then, you discover that the exchange rate is incorrect. The correct exchange rate should be the following exchange rate: 105 USD = 100 EUR

 

How to correct transactions

To correct posted transactions that have incorrect exchange rates, follow these steps:

1.	Change the "EUR exchange rate" from 110 to 105 for the period when the incorrect transactions were posted. To do this, click General ledger, expand Setup, and then click Exchange rates.
2.	Use the following information to run the Standard method: • The correct exchange rate date • The posting date • The dimension setup • The posting profile from the customer or from the selected account • To run the Standard method, click Accounts receivable, expand Periodic, and then click Exchange adjustment.

The accounts receivable exchange rate adjustment keeps 100 euros as the balance for the customer. However, a zero euro transaction that has a currency rate adjustment of five dollars is created for customer 4033 in the general ledger. The "customer control" account is credited, and the unrealized "exchange rate loss" account is debited.

 

 

Faiqa Usman

Support Manager

Maison Consulting & Solutions ||Your ERP/CRM Partner|| Microsoft Gold Certified || MBS President Club 2008

 

 

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Support Alert....!! Allocating transactions in AX2009

Allocation is the process of distributing monetary amounts to one or more accounts or account/dimension combinations based on allocation rules. There are two types of allocations—fixed and variable. Fixed allocation is used to distribute specified percentages of a transaction amount to distribution accounts/dimensions.

For example, corporate advertising expenses might be shared across specific departments. Department A would get 70 percent of the advertising expense, Department B would get 20 percent, and Department C would get 10 percent.

Variable allocation is used to distribute fluctuating percentages of a transaction amount to various accounts/dimensions.

For example, you could allocate corporate advertising costs based on each department's sales in proportion to total departmental sales.

The following allocation methods are available:

·         Basis

·         Fixed percentage

·         Fixed weight

·         Spread even

Create allocation rule source information

1. Click General ledger > Setup > Posting > Ledger allocation rule.
2. Click the Source button to open the Ledger allocation rule source form.
3. Press CTRL+N to create a new source line.
4. Select to allocate from an account or from an account-dimension combination.
5. If you selected Dimension in the Field setting field, select a dimension.
6. Enter the account or dimension source criteria information to allocate from. You can use wildcards to specify ALL, a RANGE, or a LIST of accounts or dimension codes, or BLANK for a dimension.

For example, suppose that you want to allocate a utility expense, such as phone and fax costs, and the chart of accounts is set up so that a ledger account starting with 61 indicates that the account is where utilities expenses are posted. You could define the source criteria as one of the following.

• 61*
• 6100..6110
• 6100, 6110

Create allocation rule destination information

1.      Click General ledger > Setup > Posting > Ledger allocation rule.

2.      Click the Destination button to open the Ledger allocation rule destination form.

3.      If this rule is an intercompany rule, select the company to allocate to.

4.      Select the account to allocate to.

5.      Select a department, cost center, and purpose dimension to allocate to.

6.      Depending on the allocation method selected in the Ledger allocation rule form, enter or select the following information.

o    If the allocation method is Basis, select the basis ID to associate to the destination line.

o    If the allocation method is Fixed weight, enter the fixed weight to assign to each destination line.

o    If the allocation method is Fixed percentage, enter the fixed percentage to assign to each destination line.

Use the Process allocation request form to create an allocation journal.

1.      Click General ledger > Periodic > Process allocation request.

2.      Select an allocation rule.

3.      Select the date to include ledger amounts for allocation in the As of date field.

4.      Select the date to post the allocation journal to the general ledger in the GL posting date field.

5.      Select the action to be taken if a zero source amount is generated during the allocation process.

o    Select Process to create destination distributions, where applicable.

o    Select Stop to create an error to indicate that a zero source amount is selected and stop the allocation process.

6.      Select to view the journal details or post the allocation results directly to the general ledger.

7.      Click OK to create an allocations journal.

 

Faiqa Usman

Support Manager

Maison Consulting & Solutions ||Your ERP/CRM Partner|| Microsoft Gold Certified || MBS President Club 2008 |faiqaq@m-consultants.com|http://www.m-consultants.com

 

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Support Alert ....!!!! How to print a Balance Sheet for 2009 when 2008 is an open year using FRx CRM:0027329

How to print a Balance Sheet for 2009 when 2008 is an open year using FRx

To print a Balance Sheet by using FRx for the year 2009 when 2008 is an open year with regard to the Column Layout of your report, follow these steps. The Row Format and the Tree (if applicable) have already been created.

Important The report date should be set to the current date.

 

1.	Create a DESC column.
2.	In the Column Layout, you need a GL Actual Column with the Fiscal Year set to 2008 or BASE-1 (if the user date is XX/XX/2009). The Period Code will be 1 TO 12, and CurrentPer/YTD will be YTD. The Print Control for the column will be NonPrint (NP).
3.	Create another GL Actual Column with the Fiscal Year set to 2009 or BASE (if your user date is XX/XX/2009). The Period Code will be BASE and the CurrentPer/YTD will be YTD. The Print Control for the column will be NonPrint (NP).
4.	Create a CALC column. In the Calc Formula cell, enter the calculation B+C (assuming that your GL Columns are B and C). By using this kind of Column Layout, this report yields information for all of 2008 + the current balance through the end of the period in which the report date falls.

 

 

Faiqa Usman

Support Manager

Maison Consulting & Solutions ||Your ERP/CRM Partner|| Microsoft Gold Certified || MBS President Club 2008 |faiqaq@m-consultants.com|http://www.m-consultants.com

 

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Support Alert ....!!!! How to Reverse Packing Slip

How to reverse a packing slip updated sales order?

This can be done using 'Deliver now' field on the sales order line, Quantity tab page.

You need to specify a negative quantity value in the 'Deliver now' field and then post the packing slip for the sales order again (remember to set the Quantity parameter to 'Deliver now' on the posting packing slip dialog). This will revert the sales order's inventory transactions with status 'Deducted' to the status 'On order'.

Figure 1. 'Delivery now' field on the sales order line

Figure 2. 'Quantity' parameter in the posting packing slip dialog.

The same functionality exists for purchase orders, but the field where the negative quantity is to be specified in order to revert a packing slip updated purchase order is called 'Receive now'.

 

 

Faiqa Usman

Support Manager

Maison Consulting & Solutions ||Your ERP/CRM Partner|| Microsoft Gold Certified || MBS President Club 2008 |faiqaq@m-consultants.com|http://www.m-consultants.com

 

FW: Support Alert ...!! Folder Structure in Dynamics AX4

What is the folder structure in Dynamics AX4?

The installation of Dynamics AX 4 consists of three main parts:

1) Server installation

2) Client installation

3) Application installation

The path to the installation folders may be changed in the Dynamics AX Setup Wizard. However, if the default paths are used and all three parts are installed on the same machine, then the folder structure will look like below:

Figure 1. Microsoft Dynamics AX 4 folder free.

Folder description:

Application\Appl - contains the application files (business logic) and label files (.ald) for each language. The main application file is Ax<Layer ID>.aod containing the entire application (X++) code per layer.

Application\Appl\Standard\Db - MSDE database files.

Application\Appl\Standard\Tmp - Temporary files generated by the system.

Application\Appl\Standard\Old - during an upgrade the old application files are copied here.

Client\Bin - executable, dll files used on the client side and language dependent text files (.ktd) used by executables.

Server\DynamicsAX\Bin - executable, dll files used on the server side and language dependent text files (.ktd) used by executables. Note, 'DynamicsAX' here is an instance name specified during the Dynamics AX setup. By default it is 'Company1', but it can be changed to something more meaningful.

 

 

Faiqa Usman

Support Manager

Maison Consulting & Solutions ||Your ERP/CRM Partner|| Microsoft Gold Certified || MBS President Club 2008 |faiqaq@m-consultants.com|http://www.m-consultants.com

Maison is now on Twitter

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Introduction of New Maisonians

Maison is apace flourishing; here we have few new people with us on this platform. We anticipate their hard work and allegiance towards the organization which will play an active role in the achievement of organization’s vision

From now along with us in future we have Mr. Azwar Alam who joined Functional Department at Karachi as a Functional Consultant; Mr. Faisal Noor Hussain joined Functional Department at Lahore as a Functional Consultant, Mr. Mohsin Akram joined Functional Department at Lahore as Junior Functional Consultant. Mr. Jawad Saleem joined us in Customization Department. Mr. Taha Tazeem will render his services for Human Resource Department as a HR Coordinator.

 

Mr. Jawad Saleem is having experience in MeteSys Corporation who are in the business of ERP (Enterprise Resource planning) development. Having a valuable knowledge of C#, C++, PHP and ASP.NET. He is having a confident and energetic personality.

 

Mr. Faisal Noor Hussain is well experienced in Managing, Business development, software designing, development, testing, implementation, integration, upgrading and technical Client supports form last six years. Acquires great technical skills in Visual Basic 6.0/5.0, Visual Basic .NET, MS SQL Server 7.0/2000 2005, MS-Access and Oracle.  He is a confident and knowledgeable person.

 

Mr. Azwar Alam was working in RFM Loyalty  as a developer; he is having over two years of development experience in several Microsoft applications, such as Visual Basic, .NET, SQL Server, ASP etc. He is a valuable addition to the leading team of Maison.

 

Mr. Mohsin Akram was working in National Telecommunication Corporation in Budget and Accounts department. Having sound and firm grip on accounting as he is a Certified Accounting Technician. 

 

We have a fresh and dynamic arrival in our Human Resource Department, Mr. Taha Tazeem as we hope that he will perform his tasks effectively and efficiently. He has confident personality and good interpersonal communication style.

 

 

We welcome them all on joining this generous family.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Affan Farooqi

HR Executive

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Rules for Making a Good Impression.

Among the seven suggestions: Respond to e-mails within 24 hours. And don't use business cards as cues to bombard new contacts with pitches.

 

By Carmine Gallo

Here are seven rules that will guarantee a strong first impression and a powerful, lasting one.

Rule #1: Respond within 24 Hours

During the course of researching my next book, I came across an interesting trend. The people who run the most successful companies are the most responsive. When I leave a voice message or send an e-mail these individuals get back to me immediately with information, whether they're at the office or traveling. One woman who oversees 5,000 employees makes it a policy to respond to e-mail within 24 hours. She says her responsiveness provides a model for her employees. If she responds quickly to employee questions or concerns, they in turn understand the importance of getting back to customers in a short amount of time.

Even if you don't have an immediate answer, acknowledge receiving an e-mail or voice message within 24 hours or less, and let the person know you're considering the request or taking action on it.

Rule #2: Greet People with Enthusiasm

When a customer or employee calls and you choose to answer, it implies that you have time to talk. Far too many people continue to multitask during phone conversations. Those of us on the other end of the line can sense it, especially when you give one-word answers to our questions and we hear typing in the background!

Give your customers and employees your full attention. Greet them like you're sincerely excited to hear from them. And if the time isn't right, be professional enough to set a later time to give them your full attention.

Rule #3: Make Eye Contact

In conversations with customers or employees, look them in the eye. I know you might love your Blackberry, but please refrain from checking your device during the conversation. Think about how it makes you feel when the person you're talking to continually takes her eyes off you to check out other people in the room. I'll tell you how I feel—like it's a waste of time to even finish the conversation.

Give customers and employees your full attention. It makes people feel as though their opinions and insights are valued. It will help you make a powerful and lasting impression.

Rule #4: Leave Smart Voice Messages

First of all, don't leave long, rambling messages with your phone number at the end. Keep the script concise. Leave your name, time you called, and phone number at the beginning. Repeat the phone number at the end, s-l-o-w-l-y. There's also nothing worse than a drawn out game of phone tag. It can't hurt to leave a specific time when you can be reached. Of course, if you leave a time, be there to answer the call!

Rule #5: Respect Contacts

A conference organizer recently told me attendees have started complaining about fellow participants who treat business cards they have picked up at booths as open invitations to cram in-boxes with solicitations. If someone gives you a card, it's an invitation to begin a conversation. It isn't permission to leave a constant bombardment of e-mail sales pitches under the guise of "newsletters." It's also not an invitation to send 10-MB files that explain what your business does.

Rule #6: Mind Your E-Mail

Speaking of e-mail, keep your correspondence concise. Time is limited. Use a subject line with no more than three to five words that grab your reader's attention. Give the pertinent information in the first line or two, and keep your correspondence to one or two short paragraphs (unless of course a detailed memorandum is expected). Also, don't forget to use proper punctuation and grammar. The spell-check function exists on your computer for a reason. Use it.

Rule #7: Remember Small Touches

When was the last time you received a handwritten note? I bet you remember it. I do. After a brief conversation with the chief executive officer of a well-known franchisor, I was surprised to receive an envelope in the mail with a short handwritten thank-you note along with several coupons for his product. The coupons were for small amounts, but the gesture left a big impression on me.

My insurance and financial planning adviser gets plenty of business from me because of numerous, small touches during the year. Several times a year I can expect to receive a handwritten note, a short voice message, or a copy of an article that I might find valuable given what he knows about my interests. None of these touches are accompanied by a hard sell, but I wouldn't consider bringing my business to anyone else.

Business is far too competitive to risk making a bad impression. But it's not that hard to make a positive one. Just think about the way you like to be treated as a client. Follow these seven rules to stand apart.

For more information about this article please visit http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2007/sb20070425_158557.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

 

 

Warmest Regards,

Faisal F. Bin Zarah | فيصــل فهــد بــن زرعـــه

Marketing Manager | Samama Technologies

IIS 7.0 Features

IIS 7.0 New features

Wondering what the new features in IIS 7.0 going to be? Here you go! you can get a glimpse of IIS 7.0 in this article.

     IIS7 will ship with both Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server. It's obvious that Microsoft has put a lot of time and effort into this release and you can expect IIS7 to be the platform of choice as soon as people can get their servers upgraded. It includes a several new functionalities with very rich integration with ASP.NET.

Feature 1: HttpModules and HttpHandlers can participate in all the requests i.e we can have a ASP.NET HttpModule for a JSP or PHP page even. Building HTTPmodules for authentication, authorization, logging, url-rewriting, auditing now will be very easy with .NET.

Feature 2: ASP.NET configuration can be integrated with IIS. IIS now uses the same web.config configuration model, which means you can have both configure ASP.NET and IIS in a single web.config file. You can now set things like default pages, IIS security, logging, etc within a web.config file and xcopy/ftp it to a server.

Feature 3: This has an integrated Admin UI tool that can manage both IIS and ASP.NET settings. Rich GUI supports settings for Membership, Roles and Profile providers. This tool also supports remote delegated admin over http -- which means you can point the rich-client admin tool at a shared host server and manage your users/roles/profile settings remotely over http.

Feature 4: It provides better request auditing and error debugging. A new functionality called "Failed Request Event Buffering" (affectionately known as "FREB") is introduced. This allows administrators to configure applications to automatically save request information anytime an error occurs during a request, or if a request takes longer than a specified amount of time to complete. This allows us to analyze what exactly happened during a request failure and what errors or exceptions have occurred. This can capture tracing messages generated within ASP.NET or within any component or class library that uses System.Diagnostics -- which makes it much easier for developers and admins to instrument and analyze what is going on with systems at runtimes.

Feature 5: It provides better configuration APIs and command-line tools. In addition to new config and admin APIs, we now have a great command-line admin story that you can use to set/modify/retrieve all configuration information as well as manage the server (start/stop individual apps, lookup their health state, register new apps, refresh SSL certs, etc). The class hierarchy in brief can be figured as:

A code snippet uses the new .NET APIs to query IIS7 to list the active worker processes on the computer. It also lists the Requests and other details about the request like Url, Clinet IP address ..etc.

ServerManager iisManager = new ServerManager();
 
 

foreach(WorkerProcess w3wp in iisManager.WorkerProcesses) 
 
 

{
 
 

    Console.WriteLine("W3WP ({0})", w3wp.ProcessId);
 
 

    foreach (Request request in w3wp.GetRequests(0)) 
 
 

    {
 
 

        Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1},{2},{3}",
 
 

        request.Url,
 
 

        request.ClientIPAddr,
 
 

        request.TimeElapsed,
 
 

        request.TimeInState);
 
 

    }
 
 

}

Feature 7: Let us examine the new management UI. Here's what the new IIS Manager looks like:

The first thing to notice is the new "Features View" which is shown above. While you can still use the "Content View" to show the files that make up your Web Site in the main pane of the tool, most of the time you'll be using the "Features View" to change site and application settings.

Feature 8: "Actions" pane is a task-based pane shows you the most common tasks that are related to the currently selected object. For example, here's a close up of the "Actions" pane as it looks when the "Default Web Site" is the currently selected object.

 

The contents of the "Actions" pane will naturally change as the selected object changes, but this pane is where you'll generally find links that lead you through most of your common admin tasks.

Feature 9: Modular Architecture


Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere for the past few years, you've heard about all the problems that IIS has had when it comes to security. In earlier versions of IIS, it was either installed or it wasn't. If IIS was installed then all the features were installed. In an attempt to minimize potential vulnerability, in IIS 6, the majority of features were disabled by default, but they still got installed. This time around Microsoft has taken the next logical step. IIS7 is almost completely modular. Take a look at the installation screen:

Now granted, I've installed everything to play around with it all, but on a production server, you now have the flexibility to install only the features you need. That way if you don't use CGI, then you don't need to worry about some new bug that someone finds in the CGI handler. You also won't need to install a patch and reboot, because the affected code was never even installed on your server so there's nothing to patch!

Pakistan partner newsletter - Maison Consulting & Solutions news

 

Partners in motion | October 08

Kamal Ahmed's Message Pakistan's economy has slowed down after a period of massive growth. In the next two years, businesses will focus on cost cutting and removing inefficiencies from their operations. Investments in capacity expansion will slow down and businesses will consolidate their IT infrastructures. Microsoft, in collaboration with its partners, is driving initiatives to promote infrastructure optimization efforts so that businesses can be more efficient in their systems and processes. This slowdown will give businesses an ideal opportunity to gain a competitive edge over their competitors by investing in a reliable and scalable IT infrastructure which will be well in place by the time the economy gets back on track again. The local IT sector has come a long way from being an outsourcing destination for big IT industries for low value added jobs. Pakistan's IT sector can now deliver bigger projects in a more reliable and efficient manner in the international market. In the next few years, more and more international projects should come our way, enabling us to earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. The overall economy is under strain and this compels the businesses to cut down their costs. Pakistan's IT sector can bring in the much needed realization that an effective and dependable IT infrastructure can help control costs and provide a much needed competitive advantage to the local companies. Pakistan's IT sector should focus on attracting international businesses to adopt Pakistan's IT companies for their IT requirements. This will enable our IT sector to stay abreast with the latest IT technologies and practices and bring in the much needed foreign exchange for the country. Kamal Ahmed Country General Manager Microsoft Pakistan

Through Partner Marketing Dear Valued Partner, Through Partner Marketing (TPM) is a concept for our valued partners to generate revenue and active pipeline of customers for achieving their revenue targets. The main objectives of the TPM's are to: ·         Generate PQPs (Partner Qualified Prospect) from the Target Market. ·         Enable Partners to educate prospects about Microsoft Solutions and Products (based on customer campaigns). ·         Enable Partners to identify and interact with potential new customers. ·         Show that Microsoft Pakistan supports its partners and the Industry by being present in such events. ·         Introduce Microsoft Solutions to customers through our managed Partners in Pakistan. ·         Activate the Microsoft Partner Marketing Center which includes all the Microsoft Customer Campaigns for partners to use in their marketing efforts. To easily and cost-effectively execute the campaigns, Microsoft has created customizable marketing templates such as, emails, business letters, flyers and postcards for direct marketing and event and online resources for generating leads through event and online marketing activities. ·         Revenue opportunities approximately can be USD7000 per deal with approx 40% success ratio. What do you need to run a Through Partner Marketing (TPM) Campaign: ·         TPM is a small event of 10 - 15 customers, you can invite them at your premises or if required this can be accommodated at Microsoft Pakistan office in Karachi and Islamabad. ·         It should be an event of 2 - 3 hours with the following agenda; Customer Promotion - Explain which customer promotions are active and how a customer can get the benefit out of it, or we can highlight any other specific Microsoft product which needs to be focused on specific customer accounts Product Presentation - Arrange a technical resource from your organization to present on the MS Products which are being offered. ·         You can access Partner Marketing Center through MSPP portal to run customer campaigns. All partner levels can get the customizable marketing templates such as, emails, business letters, flyers and postcards for direct marketing and events such as TPMs. ·         You will require to invite 30 potential customers to get the attendance of 15 customers per TPM. ·         Kindly follow-up with all your customers after sending the invitation with the final agenda. Every partner needs to ensure that the customers have confirmed their availability and will be punctual for the events. Prompt follow-ups are key to success on such events. ·         Quality Criteria - 85% of our customer audience should be converted into PQPs. Every partner should call potential customers who are easy to convert into PQPs and will help in closing the deals accordingly. ·         Every partner needs to draft a feedback form for generating PQPs and share the excel sheet with the relevant Partner Account Manager (PAM) in Microsoft Pakistan. What does Microsoft Pakistan Expect from a Partner: ·         Each managed partner is required to do one TPM every quarter. Partners who have presence in other cities will also do one TPM every quarter in each of the other major cities. ·         Each managed partner will generate PQPs for Microsoft Pakistan. ·         Minimum 40% success ratio of the PQPs generated through TPMs. ·         Average deal size should be US$7,000   Certified Partners for Learning Solutions (CPLS) in Pakistan KalSoft Academy http://www.ekalsoft.com Farhan Usman +9221 5393291-3 +92 322 2703208 academy@ekalsoft.com CTTC (Pvt) Ltd http://www.cttc.net.pk Farrukh Nizami +9221 4310956-58 +92 300 8219943 enrollment@cttc.net.pk New Horizons Pakistan http://www.nhpakistan.com.pk Muhammad Enam Ur Rehman +9221 4382352-4 +92 300 3374553 enam.rehman@nhpakistan.com Expert Academy http://www.expertacademy.pk Mubbashir Ahmad +92 321 5173655 info@expertacademy.pk For more information on Certified Partners for Learning Solutions (CPLS) in Pakistan, contact Taimur Mughal at i-tamm@microsoft.com Microsoft Consulting Services In order to facilitate our partners to help position Microsoft Solutions with a proven and tested delivery team, MCS (Microsoft Consulting Services) brings the valued Microsoft based business intelligence solution packaged as MEC (Microsoft Enterprise Cube) offering to customers/partners in PK. This offering is primarily owned by MCS but Microsoft partner can help sell this effective service to customers and help leverage a great revenue and sales opportunity both from licenses and services. More details as follows: Success in the highly competitive telecommunications industry can be determined by a service provider's ability to measure its business performance. Most service providers have vast amounts of subscriber data stored in enterprise resource planning systems, customer relationship management systems, database warehouses, and similar systems. However, these systems frequently operate in isolation, and integrating them is expensive, complex, and time consuming. This disconnected infrastructure causes service providers to spend a significant amount of time analyzing data to identify: ·         Subscribers who spend the most on services. ·         Subscribers who dilute profits. ·         Services that improve subscriber loyalty. ·         Services which are underused. Service providers need a simple, cost-effective solution that overlays existing systems and aggregates disparate information into a single viewpoint. This would allow every analyst in the organization to understand who is using which services, and how, when, and where these services are being used. Microsoft® Enterprise Cube (MEC) is a solution that helps service providers bring their disparate information together. This flexible, easy-to-use business performance management solution provides deep insight into existing processes and subscriber behaviors, and helps service providers reduce overhead while improving customer management. Built on familiar Microsoft technology, the solution also supports a low total cost of ownership (TCO), provides data models that help service providers comply with corporate standards, and addresses the long-term needs of the telecommunications industry.   For more information refer to the datasheet on Microsoft Enterprise Cube or contact Fareed Mohammed Khan on fareedmk@microsoft.com Maison Consulting & Solutions Makes it to Microsoft Dynamics President Club MAISON CONSULTING & SOLUTIONS has been named to the 2008 Microsoft Dynamics President's Club, receiving recognition from Microsoft Corp. for its dedicated commitment to customers. This honor reflects Maison's success in extending the Microsoft Dynamics platform to drive business advantages in companies across Pakistan. This recognition came during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston. The elite club recognizes the top 5 percent of Microsoft Business Solutions partners worldwide and their constant dedication to delivering solutions that meet their customers' unique needs, active pursuit of product and technological advancement, and impressive sales performance. "Microsoft is Pakistan proud to congratulate Maison Consulting & Solutions on being named to this year's Microsoft Dynamics President's Club," the only partner to receive this honor from Pakistan. Maison not only has demonstrated a high level of product expertise, but also has provided a superior level of service and commitment to our Microsoft Dynamics customers, ultimately contributing to the overall success of Microsoft Dynamics and companies worldwide." Maison Consulting & Solutions (http://www.m-consultants.com) is a leading Business Solutions company involved in the implementation of Dynamics ERP and CRM solutions offering a wide array of cost-effective, personalized services to help your organization meet its business goals. About Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and a supply chain management solution that helps businesses work more effectively. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire business.   Virtualization from Desktop to the Datacenter For a fact, computing has become more ubiquitous, more powerful and more portable and has dramatically improved businesses' ability to provide employees with the capabilities needed to capitalize on new opportunities. At the same time, however, the cost and complexity of managing all of this has never been higher. For IT departments, the result is a growing number of contradictory requirements: agility and ease of access vs. security and compliance; performance vs. cost; innovation vs. reliability and continuity. In many ways, the biggest challenge that IT professionals face today is resolving the tension inherent in trying to create an information infrastructure that provides both flexibility and control. This is where the concept of 'virtualization' settles in. Virtualization is the act of isolating or unbinding one computing resource from others. It is to be applied to all layers of a computing stack, from the data center to the desktop. Rather than locking the various layers together - the operating system (OS) to the hardware, the application to the OS, and the user interface to the local machine. This concept of virtualization, however, is not as new as some people may think: virtual machine technology for time-sharing on mainframes dates back to the 1960s. It's the confluence of challenging business demands and the emergence of virtualization technologies that span the entire stack and has paved way for virtualization to emerge as an essential for today's organizations. The benefits; Virtualization is a transformational technology that, if effectively employed, can help companies create IT systems that are not only highly efficient and cost effective, but that have the self-awareness to adapt automatically and instantly to deliver the capabilities needed as business conditions change. Virtual Machine technology is one of the most exciting and transformative technologies to change the cost of IT infrastructure. Enhanced administrative productivity and responsiveness- Virtualization enables IT organizations to enhance their administrative productivity and rapidly deploy new servers to address changing business needs. Efficient use of hardware resources- Virtual machine isolation and resource management enable multiple workloads to coexist on fewer servers, allowing organizations to make more efficient use of their hardware resources. Increasing operational agility- Virtual Machine Manager provides a mechanism to enable functionality such as rapid server provisioning, rapid recovery, and scalable migration capability to make the overall virtual infrastructure robust and easy to manage. Intelligent Placement: Virtual Machine Manager brings a deep and holistic approach to placement and combines the knowledge from historical performance data of the virtual workload and the intelligence about the virtual host system. Self-service provisioning: Virtual infrastructure is commonly used in test and development environments where there is consistent provisioning and teardown of virtual machines for testing purposes. With Virtual Machine Manager, administrators can selectively extend self-provisioning capabilities to user groups and be able to define quotas. Microsoft's Strategy for Virtualization The Microsoft datacenter-to-desktop virtualization strategy enables businesses to leverage virtualization benefits throughout the organization. Hyper-V is an integral part of the overall Microsoft virtualization strategy. Microsoft's virtualization strategy includes five key components: ·         Server virtualization, enabling multiple servers to run on the same physical server   ·         Presentation virtualization, enabling remote users to access their office desktops or server-based applications   ·         Desktop virtualization, enabling desktop operating systems to be consolidated into the datacenter   ·         Application virtualization, helping to prevent conflicts between applications on the same PC   ·         Comprehensive management, tying virtual components into the same management tools used to monitor and control physical components   Server Virtualization Microsoft has two server virtualization offerings: Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008, and Virtual Server 2005 R2. Hyper-V extends virtualization capability to manage 32-bit Virtual machines alongside 64-bit Virtual machines, enable Virtual machines to access larger amounts of memory, and enable Virtual machines to leverage multiple processors. Virtualization is a key feature of the operating system and helps customers get complete isolation of the different virtual machines and still benefit from server consolidation. Presentation Virtualization Presentation virtualization is a technology that enables applications to execute on a remote server, yet display its user interface locally. Microsoft's presentation virtualization technology, Microsoft Terminal Services, enables remote users to connect to their office desktops from anywhere in the world, taking full advantage of applications, resources, and familiar interfaces even from computers with different operating systems or system capabilities. Administrators can access system management tools from remote locations, for example, or applications can be run on a server and accessed by remote users. Presentation virtualization enables customers to centralize and secure data, reduce cost of managing applications, reduce test costs for compatibility between the OS and applications, and potentially improve the performance of systems overall. Desktop Virtualization When server virtualization is used host client OSes for remote access, this approach is often called desktop virtualization. While the principles of desktop virtualization are similar to server virtualization, this approach can be useful in a variety of situations. One of the most common is to deal with incompatibility between applications and desktop operating systems. For example, suppose a user running Windows Vista needs to use an application that runs only on Windows XP with Service Pack 2. By creating a VM that runs this older operating system, then installing the application in that VM, this problem can be solved. Microsoft VirtualPC is an example of a solution in this space to help address the scenario for hosting VMs in a desktop environment for application compatibility. Application Virtualization Application virtualization helps isolate the application running environment from the operating system install requirements by creating application-specific copies of all shared resources and helps reduce application to application incompatibility and testing needs. With Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) a.k.a SoftGrid, desktop and network users can also reduce application installation time and eliminate potential conflicts between applications by giving each application a virtual environment that's not quite as extensive as an entire virtual machine. By providing an abstracted view of key parts of the system, application virtualization reduces the time and expense required to deploy and update applications.   Microsoft's Products for Virtualization Microsoft offers a comprehensive set of technologies to virtualize servers, applications, and desktop PCs. Equally as important; Microsoft provides a powerful toolset for managing both the virtual and physical resources in a unified environment, reducing system complexity and streamlining management tasks. Resources: For more information please check: http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization Or Contact: zafaru@microsoft.com OEM rewards distribution night OEM recently held to 2 partner events in Karachi & Lahore. These events were a little different from the routine events OEM has been holding. The idea of this event was for the partners to mingle with each other in a relaxed environment. The event that was held in Karachi and Lahore had three components: Award distribution, Lucky draws and musical function. This event also provided excellent opportunity for Networking. The winners were given awards for their sales efforts in Q4. This gave partners encouragement and recognition. The event was kicked off by Faysal Kiyani PAM OEM which was followed by keynote address of Mr. Shahzad Khan, Lead OEM. The awards were announced category wise in four categories. The first prize being a 4 day paid vacation to Egypt. Lucky draws were also held from time to time and kept the audience at the edge of their seats. The partners thoroughly enjoyed the musical and comedy show that was put up by the local talented artists. All the activities were followed by dinner. 80 people attended the event in Karachi and over 300 people were present in Lahore. In his closing remarks Shahzad Khan thanked the partners for attending the event and assured them that the OEM business will be even more rewarding in the future.   Microsoft Innovation Center Microsoft Innovation Centers provide customers and partners with a comprehensive set of Programs and services. The goal of these centers is to foster innovation and growth in local Software Economies. In Pakistan, Microsoft Innovation Center provides access to world-class resources for students, software developers, IT professionals, academic researchers and Entrepreneurs. Primary areas of focus include: 1.    Building skills and intellectual capital through training courses, employment programs and mentoring experiences.   2.    Fostering industry partnerships through programs on how to work successfully with Microsoft, as well as through the cultivation of local and regional industry alliances.   3.    Increasing innovation at the local through hands-on engagements, such as labs geared towards the interests of ISVs, startups, partners, students and entrepreneurs. Microsoft Innovation Center - Pakistan is operated by Microsoft in alliance with National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU). We partner with local government, academic institutions, industry organizations and software vendors with the ultimate goal of fueling long-term economic growth in the IT industry.