Will now be available independent of a D365 Customer Engagement license .
for working with partners, customers, franchisees, external people
allow external users to interact with CDS data
anonymous users or leverage existing login providers like LinkedIn, Microsoft Account and others or enterprise logins via Azure AD, SAML2, OpenId Connect or WS-Fed.
portal designer toolkit (low-code/no-code)
template functionality
responsive
leverage or embed Power BI, Flow, SharePoint, Azure Blob Storage, Azure AD B2C, Azure Application Insights
There are already several fully integrated AI applications available for Dynamics 365 which often only need to be licensed and/or activated or even are there as part of the standard first party apps.
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
Predict customer intent and interests by analyzing customer interactions, behavior, sentiment and demographic data. Deep insights and 360 degree view of customers.
License: 1500 USD per tenant/month (incl. 100.000 profiles)
Dynamics 365 Sales Insights as part of Dynamics 365 Sales
here you have some AI functionality included already with the standard D365 Sales license but the available features can be extended through an on top license. Bullet points are Guided Selling, Productivity Intelligence, Connection Insights, Prediction Models. Includes recommendations for Next Best Action and also Sentiment Analysis.
by Microsoft
License: 40 USD per user/month (includes 3 hours per user/month Conversation Intelligence) on top of Sales Enterprise license.
Dynamics Customer Service Insights as part of Dynamics 365 Customer Service
provides insights in the performance of your customer service employees by natural language understanding including call analysis. It also helps finding trends, brand sentiment, historical comparison of cases and identifying most relevant support topics.
by MicrosoftCall Insights, still in Preview. Picture by Microsoft,
License: 75 USD per user/month (100.000 cases)
Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection as part of Dynamics 365 Commerce
helps e-commerce businesses to fight agains fraud by finding irregularities and identifying risks:
by Microsoft
License: 1000 USD per tenant/month (with limits on number of available transactions for Account Protection, Purchase Protection and Loss Prevention)
Additionally …
there are plenty of other AI tools which can leverage Dynamics 365 implementations in many other ways.
Especially mentioned should be the Microsoft AI Builder, which is an important tool package that provides ready made AI tools for low code / rapid implementation with D365 / CDS / Power Apps. License: 500 USD per tenant/month (1 million service credits).
Dynamics 365 Marketing also leverages some AI capabilities to
– helps author content by suggesting suitable content items
– recommends communication channels to deliver content based on customer preferencesopt
– optimizes journeys towards business goals
– proposes segments according to natural language search
I got an error explaining that the module “Microsoft.Xrm.OnlineManagementAPI” could not be loaded. At line:1 char:1.
So I executed
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy AllSigned -Scope Process which only allows an execution of signed scripts for this one PowerShell session.
Everything else worked fine and I got these solutions in the end:
Latest Field Service Version now: 8.8.28.50. Without Preview it was 8.8.23.24
Creating an Inspection questionnaire
Apart from some other data types you can use Entity Lookups:
For Number fields you can directly set a possible number range:
Files and Photos can be attached by users:
You can upload more than one attachments to the same File type question.
I like the way how Input place holder text can be provided:
Also the Other option is great. It shows a textbox only if the Other option was chosen (available for Dropdown, Checkbox and Radiogroup):
Great Preview functionality of the questionnaire is directly available from the editor:
Logic in Inspection Questionnaire
Basic Logic like show/hide or “make required” can be implemented:
Of course you can have more than one Logic definitions:
However what immediately came to my mind was the missing possibility to evaluate data input against other CDS/CRM data.
So let’s say I want to compare a date provided by the person filling in the questionnaire whith a date that is available on a Customer Asset record that is related to the Service Task or Questionnaire, how can we do that?
My first impression is that there is not yet any possibility like that available right now. It would be great if Microsoft can provide something similar to Workflows or Calculated Fields to provide some related record data here for display as well as for validation purposes [improve@Microsoft].
Even if you want to use the provided lookup for a logic it seems like you would need to provide a GUID since there’s no lookup in the Logic editor.
Also operators like “greater that” might not make any sense when comparing records/ GUIDs. So MS still needs to exclude them from possible options here [improve@Microsoft].
Service Task
Than you create your Service Task Type containing the Inspection questionnaire:
The questionnaire even gets displayed on the Service Task Type Form.
On your Work Order Service Task you’ll get another new field “Result”:
Also see the Clear Responses button in the ribbon bar. All responses are reset/deleted by clicking it.
Also the questionnnaire is displayed here and you can directly start filling it in here in your Browser.
Entity lookup: only records where the User has privileges for are displayed. Keep in mind: only “Name”-field of related record is displayed. Would be great if in future versions it can act like an usual lookup field in D365CE [imporve@microsoft].
Once published, an Inspection can’t be unpublished and edited anymore [however this is on Microsoft’s roadmap], but from the main menues Lnspection list you can highlight and than copy the Inspection and create a new version of it this way:
Mobile
In Mobile (Field Service Mobile Power App) it would look similar to this:
Run Power Automate Flows triggered by Inspection Responses
See here the video published by Microsoft, even if it is showing the deprecated D365 connector:
Roadmap
pages: allow to add your questions to an inspection “page” so that you can also skip whole pages
GA October 2020
Attention
According to Microsoft’s docs-article, Inspections cannot be exported and imported to other environments. Hope/expect that will improve as well [improve@Microsoft].
Sources / more information:
Articles by Dian Taylor (MVP) including Video recordings:
What I mean here by “Resource Pool” is a Bookable Resource of the Resource Type: Pool.
Create a new Resource with Resource Type: Pool
optional: add members to the Pool as Child Resources (entity: Bookable Resource Group)
set the capacity of the Pool either a) manually or b) let it be calculated based on the member’s aggregated capacity by setting Derive Capacity From Group Members to Yes
Tip: When creating new Resource Pools and setting the field Derive Capacity From Group Members to Yes and only than start adding Child Resources to the Resource Pool, the system triggers a comprehensive and time consuming Recalculation of the Aggregation, each time after you add a new member to the Pool. So my recommendation when configuring the Resource Pool with this flag set to Yes is, to first add all the Resource Children (Pool Members) and than in a 2nd step turn the flag to Yes.
You now should be able to see the aggregated capacity of your Pool Resource. Click on Show Work Hours on the Pool Resource’s from:
When opening one of the days for which more than one Pool members were defined, you can see the available capacity here.
Also in schedule Board you’re able to see the Pool resource this way:
The Pool Resource Cell contains the number of Pool members
If you have Resource only temporarily joining the Pool, you also see this reflected in the counter for the number of available Resources on the Pool’s Resource Cell. This counter gets recalculated each time you change the displayed date range.
Resource Pool functionalities
you can have Pools consisting of these three Resource Type groupings, called Pool Type: – Equipments – Facilitiies – Combination of [Accounts, Contacts and Users]
the capacity can be automatically aggregated by setting the two option set ‘Bookalble Resource’.’ Derive Capacity From Group Members‘ to Yes.
the skills are not automatically aggregated to the Pool level
you can add skills (manually of by Flow etc to the Pool Resource (parent of the Pool members)
if you book a Work Order to one of the Pool members directly, the available capacity of the Pool doesn’t get reduced for the duration of the Work Order
Microsoft has announced the deprecation of the current Resco based Field Service Mobile App by June 2022.
From June 2021 on new Field Service setups have to use the new Field Service Mobile App which is fully made by Microsoft and in fact is a Model Driven App as we know it today.
The new App can be tested from Field Service Version 8.8.22.x onwards. In mobile App Stores (i.e. Google Playstore) the new app is called “Field Service Mobile (2020)” as of today.
There are some offline capabilities including sync filters already but it looks like offline logic implementation is not as easy and comprehensively possible as is it with the Resco based Field Service app. Also many other functionalities are currently missing, but Microsoft promises to catch up.
Some things that are still missing are: Push notifications, Geofencing and Location Auditing, Reporting, IoT Alerts, Remote Assist and MS Intune.
Interesting is also a new control called “Form Component Control”, which can be used to embed a Work Order form into a Booking form:
Will this be a general new feature which can be used for all other forms as well? – It looks like!
Resco will continue to evolve its Mobile Application Development Framework and will also continuously provide new features and mobile solutions. Resco already offers different mobile solutions and templates (i.e. an advanced Field Service template, Sales template, Route Planning, Inspections) that are working perfectly together with Dynamics 365 and will continue to do so after June 2022. That means by the time Microsoft catches up with current Resco technology there will be new functionality available for Users that stay with Resco as well. On the other hand also Microsoft is rapidly growing its Power Apps capabilities.
For now the direction to go would be for more sophisticated requirements and larger implementation projects Resco will probably be the better fit. For more simple / standard requirements Microsoft’s model drivel app could be worth to consider.
To sum that up – it will not be end of development for the excellent Resco Field Service mobile technology – it will rather be a separation between the Microsoft FS Mobile App and the Resco FS Mobile App. Of course we’ll eventually have to pay Resco separately if we want to use their enhanced solutions. But competition is generally good for the market and customer segmentation has always made sense.
Just had a migration where I was blocked by not having the msdyn_FSMNotifications solution installed in my target environment.
The secret behind it: this solution can only be installed on top of Woodford.
So after you have installed Woodford you’ll need to go to the Instance Picker and click on Install (or Upgrade if available) for Field Service, even if it is already installed. This way only some additional solutions will be installed. There you go!
There you can click “Reset” to get the below shown dialog window.
In this window you have the possibility to select an Office Security Group. This field is even pre-populated with the assigned Security Group of the currently selected Instance.
So what you are expecting is that while filling in this form you can use the field “Edit Security group” to assign a Security Group to your reset Instance by choosing the Security Group in this field.
BUUUUT: nothing of this is the case. This field simply has no functionality here.
Even when you click on the lookup pen symbol next to the field so that a popup shows all of your Office Groups and you can select whatever Group you want: for your new reset Instance you’ll always have NO Security Group at all assigned.
So why has Microsoft decided to put this field on this form if it has absolutely no functionality? – Nobody knows.
Please Microsoft, fix that and don’t let us hang with the common statement “works as designed”. Because the design in this point is really more than bad.
On Resco for Dynamics or Field Service Mobile Client you by default have this (in my opinion unnecessary) Signature field on every Note form.
Note Form with Signature panel
So you might ask yourself why do you need the huge Signature area on each and every Note form. Usually it should be enough to capture Notes only on Work Orders and maybe for some special (custom) forms/processes. It confuses the End User if all he wants is adding an attachment or even only a text Note.
So what you can do is removing the Signature area by a simple On Can Execute rule on the Note form:
On Can Execute Command on Note form
After you have configured this you would not see the Signature panel on a Note form anymore and also not the Signature command from the upper right burger menu of the Note form.
Note Form without Signature panelNote menu without Signature command
You can still configure one or more Signature sections for each of your forms as you already have it OOB on the Work Order form in FS Mobile.
Add Signature Tab to a Form
in Woodford, go to Entity where you want to add the Signature
click “Add Media”
provide Name
Select “Capture Signature” and “Clear”
Optional: Provide “Required for Status”. Example: Status “Approved” only possible with Signature
Subject: Title of the Note
Similarly you can apply this for Photos, Videos, Files, … You could also have one Tab for Signature capturing and another Tab for Photo and/or Video capturing. Or collect multiple Signatures on one form by having different Tabs for that.
Always, when I setup a new Field Service Mobile, there are some steps I go through to ensure, everything is initially working in a comfortable manner.
Surely some of the steps aren’t required but have proven to be my best practice for new instances.
create Resources and ensure that they are enabled for FS Mobile
install Woodford
install the latest Project Template from here and make a derivate out of it in which you perform all following mobile customizations
in Woodford, go to plugins and activate the most important Delete plugins: Work Order, WO Product, WO Service, WO Service Task, …
in your Project Template derivate, go to Configuration and set Save Password to true
6. edit the Sync Filters to also include data from the past (1-2 weeks) for: Work Order, WO Product, WO Service Task, WO Service, WO Incident, Resource Booking.
7. switch the default Booking View Layout from Calendar to List. To do so, go to Home=>Bookable Resource Bookings=>Properties=>Properties=>Initial Control=>switch from Calendar to List
Here is a nice article by Thomas Dayman that gives a short overview of how to embed a Survey Questionnaire created with the new Microsoft Forms Pro into the Field Service Mobile app. The approach is to create an Offline HTML file where Thomas provides a sample code snippet for, and embed that via iFrame into a Form in Woodford.
Compared to Resco’s new Inspections the Forms Pro integration doesn’t support offline scenarios. Resco Inspections comes with additional licence cost whereas for Forms Pro it is still not clear how the licencing will look like.
Say you add the Contact subgrid into your Account form on Field Service Mobile because you’re expecting your Field Agents to also capture new Contacts and they are first searching for the Account first instead of adding the Contacts directly from Home=>Contacts.
Now if you tab on “+” at the top of the Contacts subgrid on the Account form the “New” form for Contacts opens.
And now the difference here is: if you leave the setting from below in its standard configuration as it comes out of the box, your address fields will stay empty so that for the new Contact you have to fill everything in manually.
But if you change the setting “Use Entity & Attribute Map” to “true”, the address fields on a new Contact form are automatically populated from the same fields on the Account form were you had started your journey.
If you have too many Customer Assets in your Dynamics 365 database and you don’t want to have all of them offline available in your Field Service Mobile client you can set up a Sync Filter to do that.
Open Woodford=>Customer Asset and click on Sync Filter. Than set it up like this:
After saving the filter don’t forget to set the Incremental Linked SyncFilter (on top of the field list) to Enable:
Version 3.0.19263.1 of Resource Scheduling Optimization brings the following functionalities:
Constraint “Meets Resource Preferences” also respects the new Resource Preference Type “Must Choose From” to force selection from certain Resouces only
new Objective “As Soon As Possible”: helps to front load rather than leaving some emergency/unplanned capacity
new Constraint “Meets Required Roles”: matches Requirement Roles with Resource Roles
RSO recalculates Travel Time also for locked bookings (Operation Details: “Only the travel time was updated for the booking.”)
Also the latest generally available Woodford Mobile Project Template versions incl. download links and the Woodford solution itself can be found on the site above.
However the minor update documentation is not directly linked from the above mentioned page. Therefore I (try to) list all the update announcements I come across here:
Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Stuff – mainly Field Service, Customizing and and Nonprofits
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