Tech Stuff (Frontrange ITSM, HEAT, CRM, SQLRS, Crystal et al.)

A new decade and some new directions

2010-01-06T09:43:00.000+10:00

2010 looks like it will be a big year for me... For the past decade I've been working with the Frontrange product set and this year I've taken the plunge and dropped it all for ServiceNow.

It was a pretty big decision to make and essentially means I'm moving from a Big Fish in the pond to a Small Fish. It will be an interesting time for me because I haven't been in this position for at least 10 years.

For the most part I'm looking forward to it. There is the obvious apprehension as I'm leaving a job I've basically been working in for 10 years.

I haven't had to learn something completely new for a long time so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into some new technology.

It should be a fun year full of change.... at least that's the plan

FUDs in ITSM 6.1.5/6.1.6

2009-12-03T09:55:00.000+10:00

As some of you are probably aware, the FUD process is giving unexpected results for the ITSM 6.1.5 and 6.1.6. Whilst you’re able to create an upgrade set, importing the FUD on the target database results in an object reference error.

It seems that it will only error if my FUD included any field definitions. Anything else (quick actions, expressions, BR’s, triggers, panel defs) would still succeed in being imported.

There is a bit of a work around for this issue but it's not the prettiest solution and is not very customer friendly. I'm going to assume the version is 6.1.6 but it works equally well for 6.1.5

1. Create a FUD in your source system in 6.1.6

2. Open Administrator on a 2nd test version of target database in 6.1.1

3. Import the FUD (from the 6.1.6 system) into the Administrator in 6.1.1

4. Take the Definition set created by the FUD Process Import in the 6.1.1 Administrator and save in another location (provided the commit was successful)

5. Open Administrator on your normal Development Environment in 6.1.6.

6. Open the definition set saved in step 4 in the 6.1.6 Administrator

7. Commit.

This seems to solve the issue but as I said it's not pretty, fast or customer friendly

Prompting for a Confirmation Yes No Message box when completing an assignment

2009-09-21T18:01:00.000+10:00

The combination of script expression and button guard allows you to pop a yes/no box to confirm that an assignment is to be completed

First Create a script expression with the code below *obviously you can edit the text of the message box you want to appear.

import System
import Fusion
import Fusion.Api
import System.Reflection

class FusionScriptWrapper implements IScriptWrapper
{
function FusionScriptWrapper()
{
// place constructor logic here
}
function MessageBox(text:System.String, caption:System.String, MessageBoxButtons:System.String, MessageBoxIcon:System.String) 
{ 
try 
{ 
var assembly : System.Reflection.Assembly; 
var MessageBox : System.Type; 
var Buttons, Icon, result : System.Object 

assembly   = Assembly.LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms"); 
MessageBox = assembly.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox"); 
Buttons    = System.Enum.Parse(assembly.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons"), MessageBoxButtons); 
Icon       = System.Enum.Parse(assembly.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon"), MessageBoxIcon); 

var argMSG : System.Object[] = [text,caption,Buttons,Icon]; 

result = MessageBox.InvokeMember("Show",System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,null,null,argMSG); 

return result.ToString(); 
} 
catch(exc : System.Exception) 
{ 
return null; 
} 
} 
function Process(currentBusinessObject : Fusion.Api.BusinessObject, currentField : Fusion.Api.Field) : Object
{
var objReturn : Object

var userResponse : System.String; 
userResponse = MessageBox("Are you sure you want to complete this assignment?","Assignment Completion","YesNo","Question") 

if (userResponse=="Yes") 
{ 
objReturn = true
} 
else 
{ 
objReturn = false
}


return objReturn
}
}

Then select the properties of the complete button. Select the "Action" tab and select the Guard Tab with in it (shown below)

Add the new expression ( which I called MsgBoxTestPrompt) as the condition. Select the Nothing option in the behaviour drop down.

Now when the user selects the complete button they are prompted if they are sure the want to complete. If they select Yes then the action will fire. If the select No nothing will happen.

The only thing to be careful of is that guards don't prompt in the web (or any prompt for that matter)

A helpful tip for troubleshooting IIS

2009-09-09T15:03:00.000+10:00

The extended logs for IIS (stored in ..\Windows\System32\Logfiles\W3SVC1\) are stored in GMT time by default which can make finding your issue a little bit harder. Here's a simple way to change it to your local time.

The W3C Extended Logging format spec requires logging in GMT time. You can set the log roll-over to occur at midnight local time if you want. This avoids problems with situations like Daylight Savings, where you log goes "backwards in time" by an hour.

To enable logfile rollover based on local time, not GMT, open the IIS Manager, locate your website, rightclick and choose "Properties". On the "Web Site" tab, click "Properties" next to logging. Then check "Use local time for filename and rollover"

Updating fields with a Script Expressions

2009-09-05T08:57:00.001+10:00

I've found this line of code invaluable when Quick Actions and Business Rules just won't work for you

currentBusinessObject.GetField("FieldName").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue(VariableName));

It writes the variable VariableName to the field FieldName in the current business object. You can also replace VariableName variable with a value of any type (obviously in the format "String")

ITSM: Quick Action Security in Web

2009-09-03T15:06:00.002+10:00

In the 6.x systems you now have the ability to secure quick actions (by security group) this means that you can create a quick action that only some users can A. Run B. Edit C. Delete rather than specifying this for All quick actions.

The issues here is that in 6.2 and 6.1.4 and below the security does not work in the web client.

However, restricting Quick Actions does work in ITSM 6.1.5 since ITSM 6.2 is in older code build than ITSM 6.1.5. ITSM 6.2 and ITSM 6.1.5 codes builds will be merged in ITSM 6.3.

ITSM: The Perils of Hiding Tabs

2009-09-03T14:13:00.003+10:00

I discovered this in the web 6.2 today and it reminded me of an issue with tabs in the full client.

In some versions of 5.x there was an issue that disabled all of the tabs from working. The issue comes from making the FIRST tab in the layout of an object hidden or conditionally hidden. This issue is fixed in 6.2 (or 6.1.2 or later) in the Full Client but the issue still exists in the web client.

The error is not too easy to spot in the web client, the first indication is that you can't navigate to any tab other than the first displayed tab. Secondly there is an yellow error next to "Done" in the web browser. The error details are "Unterminated String Constant".

The simple (and only fix) is to make the initial tab in the layout always visible. Either swap it with another Tab or change the Visibility rule.

ITSM 6.1.x Tip for the Week : Errors with DTC Setup

2009-02-09T08:43:00.003+10:00

"Exception of Type 'Fusion:FusionException' was thrown. The partner transaction manager has disabled its support for remote/network transactions."
Last week I came across this error when setting up a connect (and also using the application). ITSM (or GMEE) will still allow you to create the connection and connect to the application server but will through this error and prevent saving of the object if you have the BPML engine running.

The issue is with the security setup of the Microsoft DTC service on both the ITSM and SQL Servers. There is a very helpful article from technet about 'New functionality in the Distributed Transaction Coordinator service in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and in Windows XP Service Pack 2'

This outlines the settings that need to be enabled to allow the ITSM and SQL servers to communicate.

ITSM Tip for the week: Opening Self Service to a new Incident not the dashboard

2009-01-19T10:51:00.003+10:00

Normally in ITSM (and in all 5.x versions) linking to Self Service would involve going to the users dashboard via the http://[itsmserver]/Servicemanagementweb/SelfServiceLogin.aspx where [itsmserver] would be the name of the server (without the []).

In 6.1.x you can now link directly to an object with the following format.

http://[itsmserver]/ServiceManagementWeb/IntegrationInfo.aspx?CommandName=SHOWSINGLEBUSOB&Role=SelfService&Param1=Incident&Param2=[RECID]

where [itsmserver] would be the name of the server and [RECID] is the RecID of the object you would like to open (without the []).

You can use the same formatting to link directly to a new object in SelfService. For example, if you wanted a self service user to go straight to the new incident screen without having to go to the dashboard and then click the "new incident" option. You can use the same format as about but simply leave out the [RECID]

http://[itsmserver]/ServiceManagementWeb/IntegrationInfo.aspx?CommandName=SHOWSINGLEBUSOB&Role=SelfService&Param1=Incident&Param2=

ITSM Tip for the week: Adding a count to the Journal Tab

2009-01-05T10:57:00.003+10:00

I’ve had a whole host of customers ask for this so I thought I'd add the details up. The script below counts the number of Journals that are related to the incident.

How I’ve been using this script is to display the journal tab as “Journals (1)” (like the tabs in a HEAT system does). To do this you will need to add a field to the Incident that stores the Journal count (which I usually call JournalCount). Assign the script to the Field as a Calculation. Finally change the label of the tab to be a Named Expression. That Named expression should be of the Simple Calulation Type and would look something like this -> 'Journals ('+TRIM('{$[FIELD]Incident.JournalCount$}')+')'.

The same principle will also apply for any other tab.

Journal Count Script

import System

import Fusion

import Fusion.Api

class FusionScriptWrapper implements IScriptWrapper

{

     function FusionScriptWrapper()

     {

           // place constructor logic here

     }

     function Process(currentBusinessObject : Fusion.Api.BusinessObject, currentField : Fusion.Api.Field) : Object

     {

           var objReturn : Object

           var numberofjournals : int



           // Initialisation

           objReturn = true



           // Get all the Journals

           var bizCollectionJournals : Fusion.Api.BusinessObjectCollection

           bizCollectionJournals = currentBusinessObject.GetRelationship("IncidentContainsJournal").BusinessObjects



           // Check for Journals from the Relationship

           if(bizCollectionJournals != null)

           {

                     // Count the number of Journals

                     numberofjournals = bizCollectionJournals.Count

                     objReturn = numberofjournals



           }

   // Return the number of Journals
          return objReturn

     }

}

6.x tip for the day : URL and HTML Support

2008-12-22T13:18:00.000+10:00

In 6.x the text fields now support both URLs and HTML code. The following describes how to set them up.

Activating URL Support

You can enable URLs (hyperlinks) to be rendered properly in text box controls, so that users may click on live hyperlinks to access a particular resource.

The following types of URL schemes are supported:

• HTTP ( http://example.com/ or https://example.com )

• FTP ( ftp://example.com )

• mailto: ( mailto:admin@example.com )

• Local Files ( file:///C:/notes.txt )

• Windows network path, or UNC ( \\ QA-Server1\Backups )

Note: It is important to note that URL Support is activated at the control level

(within the Description text box, for example), and not at the field level. A field

must be associated with a control to enable URL support for that field.

In the following example, URL support is activated for the

Incident.Symptom field (in this case, “Description”) on the Incident form.

To activate URL Support:

1. Launch the Administrator. Navigate to a Business Object for which you will activate URL support. For example “Incident”.

2. Right-click on the text box for which you will add URL support (in this case, “Description”). In the context menu, choose Properties. The Control Properties screen appears.

3. Select the Behavior tab and activate the URL Support check box. Click the Close button to apply this change.

4. If there are other perspectives, for which URL support should be activated, repeat steps 2 and 3 for the text box "Description" in all other perspectives.

5. Commit the changes in the Administrator.

Activating HTML Support

To enable display and editing of HTML stored in a business object, use the property settings for the text field containing the HTML. This option is available in the Properties panel for the control.

1. Launch the Administrator and open the definition set containing the desired business object.

2. Navigate to a business object for which you will activate an HTML control, for example: “Email.”

3. Right-click on the text box for which you will add HTML support.

4. In the context menu, choose Properties. The Control Properties dialog appears

5. Select the Behavior tab and click the Html Support check box.

6. Click Close to apply this change.

Merry Xmas!

2008-12-22T13:17:00.000+10:00

Merry Xmas to all who read this blog! Hope you have a great 2009!

P.S. I'm aiming to update this a little more regularly in 2009!

Yes mick, it's my blog

2008-12-18T11:19:00.000+10:00

Heat Self Service Now Compatible with IIS 6

2008-05-14T05:57:00.000+10:00

Previously all versions of HSS 8.x (including HSS 8.4) would only run on Windows 2003 Server in IIS 5.0 isolation mode.

This issue has been certified as resolved by the release of HAT Self Service 8.4.4 which has been certified gold. The download is available in the Drivers and Downloads section on our Support Site at http://Support.Frontrange.com. This version does not contain a schema change, although support strongly recommends that HEAT 8.4.4 Call Logging be updated on all client machines.

Below are the specific bug numbers with reference to this

RM 15150 – HEAT Self Service now operates with ISS 6.0 without having to set to IIS 5.0 isolation mode.
RM 32563 – First Level Support and HEAT Self Service Integration now works when using Windows 2003 Server.
RM 40899 – Typical Installation now creates Virtual Directories when installing on Windows 2003 Server.
RM 51309 – HEAT Self Service has removed the limitation to the number of Call Types supported.

ITSM 6.1 Release

2008-05-14T05:54:00.000+10:00

ITSM 6.1 is available for new customers at this time. The version for existing customers 6.1.1 will be available around the June-August 2008 time frame.

An effort to update

2008-05-07T15:09:00.000+10:00

Hi All, It's been a while since I've been updating this site but with ITSM 6.1 and GMEE both just around the corner there is likely to be a whole lot more content.

Also Frontrange have started their own community page at http://frsconnect.frontrange.com which will be worth checking out for information from other people with Frontrange product experience

A couple of ITSM Tricks/Bugs

2008-03-28T05:32:00.000+10:00

Tip Number 1: Frontrange ITSM License Timeouts in 5.0.7.4

The following piece of code is in the Web.Config file in the ServiceManagement folder:
<fusionserverconfiguration instanceid="A210F41B9C0B4492AC54EE90566D51B6" connectionname="">
<usersessionmanagement sessionexpiration="20"/>
<licenseframeworksettings/>
</fusionserverconfiguration>

The line <licenseframeworksettings> seems to be redundant for the license timeouts. Removing that line of code (after making a backup) and reset the IIS.

After this the license server should release license sessions after the timeout specified in the (in minutes)

Tip Number 2: Field Validation Errors in Frontrange ITSM 5.0.7.4

When you select Validation on a field there is another field created in the background called {Fieldname}_Valid. If the field name is longer than 20 characters the field is created with the first 20 characters of the field name then “_Valid”. The issue occurs if you have 2 fields where the first 20 characters of the name are the same and both fields have validation (of any type). When you Commit you receive and error saying that the fields share the same validation but have different validation rules.

The solution is to remove validation from one field. Change the name of this field apply this change then re-add the validation.

ITSM TIP: LifeCycle in ITSM 5.0.7.x

2007-09-05T11:55:00.001+10:00

Discovered something this morning working with Object Lifecycles today. The field used to determine an object's Lifecycle (at least in 5.0.7.x) cannot be a Logical or a Numeric field you must use a Text field.

"Unable to connect to FRS Application - Index out of bounds of the array" in ITSM 5.06 Patch 4

2007-06-20T11:24:00.001+10:00

This error is due to an issue with the link into Outlook integration.

There is a really clear post on the issue on the Frontrange Forums .

The issue seems to be specific to MS Outlook 2003.

URGENT TECHNICAL NOTIFICATION FOR ALL iHEAT AND iGOLDMINE CUSTOMERS

2007-04-19T09:42:00.000+10:00

Please be advised that Windows Update 931784, released 10 April 2007 is incompatible with all supported version of GO-Global for Windows 3.x on Windows Server 2003 (SP1 and SP2), Windows XP-SP2, and Windows 2000-SP4

The incompatibility only affects the iHEAT and/or iGoldMine Server and does not impact the Client machines.

FrontRange Solutions will release a compatibility upgrade as soon as possible.

General Availability of ITSM 5.0,7

2007-04-19T09:41:00.000+10:00

FrontRange Solutions pleased to announce the General Availability of IT Service Management (ITSM) 5.0.7, English.

ITSM Release Version 5.0.7 includes some of the following enhancements and fixes:

· New enhanced FAD File

· New Inventory Module Features and Enhancements

· New Email Change Approval Process

· Approximately 40 Customer Escalation Issues

· Updated Documentation

Setting a Default SLA in the out of the box.

2007-04-17T11:35:00.000+10:00

Here is a bit of Code that will allow you to set the default value of a link field. This specific example sets the default value of the SLALink field on Incident based on the priority.

import System import Fusion import Fusion.Api class FusionScriptWrapper implements IScriptWrapper { function FusionScriptWrapper() { // place constructor logic here } function Process(currentBusinessObject : Fusion.Api.BusinessObject, currentField : Fusion.Api.Field) : Object { var objReturn : Object; var defaultSLARecId: String; var highPrioritySLARecId: String; // first set the link to null currentBusinessObject.GetField("DefaultEscalationLink+LinkID").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue("")); currentBusinessObject.GetField("DefaultEscalationLink+LinkCategory").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue("")); // Set the value of the RecID of the Default SLA defaultSLARecId = "00000000000000000000000000000000"; // Set the value of the RecID of the High Priority SLA highPrioritySLARecId = "00000000000000000000000000000000"; // then set the link to either the default or high priority sla if(currentBusinessObject.GetField("Priority").NativeValue == "1") { currentBusinessObject.GetField("DefaultEscalationLink+LinkID").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue(highPrioritySLARecId)); currentBusinessObject.GetField("DefaultEscalationLink+LinkCategory").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue("SLA")); } else { currentBusinessObject.GetField("DefaultEscalationLink+LinkID").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue(defaultSLARecId)); currentBusinessObject.GetField("DefaultEscalationLink+LinkCategory").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue("SLA")); } return objReturn; } }

Linking closed incidents to problem records (ITSM 5.0.6.4)

2007-04-17T10:59:00.000+10:00

There is a new feature in the Security Group Manager in Patch 4 of ITSM 5.0.6. This new feature allows you to link objects when in the final state provided they are in a ad-hoc relationships.

If this feature was selected on the Problem object it would allow Incidents to be linked once the Problem had reached final state. This would however allow any ad hoc relationship to be linked so you would have to managed which relationships you would allow by conditionally enabling the Tab linked to the relationship.

Transfering Perspectives in FUDs

2007-04-17T10:51:00.000+10:00

There is a easily overlooked option that you need to select when trying to transfer a perspective definition via a FUD.

There is a database definition in the list of the category "PerspectiveDef". These definitions are in the association "Associated with :" and under the perspective "Perspective : (Base)".

If you're taking across a new perspective definition you need to include the PerspectiveDef entry for the perspective.

The ValueRule object belonging to.....

2007-03-28T15:23:00.001+10:00

This frustrated me for about 20 minutes today before I discovered the cause...

Owner : The ValueRule object belonging to the TextFieldDef
'Change.Owner' does not have a name.

Every time I went to commit I got this error. I had made some changes
to the field but no end of changing Validation settings, Autofill
Rules, Calculations would solve the issue.

Here is an explanation of how to solve this issue if you come across.
The change I had made to the field was as follows:-
1. The field had a default value from a function "Current Login ID"
2. I selected Simple Value and left the value blank.

The issue is the field still references a function in the background.
(hence the "ValueRule object" Not having a value)

When removing a function from a Default there is an option in the
function drop down list of "None".

This will remove this error.

Urgent Technical Notification for all iHEAT and iGoldMine customers

2007-03-22T09:59:00.000+10:00

Urgent Technical Notification for all iHEAT and iGoldMine customers

Valued HEAT and GoldMine Partners,

Please be advised that Windows Update SP2 for Windows 2003, released on 15 March 2007, is incompatible with iHEAT and/or iGoldMine for Windows on Windows 2003. This incompatibility only affects the iHEAT and/or iGoldMine Server and does not impact the Client machines.

FrontRange Solutions will release a compatibility update as soon as possible and we will send a second notification when the update is available.

How to add Colour Coding to the Grid view in Dashbords (ITSM 506 and higher)

2007-03-13T09:33:00.000+10:00

Below are the steps outlining how to change ITSM 506 to add colour coding to the Dashboard. These settings based on a Expression and will allow the records in Grids to be displayed by color in the Dashboard. Making the change will only affect newly added records moving forward (ie it won't be reflected in all existing records in the system).

Changes Needed for Color Coding
1. Open AdminLoader.exe.
2. Open a new Definition Set.
3. Select the Incident object.
4. Right-click on Fields and select New Field.
NOTE: Field should be a text field with the Name of Colour.
5. Step though the field wizard and click Finish.
6. Right-click on the newly created Colour field and select Edit Field. Page 4
7. Select the Annotations tab.
8. Type in GRIDROWCOLOR.
9. Click Apply.
10. Click on the Advanced tab.
11. Click the check box for The value in the field is calculated.
12. Select drop down for Calculation.
13. Select New Expression.
14. Build the Conditional List Properties based on Urgency values.
NOTE: Expressions should be as follows:
Urgency equals High for Left Value, Right Value defined by colour. Example: RED.
Urgency equals Medium for Left Value. Right Value defined by colour. Example: Blue.
Urgency equals Low for Left Value. Right Value defined by colour. Example: Green.
Default Value is needed so set to Low.
15. Click Ok.
16. Click Apply.
17. Click Close.
18. Select the Incident Grid from Forms.
NOTE: Depending on which grid is used for the Dashboard Part displayed on the Dashboard; adding the color field will need to be added to each grid for the Incident object if more then one grid is used for each individual part.
Example: Incident Multiview is tied to the following grid defined in the Dashboard Parts section of ITSM.
19. Drag the Colour field to the Grid.
20. Commit the definition set.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements included in HEAT 8.4.1

2007-03-02T15:35:00.000+10:00

RM 6281 - (ITS 34632) Removing an action from a follow-up within a BPAM rule does not remove the follow-up action.

RM 6282 - (ITS 35480) BPAM will not send an attachment or write a file using a mapped drive when running on Windows XP

RM 6594 - (ITS 38092) An Auto Task that changes the CustType and CustID will error when executed through BPAM.

RM 8462 - (ITS 38314) An Auto Task that is set to close the record does not stamp the ClosedDate, ClosedBy, or ClosedTime fields.

RM 15776 - When using screen reading software, the screen reading software must be able to announce the Menu Item when executed from a keyboard short-cut.

RM 16230 - @Sum AutoTask function will not work on its own.

RM 21211 - Adding a 16x16 bmp when using MSSQL will cause a “String data right truncation” error.

RM 28187 - Auto Tasks are populating date fields with a year of 1970 when executed from BPAM.

RM 28690 - Duration calculation in reports calculates values differently when the report is run via HEAT versus when run through Crystal.

RM 31812 - User receives ODBC error when trying to create HEAT Asset Tracker tables through the HEAT Administrator.

RM 42295 - Agent Dashboard used with IPCC is reset after upgrade to HEAT 8.4.

RM 42378 - @Team function within an Auto Task will crash Call Logging, if using long team names.

RM 42893 - Alert Monitor Grid Settings do not save the size settings after saving the Alert Definition.

RM 43054 - Alert Monitor will not save the Sort Option upon exit.

RM 43654 - Call Logging crashes after deleting an item from Table Maintenance when using Access.

RM 44075 - BPAM Service produces a 1067 Error when starting service against Microsoft Access Database when the database is located on a shared location or mapped drive.

RM 44260 - ATG Service does not run on Windows Server 2004 when it queries an Access database located on a network drive.

RM 44527 - User receives 37000 SQL error when the user selects a Call Type with an apostrophe.

RM 44781 - Utilizing multiple print queues under a HEAT Print Information Auto Task Action will not print to the correct print tray that was configured in the Auto Task.

RM 44920 - Jump to Control action can not place cursor into Subset form.

RM 45391 - Call Record Browse is causing Call Logging to lock up when utilizing with a large set of Call Records.

RM 45683 - BPAM is unable to use SQL Express 2005 as the local database.

RM 45769 - Call Record Browse does not open desired record when executed.

RM 46425 - ATG processes only one e-mail per poll.

RM 46496 - Call Logging causes SQL Locking when viewing Assignments or Journals.

RM 48333 - Call Record Browse will return all values when executed from a custom Call Group that does not contain reference to a CallLog field.

Error when running a FUD comparison with Windows Authentication

2007-02-26T17:05:00.000+10:00

Error: Exception of type Fusion.FusionSecurityException was thrown.
Version: ITSM 506 P3
Error Details:
---------- EXCEPTION >>
FusionSecurityExceptionMessage: Exception of type Fusion.FusionSecurityException was thrown.
Source: CompareBroker.CheckSecurity
TargetSite: Void CheckSecurity(Fusion.Api.IFusionApi, System.String, System.String)
StackTrace:
at Orion.DefinitionEditor.Broker.CompareBroker.CheckSecurity(IFusionApi iApiTarget, String strRightToCheck, String strErrorMessageName)

at Orion.DefinitionEditor.Broker.CompareBroker.DoCompare(IFusionApi& iApiTarget, FusionPrincipal& fpForTargetAPI, String strTragetDatabase, PlaceHolder[] arPHsToCheck, Boolean bDeepCompare)

at Orion.DefinitionEditor.UI.ExportCreateUpgradeCompare.DoCompare()
at Orion.DefinitionEditor.UI.ExportCreateUpgradeCompare.button1_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Conditions:
When running a comparison between 2 ITSM databases selecting the "Compare" button generates the above error.

Issue:
When the system validates against the target database (ie. the one selected during the FUD wizard not the one you originally logged in with) it uses Windows Authentication to connect to the database. If the user doesn't have sufficient rights to do the export the error is thrown and no Login is provided. This is the case even if the CTRL login option is used for the initial log in.

Work Around:
Increase the user with windows authentication to Administration rights.

Calling Alerts (popups) in ITSM Jscript Functions

2007-02-20T09:07:00.000+10:00

The following is a section of Jscript to call the Message Box object from System.Windows.Forms within a script type ITSM Function. It can be called using Alert(“text in here”); or Alert(+variable name);

//The following function presents a message box to the user when //called using Alert(“text in here”); or Alert(+variable name);

function Alert ( Message : System.String ) { var asm : System.Reflection.Assembly var typ_win : System.Type

//Get the main form object from the remote type try { //Get a pointer to the System.Windows.Forms assembly

asm = System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms"); //Get the MessageBox type from System.Windows.Forms typ_win = asm.GetType("System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox"); //Execute the Show method of the Message box object var argMSG : System.Object[] argMSG = new System.Object[1] ; argMSG[0] = Message; typ_win.InvokeMember ( "Show", //The member name System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, //Binding Flags null, //Binder null, //Object argMSG //Arguments ); } catch(exc : System.Exception){} }

Issue in Self Service (ITSM all versions to 5.06 patch 3)

2007-02-08T11:06:00.000+10:00

The issue occurs if the users are able to update incidents through the SS interface and are able to access all incidents that are created for them. Here is the scenario that causes the issue.

Scenario:
1. Service Desk Analyst JohnA logs into ITSM Client and creates a new incident for (on behalf of) BobS (a user with access to self service) and saves it in the system. (for example calls the Helpdesk with an issue)
2. Self Service User BobS logs into self service (at some later point) sees the incident created in Step 1 and selects the incident.
3. With the incident open in Self service BobS adds some more detail to the incident and Saves the incident.
4. BobS goes back to view history of Self Service and the incident (that was updated in step 3) is missing from the list.
5. JohnA logs back into ITSM Client and looks up the issue created in step 1 and the customer information is no longer for BobS but is now JohnA.
Issue:
The issue is whenever a user in self service updates an incident where they are the customer (and hence in their SS view) and it was created by another user the customer details revert to the user who created it.

Cause:
The issue is caused by a function that is on the ProfileLink field in the WebSelfService Perspective. The function is "Set Incident Requestor" and is set as a "Before Save" value on the ProfileLink Field. The offending section of code is below (lines 14-20):

var objReturn : Object;
var strCreatedByRecId : String;
strCreatedByRecId = currentBusinessObject.GetField("CreatedByRecId").NativeValue;

currentBusinessObject.GetField("ProfileLink+LinkID").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue(strCreatedByRecId));
currentBusinessObject.GetField("ProfileLink+LinkCategory").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue("Profile.Employee"));

This section of code causes the ProfileLink values to be reset to the CreatedByRecId ever time a Self Service user updates an incident. In the OOB system this isn't too much of an issue as the SelfService users only see incidents created in self service. In most implementations though this is expanded so that all incidents created for that user are visible in self service.

Resolution:
The issue can be resolved by adding a new field "ProfileRecID" to the incident, having it autofilled from the ProfileLink field with the value of RecID in any non Self Service perspective. Setting a Default Of "Current User Record ID" in the Self Service Perspective (the same as CreatedByRecId is in the OOB system). Then updating the Function to use this field instead of the CreatedByRecID.

Conclusion:
I've tested this and have discovered it now in the oob system and in a few other implementations. It's not an obvious issue but does cause incidents to get lost when it does occur.

ITSM 5.0.6 Patch 3 Release

2007-01-22T13:28:00.000+10:00

The following issues have been fixed in the Patch-5.0.6.3 0701 release:
45192 Email listener is no longer updating the LastMod Date time on Incident when linking an email after 506. In 506 an issue with email listener creating multiple updates to BPE. A new XSLT is provided which search and incident, create a new email object, link the email to incident. Previously, Email Listener, creates an email object, find an incident, and link incident to email. See Attached xslt.
48935 Searching via the AssociatedItemSelector bring a popup window with the results duplicated after the 20th result.
31193 Session time out and user is locked in License manager with a named License

Session times out and causes a GPF in the Smart Client for many users

The users then cannot get back into the application due to the license is used up by that user and not released with a named license file. Similar to 34087.
34087 License server Hangs and does not release named License on App Server. A new named license conflict handling is added: User ABC logged in with a Named User account, Account1. Now, while still logging, ABC wants to log in again with the same named user.

The application should pop up a dialog box asking whether or not ABC wants to log off the existing session. If yes, the Account1 will be logged off. If no, ABC can't log in.
50362 NotesBody text field is limited to a size of 2000 with Oracle database. This is known limitation Oracle varchar size. Admin now allows NotesBody be changed from text to memo field without losing data.
48089 When reducing the size of a text field, if data resides in the text field whose length is greater than the value the text field is changed to, it renders an error, and drops all data from the table
50288 Some of data (Operating System, Model) from InventoryItem is not being copied to InventoryItemSnapshot when OOB QuickActions "Create Inventory Snapshot" is run.
40771 Today Function does not work in Search Center. Fixed in content. When comparing date with Today Function, must use Date Only modifier. See attached screenshot.
43390 Linked email from outlook containing attachments are linked to Employee, but attachment is not. DEMO database.

1. Setup the Outlook integration to use Employee for Address book.

2. Alter an Employee record to use Primary Email of your own email address.

3. Create a new email in outlook and attach a file, sending the email to yourself.

4. In outlook, click the Link to service Management button.

5. Once linked, open/refresh the Employee record.

6. Select the Email tab and note the email is listed.

7. Select and GO-TO the email record.

NOTE: The attachment is not there.
41920 Error in Dashboard part chart as column 1

Create a Dashboard part (chart)

Use Assignment as base Business Object

Use a query Status <> 'Closed' And Team = Current User Team

Group the Chart by Assignee

Drill down to the Grid only

Select default for everything else

In ITSM, create an assignment to a team only (may require slight modification to make the Owner field on the Task.Assignment object not required)

In the Chart created above the first column says "Column1" (basically saying there is no data to display) When you click to drill down to the grid, no data displays even though there is records for the object
49999 Link option on tabs do not respect search constraint set up in tab container properties

[Steps to Reproduce]

1. Open Application Admin

2. New definition set

3. Go to Problem>>Views>>Problem (layout)

4. Open container properties of Incident tab

5. Set validation constraints to limit incidents based on incident.owner = problem.owner.

6. Stop services

7. Commit definition set

8. Open ITSM as Problem Manager role.

9. Make sure you have incidents owned by a specific user, otherwise create one.

10. Create new problem and set owner to same user as step #9.

11. Go to Incident tab and click on the Link button.

[Result]

Expected behavior: You should get only a list of the incidents owned by the problem owner.

Actual behavior: You get list of ALL incidents in DB.
46665 Enhancement - Ability to clear out definition cache in local disk when content upgrade is performed on ITSM server ( i.e. release). Now you can run a command in Admin to clear the definition cache. See attach document on how to clear cache.
43401 Email listener will not attach attachments if outlook is set to Plain Text.

If outlook settings have the Original message as attachment when doing a reply or a forward and the format is plain text, when the email listener creates the Email record, it will not include the original email as an attachment.

Rich Text and HTML work fine.
30151 When dashboard grid resets, scroll position is lost (drill down from 2nd tab and return)

1) Create a dashboard grid that displays a large number or records (several hundred, at least.) Set the grid to refresh about once a minute.

2) Display your grid. Start scrolling down through the grid to view the entries. Scroll about half way.

3) Wait for the grid to refresh.

Your scroll position is reset to the top of the grid.
47512 File Messaging is not working for the Journal.Notes Object. An xml file that associates a Journal.Note to an Incident works when transferred through the Data Import Link, but when using File messaging, the file goes through processing, but is not created. A sample xml file is attached.
30051 Detail Screens Selection

Running a detail screen selection activated by a category drop down references a specific member of a group object (same as out-of-the-box incident detail).

When an option in the drop down is chosen, the corresponding detail screen is created in the detail grid. If another option in the drop down is chosen, the gird does not update, and then if the form is selected in the grid a JIT debugger error message occurs.
50918 Business rules trigger multiple times based on the number of new windows that have been opened.

Steps to reproduce:

1 create a business rule that sends an email if the status is changed from one state to another (it can be anything, it is not specific)

2 Open multiple windows (Ctrl-W)

3. On the last window open (or any window), change the status to trigger the business rule.

4. The business rule will execute for each window that was opened.
50003 Enhancement - Retrieve expanded attributes from Emails through FSMT Service Email Listener

Modify the Foundation FSMT Email listener to obtain the "SenderID" attribute as well as the "From" attribute from inbound emails.

This will allow customer to identify that Email approval responses were send on behalf of another person, or were sent by the individual.
44988 Error received when double-clicking an Incident from the dashboard. Key already exists. Parameter name: Key.
50058 Quick Actions when used against group only run for first item.

[Steps to Reproduce]

1. Create a QuickActions to add a new child object journal entry.

2. Make sure you tick 'Can be run for a group of records'

3. Run a search

4. Run QA for the set of search results

[RESULT]

Expected Result: Expect a new journal entry to be inserted into each search result returned.

Actual Result: Only the first item in result is updated.
48974 For the status field of an assignment, selecting a different value on the 'FORM View' does not reset the save button.

1 ) Log into ITSM as Admin / ServiceDesk Manager

2 ) Open an incident that has a task assigned.

* Note: The save icon is greyed out.

3 ) Select the Assignments Tab.

* Note: The save icon is now available even though nothing was changed.

4 ) Save the incident (even though nothing was changed)

5 ) Select the form view.

6 ) Change the status value.

* Note: The save button is not available even though the field has changed.

7 ) Tab out of the status field

[Result]

The save button is still not available.

Expected behavior: The application should recognize a change to the status field on the Form View.
50285 E-Mail Listener not populating Phone Number Field.

When an Incident is created via the E-mail listener, the Phone Number for the Customer Info does not get populated.

* Tested email listener with ITSM Demo - Worked

* Changed location on the Profile ID to "Valley Forge Test!!!" from "Valley Forge"

o Manually created an incident

? Incident populated with phone number and altered location

o Sent an email

? Incident populated without phone number and OLD location ("Valley Forge") appeared

? (Note: After clearing cache and resetting IIS, the email listener pulls in the altered value)

* Created a text box on Profile.Employee Object.

* Filled it in with a value (User's phone number)

o Manually created incident

? Incident populated with new fields phone and altered location

o Sent an email

? Incident populated without phone number and OLD location ("Valley Forge" appeared

? (Note: After clearing cache and resetting IIS, the email listener pulls in the altered value)
50051 When you have a logical field on a web perspective when its clicked it does not perform a web post back as expected.

[Steps to Duplicate]

1. Put a logical field on the web self service perspective of Incident

2. Set a field to be visible depending on that field

3. Commit

4. IIS reset

5. Log into web self service

6. Create a new Incident

7. Click the logical field

[RESULT]

Expected Result: When the logical filed is checked the field should be visible.

Actual Result: When the logical filed is checked the filed is never visible.
40833 Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection. Parameter name: index. User receives this error when clicking on a blank row from a dashboard grid. This was caused by incorrect sorting for Oracle resulting in blank rows in dashboard and search results.
49356 Update call quick action with Create for Editing enabled prompts for save.

1) Create a quick action that Updates an Incident. Quick Action >> Quick Action Center, New Quick Action, within Actions select Update Record and set an Category to anything, for example Desktop Configuration.

2) Select Create for Editing

3) Save this Quick Action.

4) Create a new Incident, fill out all the necessary values, run the Quick Action.

Expected Behavior:

The end user should not be prompted to save the incident

Received behavior :

-The application prompt for save appears.
49355 Update call quick action with save option checked still prompts for save. Change step 2 above to:

2) Select Create for Editing, Save, then deselect Create for Editing.
44206 Using e-mail listener with DefaultEmailTransformer.xslt generates wrong date/time stamps in non US region

The xslt-file transforms the e-mail correctly

SentDateTime and ReceivedDateTime = 10.08.2006 (dd.mm.yyyy)

After import into email object the time stamps are wrong: 08.10.2006 (see attached screen shot)
47547 Gauge part does not allow setting the refresh to anything other than 90 minutes.

1. Launch Smart Client and go to Dashboard Part Center.

2. Create a new part of type Chart and set the Refresh interval to anything other than 90 minutes.

3. Select Gauge and fill out the remainder of the part wizard.

4. Finish the configuration.

5. Edit the dashboard part and note the Refresh interval, change as much as you like it will always revert back to 90 minutes.
47065 Simple Search of Owner field defaults to a zero (0) and forces the re-select of Owner in order to search.

Simple Search of Owner field defaults to a zero (0) and forces the re-select of Owner in order to search.

Tested in 5.06 Gold DEMO.....

1. Launch IT Service Management Smart Client or on server.

2. Go to an Incident record.

3. Right-click>> Simple Search on the Owner field.

4. Note the value section has a zero (0) and will only accept numbers.

5. Have to reselect the Owner field in order to search for text.

Known issue in patch with workaround

51770

Issue - If you create a new definition set and then open an existing definition, not everything changes (new field not added to form) are included.

Workaround - If you open definition set directly (w/o opening new definition set first), all changes are included.

51771

Issue - When you change location of service for FSMT from localhost to another server, it does not stick.

Workaround - Location of FSMT service can only be on the same server as the application server.

Workaround for Oracle Views in ITSM 5.04-5.06

2007-01-17T09:29:00.000+10:00

In ITSM (versions from 5.04 and 5.06) the linking of external data to Oracle views is problematic (eg. you are able to see the view but no columns are presented to add, even though they exist). Below is a work around if you need to connect an Oracle view in as an External Data source.

Create a new definition set.
Create an Object (just a Standard or Validation Business Object depending on your requirements), and define all the fields that WILL appear in your database view (i.e. Mimic the structure of the view you wish to connect in an ITSM table)
Make sure the view does not exist in the database – drop it if necessary,
Commit your definition set. The system will create a table in the database.
Directly in the database (i.e. connect to the database with a tool such as Toad etc. not through the ITSM administrator ), drop the table.
Directly in the database (i.e. connect to the database with a tool such as Toad etc. not through the ITSM administrator ), create the view with the same name and in the same table space as the table that was created through ITSM administrator in Step 2 (remembering that capitalization is important in Oracle systems).
The system will now use the view as if it were a table, and will operate normally.

Important points:

If there are any changes to the format of the object in Administrator, the commit will fail, because it will try to drop the table (which doesn't exist because it is a view)
You will need to 2 SQL scripts – one to run before a commit, one to run after.

The first will drop the View, and create a table with the same structure as the view.
The second will drop the table and recreate the view.

Adjust the security for the new object that you've created so that no user can update or add to this table to prevent errors in the tool
All fields in the table must be replicated in the view, this includes RecId, LastModDateTime, LastModBy, CreatedDateTime and CreatedBy

Product Update: GoldMine 6.7 Patch for IE 7.0 Compatibility

2007-01-16T09:34:00.000+10:00

Product Update: GoldMine 6.7 Patch for IE 7.0 Compatibility

Patch ready for IE 7.0 compatibility issues!

FrontRange Solutions will release a patch next week via NetUpdate for GoldMine version 6.7 to address known Internet Explorer 7 compatibility issues. All customers who currently have 6.7 installed will have access to the patch when it becomes available. The known compatibility issues included:

· HTML toolbar buttons missing from the GM email composition window

· Email font sizes shrunk

· Warnings displayed for script errors when launching MyGoldMine

Windows Authentication in ITSM SelfService and ServiceManagementWeb

2006-12-05T17:52:00.000+10:00

I couldn't find this change anywhere on the net so here it is...

There is a setting in the web.config file to setup Windows Authentication.

Change this Section

<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms name=".FUSIONAUTH" loginUrl="Login.aspx" timeout="2400" />
</authentication>

To

<authentication mode="Windows">
<forms name=".FUSIONAUTH" loginUrl=" Login.aspx" timeout="2400" />
</authentication>

How to identify an ITSM 5.06 System

2006-11-08T06:55:00.000+10:00

How to identify an ITSM 506 System

The versioning in the ITSM system is not always the clearest and with the new version of ITSM (506) release the versioning hasn't been

incremented in the tool to reflect this. This is a couple of ways you can and can't find the version of the two systems :-

ITSM 5.04 SP1
Installer Version - 5.0.4003
Help-About Version - 5.0.4003

ITSM 5.06
Installer Version - 5.0.4003
Help-About Version - 5.0.4003.21

So officially (according to support) 5.0.4003.21 is the 5.06 release of ITSM.

Issue with HEAT 8.4 and Windows 2K3

2006-11-02T11:42:00.000+10:00

Version: HEAT 8.4

Issue:
Running Heat 8.4 on WIn2k3 with no SP or hotfixes.BPAM will schedule the activity but will not fire off.Stop/Started the services but will time out.

Resolution:
Installing Windows 2003 SP1 fixed this issue. No other hot fixes were installed, which after reading the forum can actually break BRM again.

Fixed Issues for the ITSM 5.0.6 release

2006-10-25T15:51:00.000+10:00

Issue	Title	Area	Category
41834	Background color is not showing in SMWeb or WebSelfService.	Admin	Administration
42910	Info entered via a telephone prompt doesn't show up in appropriate fields of new incident	Admin	Administration
37287	If an attachment is under 50 KB it causes an error on opening Called Cannot Call invoke or AsyncInvoke on a window control	Attachments	Application
37656	Link many records by selection of the First record and use of the Shift key on the last record causes system to gray out the OK button	Business Object	Application
37492	Hidden Fields show up on Printing a Incident record	Client	Application
38770	The function Current User Team when inserted to a quick action is showing blank as the value.	Client	Application
38772	You are not able to type 10 for the hours on a time field. It will not accept the "0".	Client	Application
40466	Unable to get specified items for from the ADR	Client	Application
42258	Error with 3-tier connection in 5.0.4 German. It's not possible to create a 3-tier connection to the Application Server.	Client	Application
42375	When using a count (or any other) filter on a dashboard part, hitting refresh will duplicate the "Count = X" instead of re-using the line.	Client	Application
43571	Clicking Create New Record button after deleting the last record of a group will error: "Definition for not Found".	Client	Application
36923	Legend from first Pie Chart displays on Secondary Pie Chart Legend	Dashboard	Application
38835	Setting drill down to Parent in a mutliview dashboard breaks the VCR buttons.	Dashboard	Application
39933	Color Coding of Grid event no longer works after upgrade to 504 sp1 from events sent from BP pacakge	Dashboard	Application
42393	Adding a newly created dashboard part to a tabbed part will not stick in Administrator but does in client.	Dashboard	Administration
43285	ITSM v5.0.4 SP1 (DE) dateformat of dashboard parts (type chart) is displayed in US format	Dashboard	Application
43554	Dashboard Part for Active Assignments does not show complete results on first launch.	Dashboard	Application
41335	Deletion of Form on Change object does not get dropped from FusionDef table and Form is still present in AdminLoader.exe def set	Forms	Administration
38273	Unable to close a problem in Non US regional settings	Functionality	Application
40396	Word Merge produces error if there are more than 255 characters in the number of fields being merged.	Functionality	Application
42197	Network devices with host name are automatically classified as computers	Functionality	Inventory
41072	Sort of child records created by quickaction are not sortable if the quick action creates Many Records	Grid	Application
38977	Issue on Printing Word docs and excel docs from Collection	License Server	Core
39539	User Presence displays Recid Value in User Presence field	Messaging	Administration
43292	Rule based on IncidentAssociatesEmail will not fire if email is linked via Outlook.	Outlook Add-In	Administration
38137	Quick Action to save incident will error on validated field not having a valid value.	QuickActions	Application
44291	QA not working in Web Client...	QuickActions	Application
45994	Unable to publish Reports with Crystal 11 Run time on client PC recieving the following error Error Contents could not be Read Incident.RPT	Reports	Application
38848	Once created search can't be changed - it could be only deleted and then created once again	Search	Application
43042	custom searches with settings : any FIELD-value with operator "not empty" does not work.	Search	Administration
43713	Local Settings not respected when adding in Functions for Simple Search that report a time value for calendar reports it back in US Format	Search	Application
44858	a security group that doesn't have permissions to delete journal.note objects can still delete journal notes	Security	Application
42797	Security Group drop down on User Manager records General tab is not alphabetical.	Security Users	Administration
41761	No Prompts in WebClient from Action run from Navigator.	Web Portal	Application
41914	Scrowl bar is gone on Quick action for list of Values	Web Portal	Administration
43386	Reason field on Change will blank out with the re-select of Category.	Web Portal	Application
45223	RM 41761 not working in 5.0.6	Web Portal	Other

Windows Update KB920958 incompatible with iHEAT and/or iGoldMine for Windows on Windows 2000 SP 4

2006-09-29T11:13:00.000+10:00

Windows Update KB920958 incompatible with iHEAT and/or iGoldMine for Windows on Windows 2000 SP 4

Please be advised that Windows Update KB920958 (re-released on September 26) is incompatible with iHEAT and/or iGoldMine for Windows on Windows 2000 SP 4. This incompatibility only affects the iHEAT and/or iGoldMine Server and does not impact the Client machines.

Customer Patch ITSM 504 SP1 Patch 4 is Available!

2006-09-19T08:17:00.000+10:00

Customer Patch ITSM 504 SP1 Patch 4 is Available!
RM ID Title
40825 Dropdown boxes lose values when selecting save for SelfService portal with the Change Object
43805 Simple search type first letter no longer works
43459 Change warning dialog to please install 5.0.4 SP1
40877 User Presence is not obeyed when creating a Task.Assignment for a user.
40728 Refresh of HEAT Profile External table causes errors if field that is refreshed on table exists in the Grid
40947 Category field blanks out when used in SelfService.
41792 Installer will install even if you do not ITSM installed with Patch release
42099 BPEngine does not find Incidents created from an import that meet the past due requirements.
40874 User Presence settings are not obeyed on re-login.
40618 Exception thrown in Event viewer with Email Listener and Object reference error is seen in Event Viewer
41790 Installer does not check and verify version of ITSM being 504 sp1
43803 Lookup and F9 no longer function
4399 Tab Order incorrect on Incident form for Self Service
40983 Quick Action to create a child record errors: The system cannot find the file specified.
40594 Value in field different to value in database
40668 We used to specify the search panels and then dev took that away and made it default (it now automatically uses the panel that is defined as SearchEmployeeLayout(Layout) in the Profile.Employee Object--this actually changed prior to the very first release
41451 BP engine throws Object Reference issue not set to a instance of a object error on the Server in the BP engine Log file
43967 I found that if I do a custom client install of SP1 (choose install admin as well), when I install the 090506 patch build, it warns me with a message to please install ITSM5.04 before applying this patch
43261 ServiceManagementweb\Web.config was overwritten on Patch 3 Upgrade
40394 Dropdown values reverting to default when saving even though a different value is chosen within the web portal
43446 We need to figure out what to do with the Web.config since new patch does not install it.
43807 Object ref error in LDAP authentication setup
43909 Create Contains embedded relationship causes Validation error
42129 After install of Patch 2 Massive amounts of emails are going out each day for SLA changing from 0 to 1 BP engine is reporting Fail over and memory exception errors
41275 RM 35405 causing performance regression
33791
Large Memo text overlaps fields when printing.
37492 Hidden Fields show up on Printing a Incident record

pass

40396 Word Merge produces error if there are more than 255 characters in the number of fields being merged.
38835 Setting drill down to Parent in a mutliview dashboard breaks the VCR buttons.

? It brings up a group of 1 of 1 so VCR is disabled
43186 Dashboards->Dashboard part Center -> Chart Dasboard part - calendar window

pass
41335 Deletion of Form on Change object does not get dropped from FusionDef table and Form is still

present in AdminLoader.exe def set
42393 Adding a newly created dashboard part to a tabbed part will not stick in Administrator but does in client.
43191 .

Dashboards->Dashboard part Center -> MultiView Grid -> Run Time Options tab
41834 .

Background color is not showing in SMWeb or WebSelfService.

Unable Select Multiple Items in Seach and Link

2006-09-13T15:06:00.000+10:00

This is an odd frustration that I found the other day which has a tendency to get you looking into all sorts of problems before you find the cause...

Version : ITSM 504 SP1 Patch 3

Symptoms: Create new Incident, Attempt to link multiple Inventory items by holding Shift Key and Clicking on Start and End of List.

Error: OK Button is not enabled.
Error occurs for ever search and link button on all relationships.

Workaround: Must Click on one record whilst holding CTRL key before OK button is enabled.

Issue with expressions in ITSM Web Client under NT Authentication

2006-09-11T14:50:00.000+10:00

Error: (when using the standard web client)
Error executing rule:Business Object: ProblemField: KnownErrorDurationError executing rule Known Error Duration:Business Object: ProblemField: KnownErrorDurationObject type cannot be converted to target type.
or
Error executing rule:Business Object: ProblemField: IncidentCountError executing rule Problem Incident Count:Business Object: ProblemField: IncidentCountObject type cannot be converted to target type.

Version:
ITSM Version 504SP patch level 3 (081106) applied
Using SQL 2000 Database

Summary
The error seems to be related to any expression that is executed on a field on any object. This error occurs when trying to save the affected business object. Similar errors occur in the Self Service interface. Error occurs only when using the NT Authentication pass through.

Solution
The Solution to the error seems to be applying Patch3a (082506) to the system.

Have applied this to the site that was having the issue, restarted IIS and the users are now able to create Problem records without the error, via NT authentication.

Note: all web.config files (etc.) are overwritten as part of the patch process

New ITSM 5.04SP1 Patch 3a

2006-09-11T13:10:00.000+10:00

The following issues have been fixed in the ITSM Patch-5.0.4.0608 - English release:

#40668 Be able to specify the search result form and grid
#4399 Tab Order incorrect on Incident form for Self Service
#40394 Dropdown values reverting to default when saving even though a different value is chosen within the web portal
#42099 BPEngine does not find Incidents created from an import that meet the past due requirements.
#40947 Category field blanks out when used in SelfService.

ITSM 5.04SP1 Patch 3

2006-08-17T10:52:00.000+10:00

There has been a new patch released for ITSM 5.04SP1, this new patch addresses some fairly significant issues in the application and looks like it's worth upgrading to this new version as soon as possible. Some issues with development in the Administrator Module seem to have been addressed in this patch.

30263 Grid/Search print functionality insufficient
34335 Unable to save a definition set if Task Assignment audit is changed
34580 Assignee Equals VALUE, then select More Fields… The Validating Assignee dialog box will appear but no values listed. Only values created from the search will show.
35395 Print any dashboard it only prints up one page, this occurs either sending the output to the printer or the monitor.
37274 Searching Knowledge Management database from SelfServiceWeb does not function and refreshes Web page.
37937 ServiceManagementWeb times out as soon as the end user logs into the System
39141 License server does not work with servicemanagementweb and FRS Knowledge
39294 Validation Constraints do not work in Change Object for 3 field setup
39299 Memory Exception thrown when saving Incident record Triggers Business Rule to send a email
39964 Searching on Memo fields only return results within the first 30 characters
40433 Author only allows for change of the Admin Role for collection articles
40567 At Random Incidents disappear from application leaving child records for Assignments
40605 String error occurs when clicking on Incident workspace
40678 Exception thrown on import of XML file on Oracle database for Problem record
40832 Admin role causes system to hang when changing the status to closed when the override perspective is enabled for the admin role
40865 UK Regional settings mis-reports date for time stamp on time fields with wrong date and time
40900 Resolved date and Resolved time fields say 01/01/0001
41103 Creation of Schema from Adminloader.exe does not contain correct objects for BP package distro
41106 Audit History changes do not take affect in def Set after being turned on for Group Objects or Change Object
41354 LDAP import job sets the AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetThreadPrincipal, which conflicts with similar setting in the FusionAdapterBase in IM.
41467 Search on newly created Kbases in Smart client display in XML format for search in Http://Servername/KMSelfServiceWeb/
41525 Mail Merge throws the following error when setting more than one field: The requested member of the collection does not exist.
41989 SelfService causes error on save button with NT account login for SelfService Roles on submit of Issue
42087 Values are not set correctly in the combo box if the display and stored fields are different
42209 Category, subcategory, and service values cached into new incident
42210 Some customer forms do not display
42335 Send email error with large amt of Unicode in email body
42336 Back Slashes removed when using send email action

Rows Not Deleting from Business Object Maintenance

2006-08-07T13:42:00.000+10:00

System: ITSM 504 SP1
Area: ITSM Client - Business Object Maintenance

Unable to delete from Grid View.

Example:
On the Demo FAD, run Business Object Maintenance on State Table
Select the First Row in the grid view (CO)
Press "Delete" on the Keyboard
On the "Delete Rows" Popup Window seletea "Yes" to delete the row.
Record is not deleted

If the record you select is the only one in the table you are presented an "Object not set to an instance of an object" error.

Work Around: Open a row and delete each record from the panel view.

ITSM LDAP Connector and E-Directory.

2006-07-26T14:30:00.000+10:00

There is an issue with ITSM 504 SP1 that results in duplicates when importing. Fortunately the new ITSM patch (Version 5.0, Build 5.0.4 SP1 Patch 2) solves this issue.

Here is a list of the other fixes in the patch (not that you have to install the patch on all client workstations as well as the server)

25172	Database Permission Issue
27853	Validation Constraints not enforced with Quick Action.
31007	Associated Item Selector Problem
31304	Older Patches are not removed under each Users Profile from add\Remove Programs
31852	Button associated quick action fails on child record.
33771	Rogue unattached queries are started for no reason and are difficult to delete due to CPU use nearly pegging at 86%
34132	@Validated Prompt does not run in Dashboard until you pick a different group for Multi part for dashboard
35303	Personal Dashboards are being lost. Do not show in UI, but exist in the DB.
35405	CallTicket.Owner2 field returns error when clicking the drop down
35427	Printing does not work from Incident Object to Print the call ticket
37073	Client does not prompt to save event when closing window
37369	BP engine does not Clear a Scheduled event. There is no way to pause the Visy SLA Clock for Incidents
38008	Changing the 3 Tier connection settings do not stick after making changes to Caching settings
38219	@ validated Prompt on Dashboard part causes dictionary error when group with a large amount of data is returned
38781	Category, SubCategory and Service fields values are defaulting when creating a new Incident.
38856	Changing a field from Text to Memo deletes all customer data
38918	Quick Action sending notification to CAB members with inserted ChangeID field, will insert the wrong number.
39079	Object Reference Error on Import of FAD file with External Connection to HEAT
39082	Unable to Refresh Call Log table with Customer database Error on Refresh of Call log table in Defintion Set
39127	Problem\Change board hangs when selected through Smart client and the Problem\change board is none functional
39188	Mapiutils.dll error not found when Login to Auto Deploy Client
39249	Unable to modify,delete,edit,copy, Personnel Dashboard after log out and login to the application
39252	@dateadjust does not work for quickactions
39281	Validate window Pops when editing a child grid owner field
39298	Able to drag and create mutiple grids columns by drag and drop of slitter bar
39311	Refresh of Call Log and Profile table causes Endless loop in Edit set
39320	Object Reference error on upgrade to 504 sp1 when sending change from Call Logging to ITSM with Customers database
39391	Duplicate Entries using E-Directory LDAP Import (Fixed for SQLServer ONLY)
39565	Unable to Search and Link Multiple Records from HEAT to Change or HEAT to Problem
39930	Negitive KnownErrorDuration because negative numbers are not allowed.
40408	Attachment upload and download issues in 5.0.4 sp1 & May 06 patch
40429	Link Change from Drill down of Release from Change causes requested by field to be blank
40726	Fusion Settings issues
41140	Error logging into app with 071006 patch
41243	adjust a date time does not follow regional settings
41245	Format settings ignored with adjust a date time function
41467	Search on newly created Kbases in Smart client display in XML format for search in Http://Servername/KMSelfServiceWeb/

Error in Email listener with MSMQ

2006-07-06T11:53:00.000+10:00

I came across this error in an ITSM 504 SP1 Patch 0606 system when implementing the Email Listener.

Error occured while reading and processing the email(s). Reason: Queue is not registered in the DS.

The listener processes the files and creates a Before and After Transform XML file but it doens't add the object into the system.

The following workaround will cause issues with business rules but will get the email listener working.

After Upgrade to 504 sp1 I receive the following Error Queue is not registered in the DS

Issue
Error Queue is not registered in the DS while creating new Incidents in application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cause
Installer is setting the Business Process Flag to send events to BP Engine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resolution
1. Open AdminLoader.exe
2. Select System Settings
3. Select Server Settings
4. Select Business Process
5. Uncheck Send Events to Business Process Engine
6. Select Save
7. Select Close
8. Close Administrator
9. Start
10 Run Line
11. Type IISReSET

Asset Tracker 8.03 Unique Identifiers losing last digit

2006-06-02T14:26:00.000+10:00

This issue isn't a problem if you are using the standard GUID that is generated by the scanner, only if you are creating your own indentifier.

In a lot of cases the Unique Identifier, that is generated by the HATScanner.exe file and placed into the LDIScan.cfg file in the root directory of the asset, is replace with a more meaningful value. In most cases this is an asset or computer number that is associated with the hardware of the asset which allows rebuilds of the software configuration to occur without generating a new asset in the HAT database.

The issue is that in some cases (mostly when the UID is all numbers) the last digit of the UID is dropped when doing the comparison with the database. For example if you were scanning 3 assets with UIDs of 101, 102 and 110 the system would upload 3 files and only add 2 Assets to the database.

Adding a prefix to the UID made no difference.
Adding a suffix works OK (in my tests I added a "." or an "a" and both worked fine).

This wouldn't present much of a problem for the standard guid as it's a 32 digit number and the chance of the first 31 digits matching is only slightly more likely than when it was 32 characters.

The best solution is to add part something like the Customer's initials to the end of the UID when it is created

ITSM 504 SP1 Released

2006-04-24T15:25:00.000+10:00

Here is the list of fixes in the latest ITSM patch:

RM Issue #	Title
22005	Could not connect to specified Demo Database after attachments changed to a UNC path
26453	Email is not executing if configured to send attachments
27341	Display issue with Incident total over 100 for ServiceManagementWeb
28745	Problem number on Problem Board is too small to read
29656	SQL 10001 error when searching for Change in HEAT/ITSM integration.
29660	Print Preview reveals error on dashboard charts
29731	Set a priority on newly created Incidents fire on a set priority field on Saved
29846	FSMT service timing out
29910	File listener stops or slows after processing few files
30103	App > Infrastructure Manager - WMI scan running - no progress indicator
30104	Scheduled Job – Job History – Finished field, its value is misleading
30105	Messaging - Transformations XSLT files - no comments inside files
30110	LDAP import - PRIMARY field empty in spite of the fact that email field is not
30115	IM- WMI Scan jobs ends up without clear reason
30117	Infrastructure Manager - On Demand Scan - Job DATA description non readable format
30121	KM - Knowledge Management integration with ITSM 5.0.4 - there is no sign of it
30126	WMI scan not being finished - probably due to exceeding the capacity of the license file
30128	Knowledge Management – web page (after login) - spelling error
30133	Quick Action -Parse Content From Field(s) - can't deal with empty line
30214	Redirect to session expiration page
30289	LDAP import memory usage is high with large users
30347	Cyrillic characters are not stored and displayed correctly
30385	Unable to create Associated Item Selector in ITSM 504
30514	Outlook integration - service management configuration (Outlook) - connection can't be establish or out of license error is being displayed
31313	Secondary Business Rule does not send Notifications out by email
31416	Error thrown when creating a CAB with Change Manager
31417	Cast error on login to Self Service
31612	Dashboard on Navigator does not display on ITSM Navigator
31613	Novell NSDInfo2Fusion Style Sheet fails to import in 504
31814	LDAP import is creating duplication of Primary Emails and FirstName/LastName and creates duplicates in the Profile table and fusionsecmap table
31970	Adding JPEG Image does not display in ServiceManagementWeb
32076	Business Rule fails for ITSM to write a child record off any raised event
32086	Attachment Path set to a HTTP:\\ causes application to be locked out of admin and Client
32491	Copying a Field from one perspective to another Causes Invalid Argument
32550	KM - Knowledge Management will not display existing XML files in Application
32553	KM - HPK to Knowledge articles are not found on search from Topic
32561	Export to Excel creates a single workbook for each record exported to a spread sheet
32564	HOP duration not calculated properly if HOP spans beyond Midnight
32731	From the Side Navigation Bar, if you link a duplicate Incident to a Problem, doesn’t display a message that shows "the Incident has already been linked."
32857	File Listener does not import the records to the Profile.Employee Object
32901	Priority' field doesn’t exist in the Change Module, but if we link a change to a Release, we have the Priority field in both Form and Grid views.
33111	Scheduler service brings in values to the address Business Object more then one time after re-import of users
33205	Failed Initializing For Connect to Fusion for Heat Login
33336	CI Object Link does not display link to other devices in a 360 degree View
33457	Change.SubCategory field is blanked out if memo field is altered.
33552	011806 Patch release causes a dump on system when attempting to Print
33554	Inserted field for report parameter does not work.
33565	Unable to save Change record in ServiceManagement Web
33660	Sort Filter in dashboard you loss original search criteria
33669	Cannot set properties for multiple controls at same time
33698	Primary key violation when using different logind
33786	BP engine stopped and created a 6.6 gig file called DOM.xml
33805	Business rules do not fire through HEAT integration.
33865	Drop down fields lock when using keyboard
33895	table Maintenance causes the system to crash and hang and causes the app server to shut down
33918	ServiceManagementWeb constrained fields on Resolution are blank until you refresh the page.
33921	Email Listener on POP3 continues to process READ Emails
33939	Cannot create more than 2 child records via CSS
33979	Taking a very long time to display when tabs CAB and Notification List are selected on Change.
33990	Update to ITSM does not occur if you change the category or subcategory from heat
34052	Customer would like to be able to alter the drop down limit to larger than 200 entries.
34080	SLA calculations are not working correctly in custom SLA database
34132	@Validated Prompt does not run in Dashboard until you pick a different group for Multi part for dashboard
34250	Error when canceling prompt to save
34251	Tab does not work after selecting dropdown value
34252	Refresh Issue in customer DB
34260	Unable to select properties on multiple fields
34270	SLA Time is incorrect by 2 hours
34275	Script error when changing impact Urgency
34316	Report parameter using IncidentID returns invalid value
34776	% wild card does not work in Inventory Management to limit what computers will be imported into the CMDB
34831	Sub Category' field blanks out when modifying description field and saving a Change object for ITSM/HEAT integration using the ITSMHEAT(Demo).fad file, Using ITSM Ver. 5.0.4, and HEAT 8.3.700 Build 14.
35426	SLA without Off set times places Ticket in RED after save.
35612	Imported SLA from a CSV file cause a miscalculation on the system and writes wrong value in the SQL table
36065	Auto Fill does not work correctly for HeatWeb Perspecitve for Heat\ITSM

Using Dates from HEAT in Frontange ITSM

2006-03-08T11:48:00.000+10:00

If you've tried to integrate HEAT into ITSM one of the problems you may have discovered is centred around HEAT's storage of dates. The HEAT product uses standard varchar fields to store data from it's dates and this is where the problem comes from when integrating with ITSM. ITSM deals with dates in a datetime field and hence using any of the standard functions fail.

For example if you wanted to add a dashboard part that looked at all calls where the RecvdDate (the date a call is opened in HEAT) is in the range of the last week you'd find that ITSM didn't recognise any date fields.

These are a set of steps that will allow you to see a Date field inside ITSM. (I'll assume that both are installed on SQL Server back ends for this)

Step 1 - Creating the Date Fields in the HEAT database
Open SQL Enterprise manager and browse to the HEAT Database
Browse to the Table list, select the calllog table and select to Design the Table
Add a field call dRecvdDate to the Calllog table (This is the field that will be used in the ITSM product and needs to be created of the data type datetime)
Save the changes to the table.

Step 2 - Refreshing the Table Definition in ITSM
Open the ITSM Administrator
Create a new Definition Set
Select the All Business Objects
Find the CallLog object, right click and select Refresh
(You will now see the new dRecvdDate field created as a DateTime Field)
Commit the Definition Set (and wait the 2-90mins)

Step 3 - Removing the Fields from the HEAT Database
Open SQL Enterprise manager and browse to the HEAT Database
Browse to the Table list, select the calllog table and select to Design the Table
Remove the field call dRecvdDate to the Calllog table
Save the changes to the table.

Step 4 - Modifying the ITSM View
(For each external table link to a SQL database there is a view created in the ITSM Database)
Open SQL Enterprise manager and browse to the ITSM Database
Browse to the View list, select the calllog View and select to Design the View
Change the view to the following
Select *, CAST(RecvdDate + ' ' + RecvdTime AS dateTime) AS dRecvdDate
from Heat.dbo.Calllog
( ensure that the statement Heat.dbo.calllog is the connection to your HEAT SQL database)
Save the changes to the View.

You will now have the field dRecvdDate in the ITSM database schema that is the datetime representation of the HEAT RecvdDate and RecvdTime fields. (Note this is only valid in ITSM 5.03 and 5.04 at this stage)

Massive Data loss issues in Goldmine 6.70.50123

2005-11-30T11:01:00.000+10:00

The following issue has been discovered in 6.70.50123 and can lead to massive or complete CAL table data loss.

It boils down to if a user completes a multi-user activity using the day calendar view or the Activity List for a day that has many calendar items then Goldmine creates a SQL query that is too general and ends up deleting too much calendar data.

Here is the specific issue logged as RM# 30822:

ISSUE_ID .... 30822
PRIORITY .... 1
SEVERITY .... 1-Critical
STATUS ...... 4-Open

SUBJECT ..... Data - Loss: Global Calendar completions
Multiple calendar records are earmarked for completion without regard to USER or RECTYPE
[BUILD]
6.70.50123, 6.70.50808
[OS]
n/a
[STEPS]
1. View Calendar, Day Tab
2. Create a 1hr Appointment for three different contacts
(e.g. Contact1 9-10, Contact2 10-11, etc.)
3. Create a 1hr Appointment for multiple users and a contact record *not* used in step 2
4. From calendar, right-click on appointment created in step 3., select complete option
5. Click OK
6. Click Yes to Alert
7. Right-click on an appointment created in step 2., select complete option
8. Click OK, Click Yes (should be in close succession)
[RESULTS]
All calendar records are completed with values from the multiple user activity.
[DISCUSSION]
Trace shows the following query:

SELECT RECID, RECTYPE, NUMBER1, CREATEBY FROM dbo.CAL (NOLOCK) WHERE RECID LIKE '%' ORDER BY RECID ASC

Same occurs when actions are performed from activity list window.

Observations:
A modal Complete window is launched when 'Complete' is the selected action from an Alarm window popup; this is not the case when 'Complete' is selected from the local menu option of the Pending Tab, Activity list or Calendar.

Development is working on a patch for 6.7 that corrects the issue.

iHEAT/iGoldMine and Windows Update 896424

2005-11-15T07:08:00.000+10:00

This notification came through from Frontrange yesterday about the incompatability of iHEAT with Windows Update 896424

Please be advised that Windows Update 896424, released November 8 2005, is incompatible with iHEAT and iGoldMine on: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2000 SP4 for all supported versions of iHEAT and iGoldMine. We will release compatibility update as soon as possible. This incompatibility only affects the iHEAT and/or iGoldMine Server and does not impact the Client machines.

FrontRange Solutions will release a compatibility update as soon as possible and we will send a second notification when the update is available.

Setting Up Knowledge Management in ITSM 5.04

2005-11-11T16:36:00.000+10:00

The setup for Knowledge in Frontrange's ITSM 5.04 has a few tricks and traps here and there.

1. Initially you have to register the module in the Administrator. To do this select the Settings -> Module registration section. The DLL you need to add to register Knowledge is located under C:\Program Files\FrontRange Solutions\Service Management and is called Orion.Module.Knowledge.dll. Once you've added this module you need to exit the Administrator tool and restart IIS to ensure that the setting holds.

2. Once you have Registered the module you need to adjust the settings of the connection. To do this select the Settings -> Module registration section, select the Knowledge Management Module and click Settings. Here you need to fill in the following settings(see also the diagram below):-

Server: [servername] (or localhost)
Port: 2242 (this is the default port)
Connect as User: Administrator (Note: this the default user for knowledge and is not an ITSM user or a Windows System user, This username is CASE-SENSITIVE)
Password: manage (This is the password created for the default knowledge user, again it's not controlled by ITSM or a Windows System account)

3. Finally the service needs to be configured to log on as an administrator account on this server. The Knowledge service will not run if the service is started as a System account.

Everything else from here is pretty straight forward.

Dates from Heat in Crystal

2005-11-10T22:39:00.000+10:00

Crystal Report Designer is a great reporting tool, but unfortunately the design of the HEAT database doesn't always make it as simple as possible to create reports. For example, dates in the HEAT database are held in string fields not standard date/time fields of the database you are using. This means that you need to convert the fields before they can be used with all the standard date functions in Crystal. There are two options you have for doing this : -

1. HEAT Crystal Functions
Shipped with installer for HEAT are a set of functions to allow you to do functions in Crystal that are specific to the HEAT system. One of these functions is HFWDateToDate. This function converts a HEAT date field into a Crystal Reports date field. For example if you wished to change the CallLog.RecvdDate the formula would be :

HFWDateToDate({CallLog.RecvdDate})

2. Standard Crystal Functions
Often you want to use crystal reports on machines that may not have the Heat Functions installed. In this case it is necessary to convert the date using standard Crystal Functions. The problem that sometimes occurs with using the standard Crystal is when targeting a date that may not be filled in (for example CallLog.ClosedDate). This will cause a 'Bad Date String format' error. This can be solved by simply checking the field has a valid date format before converting the value. For example if you wished to change the CallLog.RecvdDate the formula would be :

IF ISDATE({CallLog.RecvdDate}) THEN DATE({CallLog.RecvdDate})

Misleading Rights errors in HEAT/ITSM integration

2005-11-09T17:21:00.000+10:00

This error occurs when trying to integrate one of the ITSM modules (to at least version 5.03) with an existing HEAT (version 8.36) implementation. When trying to access the module (in this case configuration) the user is presented with the error "You do not have rights to view inventory items". After inspection of their user account in HEAT and ITSM it is clear that the user has enough rights and has been created in ITSM with the correct role to allow access to this Module. The error is actually indicating that the passwords do not match between the HEAT and ITSM systems. For integration to work correctly the Users need to be created in both HEAT and ITSM with the same username and password.

Frontrange ITSM Patch 1023 Details

2005-11-09T14:20:00.000+10:00

This is a list of all the issue that were fixed and passed testing in the latest release patch for ITSM 503.

23609 Problem with File Listener - Messaging attachments
23351 Events/Email not showing after 5.0.3 migration - rich text, pain text
23303 Layout and GoTo forms for relationships to a Business
23273 Cannot change Status once a save failed due to a required calculated hidden field being missing
23272 Date Searching intermittently uses UK and US date format Groups and search and link
23185 Triggers only fire when changes made through ITSM/Web Client. Needs to work through messaging
23184 Need to fire Business Rule from standard objects Trigers with Expressions
23181 Email Listener stops after marking 3 emails for deletion
23179 Need to understand how to remove Items from Navigator and Menu
23165 Patch Installer open put in dll in c:\ drive Verify install to D drive
23163 If an existing contact is linked to a new group, the address data of the contact is filled with the address of that group
23146 Mutliple window using search search
22860 Trigger for record state and field in record change for related biz object not working

17392 Cannot edit when in final state with permissions enabled
Proxy Server bypass with exception list
25100 The "Send email" QuickActions eliminates line breaks so that the body of an email is not readable
if you use the QuickActions, for example w replying to an email
25101 For HOPs that start PM and end AM the following error appears in the application when trying to save a ticket:
24663 Validate field with no grid defined
22664 Quick Close Error when using the Quick Close Icon.
25346 Cannot Login to Web App Multiple times
24208 Problem linking OpenText 'Contacts' to 'Groups'
25088 Keystrokes in validation fields does not "dirty' field
25119 Config in attachment is causing read only error with export to excel action
25006 Dashboard/Dashboard part Security is not working as expected
25013 Attachments with Proxy server
25013 Attachments with proxy bypass
25066 Unhandled exe when navigating through app
26318 Edit/add associated item selector

Trap for young players... in ITSM 5.04

2005-11-03T08:49:00.000+10:00

Apparently the new 5.04 version of ITSM has no migration tool. This version has been released for implementation only with new customers. There is plan to release a migration tool from 5.03 later in the month, which (I imagine) would be similar to the upgrade from 5.02. At this point it is not clear what aspects of the system fail to work by simply importing a 5.03 FAD into a 5.04 system. On first inspection it appears the system imports without error, however I'll post up anything I find once I complete some more testing.

Known Issues and Fixes for

2005-11-03T08:37:00.000+10:00

The following lists are known issues and the issue that have been fixed in the 5.04 release of Frontrange ITSM
Known Issues:

29835 - User may get error message when entering invalid path in “Send or update Task Item” or “Send or update Task Item” Quick Actions

29756 - Outlook Integration: User may get error message in Outlook integration component when testing multiple connections. Users may need to close the Preferences dialog and reopen the dialog before testing the connection.

Fixed issues in 5.04:

17392 - Cannot edit record when in final state with permissions enabled Proxy Server bypass with exception list

22664 - Quick Close Error when using the Quick Close Icon. The data in the resolution details appears to be erased and the Quick Close Error message display a dialogue box with the Resolution details empty.

23163 - If an existing contact is linked to a new group, the address data of the contact is filled with the address of that group

23179 - Need to understand how to remove Items from Navigator and Menu

23181 - Email Listener stops after marking 3 emails for deletion

23184 - Need to fire Business Rule from standard objects Triggers with Expressions

23269 - Layout and GoTo forms for relationships to a Business Object Group does not display correct Group Member Form

23272 - Date Searching intermittently uses UK and US date format Groups and search and link

23273 - Cannot change Status once a save failed due to a required calculated hidden field being missing

23303 - Layout and GoTo forms for relationships not working

23351 - Events/Email not showing after 5.0.3 migration - rich text, plain text

23609 - Problem with File Listener Messaging attachments

24322 - Delete Profile record from front-end application allows tickets to be created in Application with record being deleted

24633 - Could Not Link Item: Enumeration already finished" error message

24663 - Validated field with no grid defined

25013 - Attachments with Proxy server not working

25013 - Attachments with proxy bypass Reports not working

25066 - Unhandled exe when navigating through app LDAP Schedular (command line)

25088 - Keystrokes in validation fields does not "dirty' field

25100 - The "Send email" QuickActions eliminates line breaks so that the body of an email is not readable if you use the QuickActions, for example w replying to an email

25119 - Configuration in attachment is causing read only error with export to Excel action

25301 - User status no longer appears next to name in drop downs

26539 - Deleting an employee.profile record is not deleting the record.

27005 - Notifications and Triggers do not work in self service

28221 - Export/importing data with FUD only works for 8 records Issue with merging fields in Conflict Resolution.

Frontrange ITSM Patch 1021 Details

2005-11-02T09:34:00.000+10:00

The following issues are addressed by the 1021 patch for ITSM version 5.03.
29019 Dasboard parts not making it into FUD
29018 Fud Commit with Role
29022 Compare tool error with new perspective
28866 Quickactions, triggers, Bus rule will not import from FUD
29023 New field on existing object won't import with compare
28866 Quickactions, triggers, Bus rule will not import from FUD
Unhandled exception error. Users could continue.
?FRS RM # 25066
25401 Cannot scroll through dropdown lists using arrow keys (Curtis)
25224 Unhandled Exception Error 慟uit? button removed
Grid views/search capability in Bus. Obj. Maint.
F#25241 Dashboard does not remember last position of cursor.
26621 Temporarily displaying wrong record from grid views. The amount of time to display the correct record varies
?? Session timeouts
?? Audit History not updating
25401 SLAs do not refresh when a different service is selected
28223 Non-Relational tab added to layout as last tab does not display after commit

28230 Employees cannot use similar Login IDs
28221 Export/importing data with FUD only works for 8 records 0914
Issue with merging fields in Conflict Resolution.
QuickClose now working in Client install as well as server install
27005 Notifications and Triggers do not work in self service
0908-A
23609 Problem with File Listener Messaging attachments
23351 Events/Email not showing after 5.0.3 migration - rich text, pain text
23303 Layout and GoTo forms for relationships to a Business
23273 Cannot change Status once a save ed due to a required calculated hidden field being missing
23272 Date Searching intermittently uses UK and US date format Groups and search and link
23185 Triggers only fire when changes made through ITSM/Web Client. Needs to work through messaging
23184 Need to fire Business Rule from standard objects
Trigers with Expressions
23181 Email Listener stops after marking 3 emails for deletion
23179 Need to understand how to remove Items from Navigator and Menu
23165 Patch Installer open put in dll in c:\ drive Verify install to D drive
23163 If an existing contact is linked to a new group, the address data of the contact is filled with the address of that group
23146 Mutliple window using search search
22860 Trigger for record state and field in record change for related biz object not working
17392 Cannot edit when in final state with permissions enabled
Proxy Server bypass with exception list
25100 The "Send email" QuickActions eliminates line breaks so that the body of an email is not readable
if you use the QuickActions, for example w replying to an email
25101 For HOPs that start PM and end AM the following error appears in the application when trying to save a ticket:
saving a ticket with a Support Center produces the following error: See comment for error
F9 Drop down display 200+ and list Display column not stored
1. no drop down OTC group
2. combo drop down
a. In list select and populate
b. Beyond drop list populate and add to list
3. Constrained
4. >200 list. If list > 200 do not cache only last record show whole list
Presence Mgmt
Dashboard Grid color based on expression
Search Prompt for text and dates
System must prevent that a file/attachment is overwritten, when a new file/attachment with same name is uploaded. System must resolve name conflicts.
It must be possible to choose the destination where a user wants to save a download to. Currently system saves automatically to some location and it is not immediately transparent where to.
System must support concurrent working on tickets by a more flexible and intelligent locking mechanism. Current scheme not useful
Dasboard Grid column memory
Quick Action Execute Sort order
Search Result sort order -- configurable in Admin
Licensing issues surrounding 'Open New Window' button
Service Save -- should not prompt for invalid state
proxy Authentication
_valid -- modify validated field an
export/import to empty db
SS NT auth
Ad Hoc - overwrite
Validate saved def set
ITSM/HEAT view
From address in notification
Specified cast not invalid
Company name in New contact FNTS
24663 Validate field with no grid defined -- Exception used to occur should handle better now
22664 Quick Close Error when using the Quick Close Icon. The data in the resolution
details appears to be erased and the Quick Close Error message display a
dialogue box with the Resoltion details empty.
25346 Cannot Login to Web App Multiple times
24208 Problem linking OpenText 'Contacts' to 'Groups'
In the OpenText system, select a 'Group' record.
Click on the 'Contact' Tab.
Click to link a contact to this group.
Select a contact from the search list.
The contact is shown in the grid against the group.
Save the Group.
Refresh the Group.
The contact has disappeard from the grid.
commit with large data
Login time with large amount of users in db -
25088 Keystrokes in validation fields does not "dirty' field
25119 Config in attachment is causing read only error with export to excel action
25006 Dashboard/Dashboard part Security is not working as expected
60 Prompt to save with no changes made
Clear Associated item selector - quick action
Grid view and search in bus ob maintenance
25013 Attachments with Proxy server
25013 Attachments with proxy bypass
Reports
25066 Unhandled exe when navigating through app
LDAP Schedular (command line)

Frontrange ITSM Patch 0914 Details

2005-11-01T09:30:00.000+10:00

The following list is all issues that were addressed as part of the ITSM Patch 503 0914

27005
Issue with merging fields in Conflict Resolution.
QuickClose now working in Client install as well as server install
Notifications and Triggers do not work in self service

23609
Problem with File Listener
Messaging attachments

23351
Events/Email not showing after 5.0.3 migration - rich text, pain text

23303
Layout and GoTo forms for relationships to a Business

23273
Cannot change Status once a save failed due to a required calculated hidden field being missing

23272
Date Searching intermittently uses UK and US date format Groups and search and link

23185
Triggers only fire when changes made through ITSM/Web Client. Needs to work through messaging

23184
Need to fire Business Rule from standard objects
Trigers with Expressions

23181
Email Listener stops after marking 3 emails for deletion

23179
Need to understand how to remove Items from Navigator and Menu

23165
Patch Installer open put in dll in c:\ drive Verify install to D drive

23163
If an existing contact is linked to a new group, the address data of the contact is filled with the address of that group

23146
Mutliple window using search search

22860
Trigger for record state and field in record change for related biz object not working

17392
Cannot edit when in final state with permissions enabled
Proxy Server bypass with exception list

25100
The "Send email" QuickActions eliminates line breaks so that the body of an email is not readable if you use the QuickActions, for example w replying to an email

25101
For HOPs that start PM and end AM the following error appears in the application when trying to save a ticket:
saving a ticket with a Support Center produces the following error: See comment for error
F9 Drop down display 200+ and list Display column not stored
1. no drop down OTC group
2. combo drop down
a. In list select and populate
b. Beyond drop list populate and add to list
3. Constrained
4. >200 list. If list > 200 do not cache only last record show whole list
Presence Mgmt
Dashboard Grid color based on expression
Search Prompt for text and dates
System must prevent that a file/attachment is overwritten, when a new file/attachment with same name is uploaded. System must resolve name conflicts.
It must be possible to choose the destination where a user wants to save a download to. Currently system saves automatically to some location and it is not immediately transparent where to.
System must support concurrent working on tickets by a more flexible and intelligent locking mechanism. Current scheme not useful
Dasboard Grid column memory
Quick Action Execute Sort order
Search Result sort order -- configurable in Admin
Licensing issues surrounding 'Open New Window' button
Service Save -- should not prompt for invalid state proxy Authentication
_valid -- modify validated field an export/import to empty db
SS NT auth
Ad Hoc - overwrite
Validate saved def set
ITSM/HEAT view
From address in notification
Specified cast not invalid
Company name in New contact FNTS

24663
Validate field with no grid defined -- Exception used to occur should handle better now

22664
Quick Close Error when using the Quick Close Icon. The data in the resolution details appears to be erased and the Quick Close Error message display a dialogue box with the Resoltion details empty.

25346
Cannot Login to Web App Multiple times

24208
Problem linking OpenText 'Contacts' to 'Groups'
In the OpenText system, select a 'Group' record.
Click on the 'Contact' Tab.
Click to link a contact to this group.
Select a contact from the search list.
The contact is shown in the grid against the group.
Save the Group.
Refresh the Group.
The contact has disappeard from the grid.
commit with large data
Login time with large amount of users in db

25088
Keystrokes in validation fields does not "dirty' field

25119
Config in attachment is causing read only error with export to excel action

25006
Dashboard/Dashboard part Security is not working as expected Prompt to save with no changes made
Clear Associated item selector - quick action
Grid view and search in bus ob maintenance

25013
Attachments with Proxy server

25013
Attachments with proxy bypass Reports

25066
Unhandled exe when navigating through app pass LDAP Schedular (command line)
1. Initial import
2. Scheduled run new account
3. Scheduled run update account
Audit History no adding records
Create child record in change BP engine

26318
Edit/add associated item selector

Missing DLLs and the HATScanner

2005-09-23T09:17:00.000+10:00

With HAT 8.03 I've discovered that some machines have trouble running the scanner. The errors reported are related to missing DLLs. The DLLs seem to be part of a standard windows build but are missing from particular machines. To solve the issue you can simply copy the DLLs from the HAT server installations system32 directory into the \ldlogon share. The DLLs found so far are :-

mfc71.dll

msvcp71.dll

msvcr71.dll

If I find any more I'll post the up for reference.

How to FUD Fast

2005-09-16T15:10:00.000+10:00

Today was spent with lots of frustration on creating a Fusion Upgrade Definition (FUD), which is basically a file that transfers all definitions from one ITSM system to another without changing crucial data elements like Incident Records. The type I was trying to create was a comparison file. A brilliant feature really, it looks at an existing production database and compares it to another database and will present you with an list off all the differing objects that you can then store in a file.

The issue with the system is in the processing and more importantly memory required to run this operation. The AdminLoader.exe (basically the administration module) will consume up to 700Mb of RAM during the process. If it has to start running into Virtual memory during the process the whole system will grind to a halt. Typically I do development on a VMWare session with 512Mb ram (holding both the application server and the SQL database server) however this configuration will require over 12 hours to finish the process.

To get the comparison process down to under an hour I moved the SQL Databases onto a separate physical box, ran a VMware session of 512Mb for the Application Server (and licensing server) and finally ran the Administration Console on another machine with 1Gb of RAM. The process was still slow and the box is pretty much useless for anything until the comparision is completed.

I've also been told that it will still take over 20 Mins when the Application Server (running the Administration Console) is a Dual Xeon with 4Gb Ram and the SQL Server is of similar spec.

Self Service in ITSM and Security

2005-09-05T12:12:00.000+10:00

Those of you that have seen the ITSM incident module in action would have noticed the "Show in Self Service View" check box.

You may not be aware however that this functionality does not work out of the box. To enable this functionality you need to edit the Security Group for SelfService and restrict access to the Journal.Notes Business object.

If you edit the Advanced functions for that object you can add a simple expression to select only those records where the 'Publish to Web' equals "TRUE". This will then limit all of the records that a SelfService user can see.

System Functions and ITSM

2005-08-30T16:38:00.000+10:00

I came across this issue when using some of the System Functions of the Frontrange ITSM system. Not all of the System Functions are fully defined in the base template. An example of this is the CurrentUserTeam function. If you use this function inside the system by default it returns NULL. All the functions in ITSM work on Annotations against fields within the Business Objects. For example the CurrentUserName function works by referencing an annotation of CURRENTUSERNAME, this applied to the Login ID of the Profile.Employee Business Object.
For what ever reason annotations for every function aren't applied to fields in the system. To get the CurrentUserTeam to operate:-

Create a Definition Set
Edit the Profile.Employee Business Object
Edit the Team Field
Select Annotations Tab
In Name enter "CURRENTUSERTEAM"
Press Tab
Leave value blank
Apply changes
Commit the Definition Set

This same process can be used for any of the other functions that don't operate out of the box.

ITSM and .NET Framework Install

2005-08-12T10:14:00.000+10:00

You may have noticed that the ITSM installation will continually ask to install the .NET framework.
This happens on every install even if it's a reinstallation and you've already checked the 'Yes' option in the previous installation.

This issue with prompts is to do with the installer not recognising a version of the framework. To solve the problem it's simply a matter of installing the Hotfix for .Net KB867460. You can find the download here.

Updating an ITSM (version 5) License File

2005-08-08T11:36:00.000+10:00

Instructions for those updating the previous license file:
Your current license file will not work once you upgrade versions, the following steps are to upgrade to the newer license file:

Stop the Windows service 'FrontRange License Authentication Server'
Rename C:\Program Files\FrontRange Solutions\Authentication Server\SystemWork to C:\Program Files\FrontRange Solutions\Authentication Server\1_SystemWork
Restart the Windows service
Import the attached license file
Register all the application server's MAC address for each server based module. All the MACs from the same server would take only a single license.

Heat and ITSM LDAP Search Size Errors

2005-07-18T09:47:00.000+10:00

This issue use to raise it's head quite often with the introduction of the HEAT to LDAP connector however it's starting to become more applicable to the ITSM link as well.
LDAP search size limit exceeded errors

LDAP search size limit exceeded errors can appear in the HLL log file, usually due to this reason: the total number of records you say you want to import (as determined by the Base DN you selected) exceeds the number of records the LDAP server can permit you to read. The default limit for Windows 2000 is 1000 users, while for iPlanet Directory Server is 2000 users. For example, if you were importing from Windows 2000 and selected a Base DN that contained 1500 users, then only the first 1000 will be imported, and an LDAP search size limit exceeded error will appear in the log right after the Starting Profile Updates message.

To resolve the issue the fix must be done via an Active Directory admin.
Active Directory properties, including those of its LDAP Server component, are controlled using the Ntdsutil.exe. Documentation can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q315071

The changes below are to allow the downloading of at least 15,000 records. New values are in parenthesis; the rest are defaults.
Policy Current(New)
MaxPoolThreads 4
MaxDatagramRecv 1024
MaxReceiveBuffer 10485760
InitRecvTimeout 120
MaxConnections 5000
MaxConnIdleTime 900
MaxActiveQueries 20
MaxPageSize 1000(15000)
MaxQueryDuration 120
MaxTempTableSize 10000
MaxResultSetSize 262144(6000000)
MaxNotificationPerConn 5
The two settings that appear to be an issue are:
MaxPageSize - Maximum page size that is supported for LDAP responses (default: 1,000 records).
MaxResultSetSize - Maximum size in bytes of the LDAP Result Set (default: 262144 bytes).

Heat Self Service (HSS) and IIS 6

2005-07-13T21:27:00.000+10:00

I had an issue with HSS under IIS today that is easily rectified but not necessarily identified.

After resolving a regular issue of 'Error 8002802b Element not found: Global.asa line 16'

Stopping the WWW Service
Delete the .HFW file from the C:\Program Files\HEAT
Delete LD, SC, WD from HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Frontrange Solutions\HEAT Self Service
Start WWW Service

I received an issue of ASP 115. This is basically caused by the reliance of the HSS system on the IIS 5 frame work. Below are the steps on how to adjust IIS 6.0

Open Internet Information Services Manager.
Browse to Web Server Extensions.
Highlight Active Server Pages, then click Allow.
Browse to Web Site.
Right-Click on Web Site, then click Properties
Select the Service tab
Check the Run WWW service in IIS 5.0 isolation mode option under the Isolation Mode section.
Browse to the HSS virtual directory
Right-click, then select Properties
In the Application Settings section of the Virtual Directory tab, Click Configuration.
Select the Options tab
Check Enable Parent Paths option.
Click OK.

Goldmine to rise from the ashes of BDE

2005-07-07T10:39:00.000+10:00

Yes it finally looks like it will happen, Goldmine will rid itself of the BDE and Dbase restraints that have been tying it to the database technologies of the 80s...

Frontrange have made the move to migrate all versions of it's CRM software to Relational SQL databases in the next version.

The standard architecture that relied heavily on easily corruptable Dbase tables has been replaced by ADO connections. For those systems that used to rely completely on Dbase to run, they have decided on using the OpenSource Firebird SQL as the Database Solution.

Firebird is a relational database offering many ANSI SQL-99 features that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. Firebird offers excellent concurrency, high performance, and powerful language support for stored procedures and triggers. It has been used in production systems, under a variety of names since 1981.
Firebird is a commercially independent project of C and C++ programmers, technical advisors and supporters developing and enhancing a multi-platform relational database management system based on the source code released by Inprise Corp (now known as Borland Software Corp) on 25 July, 2000 under the InterBase Public License v.1.0.

Although they haven't moved completely away from Borland family opting for a SQL database based on Borland source, it's a long awaited step to a reliable and administerable database solution.

New Scenery, New Direction

2005-07-05T14:01:00.000+10:00

After a long stint (about 6 years) with my last employer I've made a move in a slightly different direction. Unfortunately this means there will be a little less emphasis on Microsoft CRM than there was previously.

I'm now largely working with in the realm of IT service management. The new product I'm working with is Frontrange's ITSM based on the ITIL Model.

The IT Infrastructure Library, ITIL (®), is a series of documents that are
used to aid the implementation of a framework for IT Service Management (ITSM).
This framework defines how Service Management is applied within specific
organisations. Being a framework, it is completely customisable for application
within any type of business or organisation that has a reliance on IT
infrastructure.

It's a step into an area I used to deal with a few years ago now with a much more powerful and flexible tool.

I'll still keep posting any useful CRM stuff as I find it but it will largely be dedicated to ITSM.

Sony puts HEAT into service

2005-06-23T06:46:00.000+10:00

An extract from a story in the The Age newspaper.

Sony Computer Entertainment has redesigned its service systems and invested in new management software to boost support for more technical next-generation gaming platforms.

Sony anticipates new support demands from customers buying its PlayStation Portable in September and the PlayStation 3 next year.

Gamers who use stand-alone consoles, for instance, will go online with networked consoles able to share multimedia files and other applications as well as play games.

Anticipating increased and more technical inquiries, Sony split its service and repair functions, previously handled by NCSS, which continues to manage repair service, with Stellar Call Centres handling customer contacts.

A database was built to contain technical knowledge about the combined operations, including details of customers, who can also do their own troubleshooting online through a web browser.

Sony began analysing its service processes and technologies in April 2003, before defining its requirements and going to tender in February last year. Four consortiums contested the tender.

The software selected was HEAT, from US-based FrontRange Solutions, an off-the-shelf modular customer service and support system. This was customised and integrated by Australian company Veridian Solutions between March and September last year.

Microsoft CRM 1.2 Logical Database Diagram

2005-06-07T09:47:00.000+10:00

This Microsoft Visio diagram shows the logical database structure for Microsoft CRM 1.2. The diagram is set up to print on 11-by-17 inch paper. However, for greater readability you can print this on larger paper.

The Visio Diagram is available here for download free from Microsoft.

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Database Profile Wizard

2005-06-07T09:41:00.000+10:00

The Microsoft CRM Database Profile Wizard collects and sends descriptive data from your Microsoft CRM database to Microsoft for analysis. This data will help us better understand how our customers are using Microsoft CRM.

The Microsoft CRM Database Profile Wizard collects descriptive data from Microsoft CRM 1.0 and 1.2 databases and sends the collected data to Microsoft. This data will be used to improve the next version of Microsoft CRM. When you run this wizard, you can sign up to receive additional information about upgrading your current Microsoft CRM system.

The wizard asks for two types of information:

Profile information about your organization
Data about your Microsoft CRM database and system

The data that is collected includes object counts, object associations, customizations, object sharing, workflow processes, and Microsoft CRM system information. The wizard does not collect any business data, such as data from your account or contact records.

The collected data is sent securely over the Internet to Microsoft where only the Microsoft CRM team will use it. You can choose not to send any data you do not feel comfortable sharing with us.

The tool is available here free from Microsoft.

Microsoft Re-releases CRM "Needs Assessment Wizard"

2005-06-01T16:07:00.000+10:00

After the Issues with the CRM Assessment tool Microsoft has released a working version of the tool which is available for download and evaluation here.

Running SQL and CRM on the same Server

2005-05-20T12:09:00.000+10:00

I haven't seen this problem for a while (mainly because Version 1.2 is out), but I came across it again, so here is the solution.
If you have installed Microsoft CRM on the same server as Microsoft SQL Server, it's possible that the Microsoft CRM Security Service will fail when the service is started. The service will start without issue when it is started manually. (This shouldn't be an issue in Microsoft CRM 1.2 because in version 1.2, the server setup will detect this problem and correct it for you.)
The fix for this issues is to make the Microsoft CRM Security Service dependant on the service for SQL Server. This will wait for the SQL Service to start before the service attempts to start itself.
This is how your can register the Microsoft CRM Security Service and make it dependent on the SQL Server Service (MSSQLSERVER).

Log on to your Microsoft CRM server as a domain administrator.
Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type cmd. Then press ENTER.
Type cd Program Files\Microsoft CRM\server\bin, and then press ENTER.
Type CrmSecurityService –r –s, and then press ENTER. After completing the previous steps, follow these steps to restart the Microsoft CRM Security Service: Click Start, point to Control Panel, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
Under Services, right-click Microsoft CRM Security Service, and then click Start

You should now be able to restart the Server and the CRM Service will start after the SQL Service has finished starting.

How to add SFO missing Folders

2005-05-20T10:36:00.000+10:00

If you find one of your folders (eg. Accounts) in the CRM folders section of Outlook (with SFO) goes missing (or is deleted), you can re-add it by creating a new folder.
1. Right-click on the Microsoft CRM folder and then click 'New Folder...'
2. Type the name of the folder Accounts and click OK.
The Accounts folder will now be listed under the Microsoft CRM folder.
3. Right-click on this new Accounts folder and select Properties.
4. In the Properties window click the Home Page tab.
5. Check the box that says 'Show home page by default for this folder'.
6. In address section type 'http://localhost:2525/stage.aspx?page=SFA&area=nav_accts'
7. Click OK
This should restore the folder to the CRM folder list.

Microsoft Previews Beta Version of CRM "Needs Assessment Wizard"

2005-05-18T17:08:00.000+10:00

I downloaded this new tool from Microsoft which sounded like it would make the transition from design to implementation for Microsoft CRM a breeze.

Microsoft released a beta version (preview) of a Microsoft CRM Assessement Wizard / Tool. This interview-style tool helps guide you through the planning and envisioning phases of Microsoft CRM system deployment. Upon completion of this interview, you will be provided a CRM Strategy Assessment document for your organization and a Microsoft CRM configuration file that can be used to import customizations into your CRM server. >> Learn more and see screenshots of the CRM Needs Assessment tool...

However, as I've come to expect from most things in MS CRM, it wasn't smooth sailing. I'm still yet to get the product to start.

I was confrunted with the error :-
"Strong name validatoin failed for assembly 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM Assessment Survey\Microsoft CRM Assessment Survey Wizard.exe'. The file may have been tampered with or it was paritially signed but not fully signed with the correct private key."

Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

CRM Emails Duplicating for Queues

2005-05-17T14:46:00.000+10:00

The issue we were having was that the exchange router was not deleting emails from the message queue in exchange once it has been delevered to a CRM queue. The user for the queue has be set in Exchange with an CRMEmailEnabled mailbox. When a message come in the queue, this message will duplicate itself in the CRM queue every 4 minutes and every 27 minutes (or there abouts). There was only one Exchange server and only one Connector so the issue wasn't with multiple instances.

By setting the "SELF" to be the Associated External Account, a Master SID is set on the mailbox and the problem of the mail attempting to redeliver. E-mail sent to a queue will then duplicate itself many times.

To correct this issue, an attribute must be added to every queue user in the Active Directory. However, I would suggest that you backup your data as detailed in KB872408 as a precaution.
(Document ID: B872408) “How to plan for disaster recovery with Microsoft CRM”

To generate a msExchMasterAccountSide attribute:

From the View menu in the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, click Advanced Features. On the Exchange Advanced properties tab of the disabled user object that owns the mailbox, click Mailbox Rights, and then search the list of accounts for one that has the Associated External Account permission.

Note: By default, no account will have this permission; however, depending on how the account was created, it may already have this set. If another account currently has Associated External Account permissions, remove the Associated External Account permissions from that account because only one account at a time can have the Associated External Account permission. Therefore, to reset the permission, you must first remove this permission. If no account has this permission then grant the SELF Account the Associated External Account and Full Mailbox Access permissions.

Note: By default, the SELF account will already have Full Mailbox Access permissions if this is a disabled account. The SELF account is available in all Microsoft Windows 2000 domains. All SELF accounts share a well-known SID that is the same across all domains. If the SELF account is not already listed in the Permissions dialog box, you can add it by typing SELF as the account name.

Exit all properties dialog boxes for the user object by clicking OK at each level (do not click Cancel). Changes to permissions are not applied until you completely exit all properties dialog boxes.

After the DsAccess cache is refreshed (which may take some time), the new configurations take effect and e-mail messages that are sent to the disabled account will no longer generate errors.

FrontRange Solutions Honored with VARBusiness Magazine Mid-Market 100 Award

2005-05-04T08:21:00.000+10:00

Taken from http://home.businesswire.com/

FrontRange Solutions Honored with VARBusiness Magazine Mid-Market 100 Award; CMP Publication Names Software Leader's GoldMine 6.7 a `Product of the Year'

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2005--GoldMine(R) 6.7, the award-winning solution for business relationship management, team-based contact management and sales forces automation from FrontRange Solutions, today was named a Midmarket "Product of the Year" 2005 by CMP Media's VARBusiness magazine.

The biweekly magazine that provides strategic insight to technology integrators solicited input from information-technology (IT) vendors and solution providers to determine which products and services were best for midmarket customers -- companies with between 100 and 999 employees. Editors narrowed the field to those that best meet midmarket needs and represent a broad spectrum of technology areas from security solutions to servers to business applications. Entries were carefully considered and reviewed by VARBusiness editors who selected only 100 of the more than 400 nominated products.

GoldMine is featured and profiled in the special May 2 VARBusiness "State of the Midmarket" issue.

"Our readers tell us that the middle market is one of the fastest-growing IT categories today," says VARBusiness Publisher Robert C. DeMarzo. "GoldMine is one that best meets that segment's needs."

"This recognition by VARBusiness magazine is particularly gratifying because it validates over 15 years of expertise in CRM and service management solutions for the midmarket," said Michael McCloskey, CEO of FrontRange Solutions. "It also supports our ongoing commitment to offering best-practice, out-of-the-box solutions to meet our customers' unique and changing requirements in businesses of all sizes."

ERROR:Unknown//Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation

2005-04-26T14:51:00.000+10:00

I had this problem on a fairly straight forward migration. The data migration tool seemed to load all entities are loaded without problems.
However, during the migration of the activity entity I receive the error following error:

"ERROR:Unknown//Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation"

You receive this error prior to importing any records for the Activity Object. Checking all entries in the Activity table doesn't show any irregularities in the formating or data.

Below is an output from the Log file.

-----
". Migration phase completed

Processing entity: Activity
Entering Correlate
Starting migration phase
ERROR:Unknown//Exception
has been thrown by the target of
an invocation.

Processing entity:
SystemUser
Starting update phase
Update phase completed

Processing entity: Account
Starting update phase
.................................................. Update phase
completed

Processing entity: Contact
Starting update phase
Update phase completed"

After looking into the processing of the Stored Procs I discovered that the error is due to the Migration tool trying to create a table 'cdf_ActivityPartyTemp'. The migration may have failed (or been stopped during processing) that has resulted in a temp table being left behind.

Remove this table and run the migration process. With the table removed it will allow the 'p_dm_GetActivityParty' to execute and will stop this error from occuring.

There may be other causes for this issue but in my case the 'cdf_ActivityPartyTemp' was the issue.

Problems with Security Roles

2005-04-21T15:19:00.000+10:00

When you create a new role in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2.
On the Role: New Web page, you click the lookup button next to Business Unit. You type a filter in the Find box. You expect that only the business units that match that filter will appear under Available Records. Instead, all business units appear.
By default, the lookup list next to Business Unit lists the first 100 business units. This feature cannot filter the business units by the first letter, or letters, of the business unit name.

Work Around: Because of other problems with Microsoft CRM Security roles, we do not recommend that you create, copy, or make privilege changes to Microsoft CRM roles at the child business unit level. Instead, create new roles and change existing roles at the root level. Any roles that you create, copy, or change at the root level are propagated to every child business unit. These roles will be available to assign to Microsoft CRM users.

New CRM Web Resource

2005-03-29T11:18:00.000+10:00

Management Technology Consulting have setup a new resource for prospects and customers of Microsoft CRM mtccrm.com.
The site is a collection point of partner developed tools for the application. This makes it a powerful resourse for the small to medium business who have taken on an implementation of Microsoft CRM.

Goldmine and Windows NT

2005-03-23T11:37:00.000+10:00

This is a bit of a hairy situation. The current versions of Goldmine (ie. 6.0, 6.6 and 6.7) are not supported under the Windows NT operating system. This holds for both Client and Server Installations. The latest version that will still install under the NT OS is 5.7. The latest release version for this is 5.70.30503, which was release in May 2003. However this appears to have some bugs under NT.

Selecting a value from a Lookup dropdown in any activity screen will not fill the value into the corresponding field. You can work around this problem by selecting the Lookup Window... from the bottom of the menu and selecting the value. Typing in the field is also a work around.
The Right click menu (on the history tab etc.) is limited only options of Zoom, Options and 1011011. The normal menu is not accessible or displayed. This is an issue if you want to edit the entry in the tab.

A previous version 5.70.20222 (or Goldmine Sales and Marketing 2002 MR2) does not have these Issues under NT4.0 but you do miss out on the following fixes and ehancements.

Changed: Security access for GoldMine e-mail and scheduled activities now matches behavior in 5.50.10424 release.
Fixed: Word97 problem where the Link (add-in) would stop responding when merging GoldMine data.
Fixed: History tab sort order issue where the entries were displayed in reverse order when a filter was applied. (Applies to Microsoft SQL Server based systems only.)
Fixed: Issue where applying the Optimize Org Chart Access option would cause queries on Detail records to no longer utilize shadow fields. (Applies to Microsoft SQL Server based systems only.)

However at this stage 5.70.20222 is the only version which will allow users to normally function under Windows NT4.0

Goldmine 6.7 Decimal Issues

2005-03-17T15:59:00.000+10:00

There is an issue with the latest version of Goldmine when displaying decimals. Any Decimal Fields that contain zeros are truncated, i.e. 1000 would be viewed as 1. At this stage is mainly with Versions that are on DBase but any system that has been upgraded from a DBase version to SQL will also experience the problem. There is soon to be a patch released but at this stage it looks like it's best to stick with Goldmine 6.6.

Forcing an SFO Client Online

2005-03-10T13:12:00.000+10:00

This is actually easier than it looks... It's simply done by changing a registry value on the client. The key RCOffline controls the client’s state. Changing this value to 0 will cause the system to change to online.

I've had quite a few requests for this over the last week so I thought I should put it up.

Microsoft CRM SFO updated patch released

2005-03-09T13:23:00.000+10:00

There has been a new patch released for the Sales for Outlook client which addresses about 55 of the previous issues with the Outlook client (which I’ve listed below). The patch is available here. Considering all the issues that can occur with the outlook client it would be worth applying this patch before going through any troubleshooting.

The following key updates and hotfixes are included in the update rollup:
833621 Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2 Enhancements
834640 Attachments to e-mail may not be sent in Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook
835582 Certain sales orders and quotes fail to open and an error message occurs in Microsoft CRM 1.0
837059 Update to Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2: Add Coordinated Universal Time +12:00 to the list of selectable time zones
840058 An Internet Explorer message appears when you promote an e-mail to a Microsoft CRM activity in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
870635 An update is available to correct problems of Microsoft Business Solutions CRM working on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
873261 Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2 Performance Enhancement Update
888006 Microsoft CRM toolbar occasionally cannot be loaded in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
892352 When you are offline in Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook, you cannot open records that you own or you cannot see records that you own
830360 Default picklist value in an Opportunity, Contact, or Account is not set if the record is created from Lead conversion in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM
832869 After daylight-saving time starts, Advanced Find may not return records that were created before that date in Microsoft CRM and in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook
833621 Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2 Enhancements
834640 Attachments to e-mail may not be sent in Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook
835296 E-mail templates are not sorted in alphabetical order in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2
835306 When the last stage in the Workflow sales process rule is "Change the State to Won," the Actual Close Date field is not populated in Microsoft CRM 1.2
835307 The Created On Last 7 Days column in the Advanced Find dialog box returns all records instead of the records that were created during the last seven days in Microsoft CRM
835314 Column headings disappear when you scroll right and then click the Preview icon to view a record in a custom view in Microsoft CRM 1.2
835316 The URL field is no longer an active Web link on the product, unless you are logged on as the Integration user in Microsoft CRM 1.0 and 1.2
835582 Certain sales orders and quotes fail to open and an error message occurs in Microsoft CRM 1.0
837059 Update to Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2: Add Coordinated Universal Time +12:00 to the list of selectable time zones
839156 Unable to close an opportunity if "User Provided" is selected for the estimated revenue and no revenue amount is specified in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM version 1.2
839160 You can select deactivated entities in the Regarding field of an Appointment activity in Microsoft CRM
839163 Microsoft CRM 1.2 Post URL action fails when calling a Web service or Web application that performs a long running operation
840058 An Internet Explorer message appears when you promote an e-mail to a Microsoft CRM activity in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
840306 Using the Find field to search for text does not display the results unless you are on the first page of the results list in Microsoft CRM version 1.2
841411 Unhandled exception occurs when working with existing E-mail Activities in Microsoft CRM 1.2
841648 A message appears in the Check Names dialog box when an Appointment record is updated in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
842539 Modified On and Est. Revenue values on the opportunity form are not updated in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2
842540 An Internet Explorer script error occurs when you try to refresh the Filter Criteria page in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2
843172 The custom picklist field is set to NULL by default on Quote records created from the Opportunity form in Microsoft CRM 1.2
870575 Carriage returns in the quote's description are removed on mail merge from Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
870578 Microsoft CRM 1.2 hotfix rollup for the problems that are documented in Knowledge Base articles 832869 and 835307
870635 An update is available to correct problems of Microsoft Business Solutions CRM working on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
873261 Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2 Performance Enhancement Update
885368 You cannot create a contact in Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2
885754 The Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook client or Web client may become unresponsive during Advanced Find searches
886283 An error occurs after you configure Microsoft CRM 1.2 to use a non-U.S. currency number grouping format
886355 Microsoft CRM 1.2 Hotfix Rollup for 840058, 841648, 843172, 870575, 888004, 888005, and 888006
887842 You receive an “Error: This is an unexpected token. The expected token is 'SEMICOLON'. Line 1 position 1780” message when you click the Sales Process tab in Microsoft CRM 1.2
888004 Cannot create orders that have 0.00 price per unit for the order product in Microsoft CRM 1.2
888005 Closing a Microsoft CRM task through Microsoft Outlook does not set the Actual End field on the task in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
888006 Microsoft CRM toolbar occasionally cannot be loaded in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook 1.2
889705 You receive an error message when you go offline in the Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook-based client
890081 The same date appears two times in the Microsoft CRM 1.2 calendar
890485 You receive an error message when you try to accept an activity from a Microsoft CRM queue
890594 When you create mail merge activities in the Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook client, the actual end date for these activities is not set
890596 You cannot read e-mail messages in Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook when the messages are encoded in the KOI8-R, KOI8-U, or ISO 8859-5 character sets
890597 A Microsoft CRM workflow that is based on an Opportunity Change Status event does not work correctly after you install Hotfix KB833621
890598 After you install hotfix 870578 in Microsoft CRM 1.2, Advanced Find searches that use the On operator return records for the day before the date that you specify
891715 After you apply hotfix 870578 to Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2 Server, the picklist fields in all the list views do not display their selected values
870578 Microsoft CRM 1.2 hotfix rollup for the problems that are documented in Knowledge Base articles 832869 and 835307
891963 When you open an opportunity that contains associated products, Microsoft CRM times out
891966 A corresponding activity is not created when you reply to an e-mail message in Microsoft CRM
892305 Microsoft Business Solutions CRM version 1.2 may stop responding when you create several Notes
892352 When you are offline in Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook, you cannot open records that you own or you cannot see records that you own

Error Number:0x80040216 when Sending Emails (in CRM)

2005-03-08T13:02:00.000+10:00

This is the error that some people have been receiving after upgrading their Exchange 2003 Server to SP1 and using CRM 1.2

Microsoft CRM Platform Error Report:
Error Description:
An unexpected error occurred.

Error Details:
An error occurred attempting to dispatch the email : HTTP
status: 404 Not Found. URL may be invalid

Error Number:
0x80040216

Source File:
D:\mscrm\Build\3017\src\platform\include\proxy\proxyutil.h

Line Number:
47

To rectify the issue go into the properties of the "MSCRMCONNECTOR" virtual directory in IIS6 and manually create a mapping for .srf files to the CRM ISAPI extension. The CRM ISAPI extension is by default located at "C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM\MSCRMConnector\CrmExIsapi.dll”

Something else you may want to check is to make sure the MSCRMCONNECTOR directory is not set to require SSL. There should be an event log error being written in the CRM server when e-mail submissions fail. This may also provide clues to the problem.

Finally ensure that the website is started.

Microsoft to combine MBS applications in one code base

2005-03-08T09:25:00.000+10:00

This article was posted on Computer World. It outlines plans for "Project Green" where it is to combine its major business applications -- Axapta, Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Microsoft CRM. The plan is to ship the applications in two waves with the first wave shipping this year.

The task of aligning Microsoft's collection of business applications around a common technology stack will happen in two distinct stages, Microsoft Senior Vice President Doug Burgum said Monday in a keynote address opening the company's Convergence conference, in San Diego.

A "first wave" of applications will begin shipping this year, while a "second wave" is scheduled to commence in 2008, leading to a converged code base, Burgum said.

Burgum heads Microsoft Business Solutions, the unit Microsoft created several years ago by combining its own back-office application development projects with two acquired companies, Great Plains and Navision. The move gave Microsoft a substantial portfolio of midmarket ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) products, but also left it with overlapping software suites built around different architectures.

Microsoft announced plans to combine its major business applications -- Axapta, Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Microsoft CRM -- on one code base, dubbed "Project Green." The company initially put Project Green on an ambitious development path and forecast deliverables as early as 2004, but in the past year Microsoft has extended its development window and scaled back expectations.

The full article is available here.

Report Manager Left navigation pane starts then errors (in Microsoft CRM)

2005-03-07T13:16:00.001+10:00

After installing Report Manager for CRM 1.2 the Report Manager opens and asks you to login to the Crystal APS. Once this is sucessful the system redirects you to the Report Manager Page but once the page has finished loading the Left navigation bar (almost immediately) changes to "Page can't be Displayed".

This is often caused by the Report Manager virtual directory being created under the default website not the CRM website.

Details on Microsoft CRM 2005

2005-03-02T15:26:00.000+10:00

JonWhite has posted some details on the upcoming release of Microsoft CRM. JonWhite is a "CRM ISV Evangelist" with Microsoft. He's included some details on the reasons for the delay with the new version.

Why are we pushing back the release date of Microsoft CRM?
With the release of the v1 and v1.2 solution we have learned and confirmed several things about the CRM market and our customers and partners: a high global market demand requires that releases of Microsoft CRM be available in all languages within a quarter of US availability. Microsoft CRM serves a broader market than originally targeted, meaning that we are expanding our performance capabilities to ensure that customers with the simplest needs have a solution that can be installed with few clicks AND that our most sophisticated customers can have the extensibility, performance, and multiple client capabilities they require. Finally, our customers are demanding that Microsoft sets a new bar for what a CRM solution needs to be across the market.

The full details can be found here. He also has a post on the Next Version Focus Areas which gives some insight into the new direction.

Removing a License from a user no longer in AD (in Microsoft CRM)

2005-03-02T12:00:00.000+10:00

This issue comes up quite often in implementations where the Administration of Users and the CRM system is segregated. The associated AD user account was deleted prior to the CRM administrator removing the license, leaving the License still associated to a non-existent AD Account.

First of all you will need your CRM license key. Also it is recommended that you do not delete CRM Users out of Active Directory before reassigning their records and taking their CRM License away. Adding the User back into AD creates a new Security ID (SID) for the user, which does not match the SID associated with the existing CRM User (even though they might have the same login information). The system is looking for the old SID in AD when attempting to remove the license.

To re-assign the license

You will need to be able to log into the domain and into Microsoft CRM as a user with System Administrator privileges.

1. Exit all users from Microsoft CRM - probably best doing this after hours.

2. Remove the license from your deployment. This is done on the CRM Server.
a. In Deployment Manager (Start, Programs, Microsoft CRM, Deployment Manager), expand the License Manager node on the left side of the window.
b. Highlight the organization name. The right side of the window should display your License Type, the number of users and your License Key. Print this e-mail so you can type the License Key in a later step.
c. Right-click the entry that has this information and choose Delete License from the context menu.

3. Add the license back in the same window.
a. Right-click the blank area in the window and choose New, License.
b. Type your license key in the License Key field, then finish the wizard by clicking Next and Finish.

4. In Microsoft CRM, add the license back to the existng users.
a. Launch Microsoft CRM as a user with System Administrator privileges.
b. Click the Settings side tab on the Home Page, then click Business Unit Settings, then click Users.
c. For every user (one at a time), open the User record, click the Licenses side tab, then click Manage Licenses, and add the Sales Standard license to each user.

Unable to send an email as another user (in Microsoft CRM)

2005-03-02T11:23:00.000+10:00

I had this problem a while ago which I'd posted on a couple of CRM Newsgroups, I never got a response and I'd all but forgotten about i. However I had another user post on the question today which prompted me to submit it to Microsoft to see if I could get it sorted out.

Here's the Issue :-

I am trying to send a direct email template as another user and I am having issues. There issue is to do with assigning as another user. Here is the process that I am following.
I select the records (contacts or accounts) that I wish to send the email to.
I select Actions -> Send Direct E-Mail
I select the appropriate template that I wish to send
I select the Option to Send Direct e-mail to: Selected Items on this page
I select the magnifing glass at the right of User/Queue: to select the Send direct e-mail from: field
In the Look Up Records Window I select the Go button and I see only my own Username.
No matter of searching (ie entering correct user names or wild characters) will result in another User Name being displayed.I have tried adding Users to Teams/Territories they are all in the same Business Unit. I have tried from a System Administrator account however none of these have resulted in another user being displayed.

This is the response on the problem :-

This functionality is actually by design the way it is working. As a logged-in user, you can only make the “From” field be populated by the user himself or any queue that the user has access to. Therefore, the lookup button is for the user to choose whether he wants to send the email using his own account or if he wants to use a queue that he has access to. The most logical explanation that I can think of is because of security reasons (e.g. you do not want other people to use your name to send their emails). Currently, there is no way to change the user from which the email is sent. Only the user which you are logged into CRM can be the sending user.

Unfortunately the option is to use a Queue as an alternative.

SQL 2000 SP4 Beta

2005-03-02T11:10:00.000+10:00

About Databases recently posted.

SQL Server 2000 SP4 Beta Test
Microsoft is seeking users willing to beta-test SQL Server 2000 SP4, SQL Server 2005 Express and Reporting Services SP2. If you're interested in participating, visit the Microsoft Beta Test site.

However, I've recently started on the Microsoft CRM v2.0 TAP(Technology Adoption Program) and a requirement of the new product is a SQL Server on SP4 so it looks like MS will be getting quite a few more testers for SQL Server 2000 SP4 by default.

More Hotfixes and Workarounds for CRM

2005-03-02T09:29:00.000+10:00

893391 Frequently asked questions about the Cassini Web server in Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook

What is the Cassini Web server?
The Cassini Web server is a simple, fully managed Web server that hosts ASP.NET. The Cassini Web server is a combination of the following:
• A simple HTTP listener that was built by using System.Net.Sockets.
• A hosting sample of ASP.NET that was built by using System.Web.Hosting APIs.
This lets you host ASP.NET from any managed application.

What are some known functionality limitations of the Cassini Web server?
• It can host only one ASP.NET application per port.
• It does not support HTTPS.
• It does not support authentication.
• It responds only to localhost requests.

Does the Outlook client use Internet Information Server (IIS)?
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is a Web server that includes configuration, logging, authentication, authorization, HTTPS support, multiple-site support, and performance and reliability tuning. It would require significantly more resources and would put an additional burden on the client computer if the Outlook client used IIS. Additionally, IIS requires local administrator privileges to be configured and adequately maintained. The Cassini Web server does not depend on IIS. However, it can run side-by-side with IIS depending on the configuration settings.
How does the Outlook client use the Cassini Web server?
The Cassini Web server is installed during the installation of the Outlook client and is preconfigured to listen to port 2525. The CassiniPort registry setting must be set to 2525 so that the Outlook client can communicate with the Cassini Web server.

The Cassini Web server starts only when the Microsoft CRM Outlook toolbar is loaded in Microsoft Outlook. Therefore, the Cassini Web server runs within the Outlook process on the client computer. After Outlook closes, or after the CRMAddin.dll file is unloaded, the Cassini Web server unloads from the Outlook process.

The Outlook client uses the Cassini Web server to render the Microsoft CRM pages in Outlook. The .aspx pages are stored in the \Microsoft CRM\Client\res\web folder. Additionally, the .aspx pages are similar to the pages that are used by the Microsoft CRM Web site, except for certain code that is specific to the Outlook client.
The Outlook client pages are rendered by the Cassini Web server when the Outlook
client is online or offline. The location of the data that is retrieved by the .aspx pages depends on the state of the Outlook client. If the Outlook client is online, TCP/IP is used to retrieve the data through SOAP calls to the Microsoft CRM server. If the Outlook client is offline, the data is retrieved through named pipes from the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) database.
Can you replace the Cassini Web server with another Web server?
You cannot currently replace the Cassini Web server with another Web server, such as IIS.
Can you bypass the Cassini Web server while you are online and then request pages directly from the Microsoft CRM server?
All components of the Outlook client are dependant on one another. The CRMAddin.dll file calls the Cassini Web server and loads it into the Outlook process. The ability to replace or bypass this Cassini component is currently not supported.
Is the Cassini Web server open-source software?
Although the source code for the public version of the Cassini Web server is available for download, the instance of the Cassini Web server that is installed with the Outlook client is not an open-source product.
Does Microsoft Business Solutions support the Cassini Web server?
The instance of the Cassini Web server that is installed with the Outlook client is part of of Microsoft CRM. Therefore, it is supported by our support team like any other Microsoft CRM component.
Is the Cassini Web server subject to Trustworthy Computing?
We are dedicated to Trustworthy Computing. Therefore, we monitor security threats to the components of Microsoft CRM. This includes the instance of the Cassini Web server that is installed with the Outlook client. For additional information about the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing initiative, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/default.mspx

890594 When you use mail merge to create a new activity on a Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook client, the Actual End date for the activity is not set

You use mail merge to create a new activity on a Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales for Outlook client. The Actual End date for this activity is not set and shows the default value of NULL.

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to
correct the problem that is described in this article.
Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This
hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely
affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next version of
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services
to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services
phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following
Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[LN];CNTACTMS

Microsoft CRM Delay Irks Users

2005-03-02T09:15:00.000+10:00

This article from eWEEK tends to indicate that not all is happy in the user camp with the Microsoft Delay.

Customer dissatisfaction is growing with Microsoft Corp.'s delayed CRM release
cycle, even as the Redmond, Wash., company has hired a veteran CRM executive to
help get the product out the door.

Brad Wilson, a former marketing
executive with PeopleSoft Inc. and Epiphany Inc., joined Microsoft in early
February, at the same time the company announced another delay for its
long-awaited Microsoft CRM 2.0, originally due to ship early last year.

Read the full article here.

Host of Hotfixes for Microsoft CRM are released

2005-03-01T13:55:00.000+10:00

I know I'm a little behind the eight ball on these hotfixes but I was away last week and didn't get around to much updating. It is good to see that Microsoft have continued to update and support the current version of MSCRM prior to the release of CRM 2005.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

835294 A hotfix is available for Microsoft CRM Integration for Great Plains that corrects the problems that are described in articles 834386 and 835468

892550 You receive an error message when you try to remove a Microsoft CRM license from a user

870576 You receive a "Page cannot be displayed" or an "Unexpected error has occurred" error message when you try to send an e-mail by using Microsoft CRM 1.2 Sales for Outlook

887842 You receive an "Error: This is an unexpected token. The expected token is; Line 1 position 1780" message when you click the Sales Process tab in Microsoft CRM 1.2

886283 An error occurs after you configure Microsoft CRM 1.2 to use a non-U.S. currency number grouping format

890598 After you install hotfix 870578 in Microsoft CRM 1.2, Advanced Find searches that use the On operator return records for the day before the date that you specify.

Frontrange Foundation Dashboard

2005-03-01T12:05:00.000+10:00

I had the chance to play around with the new IT Service Management offering which is built on the new Foundation Technology.

Part of the new foundation is the Dashboard. The biggest thing that caught my eye was the flexible ad hoc reporting functionality it provided.

Basically you can design a "Search" (a nice user friendly window around building a query) and then attach a graph/chart to it and place it in the dashboard.

Clicking on the graph allows you to drill down into a grid format of the current data for that search.

The really cool thing is you can then drag one (or more) of the colomn headings into the title bar and the grid will now be grouped (not sorted, but yes grouped) by that field. If you want more grouping just drag more coloumns up. It's a really simple but extremely powerful concept.

You can check out an IT Service Management Flash demo of the software.

Heat Self Service and the Global.asa

2005-03-01T12:00:00.000+10:00

This is an issue that I used to get a lot with the implementation of Heat Self Service but I haven't seen it for a while.

Error '8002802b' Element not found. /HEATSelfService/global.asa, line 16
This is basically due to the system having difficulty accessing the catalog (HFW) file for the Heat System
1. Stop the WWW Service
2. Delete the .HFW file from the C:\Program Files\HEAT
3. Delete LD, SC, WD from HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Frontrange Solutions\HEAT Self Service
4. Start WWW Service

Modifying the Activity Associated View

2005-02-28T11:08:00.000+10:00

It is possible to access the Activity Associated View from within the standard customisation tools of CRM.

Use the URL below to edit the view. Replace GUID with the ID of the specific view you wish to edit.Unfortunately, the regarding field is not available for all activity views, and some of the views can't be customized (i.e. homepage, workplace) without major unsupported mods.

You can find the GUID for the Activity Associated View in the SavedQueryBase table.

http://localhost/tools/viewEditor/viewManager.aspx?id={GUID}

Customers And Partners Support Microsoft's CRM Delay

2005-02-18T09:41:00.000+10:00

Information Week published an article this week on customers and partners supporting the descision for Microsoft to delay the CRM 2005 release.

Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft CRM, says the delay of CRM 2.0 is
because of feedback from customers and partners who prefer to see new
capabilities added now rather than wait for a subsequent release.

Which is good news for the CRM product as there is a lot of press on the delay. Hopefully they will continue to release fixes for some of the major functional issues/bugs in the current version of the system prior to the 2005 release.

Read the full article here.