Pricing Method in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Product Catalog All in 1 Explanation

When we want to sell the Product in CRM, we offer the Product and the Salesperson will input their offers in the Opportunity Product Line or Quote Product Line before becoming Order and Invoice.

Of course every Product has its own Price, now, how to link it back to the Opportunity Product Line.

Let’s say Marketing or Product Team has defined the Prvaluoduct Pricing, is there any impact in the Sales Processing?

We are expecting that the Salesperson will not be confused and should sell the Product within the expected range analyzed before by the expert Product Catalog Team and Marketing.

The Product Catalog setting will affect the Opportunity Product default Selling Price Thus, we need to understand first, what is the expectations of the Price and Product Master in hoping their salesperson can sell within the amount with good and profitable selling Price. Price List will become the Guide for salesperson to explore and approach the customer and offer them with price that are mutualism, means that all sides are happy, the Product Team, Marketing Team, Sales Team, and also the Customers.

So, the Pricing is very important in the Sales Process Automation.

Mapping the Business Process Pricing to the CRM Pricing Method is not easy unless you understand how it works and how it will affect the CRM Sales Process.

Now, in this post will mainly explain about how the Pricing Method will affect the basic/default Selling Price in the Sales Process and how important to understand it. It would help the Organization to determine the price either by specific amount, expected margin, and suitable profit markup.

Let’s begin reading this post…

Basically, there are 6 methods of pricing in CRM:

1. Currency Amount
2. Percent of List
3. Percent Markup – Current Cost
4. Percent Margin – Current Cost
5. Percent Markup – Standard Cost
6. Percent Margin – Standard Cost

We will go through one by one, before that let’s we configure the Product Master record here:

Product Master List Price, Current Cost, and Standard Cost

The definition of Current Cost and Standard Cost are based on your own Organization Pricing and Costing.

So my pricing and costing:

Type	Value ($)
List Price	899
Current Cost	599
Standard Cost	549

And then we define the Price List Item here, based on each criteria and let’s see how it works and affect the Opportunity Product (and also Quote Product).

There are two type of pricing, Default or User Provided. Here, we will focus on the Default, eventhough you can change the price later if you choose the “User Provided” type, but by default, CRM will give you a default Price per Unit.

Basically the default Price per Unit of each Opportunity Product will follow the rules:

1. Combination of the Price List (defined in the Opportunity header), the Product itself, and the Unit.
This combination will find the correct Price List Item and get the pricing.

2. If the product does not exist in the Price List defined in the Opportunity then CRM will give price per unit based on the Product default Price List. To know more about Default Price List, please check this link out.

http://missdynamicscrm.blogspot.com/2014/07/10-facts-about-default-price-list-in-CRM2011-2013-that-you-might-not-have-noticed.html

3. If the product does not exist in any price list and does not have the Default Price List, CRM will give 0 value and will cause warning and error, this is to let you know how important the Price List in the CRM Sales process if you want to implement the out of the box CRM sales pricing.

Currency Amount

I will give the $888 with Pricing Method = Currency Amount

As you can see the Price Per Unit is not other than $888.00.

We’ve learned how the Currency Amount as one of the CRM pricing method works.

Currency Amount will give exactly the same value from the Amount defined in the respective Product Price List Item

Percent of List

I will set the Pricing Method = Percent of List with Percentage = 50 and the Rounding Policy set to None.

There will be no amount can be set after you change the Pricing Method to Percent of List, instead, you can only set the Percentage from the base you set as the Product List Price.

As we remember, we have defined the List Price before to $899 Value, it will be the base price.

See the result here:

So now it means that the price will be $449.50 was coming from 50% * 899 = 449.50

What if I want to sell higher?

Just put more than 100% like I did here..

Percent Markup vs. Percent Margin

What is the difference between Markup and Margin?

Markup and Margin have different calculation, based on this reference, here is the understanding between those two terms:

Margin

The percentage margin is the percentage of the final selling price that is profit.

Markup

A markup is what percentage of the cost price do you add on to get the selling price.

These are different, a selling price with a margin of 25% results in more profit than a selling price with a markup of 25%.

In a merchant situation it is probably better to work with margins. This means you can know what percentage of our total income is profit.

How to Calculate Selling Price based on Markup?

Selling Price = (Cost X Markup /100) + Cost

How to Calculate Selling Price based on Margin?

Selling Price = Cost/((100-Margin)/100)

Thankfully there is a quicker way to work it out.

For a five percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.95.
For a ten percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.9.
For a fifteen percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.85.
For a twenty percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.8.
For a twenty-five percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.75.
For a thirty percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.7.
..and so on…
For a fifty percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.5.

Percent Markup – Current Cost

Now, how about Percent Markup based on Current Cost? Remember the above formula, you will get the Selling Price.

I will set the Pricing Method = Percent Markup – Current Cost with Percentage = 50 and the Rounding Policy set to None.

Same as the previous one, Percent List, you can only set based on percentage, the amount will be calculated automatically based on the Current Cost.

As we remember, we have defined the Current Cost before to $599 Value, it will be the base price.

See the result here:

Selling Price = (Cost X Markup /100)+ Cost

Percent Margin – Current Cost

Now, we are still using the Current Cost, but we want to sell based on Margin.

I will set the Pricing Method = Percent Margin – Current Cost with Percentage = 50 and the Rounding Policy set to None.

Same as the previous one, Percent List, you can only set based on percentage, the amount will be calculated automatically based on the Current Cost.

As we remember, we have defined the Current Cost before to $599 Value, it will be the base price.

See the result here:

Selling Price = Cost/((100-Margin)/100)

For a fifty percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.5.

Percent Markup – Standard Cost

Same as the previous example for the Current Cost, but now, the base is the Standard Cost.

I will set the Pricing Method = Percent Markup – Standard Cost with Percentage = 25 and the Rounding Policy set to None.

Same as the previous one, Percent List, you can only set based on percentage, the amount will be calculated automatically based on the Standard Cost.

As we remember, we have defined the Standard Cost before to $549 Value, it will be the base price.

See the result here:

Selling Price = (Cost X Markup /100)+ Cost

Percent Margin – Standard Cost

Same as the previous example for the Current Cost, but now, the base is the Standard Cost.

Now, we are still using the Standard Cost, but we want to sell based on Margin.

I will set the Pricing Method = Percent Margin – Standard Cost with Percentage = 25 and the Rounding Policy set to None.

Same as the previous one, Percent List, you can only set based on percentage, the amount will be calculated automatically based on the Current Cost.

As we remember, we have defined the Current Cost before to $599 Value, it will be the base price.

See the result here:

Selling Price = Cost/((100-Margin)/100)

For a twenty-five percent margin, divide the cost price by 0.75. 

I hope you enjoy this post and make it as reference in the future!

Thank you…Enjoy..

Microsoft Dynamics CRM e-book: Personal Dashboard for End Users

Hi,

Recently, I have requirement to conduct training for end users about Personal/User Dashboard, so I tried to create an e-book and I would like to share my thought, knowledge, and training material here.

Just in case in the future we have another training so that I hope this can be useful for you.

Overall, this e-book will help you to:

*As Trainer/Partner:
- Provide e-book for customers
- Use it as Training Material
- Improve knowledge

*As End Users:
- Learn how to create, customize, configure, and manage Personal Dashboard in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- And not only Dashboard, but also how to Create New Personal View and New Personal Chart
- How to put and mix it together and build this into a meaningful Data Analytic Tool

This e-book is in full color and full visualization edition which I hope can help you to get the core essence.

And here we go..



Download source: Click Me!

Thank you for Microsoft and another blog references.

Thank you all!

How to Update Activity Entity Record When Completed/Canceled Using CRM SDK C#

As we know, in the activity entity, after you completed or close/canceled an activity record, you cannot modify any value of this activity record. Well, it happened to any entity and you might need to re-open it first. But, sometimes, you need to update some fields when you cancel or complete activities, such as you want to give additional description, you want to save field based on the regarding field, or you want to add some calculation inside when you close any activities.

So, here we are, this is the code to update field when you close the activity, you need a plugin.

public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
        {
            #region must to have

            IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

            IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));

            // Create service with context of current user
            IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

            //create tracing service
            ITracingService tracingService = (ITracingService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ITracingService));

            #endregion

            string strStatus = string.Empty;

            if (context.InputParameters.Contains("Target") && context.InputParameters["Target"] is Entity)
            {

                //create entity context
                Entity entity = (Entity)context.InputParameters["Target"];

                if (entity.LogicalName != TFP.Xrm.Contoso.Task.EntityLogicalName)

                    return;

                try
                {
                    if (entity.Contains("statecode"))
                    {
                        //Update the description
                        strStatus = GetStateCodeText(service, entity.LogicalName, "statecode", 
                            ((OptionSetValue)entity["statecode"]).Value);
                        
                        //update the description field
                        entity["description"] = String.Format("{0} on {1}", strStatus, DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy"));
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    throw new InvalidPluginExecutionException(ex.Message);

                }

            }
        }

The most notable is this line:

if (entity.Contains("statecode"))
{


}

You can have your own logic, in my scenario is I want to update the description field in Task entity to capture the status (in text) + the time, I am sure that you guys have your own scenario , for example update another field based on the status and so one.

And the most important thing is you need to register this plugin onPreUpdate

Result:

See the updated Description field below.

Hope this helps!

Thanks.

CRM 2015: How to Configure & Customize Hierarchy Relationship for Custom Entity

In the previous post, I was explaining about Hierarchy Relationship in CRM 2015, as we know we can have now I am explaining how to Configure the Hierarchy Relationship Setting for Custom Entity.

Let’s Get Started

Now, let’s configure it!

Create a Custom Entity

Let’s create a custom entity, I create a custom entity, so-called as ‘Project’

Create New Fields

To make this scenario more complex and interested, let’s we create additional fields, such as Project Amount and Customer (Account). Thus, we can use those fields to show in the form.

Create the Relationship

Now, create the Relationship and make sure it is a self-referential relationship, it means that a relationship with Primary entity and the Child entity are the same entity.

And make sure you set the Hierarchical to ‘Yes’, it is very important.

Configure the Hierarchy Relationship

Now, go to the next setting, there is ‘Hierarchy Settings’ and Create New.

Now it will open a new windows allowing you to create only one new Hierarchy Setting and you are required to give name and choose default Quick View Form, if you don’t have this Form, then you should create at least one Quick View Form.

Create the New Quick View Form

Put the important fields into the Form.

Save it.

You can create more than 1 Quick View Form, but you need only one default form.

*Remember in this post, we can only display 4 fields shown in the each diagram shape block, to display more info you can achieve this by switching the Form, so we need to create multiple Quick View Forms to achieve this and choose one as the default.

Save it.

And check this:

It should show ‘True’.

Do not forget to Save and Publish All Customizations

Create the Sample Data

After you published, it is the time to create the hierarchical data, before that make sure you have configured all the important fields in to the Main Form.

After you create several data with parent-child relationship enable, you can see the View Hierarchy upon you saved it.

View All Data

See the Result

Now, let’s see the visualization.

You can see the hierarchy of the Project in each record perspective, either from the top one, the middle level, or the lowest level, you can select and jump to another related record in line.

In the left side is the tree view which you can Expand and Collapse.

In the Center is the Hierarchy Diagram.

And if you select the record, as usual plus contextual it will allow you to perform some actions defined in the Ribbon/Command Bar

Well, it is a nice visualization from Out of the Box functionality, now I want to make it more beautiful by adding pictures.

How to Show with Picture?

First of all, you need to enable the Entity Image that was first time introduced in CRM 2013.
Go to the Entity detail and enable the Entity Image by creating a new image field.



And go to the Form display properties



Check the ‘Show image in the form’ checkbox

Save it and do not forget to publish it.

And Now you should add the Image, in this example is the image of the Project Manager, update your data and get back to see your result.

Visualize your Data with Diagram plus the Picture, it means 1000 words!

Hope this helps you!
Thanks.

Let’s Getting Closer with CRM 2015: Hierarchical Relationship

CRM 2015 has been launched allowing us to try! Thanks to Andre Margono, my friend that keep me updated

Interested to try something new related to Hierarchical Relationship (don’t be confused it is not the Hierarchy Security Model), Today, I want to explore one of the features, the Hierarchy Relationship.

As introduction, you can refer to these links:

http://blog.sonomapartners.com/2014/09/dynamics-crm-2015-hierarchy-visualizations.html

http://www.magnetismsolutions.com/blog/roshanmehta/2014/09/18/customizing-hierarchies-in-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2015

And here is my report..

What is the Hierarchical Relationship feature that just has been introduced by Microsoft on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015?

Hierarchical Relationship is a new feature for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, first introduced in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 version. This feature is definitely one of the great enhancement built by the Product Team that we have been waiting for long ago.

This feature basically visualize the parent-child relationship records in to a beautiful visualization instead of viewing in a flat list of records. Which you can have its benefit out of the box without additional cost.

And in term of Out of The Box, now let’s exploring what can be done and what can’t be done.

What does it look like at a glance?

Let’s we sneak peek at a a glance to see this visualization looks like.

You can see also in term of Child perspective.

Which you can jump to another related record easily.

And…another picture I will give after we go through next sections

What are the Benefits?

It helps users to understand more the hierarchy through a beautiful visualization, it can be useful for some cases, for example:

1. You have MLM-mode hierarchy for Partners or Individual Users that you stored in User, Account, or Contact entities and now you want to see the schema of the hierarchy relationship, so you don’t need to build any custom report to see this record is under which parent record and having how many children.

2. You can see the visualization of the Position Hierarchy and Reporting Line Hierarchy in term of Organization Business Reporting Line, so have you set the hierarchy correctly? You can check easily.

3. You can see the visualization in the perspective of the Top Parent, mid level, or the lowest level (shown in the previous pictures).

4. You can jump record by record and drill down to another record in the same hierarchical line easily.

5. Its visualization can help you to see the overview and summary of the records with specific very important information shown in the visualization.

6. If you set the quick view form properly, you can combine its feature with rollup field + calculated field features to be shown in the visualized chart to help high-end-level users to see the value of parent and the child records.

For example: Revenue, total Employee, total Budget, etc.

7. In the visualization you can also select the records that you want like what you usually do in the entity main grid view records and you can perform next action defined in the ribbon, like out of the box actions: Run Workflow, Run Report, Share, Assign, and your own custom ribbon as well.

8. And..the best thing is you can feel those benefits through Out of The Box

What entities can support?

Hierarchical Relationship can be set for selected Out of The Box Entities + Custom Entities.

So far I checked until I post this post, Here is the list:

What are the other limitations?

Beside only applicable to those entities, there are limitations that you need to understand at the very first place (before you talk and promise to the customers of course )

1. This is only applicable for 1:N Relationship, not for N:N Relationship because it is hierarchy setting not a free flow relationship setting, and unlike the relationship chart produced by other parties utilizing connection in CRM.

2. This feature is only applicable for self-referential, it means not applicable to show relationship from another entity.

It means you cannot use to see relationship across different entity, for example: Account and Primary Contact, Contact and Company Name (only Contact with Company Name linked to another Contact, not Account that can be shown).

Another example, let’s say previously you was customizing the Account and link to Custom Entities, for example: Supplier, Vendor, Main Group, etc, you cannot see the visualization of those linked Account records, so that basically before you did customization, always think carefully it is correct or not using Custom entities instead of using Account or Contact.

3. You can only see the Visualization in the Entity View, it means you cannot show through view you got from the Advanced Find result nor through Dashboard to show all full hierarchy visualization

And you cannot see the icon through Advanced Find result.

 

4. You can only see the hierarchy visualization by individual record, you cannot see all records in one hierarchy diagram, you need to choose one record to see the hierarchy, it is one by one.

5. You can only see the record detail in 4 fields you have defined in the selected Quick View Form

.

Primary Contact, Owner, Open Revenue, Open Deals

6. You can have many 1:N Relationship and set the hierarchy to Yes, but you can only have 1 Relationship that enable for Hierarchy Visualization.

7. You can only have 1 Hierarchy Relationship for Account.

8. Following the limitation number#2, in the Contact entity, you can see the Company Name field as 1 of the relationship lookup field between customer record, it can be Contact to Contact or Contact or Account, but CRM will only show the hierarchy for those records that are Contact to Contact, not Account to Contact.

So, you cannot see the visualization of an Account followed by its Employee or Contact person.

For example:

I set Jim Glynn with Company Name = A. Datum Corporation (an Account)

It shows the hierarchy icon, but when I click it, it did not show the company record.

Jim is considered as a single record

But,if I change the Company Name to another Contact, it will show the hierarchy visualized.

Now, how to get started? Let’s move on.

How to Set the Hierarchy Relationship for Custom Entity?

Let’s refer to this link:

http://missdynamicscrm.blogspot.com/2014/11/crm-2015-how-to-configure-customize-hierarchy-relationship-for-custom-entity.html

How about for System Entities?

It is also using the same concept for the selected system entities.

For those selected System Entities that are supporting this feature, by default when you go to the Entity definition setting, you will see a new navigation under Business Rules, for example in the Contact entity.

It is only limited to 4 fields information shown, What if I want to see more info?

Remember the steps defined in the previous section? You can actually create multiple quick form but just have to choose one of them as default form.

Then, you can jump to another Quick View Form to see other fields as detail information:

Hope this helps!

Thanks.