Microsoft Dynamics 365 Development for a Welding Equipment Provider

Summary

A multinational welding-equipment provider was held back by a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM that made quoting slow, reporting unreliable, and the experience inconsistent across languages and devices. INNERLUXES customized the CRM with faster quoting, automated price calculation, custom SSRS reports, and localization for its overseas business units, then upgraded the platform from version 8.0 to 9.0 to bring a consistent web and mobile experience on the new Unified Interface.

About the Client

The Client is a multinational company that provides welding-related facilities to enterprises around the world, offering equipment for rent, lease, and sale.

Slow Quoting, Weak Reporting, and an Inconsistent CRM Experience

The Client's Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM did not support quick quote generation, so sales reps spent excessive effort creating quotes and searching for product prices specific to a particular business unit. Revenue and expense reports lacked accuracy and visibility. The CRM was not localized for the Client's business units in Mexico, Germany, France, and Spain, making it inconvenient for employees there, and the user experience across the web and mobile interfaces was inconsistent because of functionality gaps in the mobile UI.

Custom Dynamics 365 Development and a Platform Upgrade

INNERLUXES performed custom development of the Client's Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, addressing each pain point in turn:

• Faster quoting — a custom look-up built in JavaScript made it easier to find products and prices for different quote lines (lease, rental, and sales lines for leased, rented, and sold products), and let prices be set up per business unit worldwide, so reps can quickly create quotes priced for their unit and distribution territory.
• One-click Copy Quote and automated pricing — a custom Copy Quote button created with Ribbon Workbench copies the needed quote lines in one click, and the server-side price-calculation logic was modified with the Custom Actions plugin so quotes generate with automatically calculated prices and discounts.
• Better revenue and expense visibility — custom SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) reports were built with Microsoft Visual Studio, along with Fetch-based reports.
• Localization — French, German, and Spanish were added to the CRM settings, and custom UI components and custom reports were translated into all of them.
• Upgrade from 8.0 to 9.0 — the CRM was upgraded to switch to the new Unified User Interface (UUI), which eliminated the mobile UI functionality gaps; web forms were rebuilt with default drag-and-drop tools and outdated, unsupported UI components were removed.

A CRM Aligned to the Business Across Languages and Devices

• The customized quote management made creating new quotes easier.
• Localization eased use for employees across geographically dispersed business units.
• New custom report types supported internal needs such as decision-making and sales planning, and made the reports sent to clients more accurate and reliable.
• The 8.0-to-9.0 upgrade brought better usability and a sleek, consistent experience across the web and mobile Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications.

Technologies and Tools

Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, XRMToolBox, Ribbon Workbench, JavaScript.