What do paper airplanes have to do with Sage SalesLogix?

Check out some of the results of the survey in the graphic to the right.

Note: Full survey responses are reserved for Sage SalesLogix Partners and are posted on PartnersOnline with other 2011 Boot Camp materials.

Here’s a snippet of the SData discussion at Sage SalesLogix Boot Camp 2011 discussing the groups system endpoint, which implements the request to execute groups a little differently than we’ve seen with SData before. (Because the group itself is only going to get the metadata.) We do this through $queries/execute?[resource]. Here are two examples:

*************************************************************************************************************
Execute a group based on its plugin ID:
/slx/system/-/groups/$queries/execute?_groupId=p6UJ9A0004TS

Execute a group based on its family and name:
/slx/system/-/groups/$queries/execute?_family=Account&_name=All Accounts

*************************************************************************************************************

Why are “_groupId” and “_family” underscored? Nathan (SData expert) joins the SData discussion from Melbourne via Skype and tells us why:

To install Sage SalesLogix Mobile, refer to the Sage SalesLogix Mobile Implementation Guide v1.1. You can find this guide and the v1.1.zip (Application Architect bundle) inside the Sage SalesLogix v7.5 Service Pack 4 zip (SLX_v754.zip) under Installs\SalesLogix Mobile

The implementation steps include:

1. Install the Sage SalesLogix Mobile v1.1 Bundle.
2. Deploy the SLX Mobile Portal and the SData Portal.
3. Define the Default Document.
4. Send the Mobile Portal URL to Users.

If you plan to make customizations to the out-of-the-box mobile site, be sure to read this post on GitHub download tips and this post on customization tips.

I recently had a situation where I wanted to show a “more tab” with a datagrid that would show data that had a secondary relationship to the entity on which it was placed.

The idea is on the User details I wanted to show the tasks assigned to that user through the project. In this scenario the project is assigned to the user. The task user is not the correct user.

So the relationship looks like this:

Users -> Projects -> tasks

Users has a .projects, but I cannot get the tasks to show using a traditional datagrid so I used a very simple HQL Query.

Add the HQL Data source to the page and the query can be as simple as (from) “Projects p inner join Tasks t”

The relationship is already defined, so we do not need to SQL “on p.projectid = t.projectid”

Now we can set our columns to whatever we want to show in the grid, add the grid and we are on our way.

Simple.

A recent request (thanks, Paul!) led me down a path I didn’t expect. How do you create a Delete Lead role in the Web Administrator? Because the existing Entities/Lead/Delete secured action is already created for us, I assumed that I would simply follow these steps:

1. Remove the Entities/Lead/Delete secured action from the Standard User role.
2. Create a Delete Lead role.
3. Assign the Entities/Lead/Delete secured action to the new role.
4. Assign a designated user to the new role.

While those steps are valid, it’s missing a very important piece! The out-of-the-box Entities/Lead/Delete secured action—and a few others—aren’t assigned to an interface item. To fix any of those out-of-the-box secured actions, you need to go into Application Architect, locate the interface item that you want to restrict, and then assign the appropriate secured action to it using the Applied Security property. After building and deploying your changes, then you can proceed with the steps above. This fix applies to Sage SalesLogix versions v7.5.3 (with the Admin Accelerator bundle) and v7.5.4.

For more information, check out this video I created to step you through the process.

For more video tips like this one—including a neat trick for creating a custom Librarian role in the Web Administrator—visit the Sage SalesLogix Administrator’s Subscription. Inside the subscription, you can also download an electronic workbook for using the Web Administrator tools.

At Sage SalesLogix Boot Camp 2010, Jason Huber presented on widgets, and I helped with the curriculum. In the presentation we included two exercises:

1. Configure a dashboard widget (very basic end user stuff)
2. Create a custom widget (very intense developer stuff)

It turns out that we missed the middle! How do you allow your end users to configure a dashboard widget from a custom entity? Easy: Use entity filters! Here are a few things to remember:

• Each widget requires 1 Group, 1 Dimension, and 1 Metric. This means that if your custom entity does not have a main view, you need to create one so that you can set up groups.
• A Dimension is a filter that has a type of Distinct or Range.
• A Metric is a filter that has a type of Analtyics Metric Definition or Analytics Date Differencing Metric Definition.
• Set the Available for Analytics property to True in order to see your filter in the widget.

I created a video to show you a great example of 4 different widgets using a variety of dimensions and metrics for an “Expense” entity. As usual, Jason came up with the example, and presented it as part of his Sage Summit session this week. Now it’s yours, too!

It’s time to enhance your workflow by pairing the SaleLogix you know-and-love on your PC with the SalesLogix you-will-come-to-love on your mobile device! Although the mobile version* provides the same tools to build relationships and remain connected with your business, the interface differs slightly from the familiar PC experience. Want to learn the tips and tricks? Take 14 minutes to watch this Sage SalesLogix Mobile training video. (Click http://slxtraining.net/newmobile to watch from your mobile device.)

You’ll learn how to:

• Configure settings and keep local storage for offline data access.
• Quickly enter data (like adding a new account and contact).
• Easily link to different pages with the fewest taps/touches.
• Create notes to record phone calls and e-mail messages.**
• Use hash tags to search for a group of records in list view.

Let us know if you’re satisfied with the new Sage SalesLogix Mobile experience!

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*Requires Sage SalesLogix v7.5.3+. Supports iPhone 3.x+, iPad, Android v2.1+, BlackBerry v6.0+, and HTML5/CSS3-compliant browsers. Learn more here.

**In order to use the Record to History feature, you must access Sage SalesLogix Mobile from within your mobile device’s native browser application.

Before students attend the Implementing or Administering Sage SalesLogix course, we ask them to complete the Introduction to Sage SalesLogix course. This Anytime Learning course contains three components:

1. Windows Administrator Fundamentals
• Client/Server Architecture
• Services
• IIS and Web Hosting
• Relational Databases
• Windows Domain, User Permissions, and Shared Folders
2. Sage SalesLogix Fundamentals
• Introduction to SalesLogix
• Accounts and Contacts
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Dashboards
• Tickets
• Lookups and Groups
3. Pre-Assessment

Why do we offer this course? One reason is that we no longer teach Sage SalesLogix fundamentals in the Admin/Imp courses, so this course is often the first chance that a new administrator sees the product that they are about to be responsible for administering! The other reason is to get students up to speed on basic Windows administrative functions that are required of someone in this capacity. The pre-assessment includes 20 multiple-choice questions, and it simply helps assess how well your skills meet class expectations. It’s no big deal if you don’t get a perfect score, but it could save you a week’s worth of frustration in training if you determine early that you may not be the person at your company to assume this role.

If you’re interested, take some time to check it out—there is no cost for registration!

The Upgrade Process

The upgrade process for Sage SalesLogix v7.5 Service Pack 4 is different than previous service packs because SP4 includes a full install. It’s very similar to the process of installing the base v7.5.0 product—except with a lot more features in the end! They are so similar in fact, that if you are installing Sage SalesLogix in a new, on-premise environment, you can go directly to the SP4 installer (no v7.5.0 necessary). If upgrading from an existing v7.5.X* environment, on the other hand, the SP4 installer runs in the same way except that it first removes applications with prior version and then re-installs them.

During the installation (or re-installation) for each feature (Admin Tools & Servers, Client, Web Host, Web Reporting, and so on), the SP4 installation wizard inspects your system for necessary prerequisites and even finds the appropriate installer for you, which makes the process extremely seamless. The Applying Service Pack 4 for Sage Saleslogix Version 7.5 documentation is the ultimate resource for choosing the right upgrade workplan for your environment. Always defer to the documentation when performing an upgrade in a production environment.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I can reveal the following [abbreviated] steps that we use in Training to upgrade our image from v7.5.0–>v7.5.4. (Upgrading from v7.5.3–>v7.5.4 is similar, but you can skip steps 1, 9, and 10 if you already did them for SP3.)

1. Delete the MergeConfiguration.xml file and the PotentialMatchConfiguration.xml file in Application Architect.
2. Run the Setup.exe, and install Administrative Tools and Servers. (Restart.)
3. Run the Setup.exe, and install the LAN or Remote Client.
4. Install the LAN bundle in the Administrator.
5. Run the Setup.exe, and install the Web Host on IIS.
6. Run the Setup.exe, and install the Web Reporting Server.
7. Restore the SP4 project backup, rebuild web platform, deploy core portals.
8. Run the Role Security utility.
9. Add users to the Standard User role in the Web Client.
10. Reconfigure Web Reporting in the Application Architect.

Here’s a video of me going through the steps for the RC1 version with a bit more explanation. We skipped many recommended tasks from the documentation that you should perform on a production environment, but did I miss anything?**

For more videos like this one, subscribe to the Sage SalesLogix Administrator’s Subscription or contact training.crm@sage.com.

The Enhancements

Although I won’t review all of the enhancements from SP4—the Applying Service Pack 4 for Sage Saleslogix Version 7.5 documentation is the best resource for a comprehensive list—here are a few that we’re especially partial to in Training:

• Duplicate Checker (for Web Administrators):
  This tool is available under the Tools menu when logged on as “admin.” You can also grant a standard user access to this tool by adding the user to the Data Quality Manager role. It allows you to search within any group for Account, Contact, or Lead tables and look for duplicate records in the database. This feature locates matches and scores them based on match probability, and then it allows you to resolve any duplicates by merging records. Service Pack 3 introduced the ability to merge records in the Web Client List view (right-click > merge), but you still had to spot-check for the duplicate records manually. The SP4 enhancement automates the process AND includes the Lead table.
  




• Notes/History tab (for Web End Users): This enhancement brings the familiar Notes/History tab that we love from the LAN Client into the Web! It combines both history items and notes. You can filter the grid based on a variety of criteria, and you can even send any selected items to e-mail or to Word.
  




• Editable Sales Order Data Grid: Now you can more easily update pricing and discount for a sales order. (Not to mention use a revamped Accounting Integration process! More to come on this in later posts.)
  




• SData Enhancements (for Web Developers):
  In addition to excluding individual entity properties from the SData payload, you can also prohibit Create/Update/Delete SData operations on an entity. Also, more entities are exposed to SData.
  




• Enable Field-Level Security for New Entities (for Web Developers):
  




• Many more!

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*If upgrading from an existing environment earlier than v7.5.0, you must first upgrade to v7.5.0 before running the SP4 installer.
**If you learned one thing from this post, let it be that you should read the service pack documentation!

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Updated: Added the task to delete the PotentialMatchConfiguration.xml file to step 1.

A great product!

I have been working a lot with the New Sage SalesLogix Mobile product. We have a new master’s series class, many developer subscription videos, a production release setup which our internal PSG team developed, and now a v1.1 class. This was a lot of work, but man is it fun to work on such a sleek, great looking, and fast product. We have talked about the background of mobile before but we now really have two main versions: 1.0 and 1.1.

Versions
Version 1.0 of the New Sage SalesLogix Mobile Web works with 7.5.3, but really needs HF3 to be fully functional.

Version 1.1 of the New Sage SalesLogix Mobile Web works with 7.5.4. Absolutely needs 7.5.4 since some additional SData endpoints were added to support v. 1.1.

Everything I did in version 1.0 worked in version 1.1. No problems. The one catch is I also tried this on a 7.5.3 installation and got an error right after login. I just could not figure it out. I saw the end point and emailed a developer to see what was up. Turns out the above requirements stand. I needed 7.5.4 to run the newest downloads from github.

So where do I download v1.0 of Sage SalesLogix Mobile Web for my development environment?

Both versions of the New Sage SalesLogix Mobile Mobile Web can be downloaded from github.com here:
https://github.com/SageScottsdalePlatform/argos-saleslogix/branches

The trick is to show all branches. It is a link in the sub menu near the middle top to the left.

You need to do this for argos-saleslogix as well as argos-sdk. The above link is for argos-saleslogix. Here is the link for argos-sdk:
https://github.com/SageScottsdalePlatform/argos-sdk/branches

For version 1.0 you are looking for the download labeled: v1.0-rc1