Going global with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Published Date : February 8, 2008
Reto Käch is the IT manager for Lucerne Publishing, a Swiss publishing company with offices throughout Switzerland, as well as subsidiaries in North America and East Asia. Reto had deployed the German version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 in his company's main office, but his company's senior leadership has recently agreed to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Management wants to roll out the system worldwide, taking advantage of the new international features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
By deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, Reto can provide his coworkers with many new features to support multilingual and multinational organizations:
-
View the Microsoft Dynamics CRM user interface and Help in German, French, Italian, Japanese, or any other available language.
-
Store financial data in euros, Swiss francs, U.S. dollars, Japanese yen, or other currencies, and then report on this data across records, regardless of their currency.
-
Export customized user-interface text for translation, and then import the translated text.
On This Page
|
Install and enable additional languages |
|
|
Add additional currencies |
|
|
Provide customizations in multiple languages |
|
|
Let the world know |
Install and enable additional languages
When Reto upgrades his company's implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Setup detects the language of the original installation and sets this language as the base language for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The base language is the default language for an organization's implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and it determines default settings for regional and language options in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If Reto had been installing a new implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, the base language would have been determined by the language version he was installing.
Because Lucerne Publishing had been using the German version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, the base language for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is set to German. Although German will continue to be the base language for Lucerne Publishing, Reto can now install and enable additional languages, such as French, Italian, English, and Japanese.
After installing Language Packs and enabling the corresponding languages in the Web application, Reto's coworkers can each choose an alternative language to the base language.
Install a Language Pack
Before Reto can enable additional languages for his coworkers, he must install Language Packs on the server that is running Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Language Packs include localized versions of text displayed in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM user interface, as well as localized versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Help. Language Packs are available from Microsoft as downloadable packages.
To install a Language Pack, use the following instructions.
-
Log on to the server where Microsoft Dynamics CRM is installed, as a user who has Local Administrator privileges.
-
Double-click MUISetup.msi where the Language Pack files are located.
-
On the License Agreement page, review the information, and if you accept the license agreement click I accept this license agreement, and then click Install.
Setup copies the Language Pack files. By default, the Language Pack files are copied to <drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM\LangPacks\<LangID>, where LangID is the language identifier, such as 1033 for US English or 1043 for Dutch.
-
On the completion page, click View log file if you want to review the Setup log file. In addition, you can click View Read Me to view the Read-Me file that contains up-to-date information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Language Packs.
-
Click Finish to complete the installation.
For more information about installing Language Packs, see the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Implementation Guide.
Enable additional languages
Now that the Language Packs have been installed on the server, Reto must enable these languages in the Web application.
-
In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Administration, and then click Languages.
-
Select the check boxes for each language you want to enable.
-
Click Apply.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables the languages you selected.
-
When you have finished enabling and disabling languages, click Close.
Add additional currencies
Like base languages, each implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes a base currency. The base currency is the primary or default currency in which an organization conducts business. Any transactions in other currencies are automatically converted to the base currency in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM database, using the exchange rate defined in the record for that currency.
Because Lucerne Publishing has its headquarters in Switzerland, Reto sets the Swiss franc as the base currency. However, he can add additional currencies, such as the euro, U.S. dollar, and Japanese yen. When someone in Reto's organization saves financial information in a record, Microsoft Dynamics CRM converts the monetary values in the record to the base currency. This conversion ensures that all financial information is available in one currency for reports and other types of data analysis.
Many entities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM can store financial information, including:
-
Accounts
-
Products
-
Price lists
-
Quotes
-
Orders
-
Invoices
Add a currency record
Like many other entities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, currencies are stored as records. Currency records include details about the currency, including:
-
The name of the currency
-
The symbol that you use to represent the currency, such as $ (dollar), € (euro), or ¥ (yen)
-
The exchange rate with the base currency
Before Reto and his coworkers can store financial information in currencies other than the Swiss franc (their base currency), Reto adds a currency record for each additional currency in which Lucerne Publishing does business.
-
In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Business Management, and then click Currencies.
-
On the Actions toolbar, click New.
-
Click the Lookup button next to the Currency Code box, and then select the name of the currency that you want to add.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM automatically fills in the Currency Name and Currency Symbol boxes based on the currency you selected.
-
If you want to change the default name of the currency you selected, in the Currency Name box, type the name of the currency.
-
If you want to change the default symbol for the currency you selected, in the Currency Symbol box, type or paste the symbol that represents the currency, such as $ (dollar) or € (euro).
-
In the Exchange Rate box, type the rate of exchange between your base currency and the new currency you are adding.
-
Click Save or Save and Close.
Provide customizations in multiple languages
Lucerne Publishing has customized entity and attribute text in Microsoft Dynamics CRM to better reflect how the company runs its business. For example, the Account entity was renamed Retailer, and a similar custom entity named Wholesaler was added. The leadership team is concerned that these customizations will only be available in German to all the new users in the company's subsidiaries throughout the world.
Reto reassures his worried managers that he can export all of the customized text, have it translated, and then import the translations, making the customizations available in all the languages in which Lucerne Publishing is deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Export customized text for translation
-
In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Export Labels for Translation.
-
Click OK.
Exporting label text may take several minutes. When Microsoft Dynamics CRM finishes exporting the customized text, Internet Explorer prompts you to open or save the exported labels.
-
Click Save, specify a file name, and specify a location on your local computer or network where you want to save the compressed file.
You can extract the compressed file and then open the XML file that contains the customized text and translate it, or you can send the compressed file to a translator.
Import translated text
-
In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Import Labels for Translation.
-
Specify the file that contains the translated text, and then click Import.
-
When Microsoft Dynamics CRM finishes importing the translated text, click Close.
Let the world know
With several languages installed and enabled, Reto's coworkers have control over what languages to work in. With additional currencies available in records that store financial information, the global sales force can accurately save financial data, and the company's management can report on this data across the entire organization. Finally, with customizations available in every language, Reto's coworkers can take advantage of all the improvements he's made to their implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Everything is now in place at Lucerne Publishing to begin using Microsoft Dynamics CRM in all of the company's offices worldwide. Reto wraps up deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 by sending an e-mail message from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to all the users in his organization, letting them know about the new features.
