{"id":71,"date":"2011-05-22T09:27:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T04:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnsf.wordpress.com\/?p=71"},"modified":"2011-05-22T09:27:07","modified_gmt":"2011-05-22T04:27:07","slug":"comparing-salesforce-with-microsoft-dynamics-xrm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/22\/comparing-salesforce-with-microsoft-dynamics-xrm\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing SalesForce with MicroSoft Dynamics xRM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n

MicroSoft Dynamics (xRM)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

\n

SalesForce.com (SF)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Design<\/strong><\/td>\n* offers more options during entity creation*\u00a0to make changes to a field, it has to be deleted then recreated and if there are forms\/views with that field, such dependencies have to be deleted first<\/td>\n* easier to create entities (objects)* fields can be changed\/deleted and all the related forms are automatically updated<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Master-Detail relationships include cascaded deletes and detail roll-ups (sum, count, average, etc) but M-D relationships can’t be chained, which results in having to implement them as\u00a0Lookups and lose the benefit of summarization offered by Master-Relationships<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Data Manipulation<\/strong><\/td>\n* smarter data import tool with lookup of foreign keys by ID or description*\u00a0doesn\u2019t have the UpSert function (update existing records and insert new ones) that SalesForce has<\/p>\n

* uses SQL Server<\/td>\n

* smart data import (lookup of foreign keys)* requires external tool and has the little quirk of having to use UpSert instead of Insert<\/p>\n

*\u00a0the UpSert function updates existing records and insert new ones in one run<\/p>\n

*\u00a0the SF query language (SOQL) has limitations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Infrastructure<\/strong><\/td>\n* can be hosted on premises*\u00a0no Governor limits if hosted in house<\/p>\n

* on premises installation\/configuration takes a long time<\/td>\n

*\u00a0there is no option to host SF on premises*\u00a0subject to Apex Governor Limits<\/a>\u00a0because SF is a multi-tenant platform<\/p>\n

* automatic upgrades twice a year, each release with a lot of new features<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Bugs<\/strong><\/td>\n* error messages popup often\u00a0although requiring only a retry from the same screen without closing\/reopening<\/td>\n* no bugs found<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Speed<\/strong><\/td>\n* slow, not very responsive<\/td>\n* very responsive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Usability<\/strong><\/td>\n* the user interface is familiar to MS Office users but it is very busy<\/p>\n

* can be\u00a0embedded\u00a0in Outlook<\/p>\n

* integrated with Sharepoint<\/p>\n

*\u00a0very basic\/light-weight mobile web app (will likely require 3rd party for mobile access)<\/td>\n

* offers a much cleaner\/simpler interface* all users like it<\/p>\n

* Outlook and Sharepoint integration requires a lot more effort<\/p>\n

* SF is mobile ready<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Customization \/Programming<\/strong><\/td>\n* .net: \u00a0Visual Studio,\u00a0C#, VB* seems very flexible<\/td>\n*\u00a0requires unit tests to publish triggers and classes* default filter screens can be customized only to a certain degree and beyond the basics, it requires coding<\/p>\n

* requires creation of report types, then reports that use them<\/p>\n

* Apex is very similar to Java and C#<\/p>\n

*\u00a0subject to\u00a0Apex Governor Limits<\/a><\/p>\n

* limited deployments to Production in a given period as per the contracted level of service<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Workflows<\/strong><\/td>\n*\u00a0offers more types of process steps and seems more cohesive than SF<\/td>\n* there are 2 types: \u00a0approval process (triggered by the user) and workflow (triggered when a record changes in a specific way)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Forward thinking considerations<\/strong><\/td>\n* MS is one of the world’s largest R&D spenders<\/td>\n* clearly the leader in CRM<\/p>\n

* SF spends 8% of revenue in R&D while (2008 data) and 5x as much in sales and marketing<\/p>\n

* SF buys many other companies and integrate their proven technologies into the platform<\/p>\n

*\u00a0customer base is\u00a0very large<\/p>\n

* the company leader is a visionary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Cost<\/strong><\/td>\n* measured roughly 1\/3 to 1\/2 of SF’s cost in 1, 3 and 10 years for a high number of users* can be paid monthly<\/td>\n* entry price is cheaper (Group edition with 5 users)* annual upfront payment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The above is based on my experience with a proof of concept application and online research. Feel free to comment and add your corrections or a different point of view.<\/p>\n

Pertinent links:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0MS Dynamics 2011 vs salesforce.com<\/a>
\n– Developer frustration<\/a>
\n– MicroSoft Dynamics CRM vs SalesForce – How do you choose?<\/a>
\n– Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs. Salesforce.com vs. Microsoft Office Business Contact Manager<\/a>
\n–\u00a0Comparing Microsoft Dynamics CRM To Salesforce<\/a>
\n– MicroSoft Dynamics CRM vs SalesForce<\/a>\u00a0(MS partner)
\n–\u00a0Evaluating Software Vendors<\/a>\u00a0(from a MS shop)
\n–\u00a0Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Much More Than Meets the Eye \u2013 Part 2<\/a>\u00a0and Part 3<\/a>
\n–\u00a0Salesforce vs. Microsoft CRM: Relationship Management Applications<\/a>
\n–\u00a0Why We Chose to Work with Salesforce.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MicroSoft Dynamics (xRM) SalesForce.com (SF) Design * offers more options during entity creation*\u00a0to make changes to a field, it has to be deleted then recreated and if there are forms\/views with that field, such dependencies have to be deleted first * easier to create entities (objects)* fields can be changed\/deleted and all the related forms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-category"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.felineflock.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}