In order to follow along with the recipes described in this book, you should sign up for a 30-day trial of Dynamics CRM 2011 Online rather than using an existing production server. This way, all customizations implemented in this environment will not affect your production environment, but they can all be packaged and moved to any other environment once you feel comfortable to do so.
Dynamics CRM Online has now been packaged with Office 365. In order to sign up for a new online instance, you will need to provide a few details as described in the following section.
Creating a new instance of Microsoft Dynamics 2011 Online is a quick and painless task. All you need to figure out is what URL you want to use, and fill in the wizard-driven configuration.
Navigate to http://crm.dynamics.com.
On the GET STARTED tile, click on the Free trial icon.
On the following page click on the Start your CRM trial button.
The next screen presents you with a form where you provide your personal information as well as the new domain you want to use. This sign-up creates your Office 365 trial account of which Dynamics CRM 2011 is a part.
When choosing your domain name, check its availability by clicking on the Check availability button. If the selected name is already taken, you will be prompted to select a different one.
Pay close attention to the Country or region field. This selection cannot be modified once the instance is created, as it sets global parameters for your environment. Note that this will not stop you from configuring additional currencies and territories.
Once you confirm the domain name availability, you are prompted to create a user ID. As part of the validation process, your mobile number is required and a text message with a confirmation code is sent.
Once all the fields are completed, click on the create your account button. You are being directed to the Administrative page for your organization. You will observe here the message about the remaining trial period, as well as the navigation to set up and manage your subscription services.
The Microsoft Dynamics configuration usually takes a little while longer, and you will see a status of "complete" when done.
From here on you are ready to add new users and to navigate to your newly created Dynamics CRM 2011 Online instance by clicking on the CRM link.
Dynamics CRM 2011 Online is a cloud-based solution offered on the SaaS model. A new instance is provisioned every time a new user goes through this process. With the new model, CRM Online is now part of the Office 365 offering, thus the common familiar account creation process.
As mentioned before, certain instance information cannot be modified after they are provisioned during the wizard. These include the organization's name, country, currency, and language. While the default values cannot be modified, additional languages and currencies can be customized, and additional territories can be configured.