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Apex Planner 3 for Dynamics CRM Getting Started Guide v. 3.6

February 2017

1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................2

2. Installation .................................................................................................................................3

2.1. Compatibility .......................................................................................................................3

2.2. How to install ......................................................................................................................3

3. Licensing ....................................................................................................................................3

3.1. How Apex Planner license works ........................................................................................3

3.2. License types .......................................................................................................................4

3.3. Update limits.......................................................................................................................4

3.4. How many users do you need to license? ..........................................................................4

3.5. How to buy a new license ...................................................................................................4

4. Planner Configurations ..............................................................................................................5

4.1. Global Configuration ...........................................................................................................5

4.2. User Configurations ............................................................................................................5

4.3. Configuration Fields ............................................................................................................5

4.4. Planner Logs ........................................................................................................................8

5. User Interface ............................................................................................................................9

5.1. The navigation bar ..............................................................................................................9

5.2. The sidebar ...................................................................................................................... 10

5.3. Search for activities and resources .................................................................................. 11

5.4. Apply filters ...................................................................................................................... 12

6. Planning with Apex Planner ................................................................................................... 13

6.1. Create new activities ....................................................................................................... 13

6.2. Edit existing activities ...................................................................................................... 13

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6.3. Move and copy activities ................................................................................................. 13

6.4. Search for availabilities .................................................................................................... 13

7. Help ........................................................................................................................................ 15

7.1. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................... 15

7.2. Additional resources ........................................................................................................ 15

7.3. Contact us ........................................................................................................................ 15

1. Introduction

Apex Planner is a plugin module for Microsoft Dynamics CRM tailored to visually schedule

resources within Microsoft Dynamics CRM Service Module. It is designed for businesses that need

to streamline a shared calendar management.

Apex Planner enhances the service calendar adding features from Microsoft Outlook in a web-

based planning table. It extends the standard calendar allowing drag-and-drop features to

reschedule or assign appointments to other users or facilities. Users and Facilities can be grouped

into teams, sites and resource groups.

Each appointment can be moved in time and assigned to other users through a drag and drop.

The same can be done for facilities and equipment. The information included in each appointment

is displayed in a wider area to allow the schedule manger to get all the facts without opening each

appointment.

A custom form allows the creation of appointments and service activities without using the

Microsoft Dynamics CRM standard form. Within a form, you can edit and clone each appointment

directly. You can also choose to use the standard CRM forms, if you want to edit your custom

fields or if you like them more.

Apex Planner allows you to allow a specific number of users to execute the application, using a

specific security role. You can also filter the users you want to display on the Planner.

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2. Installation

2.1. Compatibility

Apex Planner is compatible with the following versions:

Dynamics CRM 2015

Dynamics CRM 2016

Dynamics 365

CRM 2013 is also supported, using a different solution package (ApexPlanner3_CRM2013.zip).

2.2. How to install

1. Download the package from the Apex Planner Site (around 1 MB).

2. Import the managed solution on Dynamics CRM.

3. Open the solution configuration page: go to Settings - Solutions, open the solution

“ApexPlannerHtmlScheduler” (“ApexPlannerHtmlScheduler_2013” for CRM 2013 users)

and select “Configuration” from the left panel.

4. Insert your personal information into the form and click Register: you will automatically

receive a new Demo license.

5. Go to Settings - Security – Users and add the security role “Apex Planner User” to all users

you want to open the Planner. Make sure that at least your user has this role.

6. Go to any Dashboard section or to Sales - Activities to find the launch icon “Apex Planner

3” in the top ribbon. Click on it to open the planner.

3. Licensing

3.1. How Apex Planner license works

Each license is bound to a single organization: it can be used only for the CRM organization on

which Apex Planner was activated.

The license key limits the number of users and the time interval. Suppose that you have a license

for 50 users that expires on January 1. If your organization has more than 50 active users or if the

current date is over January 1, the Planner reports an error. You will see in the next paragraphs

how to limit the number of users that you need to license.

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3.2. License types

There are three types of licenses:

DEMO licenses

These licenses last for one month, but guarantee an unlimited number of users. This is

the kind of license that is provided when you register for the first time.

SUBSCRIPTION licenses

These licenses include a limited number of users and an expiration date.

PERPETUAL licenses

With these licenses, you have a limited amount of users, but no expiration date.

3.3. Update limits

Within one year from the purchase date, you can download and install the latest Apex Planner

releases: your license will remain valid. After a year (if your license is not expired yet, mainly

because it is PERPETUAL) you can still keep using Apex Planner, but cannot work on the

subsequent releases. You can see the Service Expiration Date on the Global Configuration form.

3.4. How many users do you need to license?

The minimum number of users that you need to have in your license is calculated as the number

of active users visible on the Planner plus the number of active users which have “Apex Planner

User” role. If a user matches both of these rules, is counted only one time.

If you want show less users on the Planner, go to the Visible Users grid of the Global Configuration,

than add only the users you want to see. Note that, if the grid is empty, all users will be visible.

You can find a summary of the licenses you need on the Solution Configuration page.

3.5. How to buy a new license

After your Demo license expires, you can buy new licenses directly from the Solution

Configuration page, by clicking on the Buy License button. You will be redirected to the payment

page of Apex Site.

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4. Planner Configurations

4.1. Global Configuration

This configuration contains the licensing details, such as the license key and the number of users.

It is automatically created after the activation of Apex Planner.

There must be one and only one active Planner Configuration of type “Global” (where “Is Global”

flag is true).

The fields under Global Information tab, which are visible only on Global Configurations, should

not be altered (otherwise the license will not work). If you have purchased a different license, just

click go on the Configuration Page and click the “Get License” button: the license information will

update automatically.

4.2. User Configurations

If you need custom configurations, create a new Planner Configuration record and assign the

configuration to the desired user. If a user is not the owner of any Configuration, she will inherit

all the settings from the Global Configuration. The information in the Global Information tab is

applied to all users and cannot be customized.

4.3. Configuration Fields

GLOBAL INFORMATION Section Visible only on the Global Configuration (Is Global = “Yes”)

License key The license key that has been assigned to your organization.

DO NOT EDIT THIS FIELD.

Company Name The owner of the license. DO NOT EDIT THIS FIELD.

License Type Can be Demo, Subscription or Perpetual. DO NOT EDIT THIS

FIELD.

N. of Users The number of users which the license enables. 0 means an

unlimited number of users. DO NOT EDIT THIS FIELD.

Activation Date The date when the license has been assigned to your

organization. DO NOT EDIT THIS FIELD.

Expiration Date The date when the license will expire. DO NOT EDIT THIS

FIELD.

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Service Expiration Date The date when you license maintenance will expire. DO NOT

EDIT THIS FIELD.

Visible Users

You can use this grid to specify all the users you want to be

visible on the Planner. This could be useful to limit the

amount of licensed users.

USER DEFAULTS Section

Configuration Name Choose a name which briefly describes the configuration.

Default View The view from which the planner starts.

Enable Tracing Enables the client tracing (for debugging purposes).

Enable Standard CRM forms If Yes, the planner opens standard CRM forms in a new

window, instead of showing the custom internal form.

Sidebar width Choose the initial width of the sidebar on the left of the

Planner.

Refresh (seconds) Forces Apex Planner to refresh appointments/service

activities every X seconds.

Show My Planner

If Yes, Apex Planner automatically selects your users at

startup. This option disables the Default Team/Site/Resource

Group settings.

Show organized

appointments

Choose if Apex Planner shows the appointments which a user

organizes (“Organizer” field).

Show owned appointments Choose if Apex Planner shows the appointments/service

activities which a user owns (“Owner” field).

Default Team At startup, Apex Planner automatically sets the specified

Team as filter.

Default Site At startup, Apex Planner automatically sets the specified Site

as filter.

Default Resource Group At startup, Apex Planner automatically sets the specified

Resource Group as filter.

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Section Visibility [multiple

fields] Sets a specific section visible on the sidebar.

ACTIVITY SETTINGS Section

Default Start Hour New appointments/service activities will start from the

specified hour.

Default End Hour New appointments/service activities will end at the specified

hour.

Enable New Appointments Allows the user to create new appointments from Apex

Planner.

Enable New Service

Activities

Allows the user to create new service activities from Apex

Planner.

Availability Check [multiple

fields]

When you are saving an appointment/service activity, Apex

Planner will search the CRM and report any conflicts.

Appointment /Service

Activity Visible Fields

Choose the fields that will be displayed on the

appointment/service activity box of Apex Planner.

Appointment/Service

Activity Visible Statuses

Choose the status reasons that will be available on Apex

Planner.

VIEW SETTINGS Section

Timeline: Visible Days The number of days that will be visible on the Timeline view.

Timeline: Hide Weekends Hide Saturdays and Sundays from the Timeline view.

Timeline: Back/Forward days Set the number of days the arrow buttons of the navigation

bar will move forward and backwards.

Timeline: Row Height

Set the minimum height of each row of the Timeline view. 1

unit means the height of a single-line event, 2 means the

height of two stacked single-line events and so on.

Day: Zoom Level Sets the initial zoom level of the day view.

Day: Start Hour Sets the hour from which the Day view starts.

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Day: Visible days The number of days that will be visible on the Day view.

Day: Back/Forward days Set the number of days the arrow buttons of the navigation

bar will move forward and backwards.

Hide canceled/completed

activities

Hides all the activities that have the status of

canceled/completed.

VIEW SETTINGS Section

Target Option Sets Choose the Option Set that will be used to determine the

background color of Appointments/Service Activities

Appointments/Service

Activities Choose the colors for each value of the target field.

Appointments/Service

Activities Status Reason

If the target field is not “Status reason”, you can still choose a

color for each status reason. Apex Planner will show this color

on a bar on the left of each event box.

4.4. Planner Logs

Every time an error occurs on Apex Planner, a new Planner Log record is created. Each record

contains information about which user was executing the planner, when the error occurred and

the error trace.

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5. User Interface

5.1. The navigation bar

Timeline/Day/Week/Month Opens the corresponding view.

Back Goes back for the number of days specified into the Planner

Configuration.

Today Moves the Planner to the current day.

Forward Goes forward for the number of days specified into the

Planner Configuration.

Zoom In/Out Changes the zoom level of the current view.

Refresh Forces the reload of all the activities.

Search Opens the “Find availability” dialog.

Go to Allows to jump to a specific date.

Settings Opens the active Planner Configuration.

Print Prints the current view.

Information Shows the current Apex Planner version.

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5.2. The sidebar

Users Contains a list of all the users. Note that may be a

filter on the Global Planner Configuration (Visible

Users grid) which prevents some users from being

displayed.

You can see in the image on the left that some of

the users are selected: this will display all the

appointments and the service activities in which

the users are involved.

Facilities Contains a list of all the facilities of the CRM.

Selecting a facility will display all the

appointments/service activities which involve the

facility as resource.

Teams This menu lists all the teams of the CRM. Selecting

a team will show in a single line all the

appointments/service activities of the users

belonging to that team.

Sites This menu lists all the sites of the CRM. Selecting a

site will show in a single line all the

appointments/service activities of the

users/facilities belonging to that site.

Resource

Group

This menu lists all the resource groups of the CRM.

Selecting a group will show in a single line all the

appointments/service activities of the

users/facilities belonging to that group.

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5.3. Search for activities and resources

When you enter some text into the search field, Apex Planner will search the occurrences from

both activities and resources.

Hovering over a found activity/service appointment will display its main information. If you click

on it, Apex Planner will move to the start date and sow all the resources involved.

Clicking on one of the found resources will add it to the displayed resources pool.

To hide the search menus, just clear the search string.

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5.4. Apply filters

You can drag Teams/Sites/Resource Groups to the Filters area. This way, all the users/resources

included into the filter will be displayed, one line for each resource.

Apex Planner will hide all resources not included into the filter.

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6. Planning with Apex Planner

6.1. Create new activities

Select one or more days on Apex Planner, then right click and select “Create Appointment” or

“Create Service Activity”.

6.2. Edit existing activities

Click on the appointment/service activity box to open the edit form.

6.3. Move and copy activities

You can drag and drop the event boxes to move the appointment/service activities to a different

date or to a different resource.

6.4. Search for availabilities

You can use this functionality to search available time slots for service activities. Click on the

magnifying glass icon on the navigation bar to open the “Find availability” dialog.

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Resources The resources you want to schedule.

Service The service you want to schedule.

Start The date from which you want to start searching for availabilities.

Duration The duration of the service activities.

Interval The interval of the search.

Results All the availabilities, starting from the nearest.

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7. Help

7.1. Troubleshooting

I cannot see some users on the Planner.

• Check the Visible Users grid on the Global Planner Configuration. Make sure that the grid

is empty or at least contains the users you want to be displayed.

Apex Planner shows the message: “The maximum number of users allowed by the license has

been exceeded.”.

• Insert only the users you want to display into the Visible Users grid of the Global

configuration.

• Remember that also users with “Apex Planner User” security role need to be licensed.

• Buy additional users from the Apex Planner site.

I use standard CRM forms. When I open an appointment, some fields are not auto-filled.

• Apex Planner uses a couple of custom fields to store temporary resource data. Both

appointment and service activity forms must contain the following (hidden) field

“new_extraparams”.

A generic error appears frequently when I try to modify appointments or service activities.

• You may not have on CRM the permissions to do some of the operations you are trying

to do on Apex Planner. Contact your CRM administrator.

7.2. Additional resources

You can find video tutorials and blog posts on the Apex Planner site.

https://www.apex.it/en/crm/apex-planner

7.3. Contact us

If you need additional information or help, please write to planner@apex.it.