tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17544367265327021992024-03-12T19:55:20.181-06:00Dynamics 365 LadyHi, my name is Rachel Profitt. Some know me as the lady on all those Microsoft videos. Welcome to my blog where I will share all the latest and greatest information about Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Rachel Profitt is a FastTrack Solution Architect at Microsoft. The views expressed in this blog are personal views, and not those of Microsoft.Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-57851578812315969042022-09-02T14:48:00.000-06:002022-09-11T18:51:23.511-06:00A look inside my ADHD<p><span style="font-family: arial;">As promised, I am writing a blog today about what it means to be ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. When seeking a diagnosis, I suspected that I might be ADHD or autistic, but I had never really considered that I might have both. Even though I knew that many people had both diagnoses. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of my thought process about getting a diagnosis was that if I have behaviors or issues that are due to ADHD the treatment approach might be slightly different based on the reason or cause of the behavior or issue. I knew there was some cross-over in symptoms, but what was interesting to me was the amount of cross-over between the two diagnoses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To help you understand this, I want to use the same graphic that my psychologist provided me when explaining my diagnosis. This graphic comes from the <a href="https://neurodivergentinsights.com/misdiagnosis-monday/adhd-vs-autism" target="_blank">Neurogivergent Insights</a> website which has even more great resources and descriptions available. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLCp1jAXl3thx0g00P35FX5bH_BzmC2w131zoe41gJ6IkYwBgZou2kwETVp5GW0HYnkuOGd6-geCXsWPDImvS5COVuBIB2AvQAnBnrsXGiBPdKi-FyFN_EV2mp8ic9T6vWT0MtCYaKYA7L-_0tRETpTZ9bhLVR44tbq4XJ0oK9Ns0IkaZ1i5E6IR3SA/s1350/ADHD+vs.+Autism.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLCp1jAXl3thx0g00P35FX5bH_BzmC2w131zoe41gJ6IkYwBgZou2kwETVp5GW0HYnkuOGd6-geCXsWPDImvS5COVuBIB2AvQAnBnrsXGiBPdKi-FyFN_EV2mp8ic9T6vWT0MtCYaKYA7L-_0tRETpTZ9bhLVR44tbq4XJ0oK9Ns0IkaZ1i5E6IR3SA/w512-h640/ADHD+vs.+Autism.png" width="512" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The terms, symptoms, and behaviors you see on the left are unique to ADHD, while the ones on the right are unique to autism. The Venn diagram with terms in the middle darker section is the terms, symptoms, and behaviors that are in common between the two diagnoses.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">When I try to relate these different traits to myself and express how I experience ADHD I still have a lot to learn about myself. But to maybe provide an example for you of a real-life scenario I face almost daily; eating lunch. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I interpret my inability to recognize that I am hungry for interception issues that stem from autism. But when I do realize I am hungry, I often go to the refrigerator to find food, and become distracted or overwhelmed looking in the fridge to find food to eat. I interpret this as difficulty regulating attention and focus due to ADHD. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">While it is not always this black and white for me, the different problems in this scenario have different solutions. For example, to work on the interception, I am working with an OT to help me identify and interpret the body sensations to understand when I am hungry. But for the coping mechanism when I do realize I am hungry, I need a different solution. While many have been suggested, I still don't have a magic wand for this in my own life. I can say that meal prepping and putting things in the fridge that are visible, easy to grab, and don't require advanced executive functioning seem to work better for me. But then meal prepping introduced its own set of issues for me. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I think the other observation I have had since learning more about the two diagnoses is that my symptoms and behaviors have a tendency to be situational. In other words, the sensory input, environment, time of day, and lots of other factors can make a certain behavior swing one way or the other. For example, I tell people "I am nothing if not a creature of habit"--which aligns really well with the strict adherence to routines on the autism side of the diagram. But then other times, I am seeking novelty and new experiences, I am likely doing this to provide me sensory input that I am missing in my regular routine, which is likely more related to the ADHD side of the diagram.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, I hope this is helped you to understand the differences between ADHD and autism. If you think you might be ADHD or even if you are not and you struggle with some of the day-to-day aspects of your life I would encourage you to check out a YouTube channel called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/HowtoADHD" target="_blank">How to ADHD</a> which I have found to be a great resource of videos with lots of practical advice that frankly most adults could use at one point or another in their life. </span></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-60197388048353783242022-08-05T11:11:00.001-06:002022-08-05T11:11:38.461-06:00Autism is my superpower<span style="font-family: arial;">If you read my last post So I'm Autistic, you might have noticed an almost negative connotation of the diagnosis as described by the DSM IV (book of diagnosis codes used by medical professionals to diagnose autism and other mental disorders). But in today's blog, I want to explain why being autistic is amazing and explain why autism is my superpower.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">SPINs</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">SPINs is an acronym or term used in the autistic community to describe SPecial INterests. The "biased" version of SPINs is the young boy who loves trains 🚂 or dinosaurs 🦖🦕. But I'm here to tell you there are so many other types of special interests. If you knew me when I was young, then you likely knew my special interest was architecture. I was drawing houses and buildings and floor plans on the church bulletin and any other paper I could get my hands on. At age seven I could tell you more than any other kid my age about gothic revival, English Tudor, craftsman, and victorian architecture (just to name a few). I was no Frank Lloyd Wright, but for my age, it was probably strange to others. I still look at a lot of pictures of architecture, but if you know me now in my adult life you likely know that my SPIN is now Dynamics 365. (Have you heard of it? If not, or if so, I'd love to talk about it with you.) Although some people's SPINs may be strange to you, they can still be very valuable. Talking about a person's SPINS is a great way to connect - autistic or not.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a great segway into my next strength.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Visual thinking</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I am a visual thinker through and through. So much so, that I would say I have a photographic memory. But it doesn't work with everything. For example, I can watch a movie and literally remember none of it a few hours later, but if I have seen a Dynamics 365 screen, I will remember it. Those faceless icons with exploding heads from Dynamics AX 2012 still haunt me. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgF3pbi3vSNZw7RrXPW1Gkq_hP-o2KR5zJXplq_hcgzbcepfYEwC9N8CuDptV6gWfSGqHlfrCMfNgKEWr16wZGY95vTwA5a6ADcke9ERlImHCRDipMiixL0mMRb_ueNF3XIiFxo75GuE3ytcw9jU1A9duFyuSjA8ecSl6yeRofhs7r2gH8NMT41k5oi7A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="130" data-original-width="300" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgF3pbi3vSNZw7RrXPW1Gkq_hP-o2KR5zJXplq_hcgzbcepfYEwC9N8CuDptV6gWfSGqHlfrCMfNgKEWr16wZGY95vTwA5a6ADcke9ERlImHCRDipMiixL0mMRb_ueNF3XIiFxo75GuE3ytcw9jU1A9duFyuSjA8ecSl6yeRofhs7r2gH8NMT41k5oi7A" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A screenshot of the AX 2012 vendor page showing the Vendor button which is a faceless person carrying a box with a large yellow star over the head.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, perhaps my SPIN was born from my ability to remember it all so clearly, but perhaps the other way around. (It's kind of like the chicken and eff conundrum.) This leads to my next strength.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Thinking outside the box </span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I believe that I think outside the box because I am blissfully unaware that there is a box. I think this might be fairly common among the autistic community. When this is combined with my visual thinking I can make relationships between things that others don't see or consider. But this is as much a gift as it is a curse.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IQ8GpjAkPf64mztCg3pHPcAKOY3Ekc-2ZsS5ZE88sfTuyx1e5ZyQ_7FQf68TcPrgPpA0EdnhwIpQhZJ6_7kbqbBRP7wCrKPenOwCAub3QSRgt9PVNUMyQQdbc9dqDSXgaPW6ocZYpa2IdvYrGab8QNp-ye2kCJndFmSdGM8t_5GY7uDpU8t6KM7a2Q/s1920/Thinking%20outside%20the%20box.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IQ8GpjAkPf64mztCg3pHPcAKOY3Ekc-2ZsS5ZE88sfTuyx1e5ZyQ_7FQf68TcPrgPpA0EdnhwIpQhZJ6_7kbqbBRP7wCrKPenOwCAub3QSRgt9PVNUMyQQdbc9dqDSXgaPW6ocZYpa2IdvYrGab8QNp-ye2kCJndFmSdGM8t_5GY7uDpU8t6KM7a2Q/w400-h225/Thinking%20outside%20the%20box.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Thinking outside the box</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Communication differences</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Because my brain works differently, it often leads to communication differences. Due to the social norms of society, this is often times viewed as a "negative" trait. But I'd like to reframe how you think about communication differences. I am known for saying what I think. This can lead to hurt feelings or the perception that I am harsh or non-empathetic; but, I'd argue this is a strength. After all who doesn't want an honest friend or colleague? My communication differences also lead to a very literal interpretation of anything I am told. For me, I have adapted over the years and will just let you know if something you say doesn't make sense. When I communicate, I tend to be very literal and precise. I think this is partly why I am so good at training since I live by strict rules of accuracy. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Autistic inertia</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This leads to the final strength I want to highlight. (Not to say these are my only strengths, but the ones that I directly attribute to my autistic brain.) Now, this combination of words is likely new to many of you. So I'll use Newton's law of motion to explain it which is how I learned about it. Don't worry, you don't need to be a scientist to understand this. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoShm_r5b3nYu24g_PSwDBSkzZwro20WacutXXvsf9utNHG5QKYOEUp1S6Y4An-We-heThmnyYnOd38IfRVFdaK3XxJ8QYuJxqX-SymM6ae6wuRgEKdsfS0AQB9JyKkDBsySLRQ3E80of1z5pvqhIlxpG9qTNp8JVB8EX2wNtxUiN4Tr22CQp2If4yIg/s1920/Newton's%20first%20law%20of%20motion.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoShm_r5b3nYu24g_PSwDBSkzZwro20WacutXXvsf9utNHG5QKYOEUp1S6Y4An-We-heThmnyYnOd38IfRVFdaK3XxJ8QYuJxqX-SymM6ae6wuRgEKdsfS0AQB9JyKkDBsySLRQ3E80of1z5pvqhIlxpG9qTNp8JVB8EX2wNtxUiN4Tr22CQp2If4yIg/w400-h225/Newton's%20first%20law%20of%20motion.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Newton's Cradle (marbles hanging from strings showing the first marble pulled back.) </span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I'll focus on the first law: "A body in motion remains in motion, or a body at rest remains at rest unless acted on by force." Using Newton's cradle as the example, the marbles will just hang there unless you pull one back, but if you pull one back it will keep going until you stop it.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Once I start a project, especially if related to my SPINs, it is extremely difficult to stop. So for example, if you were wondering how I wrote pages upon pages of documentation about posting profiles, it was my autistic inertia. The downside here is that it oftentimes comes at the cost of ignoring executive functioning and poor interoception. (Two topics for future blogs.)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Likewise, it can be extremely difficult to start a new task, especially if it's not one of my SPINs or creates sensory input that I struggle with. An example of this for me is washing dishes. When you couple this with my ADHD, it can be even more exhausting. But we'll save the ins and outs of ADHD for my next blog.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I'll leave you with my closing thoughts. Remember that because I experience autism in this way, does not mean the next autistic person will/does. Avoid making biased assumptions about autistic people and learn the strengths and weaknesses of your colleagues (autistic or not). Ask questions like how you can support the person, or what accommodations you can offer. I firmly believe that if we all did this, not just with autistic or neurodivergent people; if we do this with everyone; the world can be a better place.</span></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKN9qYcFmtCQmIKQP8UhodDNHoE4NxaDOR9QkfY1gimDMbkbW9Fy_nHFV1Okd7U5o8ec00UusJzsSuwNzSkIaABWDQ8eRo6sI1lwZ-pbcaEP3Ygzjzpt3RuJ0_IsdYnDXWPa8jkGva5RJSbI85ZzYeipFdG7AM4VDNJxEWlt6NPsVpUD2RUnQdWMULFg/s1920/Strengths,%20weaknesses,%20and%20accommodations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKN9qYcFmtCQmIKQP8UhodDNHoE4NxaDOR9QkfY1gimDMbkbW9Fy_nHFV1Okd7U5o8ec00UusJzsSuwNzSkIaABWDQ8eRo6sI1lwZ-pbcaEP3Ygzjzpt3RuJ0_IsdYnDXWPa8jkGva5RJSbI85ZzYeipFdG7AM4VDNJxEWlt6NPsVpUD2RUnQdWMULFg/w400-h225/Strengths,%20weaknesses,%20and%20accommodations.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Multi-colored hand prints with signs pointing in opposite directions that read strength and weakness</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-6664319801171200812022-07-18T17:35:00.001-06:002022-07-26T20:25:43.331-06:00So I'm Autistic <span style="font-family: arial;">So now that you know I'm an autistic ADHDer with PTSD, you might be wondering what that means. I'm going to use my next few blogs to help explain in layman's terms what these mean. Starting with my autism spectrum disorder. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I'd like to start by saying, that medical professionals refer to autism as a "disorder" implying that there is something to be "cured" or "fixed". However, I want to start by saying that I personally, and much of the autistic community don't have this view. In other words, there is nothing to be fixed or cured. I would like to replace the D in ASD with "Difference" because it's just a difference. And after all, it's ok to be different. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">My only goal in this blog is to eliminate the stigma, of "but you don't look autistic". Many aspects of autism are not visible or you may not be aware of them if you don't live with me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So in medical speak, autism is a developmental disorder where symptoms start within the first three years of life and have symptoms in two main categories (according to the DSM IV a medical book of diagnosis codes.)</span></div><div><ul class="nitro-offscreen"><li><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="font-family: arial;">Deficits in social communication and interaction</span></li><li><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="font-family: arial;">Restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests, or activities</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So I'll take these two points and boil them down to my own lived experience. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Deficits in social communication and interaction </span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I struggle with making friends for a lot of reasons. I expend a lot of energy to look and act "normal", which might actually look more strange to some people. I struggle to make eye contact with people and making small talk feels unnatural and unnecessary to me. So often times I skip that part and might make a neurotypical person feel that I lack empathy or interest in a person. I am learning that I have about a two-hour limit with large social interactions. So if you see me disappear for some quiet time, don't take it personally. Sometimes I need to get some spoons back...but I'll save spoon theory for another day. When I greet people I often skip the formalities and get right to the point. It's not that I'm not interested in your name, but I'm likely to forget it and again struggle with making eye contact so it feels awkward. When I do make eye contact I have a tendency to stare which might be awkward for the on-looker, but I'm not likely to notice your discomfort. Recognizing emotions in others is very difficult for me, again likely partially due to the fact I just don't look, and second, because I experience my own emotions differently and often struggle to recognize my own emotions. If I've ever made a face at you, don't take it personally, I likely don't even know that I'm making a face. And the face I make might not match the emotion you would assign to that face. I'm ok with a good firm handshake, but a light touch is difficult for me. Especially if it's unexpected. While I appreciate a good bear hug, it's generally only ok if it's from a few people that I'm really familiar with. More often than not, hugs feel awkward and maybe awful even. An unsolicited hug is almost certainly stealing a spoon or three. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Now this might leave you confused and thinking "but you seem so outgoing and you are a pretty good public speaker", so how does that work with deficits in social communication and interaction. While I would certainly describe myself as an extrovert, I want so badly to make friends, but as I've described above, it's difficult for me. But as for public speaking, I think this is directly related to two things, I always speak about my "special interest" and second is I don't make eye contact so I am generally unaware of my audience. When I was training in the classroom interacting with students worked because they would raise their hands and I could call on people with a visual queue.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Restricted, repetitive behaviors, interests, or activities</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I have a number of what I would put into the category of restricted behaviors, but people around me are not likely to notice many of these. For example, I wear clothes with specific textures. Finding undergarments that don't make me insane is a chore, but luckily more and more companies are making this process easier. Another thing that I struggle with and avoid like a plague is showers and rain. I'd rather you dump a bucket of nails on me. Now I have found alternative ways to clean myself but hygiene has always been a struggle for me. For example, I struggle to brush my teeth without vomiting. I have some unwritten rules with my husband to avoid touching the nape of my neck due to sensory overload. I also avoid foods with squishy textures. There are probably other things I avoid or restrict, but they aren't coming to me at the moment.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Now for repetitive behaviors. I've talked about a few of my stims in past blogs, but these are likely the behaviors you might notice. I stim and pick at my knuckle. The same knuckle has a tendon that I like to move over the knuckle bone. I also pick at my eyebrow and twiddle my fingers around my eye. When I was very young, I sucked my thumb and would pet my eyebrow and smell the crook of my elbow. I did this well into my teenage years until I replaced this behavior with knuckle and eyebrow picking. When I was young I had a lot of echolalia habits. Which basically means repeating words, phrases, or sounds. For example, I used to make the "whooing" noise of a pigeon, and I'm finding it difficult not to right now. I still participate in a lot of echolalia in my head. This is one of my masked features I may work to unmask more in the future. But if you've ever heard me say "there's a song for everything" you may have experienced this repetitive behavior. I hear a word, and immediately associate it with a song and begin singing the song or a short phrase of the song. While I have learned to do this mostly in my head, those close to me have likely heard this out loud. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">While this list is not a comprehensive list of my symptoms or struggles, it is likely a huge contribution to my diagnosis. My next blog will be a continuation of this topic, but instead of explaining all the bad things, I am going to explain all the good things. So be sure to like and follow if you are not already.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">To keep this blog from becoming a novel of my autistic symptoms, I want to conclude with a graphic from MattLowryLPP.com to show my own self-interpretation of where I am at on the Autism spectrum. Good chance this diagram has lots of words that you may not understand, and that's ok. I'll be exploring these categories more in future blogs. The black dots I have added are my self-interpretation of where I "stand" in each category. Dots closer to the inside are areas where I experience the skill or are "hyper" sensitive. Dots closer to the outside are areas where I don't experience, lack the skill, or are "hypo" sensitive. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="A picture of a color wheel that reads the Autism Spectrum. With lots of text around the image describing symptoms related to the autism spectrum. I have placed black dots on the color wheel where I identify." border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgRU3scNQi213re3azbEgaZiO5mrnyFRuVCbMS0WY2KNH0qZ27ezcoEZyv0uZ3pq_tynbmham0YE-9tBk1H8BtMOy5KKslK-Bc5fbOXN_HrGiB-OIpRux6eT_hYR-WYC6JtEJYVsGTpnO/w640-h360/1658187308020125-0.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="My interpretation of my own autism spectrum" width="640"></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The Autism Spectrum with my interpretation in the black dots</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgRU3scNQi213re3azbEgaZiO5mrnyFRuVCbMS0WY2KNH0qZ27ezcoEZyv0uZ3pq_tynbmham0YE-9tBk1H8BtMOy5KKslK-Bc5fbOXN_HrGiB-OIpRux6eT_hYR-WYC6JtEJYVsGTpnO/s1600/1658187308020125-0.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</a>
</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Bottom line, if you've got specific questions, I encourage you to ask questions or reach out. And remember that because I identify in one color range, doesn't mean the next autistic person you meet will identify in the same colors. Also remember, that not all symptoms or characteristics of autism are visible. So, please eliminate the phrase "but you don't look autistic" or "but you don't seem autistic" from your vocabulary. </span></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-13573327196895559062022-06-22T10:53:00.001-06:002022-06-22T10:53:45.750-06:00My neurodivergence journey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmhN0BJLoUYEoWXbKyeL2bE9kA2yLDrWIauBxIEh4l5foW6z3V9xreNHJbAFVpUvl9aVecbw1kyrTXW2IkfxBmyBtEKHyrwI5S4Qilp8BXw7hB1mdxnjbfmEhank_z5R0eunvJplIDArQqJiA9yl4YVHm4tifgx1BaFxd-UmcZenjcbedPDg7RoJQRA/s918/My%20Neurodivergence%20Journey.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A picture of a path lined with trees on each side that reads My neurodivergence journey" border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmhN0BJLoUYEoWXbKyeL2bE9kA2yLDrWIauBxIEh4l5foW6z3V9xreNHJbAFVpUvl9aVecbw1kyrTXW2IkfxBmyBtEKHyrwI5S4Qilp8BXw7hB1mdxnjbfmEhank_z5R0eunvJplIDArQqJiA9yl4YVHm4tifgx1BaFxd-UmcZenjcbedPDg7RoJQRA/w640-h84/My%20Neurodivergence%20Journey.png" title="My neurodivergence journey" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you read the <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/1754436726532702199/4642136745730963230" target="_blank">new page</a> I added to my blog site when I started writing about Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility, Allyship, and Covering, you may have noticed that I referred to myself as neurodivergent in that blog. In case you don't know what that means, Oxford Languages defines it as "differing in mental or neurological function from what is considered typical or normal". This might leave you still wondering, but I am going to explain the journey I have been on for the last few months (and life for that matter) in this blog. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I've been undergoing a full psychological evaluation for the past month or so and have been pretty distant and running under the radar, so to speak. Let's just say the process is exhausting, not just mentally, but emotionally, and dare I say physiologically. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In case you are wondering what a full psychological evaluation might include for an adult, let me explain. The process started with a 30-minute consultation to understand what I was looking for and what I wanted to get out of the evaluation. For me, I wanted the full gambit to be analyzed. Autism, ADHD, PTSD, Personality disorders, Mood disorders, and anything else I had never heard of before (these are all things that would make a person "neurodivergent"). I knew that I was different and already identified as neurodivergent, but was missing a more precise/accurate diagnosis. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in my early teenage years, and long since denied that diagnosis, but I knew there was something. Through a lot of reading I had formed my own hypothesis and through recent care from other psychologists and therapists, additional possibilities had been piled on.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQ_Ez--3DwQXdNarHmrF8VKiDprWJu_8TNz4EjZNvmoQPNPOibNNsVZAWggmaN54I4eB6zxOctHWxJH5m2Dc1HTzA5bJX6nEzCTDLRkSlXdMxjEc0djxem8-km3d_7mfpa4trBQm6ufS5TXnNiCV7Qv-aI6K_WbTp295_pEbckC0QD8I7VK_ZmWD-4A/s1920/Exhaustion.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Blue picture of a brain with hundred of dots and interconnected lines." border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQ_Ez--3DwQXdNarHmrF8VKiDprWJu_8TNz4EjZNvmoQPNPOibNNsVZAWggmaN54I4eB6zxOctHWxJH5m2Dc1HTzA5bJX6nEzCTDLRkSlXdMxjEc0djxem8-km3d_7mfpa4trBQm6ufS5TXnNiCV7Qv-aI6K_WbTp295_pEbckC0QD8I7VK_ZmWD-4A/w320-h180/Exhaustion.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">One key question I was asked during this initial consultation was why I wanted to be evaluated. I think this is one of the most important things I convey to you. I wanted to know for myself what this thing was I feeling, why I struggled, and why I have always felt different. I explained that I have sought every medical treatment known to man to help combat fatigue and gut issues and maybe there was another answer that was not physiological but rather neurological. But more importantly, I wanted to use the diagnosis to do two things. One is to help find treatments designed for adults with a similar diagnosis to help me work on some personal traits that I CHOOSE to change, and the second is to use my experience and diagnosis to be a voice; to help explain neurodivergence and how to be a better ally to the world. While I hope that my following might grow so I can have a bigger reach through this process, I already have a great community behind me in this crazy little world of Dynamics 365.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The psychologist performing this evaluation went on to explain the process which would involve a series of self-evaluations (17 to be exact), interviews with me in person, some testing, and gathering of other people's perspectives from people that are close to me (surveys and questions to my close friends and family and care providers.) The day before my first 90-minute evaluation I was sent 12 of those evaluations. Let's just say that was overwhelming in and of itself. I'm not sure if it was a test or what...but I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning trying to complete them. Full disclosure I failed, I only completed 11 of 12 surveys/self-assessments. But have no fears, I woke up early to finish the last one and get them all sent to the psychologist before our first call. We spent nearly 8 hours together in total over three meetings. She sent four additional surveys before our second meeting and one more after our last meeting which is the survey that was sent to my family for comparison to my self-assessment. During the in-person interview, I had to take what I imagine are considered cognitive tests. One was visual and letter-based, another was visual and pattern-based, one was a storytelling exercise and another was an auditory sequencing type test. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Our last meeting was also in person and I was provided my official diagnosis with lots of explanations, handouts, time for questions and answers, and next steps. So drumroll, please...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am autistic (also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">But most importantly, especially for those of you who know me personally, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm still the same AMAZING Rachel.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">These diagnoses are not what defines me. But, these diagnoses are what make me neurodivergent. I will explore each of these along with traits I experience personally more in future blogs. With that being said I want to say in my loud voice (those of you who know me personally, know what I am talking about) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I AM SO MUCH MORE THAN THESE WORDS. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">But I hope that we can all learn from the words and grow from these words. </span></div><div><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmsglU8A6xkssiQ4TvZU929yx1GtcYhirD6bbeoR7uzHBfTDJeyWGEhVUbKiVyy1fS-pOCICSRJd9osT8nwC6MFzDNfzwRZeDX--QfrMh3II7Kqt7KQxW76e4omQUdrllzdzMjTmpHN0_IqVT1cO-84WfplwK94wOL9S9Y8iozneKhVU23TpuEqMnWA/s1920/My%20Identity%20Cloud%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="a word cloud that includes words like friend, sister, awesome, veteran, autistic, PTSD, neurodivergent, rock star, ADHD, autoimmune, amazing, brilliant, Hashimotos, Celiac, daughter, woman, colleague, and so much more" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmsglU8A6xkssiQ4TvZU929yx1GtcYhirD6bbeoR7uzHBfTDJeyWGEhVUbKiVyy1fS-pOCICSRJd9osT8nwC6MFzDNfzwRZeDX--QfrMh3II7Kqt7KQxW76e4omQUdrllzdzMjTmpHN0_IqVT1cO-84WfplwK94wOL9S9Y8iozneKhVU23TpuEqMnWA/w640-h360/My%20Identity%20Cloud%20(1).png" title="My identity cloud" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">My identity cloud</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you know me personally and are thinking to yourself "but you seem normal" I guess I should thank you and explain that masking or covering are very real things. Masking or covering is exhausting and I hope to be able to bring my full self more of the time. But I might also encourage you to just remove the word "normal" from your vocabulary. The word is so subjective and just brings hate and discrimination in my opinion. We'll save that topic for another day though.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you thought to yourself (or have ever thought this about someone else) "but you don't look autistic" (or ADHD or fill in the blank with just about any diagnosis), then I encourage you to stop and think. Answer the question "what does an autistic person look like?". Sometimes the struggles are inside and not visible. Not all disabilities are visible. If you don't know the mental health state of a person, use caution when asking probing questions, you never know what they are struggling with and what might set a person off. I'd like to think that you don't want to be the "straw that broke the camel's back" by asking a person who is struggling with depression, for example, a question that leads to that person attempting suicide. I will be exploring common myths in upcoming blogs, but want to simply say this:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you met one person on the autism spectrum, then you have met one person on the autism spectrum. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">On the flip side of this don't say things like, well we're all on the spectrum these days. (I recently learned that this is referred to as gaslighting. I will likely take this topic up in future blogs.) Although you might mean well, it feels like you are dismissing my differences and struggles. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, I leave you with a few final thoughts today. I hope you will join me on this journey as I learn more about myself and share ways you can be a better ally and learn more about this neurodivergence thing. It's ok to ask questions, and I encourage you to do so. I also hope that you will choose kindness. I choose kindness.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzpSPidei6P2sC1nnGbMBaNCf2Kvr-7O4khRjNw2sxW1hsvlAhVTzra5X_5u0IqMcPg4uG1uM4wgX-MjkdVmtbiLL7MgYJ2uUwKyOaF27Qq7adl7blgNWbB2EoTNaYvLBLAjKuPQgf53YnQ0kilKdwLYRrAa5Vq7grs3rltKaYxKGC7lNFAd3C1YNziA/s1181/Blue%20and%20White%20Choose%20Kindness%20Laptop%20Sticker.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Choose Kindness" border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="1181" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzpSPidei6P2sC1nnGbMBaNCf2Kvr-7O4khRjNw2sxW1hsvlAhVTzra5X_5u0IqMcPg4uG1uM4wgX-MjkdVmtbiLL7MgYJ2uUwKyOaF27Qq7adl7blgNWbB2EoTNaYvLBLAjKuPQgf53YnQ0kilKdwLYRrAa5Vq7grs3rltKaYxKGC7lNFAd3C1YNziA/w320-h320/Blue%20and%20White%20Choose%20Kindness%20Laptop%20Sticker.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-8664152150554421642022-05-16T16:10:00.005-06:002022-05-17T10:12:16.920-06:00Stimming: My Knuckle Scar<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQ8fLRDUln1xv0gb78AQBauznk_ytFZDsl-Bg2zEYg0rnqsvOfmvpkLiyO6OYirRcSCoD5EYdcqarVo5fOI-3UtTixzWioB3nbVN2Y20VYiDULREgzpbtNPBESA-tT_q7u5XY2KS_wFftuAkVi8dB3PwRnVKTvnKhhl5-bv1OFt9gTRjn1uwYcXgG2w/s918/Stimming%20My%20Knuckle%20Scar.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQ8fLRDUln1xv0gb78AQBauznk_ytFZDsl-Bg2zEYg0rnqsvOfmvpkLiyO6OYirRcSCoD5EYdcqarVo5fOI-3UtTixzWioB3nbVN2Y20VYiDULREgzpbtNPBESA-tT_q7u5XY2KS_wFftuAkVi8dB3PwRnVKTvnKhhl5-bv1OFt9gTRjn1uwYcXgG2w/w640-h84/Stimming%20My%20Knuckle%20Scar.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A picture of my right hand with a large scar on the knuckle of my middle finger and a blue sapphire ring on the ring finger. The picture reads Stimming: My knuckle scar.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I</span><span style="font-family: arial;">'m sitting at the local bar with my husband chatting with friends and having a good time. Another guy I know by name and with whom I exchange pleasantries every week stops by. He says to me, "What happened to your knuckle, did you get in a fight with Jeremy (my husband)? I was looking to see if he had any bruises."</span></span><div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;">I would probably just laugh it off in most circumstances or tell a "made-up story." If you have ever noticed the scar on my knuckle and asked me about it, I likely told a story about how I burnt my hand as a child, and have picked at it all my life leaving a scar. If I didn't know you at all, you may have heard another version of the story likely something along the lines of "I punched a wall". </span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZE8nlRiLkfRSARY8PdjAB6K-RDTflPbnCeJSiZWCveNFbpaOQRHEqaItcf2uM6FhR__7lJv3FvA2kWKU6fEVH5np9v2Hd9c7rS5HpVE_6qYgudE31nj96KUFmw9bclq1y7LHQ5oR-_QeJBZORTCH0MtmjVXzSfjNDCyDFhlJaHSZD6ITD3oyOA70bg/s1280/Punch%20a%20wall.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZE8nlRiLkfRSARY8PdjAB6K-RDTflPbnCeJSiZWCveNFbpaOQRHEqaItcf2uM6FhR__7lJv3FvA2kWKU6fEVH5np9v2Hd9c7rS5HpVE_6qYgudE31nj96KUFmw9bclq1y7LHQ5oR-_QeJBZORTCH0MtmjVXzSfjNDCyDFhlJaHSZD6ITD3oyOA70bg/s320/Punch%20a%20wall.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A hand punching through a wall of small white bricks.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;">This time, for whatever reason, I was inclined to tell the real story. I started the reply with "You know, funny you should ask. I have to preface this story with the statement, I don't want you to take this personally or the wrong way." (And any story that starts this way is likely to offend someone.)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;">I went on to explain that I had had a conversation earlier in the day about the very topic of Allyship. And this was interesting and related because I am actually very self-conscious about my knuckle and the conversation with my coworker was all about why we as a society ask questions, make comments, or assume our own situation on someone else. Without getting into the details of that conversation, the outcome was an agreement that if we as a society could just learn to accept each other the way we are, it would be a much better place to live. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWONhe6yoGHqwhpXrSDQfOyIDloeXYVit5kcFUxSMZsBs4sSLlJ46E-4CpAsSd-7e8kV4-KM8zXtz1cRHx8tE5XWYah95Ar1Wv7Q_NSZ2XKaCsh4Wdn8Z2RxZdkGjTxah0f6J0SECD2Ppo4jlDI62ZI59oPxHkkRzarNmy1lBdifgza21a-nhkhKYWXg/s1280/Bar%20friends.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWONhe6yoGHqwhpXrSDQfOyIDloeXYVit5kcFUxSMZsBs4sSLlJ46E-4CpAsSd-7e8kV4-KM8zXtz1cRHx8tE5XWYah95Ar1Wv7Q_NSZ2XKaCsh4Wdn8Z2RxZdkGjTxah0f6J0SECD2Ppo4jlDI62ZI59oPxHkkRzarNmy1lBdifgza21a-nhkhKYWXg/s320/Bar%20friends.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A group of people at a bar with drinks.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;">Back at the bar, I said something along the lines of "It's interesting that people ask me about my knuckle as often as they do. I actually don't like it when people notice the scar on my knuckle because it is a reminder that I have a problem stimming and I don't like that I do this, and can't really stop it." I say something anecdotal about the conversation I had earlier that day and go on to give a harsh example to demonstrate why it is not ok to ask people about scars for example. "Let's imagine that I am a war veteran for a minute who has lost a limb or has a scar on my face from battle. Just asking a simple innocent question about where did you get your scar from could trigger a PTSD response. The reality is that you don't really know someone, and maybe a scar on someone's face is where you personally might draw the line and realize that socially that may not be acceptable, but for some people, it can be really minor. In my case, it is just a scar on my knuckle that has been there most of my life as I have been stimming and picking at the skin on my knuckle for as long as I can remember. When people bring it up, I feel self-conscious, maybe even worthless because I am a grown adult who can't stop picking at myself. Now I don't blame you for these terrible feelings I have about myself, but that is the consequence of the simple innocent question."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;">Of course, my friend apologized profusely, but I think it is important, to be honest with yourself and with those around you. We never learn if we just go on pretending like everything is ok. Now, you might have read this story and thought what the heck is stimming. So, in true "Rachel" style, I am of course going to explain it to you now before I close with some thoughts about how to be a better human.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;"><div>According to Oxford Languages, stimming is behavior consisting of repetitive actions or movements of a type that may be displayed by people with developmental disorders, most typically autistic spectrum disorders; or self-stimulation. While Merriam Webster describes it as a self-stimulatory behavior that is marked by a repetitive action or movement of the body (such as repeatedly tapping on objects or the ears, snapping the fingers, blinking the eyes, rocking from side to side, or grunting) and is typically associated with certain conditions (such as autism spectrum disorder).</div><div><br /></div><div>Now is the part where I explain this in my own words. Stimming just means that you have a behavior that is usually repetitive as a way to stimulate one's self. Every human has likely partaken in stimming activities at some point in their life. Take, for example, a baby sucking its thumb or even just suckling without anything in the mouth. This is a form of stimming, and most babies grow out of this. </div><div><br /></div><div>In general, I will say that stimming is not problematic, and you should not try to make a person stop stimming unless they are causing physical harm to themselves or others. Or if the stim is causing a severe distraction that impedes the environment/situation. My stim is somewhat borderline as I have been known to scratch/pick until I bleed, and one could argue that I am hurting myself. </div></span></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; letter-spacing: 0.15pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For me, when I remove one stim from my life, it is
generally replaced by another. The amount of stimming that I do is also quite
dependent on mood and neurological factors. My OT has encouraged me to not
worry about my stims or getting rid of one unless it is something I want. I
will say that I do want to stop stimming my knuckle, and that is a personal
decision, and I may not ever really be able to stop completely--and that is OK.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZpD1wI3XOUK4TpLQx0iiDc5C0HiQVs6tongizF4yLkMhjrmSo6Zb1OVE_whV-yDEhp3B-6fHIsDVjEjg_-PVqRM6yHs42saqTNmU3vfT9j1KkGtoG0bLdXAF-Amy0jjye7tce2Xn5Cb4u8H40NywPtQIQb7bGgjvm-7tZM5gKSUhIk6MSWsTPvVDEw/s1280/Think%20before%20you%20speak.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZpD1wI3XOUK4TpLQx0iiDc5C0HiQVs6tongizF4yLkMhjrmSo6Zb1OVE_whV-yDEhp3B-6fHIsDVjEjg_-PVqRM6yHs42saqTNmU3vfT9j1KkGtoG0bLdXAF-Amy0jjye7tce2Xn5Cb4u8H40NywPtQIQb7bGgjvm-7tZM5gKSUhIk6MSWsTPvVDEw/s320/Think%20before%20you%20speak.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Small cartoon images with cartoon images that read THINK before you speak.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></div><div><div><span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">If you have a stim that people ask you about, I encourage you to be strong and explain it to people so they can learn a new social norm...it's not ok to ask about certain things. If you have a stim you want to keep--good for you! If you have a stim you want to work on and get rid of--good for you! Consider if you can seek an occupational therapist to help you find different coping mechanisms. </span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">If you don't have a stim and notice someone else doing something, stop and ask yourself, does this behavior affect me, do I really need to know, what will change if I know? Chances are you don't really need to know. Be sensitive to others. Remember, you don't know their story. I would generally say, it's not appropriate to ask others about scars of any type or size. If someone offers information about their stim or a scar, for example, be empathetic and offer the olive branch of support. </span></span></div></div></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-55498989737804693112022-04-28T17:38:00.001-06:002022-04-28T17:38:23.360-06:00Covering: I (don't) got this<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTU14CpVATQ-UZwzreLA6h_ClkUw5hr9ZYmPa_wba3cJYmpgOJLHlHpk_tjI0vs09yKl8FZbY0ngn97XKkWs36S6jUJzRJyQaYUW4d0buBfhc3UOgm3L0EGYL2BFa-3iAfwp4MLk-mslxEuiMVGPdXAIG7WANNdXl7gSCjMSt0MsePITcXVHvwevGmSA/s918/Covering%20I%20(don't)%20got%20this%20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTU14CpVATQ-UZwzreLA6h_ClkUw5hr9ZYmPa_wba3cJYmpgOJLHlHpk_tjI0vs09yKl8FZbY0ngn97XKkWs36S6jUJzRJyQaYUW4d0buBfhc3UOgm3L0EGYL2BFa-3iAfwp4MLk-mslxEuiMVGPdXAIG7WANNdXl7gSCjMSt0MsePITcXVHvwevGmSA/w640-h84/Covering%20I%20(don't)%20got%20this%20.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A picture of a woman with a red cape wearing a suit with her arms crossed. The picture reads Covering: I (don't) got this.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Ra-chel! Ra-chel! Ra-chel! The group is chanting over and over, as I hesitantly climb the ladder up the tree. Meanwhile, my husband is on the ground saying, "Rachel, don't do it, get down". I get to the top and carefully turn around with the snatch block and large wooden dowel rod in hand. The song of my choice is playing, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. I think to myself, "I got this". Also, I think to myself, I need to time my epic ride down this zipline in my friend's backyard at my own birthday party while all my closest friends and coworkers cheer me on. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I put the snatch block over the rope line and stick the dowel rod through the hole and ready myself for what will assuredly be an amazing ride. The song starts, with the epic guitar and drums at the beginning "bum, bump-bump-bump, bump-bump-bump, bump-bump- buuummmp". SPLAT!!! (That SPLAT part is where I hit the ground because I could not manage to hold on). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaz1mipBp-mGzBDw7m_DV8_ui03QZx5ZBcepR4gHEvi8MnjAzoTqULLnyStJlPKNWx9on5rJJNM3vttVRDufX6ZnwlUjaAD52-NnU9676J1VkzXfAg0Jqo3ft3_JbNh18_soKML_Hs1s2NCet1-_vt51RVC8TfERoUzg38HDEmj3cstE1kw9yDku_eQA/s1280/Woman%20Zip%20lining.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaz1mipBp-mGzBDw7m_DV8_ui03QZx5ZBcepR4gHEvi8MnjAzoTqULLnyStJlPKNWx9on5rJJNM3vttVRDufX6ZnwlUjaAD52-NnU9676J1VkzXfAg0Jqo3ft3_JbNh18_soKML_Hs1s2NCet1-_vt51RVC8TfERoUzg38HDEmj3cstE1kw9yDku_eQA/s320/Woman%20Zip%20lining.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Picture of a woman zip-lining with a helmet and harness. (This picture is completely non-representative of the type of zip-lining I was doing.)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So it turns out, "I don't got this". While this funny story is not exactly what I am talking about when I write about covering "I got this", there was certainly some overconfidence that I was displaying externally, even though I knew that my husband was probably right. But I forged ahead anyway. Maybe it was the peer pressure, maybe something else entirely. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">After this "epic" ride down the homemade zip line went bad, I wound up in the hospital for 11 days with a slew of injuries. But we will save those details for another day. What I want to focus on today are the months I spent at home, by myself struggling. Although a few times I had my in-laws take me to appointments, and I certainly asked my husband for help with daily tasks, I forged forward with the "I got this attitude". </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Upon reflection, the reality was that I was extremely depressed and lonely living isolated in my bedroom, with no visitors, and whatever frozen meal my husband left for me in the mini-fridge to heat in the microwave. I could not put pants on by myself, let alone socks. I required adult supervision to take a shower. It was a sad scene to watch me go up and down the stairs with the one arm and one leg crab walk. I was determined to figure it all out on my own. While it is normal for humans to desire independence, no one put an expectation on me that I do all the things on my own, that was my own doing. While I am sure there are times in my life when there are expectations from others, I think that we humans often put too much on our own plates and drive our own self-esteem and self-worth down when we can't do those things. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAe0BfOd3o2dQ7dKZDD95ZM9baQO1-CwmSzaBXoHWzrJcKLCENRU0tDfSNICmzLDVoONirxht5uKa2w-gDUldWnerxqgG9m0NDU0SghX-m6f0xRmrTMc92GApFb_AxATwUq_daV41H6gmOH6frKuk6UejAVG-7kgDgXCaIKHeiVB0Sh4LPrwCNSS6iug/s1280/Why%20is%20asking%20for%20help%20so%20hard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAe0BfOd3o2dQ7dKZDD95ZM9baQO1-CwmSzaBXoHWzrJcKLCENRU0tDfSNICmzLDVoONirxht5uKa2w-gDUldWnerxqgG9m0NDU0SghX-m6f0xRmrTMc92GApFb_AxATwUq_daV41H6gmOH6frKuk6UejAVG-7kgDgXCaIKHeiVB0Sh4LPrwCNSS6iug/s320/Why%20is%20asking%20for%20help%20so%20hard.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A woman handing from a ledge reaching her hand up for help. The picture reads why is asking for help so hard?</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So why is asking for help so hard? Is it because we fear letting someone else down? Is it because we are embarrassed to let others know we can't do it on our own? Is it because we don't want to make ourselves vulnerable? Is it because you cannot surrender control to someone else? Is it because we don't want to be perceived as incompetent or needy? It could be any or all of these things for you. For me, it depends a little on the situation, but I can certainly relate to all these statements.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">How do we get good at asking for help then? Goodtherapy.org addresses this question by asking what you can gain by asking for help. They break it down into three key points. </span></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You gain the ability to move forward. When I think about a recent issue I had and I just kept ruminating on the issue, when I opened up and talked about it with friends, I found I was able to move on. Even though I did not specifically ask for help, just by having the conversation, I was able to get help without asking directly for help, and it helped immensely to be able to move on past the topic.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You gain the opportunity to collaborate. When I think about a recent series of TechTalks that I have done with a coworker of mine, we would not have had the opportunity to collaborate and create something amazing for the community had she not asked me to help review the first PowerPoint. Collaboration builds relationships and almost always results in a better end product.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You gain the opportunity to learn. When I think about those moments when I learn something unexpected, I can reflect that there was a moment of asking or seeking help, even if it was a simple internet search. When you seek knowledge and have a growth mindset, your relationships both personal and professional will grow. </span></li></ol></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For me, I have to work hard to mentalize and think about my own feelings and how others perceive me. Although I tend to not care or be aware of what people think about me, when I do think and mentalize, I tend to have a pessimistic view and assume that others have a low view of me just as I have low self-worth. While there are plenty of things that I am not afraid to ask for, the things that are hard to ask for help are the ones that I need to put more focus on. I need to put my focus inward to understand why I don't want to ask for help. I need to put more focus to be more purposeful in asking for help. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJNxpRpV20_t_49IIVkEFmjKm0HQt9p_-wfi2caZ4wMuBcLwl5jfCxT6mhdgOfgtyZ5BSzq87DtBvU9HWYHord0VHhuMmii_EiJWxjO9UDtQwyFAC5l1j0Xnzd_y4lTr0INWX_E8HIVn513cG0vcJcBhihtGyCnQzNnWRnyWKtsuVSPU8zTaNixHhJA/s1280/Ask%20for%20help.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJNxpRpV20_t_49IIVkEFmjKm0HQt9p_-wfi2caZ4wMuBcLwl5jfCxT6mhdgOfgtyZ5BSzq87DtBvU9HWYHord0VHhuMmii_EiJWxjO9UDtQwyFAC5l1j0Xnzd_y4lTr0INWX_E8HIVn513cG0vcJcBhihtGyCnQzNnWRnyWKtsuVSPU8zTaNixHhJA/s320/Ask%20for%20help.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A picture of a yellow coffee cup, reading glasses, and a pink post-it note that reads ask for help.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I think most humans have the innate desire to help others. But, when someone is asking for help, remember that their lived experience is different than your own. You may not know what else is going on in someone's life. Make sure that you don't berate the person for asking for help or make comments that might make the person feel worthless or dumb or inadequate. I go back to my many years as a professional technical trainer and remind myself that there is no such thing as a dumb question. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Another tip is to create an "inventory" of your support system. In other words, who can you ask for help, and which types of help can they offer. But don't limit your support system to the specific skills or types of help you perceive another person can provide. Again remember, you don't know the other person's lived experience with everything. The person may know someone else who can help. A great way to do this is to make your ask for help conversational instead of transactional.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I don't claim to be an expert in this area and still have a lot of my own work to do to ask for help and quit running my life with the "I got this attitude". But I hope this is helpful for you if you have found yourself struggling to ask for help. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">P.s. Don't create a homemade zip-line and invite all your friends over to watch you fall off the zip-line. :)</span></div><div><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: Oxygen, "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; letter-spacing: 0.3px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-6467276973713270572022-04-20T09:43:00.001-06:002022-04-20T09:43:25.412-06:00A day in the life: Dry brushing <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliZxsoPKwXzfl3KAloHwpuDnNKrAJuUJTezect9mP9o10pMZ3M1085jmLyClkYvjW3m5e0US7KipKSirpj4sC9pR4TQIwfCrfm7ouGGXwW_wjMdBxeqDDAjRt3ohQ0_Au-HtMpPqRaYjwSBUvi81hDtalS5ayS_hXmBJ7O_GoTM0KEfmufQp36EnjeQ/s918/A%20day%20in%20the%20life%20Dry%20brushing%20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliZxsoPKwXzfl3KAloHwpuDnNKrAJuUJTezect9mP9o10pMZ3M1085jmLyClkYvjW3m5e0US7KipKSirpj4sC9pR4TQIwfCrfm7ouGGXwW_wjMdBxeqDDAjRt3ohQ0_Au-HtMpPqRaYjwSBUvi81hDtalS5ayS_hXmBJ7O_GoTM0KEfmufQp36EnjeQ/w640-h85/A%20day%20in%20the%20life%20Dry%20brushing%20.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The picture shows eight Therapressure brushes and reads A day in the Life: Dry Brushing</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm in a meeting with the camera on. It's a regular old Teams meeting with maybe a few coworkers or maybe a lot. Since I generally don't care what people think of me (and maybe I don't recognize when people think negatively of me) I almost always have my camera on. </span></div><div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">You see me grab a small white thing and begin rubbing it up and down my arms. I might even just play with the brush in my hands or put it on my face. Don't worry, I'm not hurting myself. I'm just dry brushing. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Now, this might lead you to the question, what the h*ll is dry brushing. And before I explain what it is, I want to explain the problem/diagnosis. In working with my Occupational Therapist (OT) I learned that I have a sensory processing disorder. Now technically this is not an official medical diagnosis, because the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health, Volume Five) has not included this as a diagnosis code but rather something that is observed by clinicians and therapists all over the world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">WebMD explains sensory processing disorder as a condition in which the brain has trouble processing information from the senses. This could mean stimuli from light, sounds, touch, and so on are difficult to process. Personally, I have a multitude of sensory processing "triggers". For example, certain sounds especially overlapping sounds, flashing lights, touching the nape of my neck (which my husband oddly finds joy in doing and literally making me shiver), and showering literally feels like it's raining nails, just to name a few. But it's important to note that everyone experiences their senses and sensory input differently. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So with my detailed sensory profile in place, my OT recommended that I start a dry brushing routine. Dry brushing is also known in the medical community as the Wilbarger protocol. You can learn more with a simple Internet search. But to give you the gist, it involves using a surgical brush to stroke or brushes the body with firm pressure throughout the day.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you see me with my Therapressure brush stroking myself (or anyone for that matter), there is nothing to really worry about. I may have sensory overload, in which case you can consider the lighting, noise, visual stimulation, and so on. If you can easily eliminate stimulation it might help. But, it might just be "time" for my brushing and have nothing to do with my current situation. If you are curious or want to offer help, you are better off to ask than just assume. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Dry brushing is something new for me that I am learning and trying to make a routine. I'm not always as successful as I'd like to be. If you think you may have a sensory processing disorder, or want to try dry brushing yourself, consult your doctor. I am not qualified to tell you what to do medically, but I hope my experience might help others.</span></div></div></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-47520540681744483132022-04-08T16:34:00.006-06:002022-04-08T16:34:34.097-06:00Covering: Chronic Fatigue <div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIIkxe92YmdeFU8eraeb9HXXN2eziFMhQFgwfdCY3Y2KS0abq1mr1WnPIWWT7d1w_hkJt9J3dJla2gqfE_WH152tF2uPIREFc3engnheMExBIImQ9e3heTLDLqssoj4k6GZ8N4yoYrZ4OK/w640-h83/1649388883086176-0.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A man sitting at his desk with his head resting on his arms in front of his laptop on the left. A heard of sheep on the right that reads Covering: Chronic Fatigue</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">It's 6:45 AM. My cats are stirring about. If I happened to leave my cat Rambo out and my bedroom door open, he is likely sitting right by my head with his whiskers just kissing my cheeks. If I was so forgetful to leave Bonsai out, he is likely wandering around the room meowing, for what I can only assume is to hear himself meow. (For what this cat lacks in his tail, he makes up for in his voice. His name comes from the appearance that his tail has been trimmed like a Bonsai plant.) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I hear my husband stirring about in the bathroom, but I resist waking up. I can hear some background noise that gradually gets louder, and realize it's my phone alarm. I roll over and click snooze and try to go back to sleep. This process repeats at least 3 to 4 more times before I give in and finally swing my feet out of bed. </span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpmaFvLtkst7RQ9kuR-TZ8FRuAVnvK0cJKoaMBeFAN2ZzrgCQq242DqcC8OVjdk0mU3ri7u95LERPj7GMI4km537_U3jusqyowRFLlD2k8yrzfdTBzjMEraClYgDorJMKUTNhtZbj8OOO/s1600/1649388875138911-1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A woman with long brown hair wearing a blue collared shirt is yawning and covering her yawn with her hand.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">I can categorically say, I am not a morning person, but not wanting to get out of bed in the morning does not equate to fatigue. Imagine with me the feeling that you have when you have to get up at 3:00 AM to get to the airport in time for an amazing vacation. You are just exhausted because you only had a few hours of sleep. That is the feeling I have all day, every day. That feeling for me exists whether I had three hours of sleep or ten hours of sleep.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">When you are taking that trip to go on an amazing vacation, you are excited, so you are able to keep your eyes open and focus on the task at hand...getting to the airport, through security, and to your gate on time.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">It's not that exciting to just get up in the morning for "just another day". I'm an adult so I know that I have to get out of bed, go to work, and do the things that constitute "adulting". A lot of people might think I am high-energy. Maybe it's because I display a lot of passion for my work, or greet every with the energy perceived of someone who's had a little too much coffee (I can assure you I had no coffee, I'm allergic), or maybe it's because I have a dirty secret--I am covering. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">What is covering you ask? In my own words related to this situation, it is pretending to be ok. For a more precise definition, according to Oxford Languages, it is a thing used to cover something else, typically in order to protect or conceal it. Merriam-Webster describes it simply as something that covers or conceals. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This might leave you wondering what exactly is it that I am covering? Or why do I have to pretend to not be tired? In simple words, I suffer from chronic fatigue. Now I don't want to confuse this with a condition called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), as I have never been diagnosed with that. (CFS is categorized by the Mayo Clinic as a complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that lasts for at least six months and that can't be fully explained by an underlying medical condition.)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">With that being said, I <i>have</i> been diagnosed with two medical conditions that do "explain" my chronic fatigue. The first is an auto-immune disorder called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and the second is an illness called Epstein Barr Virus. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease. If you are unfamiliar with what autoimmune disease means, it basically translates as the immune system attacking your own body's tissues. The thyroid is a small organ/gland in your neck that basically controls how your body consumes energy. One of the key symptoms of Hashimotos is fatigue. You can think of it like the conveyor belt that sends energy about to all your systems. Except my conveyor belt is like a stubborn cat. I imagine that it's my fat cat, Bonsai, who overeats and won't let my sweet cat, Garfette, eat. </span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZAIzeggGvpnIavqBlAjXnU-aZWwXba0_KhPeS5qRi0uDm_SNLPmrwiQkh8EoI490lMPqTlT3GgkLhyGZ7UI6mRUkHYwIv6rup33MldJTs7FPZQqSi5rvaQOGS1X9KSwn9HjcJ68XpGi1/s1600/1649388869289081-2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A grey cat unrolling and eating toilet paper. The image reads I do what I want.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Now, Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) is an illness, but one that your body never gets rid of. In fact, the CDC indicates that EBV is one of the most common viruses. And that most people get infected with it at some point in their life. EBC is what causes mononucleosis or "mono" in young people. (It's also referred to as the kissing disease.) For most people, EBV is not a big deal. But for some like myself, the virus can become "reactivated". Again a key symptom of EBV is fatigue. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">With the basics out of the way, I want to switch gears to the covering my fatigue. If you have ever heard the phrase "fake til' you make it", I would say I think I get a gold star in this skill. For as long as I can remember, I've struggled with fatigue. I struggle with sleep, but a complete lack of energy makes it hard to be motivated many days. </span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqiOEtC2lwYb_W698DrkYYIwV9O5gf9vMdK8Yb-b81lZsJK6u-UIKmtQA_lvU6iMPwag1AQolecNOGj7_QMdNfZBa6wLebycBolk-yazPAVtD8tPWpkwT6ZcOpG8B0Hmabd5z6ZKpqoKNl/s1600/1649388864193403-3.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A woman with long red hair wearing a green sweater with her hands covering her face. Four gold stars surround her.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you wanted to cover your fatigue you might do a number of things such as greet people with excessive enthusiasm, keep your camera off so they can't see that you are tired, or you might even drink excessive amounts of caffeine to try to compensate.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I've gotten really good at displaying enthusiasm over the years. But it's not uncommon that you might see my fatigue in my appearance or hear it in my voice. I am trying to work on my sleep hygiene to improve my fatigue, I take thyroid hormone replacement, and a slew of supplements including Vitamin B12. But they only go so far, and my thyroid medication is constantly being monitored and adjusted by my doctors. I don't suggest that you start taking vitamins, supplements, or medications without consulting your doctor. After all, I'm no doctor.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">But if you suffer from chronic fatigue, talk to your doctor, and find habits and tools that can help you. If you suspect someone you know is suffering from chronic fatigue, try not to comment on the fact that they sound or look tired. Instead, ask them how they are feeling and if there is anything you can do to assist. Give the person the space and time they need. For example, they may need to take a nap to function well in the afternoon. </span></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-2564153911315212422022-04-01T14:03:00.001-06:002022-04-01T14:03:44.223-06:00Feelings: Loneliness <div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5xKhSQ2MAjCnXQP9PVVy0gHplxYmBMnLAW9Xc-dnDvn6evVoZvjy4NbSHDDBxCUSQDsqmlDwUKUAQfo-DBgnA3-9TQ4AXOGQLiWBd3w7SQacyNg_onk17KzmvvkdSc54TW73DHY2-22pg_18JDySqWhhm3Gq2MKtJ9Ghg0oOPFdO_-9iQnqJMzqi9A/s918/Exploring%20Feelings%20Loneliness.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5xKhSQ2MAjCnXQP9PVVy0gHplxYmBMnLAW9Xc-dnDvn6evVoZvjy4NbSHDDBxCUSQDsqmlDwUKUAQfo-DBgnA3-9TQ4AXOGQLiWBd3w7SQacyNg_onk17KzmvvkdSc54TW73DHY2-22pg_18JDySqWhhm3Gq2MKtJ9Ghg0oOPFdO_-9iQnqJMzqi9A/w640-h84/Exploring%20Feelings%20Loneliness.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Picture of a person with her hands in her face that reads Exploring Feelings: Loneliness</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Each morning I wake up and get going, usually after my husband leaves for work. While he never leaves without saying goodbye, giving me a kiss, and wishing me a good day, I typically resist his morning display of affection. It's not uncommon that I can't muster the energy to open my eyes. I usually mumble something incoherent and try to go back to sleep. Although I think he tries not to wake me, I am usually awake, and tossing and turning from that point until the time I actually get out of bed. I love the morning affection and wish I could be more engaged, but I'm not. Once I'm awake and ready, I make my way to my office and start my day. Many days, especially afternoons are filled with loneliness. Many days my husband returns home around 5:30-6:00 PM leaving us just a few hours of time together. When asked by my psychologist how I'm feeling, or even when coworkers ask, I'm often tempted to indicate my loneliness. Typically I just internalize it and "cover" my true feelings.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCWPTS2yjBEMZ-oQ6sI9BGidsW9lIDntXHWtfuROTa1xv49OlvtyNYj6lywLW6o-jbtPAek9prR_G_xny4sT9nIC9MYh55CoSZ3P0lxSGO0Dx98wCpQWZHbgQZ4bva4UiGjkOKPy1v1eyFvIM6n2qFQNSLvJ7L7GogvVOjb1R9_S7p5S-akdbakL0kzQ/s1920/Untitled%20design%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCWPTS2yjBEMZ-oQ6sI9BGidsW9lIDntXHWtfuROTa1xv49OlvtyNYj6lywLW6o-jbtPAek9prR_G_xny4sT9nIC9MYh55CoSZ3P0lxSGO0Dx98wCpQWZHbgQZ4bva4UiGjkOKPy1v1eyFvIM6n2qFQNSLvJ7L7GogvVOjb1R9_S7p5S-akdbakL0kzQ/s320/Untitled%20design%20(1).png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A woman sleeping in bed with the covers pulled up over her face.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So what is loneliness exactly? According to Oxford Languages, loneliness is "sadness because one has no friends or company." And according to Merriam Webster "<span class="dtText">being without company" or "cut off from others".</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">By this definition, I'm certainly lonely. Likely, just about every person who works remotely is lonely too; and, given the ongoing COVID situation, this probably applies to a large portion of the population. I think there is likely more to loneliness than just these definitions.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">While I would not say I have no friends, I certainly don't have many, and often wish I had more. I'll save the friend topic for another day though. I certainly have sad feelings about being alone and feeling like I have no one to talk to. And I am certainly alone all day, every day. What I do know is that feelings are feelings and they can't be wrong. What we can do is choose what to do with our feelings. While I have a tendency to internalize and bottle up my feelings, loneliness is one that I'm learning to deal with.</span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">You might be wondering what I do to combat loneliness. I hate to admit to you I don't have a magic wand, and with some minor changes, I feel less lonely; but, I'd be lying if I said I'm never lonely.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">My number one tip for dampening my feelings of loneliness is to always turn my camera on. Even if I'm the only one with my camera on, you'll still likely see me with mine on. I don't have any expectations that others will/should turn their cameras on. But I certainly appreciate it for a lot of different reasons.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Microsoft recently released some resources for employees to help facilitate collaboration with people with a variety of disabilities. As a person with disabilities myself, I quickly went to read what they said about my disabilities, and then I read all the other ones in hopes that I can be a better ally to my diverse coworkers.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The general recommendation on many of the disability pages is to use your video camera in remote/virtual meetings. Using your camera helps to create additional context and connection. The site recommends that if you’re in a small group meeting you should keep your video on. However, when in a large group meeting, you should turn your video on only when it’s your turn to speak or contribute. If possible, use good lighting and neutral background that contrasts with your skin and clothes. </span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1xuFStfK1I3S_njLrBIPpg80Q9KhghIkFxjK0x6G513MUA0fXXJojHueDq6Gay7blRUJMnuZXlSqOZWDoTCapPu6uwRYy0FDC3-pclByyk3NKaSKcVEf4C8zjC2JW3K6POv-cpNhomE9ha7dGaSyNOUbnxe0lNHJ8zw9iWJlYTtRVoAm-bx5FpNSdeA/s1920/Webcam.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1xuFStfK1I3S_njLrBIPpg80Q9KhghIkFxjK0x6G513MUA0fXXJojHueDq6Gay7blRUJMnuZXlSqOZWDoTCapPu6uwRYy0FDC3-pclByyk3NKaSKcVEf4C8zjC2JW3K6POv-cpNhomE9ha7dGaSyNOUbnxe0lNHJ8zw9iWJlYTtRVoAm-bx5FpNSdeA/s320/Webcam.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A woman with headphones on, sitting at a computer with a web conference on screen. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">While my background in my YouTube videos is not really neutral, it certainly is "me". You might find that I gravitate to more neutral backgrounds in some future videos. I frequently hear that people don't like to turn on their video for a slew of reasons from, "I didn't do my hair or makeup"--to "my room is a mess". </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">My best advice on this subject is blunt. No one likely <i>really</i> cares what you look like, how your room looks, or whatever reason you came up with for not turning your camera on. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A quick hello and a smile at the beginning of a meeting can make a huge difference in someone's day. So consider if you can make a habit to offer a friendly face more often in your daily interactions, especially if you only interact virtually. And don't feel like you need to apologize for your appearance. I certainly won't judge you and I encourage you not to judge others for their appearance. If your background is "that bad", consider using a blurred background or pick an image that represents your personality or mood.<br /></span></div></div></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-69728809837040733842022-03-25T16:47:00.000-06:002022-03-25T16:47:37.614-06:00Reframing Thoughts: I Suck at Emotions <div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgsaLLxy_1gkIuIzX9BPP1f0zwYdJkLfMngdJRwKS7K0VYgmEjc5mUV1_Rw4Gi_BvwlMeqXjcQ5uRQDZq_XfnM4tv5UCQbLxv5Ar4xlo-oh2CsYSc1HZepb4d8jxZiWite3GtdJat3GEp0jPNnqr7v74uz3QcKrYMAYxRekQR_tsDAVVPEnq4qAzPug/s918/Reframing%20I%20suck%20at%20emotions.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgsaLLxy_1gkIuIzX9BPP1f0zwYdJkLfMngdJRwKS7K0VYgmEjc5mUV1_Rw4Gi_BvwlMeqXjcQ5uRQDZq_XfnM4tv5UCQbLxv5Ar4xlo-oh2CsYSc1HZepb4d8jxZiWite3GtdJat3GEp0jPNnqr7v74uz3QcKrYMAYxRekQR_tsDAVVPEnq4qAzPug/w640-h85/Reframing%20I%20suck%20at%20emotions.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The picture shows varying yellow emoticons and reads Reframing thoughts: I suck at emotions with a thought bubble on the right.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><span style="font-family: arial;">My psychologist recommended a book for me after our last session. Like a good student, I picked up a copy online and I've started reading it. In case you're wondering, the book is called </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Coping with Trauma Hope Through Understanding Second Edition</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> by Jon G. Allen, Ph.D.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are wondering why I'm reading a book on trauma, I'm going to just put the G-rated version out there. It's because I have experienced trauma in my life. I think my psychologist thinks I have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And quite frankly, she's probably right. I guess it might be too soon for a formal diagnosis on that front. Now, you might be wondering what kind of trauma, you may even be assuming that it is war-related. While PTSD is a common diagnosis in war veterans, and yes, I am a veteran; I can assure you my trauma is not war-related. Rather, it's buried deep in my bucket of rocks I carry with me everywhere I go. (It's not a literal bucket, but that's a story for another day.) My trauma comes from my childhood, and it's not G-rated. While many close to me know the story (or at least bits of it), I'm not quite ready to write about it, so we are going to leave it at that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, I'm laying in bed reading my book, my husband is watching an episode of Gold Rush, and I read this paragraph. I reread it. I read it again. Then I say out loud "I can totally relate to this". I proceed to read the paragraph out loud to my husband.</span></div><div><div><br /></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Cultivating emotions--mentalizing emotionally--is the best path to avoiding emotional excess. Persons who suffer with trauma often find themselves blindsided by sudden eruptions and emotion: they go from zero to 100 m.p.h. in a split second. Yet I believe that they're blindsided because they've been <i>suppressing</i> their feelings, which gradually intensify until they can no longer be suppressed; then they're expressed indestructive ways. Cultivating greater awareness of your feelings is preventative: you cannot influence what you do not know<i><sup>1."</sup></i></span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This whole chapter on emotions, has me feeling down and emotional. Thinking to myself, "I suck at emotions". If you're anything like me, you might be wondering what exactly are emotions? I know we all have them, but really, what are they? So, let's look at some definitions. According to Oxford Languages emotions are "a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others." according to Merriam Webster emotions are defined as "a conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body"</span></p><div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRDkhvUStB_bSTeV5-4jWklOR00JkiJGjCYBU_iQsWB3T3_ksZZbPlv-BFbzGODbCun8VCDJT8KplB__zBjE8NeDw8X9rm-ImsEIB_UrGG7KynO9VGYQLaXQOJuh6Xa1fhnvbpM5NGpVA3vwUrytMymeg2kMfSNaLAirw7Em7Ig3uZvtOnO51nzlxUA/s1920/Brain%20with%20colored%20paper.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRDkhvUStB_bSTeV5-4jWklOR00JkiJGjCYBU_iQsWB3T3_ksZZbPlv-BFbzGODbCun8VCDJT8KplB__zBjE8NeDw8X9rm-ImsEIB_UrGG7KynO9VGYQLaXQOJuh6Xa1fhnvbpM5NGpVA3vwUrytMymeg2kMfSNaLAirw7Em7Ig3uZvtOnO51nzlxUA/w400-h225/Brain%20with%20colored%20paper.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The picture shows a grey silhouette of a head with various sizes and colors of paper coming up out of the top of the head.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">See when I read these definitions and reflect on the book, I realize that my emotions are just coming from my frontal lobes and they are primitive and that I can't really "suck" at them. So what is it I'm really trying to express? (Here's where I answer my own question - it's like talking to yourself but in writing, so it's ok.) The problem is not that I suck at emotions, it's that I suck at mentalizing. I'll admit I still didn't really get it after reading pages on the topic in the book. I needed a better foundation to tuck this concept of mentalizing into my brain. The book simplifies mentalizing down to "thinking about feelings". </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">To my surprise, Oxford Languages and Merriam-Webster don't have anything listed (from a basic browser search). You will find lots of literature on the topic though. Wikipedia, lexico.com, and your dictionary.com more or less confirm this statement that mentalizing is just thinking about feelings.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So, I don't suck at emotions (you don't either). I suck at mentalizing. And really, it's not that I suck at mentalizing, it's that I don't really do it and I'm not well practiced in this skill. You see, I've spent years practicing the skill of internalizing, pushing down, not thinking about my emotions. When you think about the idea of mentalizing, it's probably why any type of psycho-analysis/treatment includes some amount of "how does that make you feel?" And "what do you notice when you think about that?".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2Dhk0rZwIV1475RxykhxEO4E94mrrqaSHpVTHvK2VS6twaytxznY2o-8EaX3z8ZN90BBQDMrBddSA4h4XRO_ESMzoQ5tPXHqE-d9SGz7f-OwiqPedlEncBGldd1HuupeVGl1d-7BB-OLLIJdl4FCoHKcQy27ZMeR4zqOC0sbCjj_vzLecnto7GyOaQ/s1920/Mentalizing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2Dhk0rZwIV1475RxykhxEO4E94mrrqaSHpVTHvK2VS6twaytxznY2o-8EaX3z8ZN90BBQDMrBddSA4h4XRO_ESMzoQ5tPXHqE-d9SGz7f-OwiqPedlEncBGldd1HuupeVGl1d-7BB-OLLIJdl4FCoHKcQy27ZMeR4zqOC0sbCjj_vzLecnto7GyOaQ/w400-h225/Mentalizing.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Woman looking at a wall of post-it notes with her hand in her hair. That reads (Me mentalizing, but replace all the post-it notes with emotions.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In conclusion, I guess I need to work on thinking about my feelings. It's not likely to be easy, and I'll surely hit some bumps. But I guess I'll take a moment to stop and think about how I feel. Really, every blog I'll write here is really just me mentalizing. I hope that if you think you suck at emotions, you too can learn to shift your thinking and ask yourself "why do you think that?". I have to give a big thanks to my boss on this one for being an amazing ally and just listening; and, knowingly or not, challenging me with the "why do you think that?" question in our interactions. One thing I learned in the book is that for some reason, mentalizing is easier when you discuss the issue, feeling, emotion, etc. with another person. </span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are looking to be an ally, I encourage you to keep an open mind, be open to mentalizing with your peers but don't force it. Expressing emotions can be vulnerable. Be patient and encouraging, and try on your inner psychologist hat by asking "why do you think that?". Don't try to solve any problems or "fix" the other person, just listen and empathize.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>1. Coping with Trauma Hope Through Understanding Second Edition</i> by Jon A. Allen, Ph.D. Copyright 2005 American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Page 47</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /></div></div>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-3808047401434407802022-03-15T17:24:00.001-06:002022-03-16T13:13:38.370-06:00Reframing Weird<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZIOEPrk9GABRTJufpuoNquKRfbWSrDmYbq0DXuTTGFbLGUuXCdVvHEerO2dd4aGf1OntwuNGzvY4yt8YvJ-iNu8Ax0kGBu2pAVOSQzfzeMVlbP9pQOOcaKVoJF0rpnJgFDtATIjVde0n17vk7kr7xnguzEf6LGYTMF9Eem9u8ZcqSPem433bAVBtm2g=s918" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="918" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZIOEPrk9GABRTJufpuoNquKRfbWSrDmYbq0DXuTTGFbLGUuXCdVvHEerO2dd4aGf1OntwuNGzvY4yt8YvJ-iNu8Ax0kGBu2pAVOSQzfzeMVlbP9pQOOcaKVoJF0rpnJgFDtATIjVde0n17vk7kr7xnguzEf6LGYTMF9Eem9u8ZcqSPem433bAVBtm2g=w640-h84" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The picture shows a desk with two whiteboards, one reads weird, the other shows a puzzle, and the word unique. The image reads Reframing weird.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">I am laying on the acupuncture bed and the acupuncturist leaves the room, dimming the lights as he leaves the room. I am left with soft music, a rock salt lamp to my right, a cozy warm table with super soft grey sheets, somewhere between 20 and 30 needles strategically placed, and my thoughts for the next 30 or so minutes. </span><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcPZWBI4bXQjc26BcCC3uqRlN6GRNO1xla474bylZkyp9exzAlKPMfqfYx6bazV18zMJn5J7YqT6dOp7Eifc6luHHMrYBDub9iLH7grtQoQFz53xPfYOl7Be540EaGNS_jgy-ry-ccpETpi_kAr3FEqvrweEKq4WdeLnKKES_uBT8TL3UKBAT7i47a-w=s1280" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcPZWBI4bXQjc26BcCC3uqRlN6GRNO1xla474bylZkyp9exzAlKPMfqfYx6bazV18zMJn5J7YqT6dOp7Eifc6luHHMrYBDub9iLH7grtQoQFz53xPfYOl7Be540EaGNS_jgy-ry-ccpETpi_kAr3FEqvrweEKq4WdeLnKKES_uBT8TL3UKBAT7i47a-w=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The picture shows a woman laying on a bed with acupuncture needles on her back.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Often times I lay there and just try to focus on my breathing and practice mindfulness allowing my mind to take me to one of the needles and back to my breathing. It's not uncommon for me to doze off. But this week, my mind kept wandering back to something I said and my psychologist's response.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We were having a conversation about an "incident" I had a few weeks ago that I described as a meltdown at my best friend's house that caused me to leave abruptly. The details and background of the incident are not really of great importance here, so I won't get into that. But before we get to what she said though, I want to set the stage of my thoughts and what I said.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"I am weird."</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUX-bl1BWqyE5d-k2zJ9qiu3xtTVxDaqEiEXzyddXGkWTSlBBaH5e_Y9jgGdH_wTAcs-JyP_l8wbrrlLmxDvyPAJ6XVvfZzNOYIxh2rxttqdgX6dQNIgdaAKipg-z4LDaZ6-hrPVXoS4hp_MI8lQE4b3GDLXxY0iFKc-7XRL2kB_iip6ou7CuMLbTFYA=s1280" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUX-bl1BWqyE5d-k2zJ9qiu3xtTVxDaqEiEXzyddXGkWTSlBBaH5e_Y9jgGdH_wTAcs-JyP_l8wbrrlLmxDvyPAJ6XVvfZzNOYIxh2rxttqdgX6dQNIgdaAKipg-z4LDaZ6-hrPVXoS4hp_MI8lQE4b3GDLXxY0iFKc-7XRL2kB_iip6ou7CuMLbTFYA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">The picture shows a woman pointing down to text that reads I AM WEIRD.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">A seemingly innocent little phrase that represents a deep inner thought that I have about how I perceive myself and what I believe others perceive of me.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Of course, this was followed by my psychologist asking one of those boilerplate questions that makes you pause and think. "Why do you think that?"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For those of you who know me personally, you know that "stumping" Rachel is rare. I was stumped though. I sat in silence for what felt like forever. If there was a clock in the room, I would have been able to hear the second hand ticking along. This is the part where I must become vulnerable and honest with myself and my psychologist in order to get benefit out of the session (or at least that's the logic I told myself in my head.)</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzCGKuembpL_9ydAhC6yDOzMMMZtJC1paKxZ3SEQBkrIHlLfRNcNnxMSZiWjT8reKAsNO2QWGcTN4WzlyuAPQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">The video shows a clock ticking.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p>What was probably only 30 seconds later, I start blurting out all the reasons I think I'm weird. "I don't make eye contact, I make weird faces, I don't regulate my volume well, I can't make friends, I am hyper-focused on work, I struggle to listen, I lack empathy, the list goes on and on. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In natural psychologist mode she asks another one of those probing questions, "what did you feel, or how did that make you feel?".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The first response was I don't know, but with some more time in my thoughts, I started to reflect. I left my friends' house because the noise was too loud, the light was too bright, I felt like I was being attacked emotionally, I felt tiny and invisible and just reacted. I did not think, I just acted. I was fixated on leaving and couldn't shift focus away from "going home" until I was literally home.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When I finished my rant, my psychologist reflected and said "I don't think that's weird at all. "</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I probably rolled my eyes, but I'm trying to keep an open mind and reflect and learn, so I asked why or how.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZoNU8js-8E3hKZSGZH56KkTV1F6tIfVTgu1yjjfhfNuF9MVMm_qG_DIlcLynB6YwuI6jlPBOaslo6dnnlarKxDwgeBt83iXYhGxlP03ilJXavgnQk0WAOEL0jEUzMxpaAhL0mH5t_wX4deyzne_sKbRlXVVn0fR_FAWeu9_RdjIWXX8ktN2uSHdkVdQ=s1280" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZoNU8js-8E3hKZSGZH56KkTV1F6tIfVTgu1yjjfhfNuF9MVMm_qG_DIlcLynB6YwuI6jlPBOaslo6dnnlarKxDwgeBt83iXYhGxlP03ilJXavgnQk0WAOEL0jEUzMxpaAhL0mH5t_wX4deyzne_sKbRlXVVn0fR_FAWeu9_RdjIWXX8ktN2uSHdkVdQ=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">A woman with short curled hair wearing a green top is rolling her eyes.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">She went on to explain and restate the things I said to her. But basically, it boiled down to you had feelings, your body and mind communicated that you weren't safe or that you might react negatively and your flight or response trigger was activated and decided to fly. She concluded that doesn't seem weird to me, that seems normal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps my trigger is too sensitive or I can work to use my words better in these situations. And I likely will work on myself, but not because I am broken and require fixing; rather, because I want to. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As I lay on that acupuncture table, my mind kept shifting focus back and forth. Why am I weird?... Why am I not weird?... Then I drifted back to the conclusion of my conversation with my psychologist. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Before I give you my closing thoughts, I will give you my few bits of research. When I decided to write this blog, I figured it would be important to understand the formal definition of the word weird. So, first is the definition of weird according to Oxford Languages. "adjective: suggesting something supernatural; uncanny". According to Merriam-Webster, "strange or extraordinary character; odd, fantastic." Next, I needed to understand why "weird" has a negative connotation. I found something at faq-all.com that explains "weird induces a sense of disbelief or alienation in someone." Finally, I searched for the term "reframing weird" since that was going to be the title of my blog, and I came to learn that reframing is actually a"psychology hack", you can learn more <a href="https://emergentps.com/2019/07/24/reframing-the-psychology-hack-for-positive-thinking/" target="_blank">here</a>. This is where I was able to draw my conclusion from, I am not weird. You are not weird.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I leave you here with my closing thoughts and reflection...I am not weird, I am unique. I have thoughts and feelings and I may react. These thoughts, reactions, and feelings don't define me; but, they certainly are part of who I am. If anyone can't accept me for me, then I need to seriously consider if that person is someone I want to invest my time and emotions with.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj11M7hOi_q8RLnb07AMSCSsRGMDQAwHeQ-lcxgaKcwPUQ0vKbYDozHqoXv2M2YSZCgKubc7vlOdpjPcvTnSSBwjZCxXBa4MiZud2oj1d682ksINah0MJcd9Ey7mUbQA0ayz2-Sbo6Z-f8bgRL0cxFOGQ2W6TawhlIHlbi6pvAEAlpBmnCdu3dcGttI9w=s1280" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj11M7hOi_q8RLnb07AMSCSsRGMDQAwHeQ-lcxgaKcwPUQ0vKbYDozHqoXv2M2YSZCgKubc7vlOdpjPcvTnSSBwjZCxXBa4MiZud2oj1d682ksINah0MJcd9Ey7mUbQA0ayz2-Sbo6Z-f8bgRL0cxFOGQ2W6TawhlIHlbi6pvAEAlpBmnCdu3dcGttI9w=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">The picture shows a woman pointing down to text that reads I AM UNIQUE.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">If you have ever thought you are weird in a derogatory way, I challenge you to try to reframe your "weird". You are unique. You have thoughts, feelings, reactions, and more. Just because these things may not line up with the so-called "social norms", your unique perspective makes you, you.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If you have ever described or thought someone is weird, I challenge you to work to be a better ally and reframe your perspective to "that person is unique". </span></p>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-40299275621914949082022-01-20T13:40:00.000-07:002022-01-20T13:40:29.833-07:00Getting Started: Global Address Books<p><span style="font-family: arial;">I want to start by talking about the global address book today. And although we won't have enough time to go through all the details of the global address I'll have a couple more blogs on this particular topic that'll dive into specific pieces and parts. In this blog, I'm going to give you an overview, and we'll get started on some of the basic configurations. But before we jump into the software I have a diagram that you can find on the docs article called the <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/fin-ops/organization-administration/overview-global-address-book" target="_blank">global address book overview</a> that will help you understand some of the basics and get used to some of the terminology that I'll be using when I talk about the global address book.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/fin-ops/organization-administration/media/address-book-structure.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Diagram of the relationships in the global address book. The blog describes the image in great detail." border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="800" height="335" src="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/fin-ops/organization-administration/media/address-book-structure.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Dynamics 365 supports an unlimited number of address books but all of the addresses are stored in what we call the "global address book". An address book is simply just a collection of one or more "parties". So it's just like party central if you think of it that way. When we use the term party though we're not talking about having friends over to your house for a drink on Friday night. We're talking about either a person or an organization. So that address book is a collection of those people. If you think about how your grandmother used to maybe carry around an actual physical address book the global address book in Dynamics 365 is no different it's just not on a piece of paper in a little notebook by the telephone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So when we take a look at this diagram you can see that there are a variety of different types of parties which are called "party roles" in Dynamics 365 and this isn't some sort of weird like role-playing type party. This is what type of person or organization is this particular entry in your address book. A particular party can have more than one role so examples of roles party roles are customers, vendors, prospects, competitors, workers, applicants, users, and contacts. But that's not the entire list of the different types of things that parties can be. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A party can also have one or more locations and a location can actually be where they are physically located, like a postal address, it can also include things like contact information. Contact information could be a variety of different things like a phone number, and email address, it could even include things like your LinkedIn URL or your Twitter handle, for example. These are all examples of locations in Dynamics 365. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When we put this all together and you see this bottom square on the right this is where we have transactions. Our party roles such as customers can have different types of transactions linked to them. Sales orders, for example, quotations, or invoices. If we're thinking about a vendor then we might have things like requests for quotes or purchase orders. This list that you see here is not an exhaustive list of all the different types of transactions that can relate to a party; but, when you create a new sales order as an example, you're going to select a customer and that customer is related to a party and that specific transaction can have a location. We actually decoupled the two because all of the data in the address book, like the address and contact information is date specific. Also, a sales order might use one address from a customer while an invoice might use a different type of address from a customer. That relationship is set up between the transaction and the individual parties and the locations that are part of that party record.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Now that we have a basic understanding of some of that terminology, what I want to do is switch on over to Dynamics 365 and take a look at the process for setting up an address book and reviewing the global address book parameters.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">View the global address book</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Open <b>Organization administration > Global address book > Global address book</b>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Search or filter for a person or organization.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. Click the link to open the details.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. View address on the <b>Addresses </b>FastTab.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. View contact information on the <b>Contact information</b> FastTab.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. View relationships to other parties on the <b>Relationships</b> FastTab.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. View roles that the party is associated with on the <b>Roles</b> FastTab.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcs9nT_zlbXjKwO4VKI_nq29n4x3_LFiyW7rZOTlzg7tV6oTU_jdDLD3V1pJ_1NW839PujwivcEWC3wOKbE2EsvUOWinTy-dXTmFi6HQDZvqJ5QGdkYOC9utR4nNHS65wvG5vjx8w3JqV9gfd3uGyXLoGNhEBn8KC11pZRpCzKOqYzHEe84iZ8ssIBgQ=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot of the Global address book party details page." border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1920" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcs9nT_zlbXjKwO4VKI_nq29n4x3_LFiyW7rZOTlzg7tV6oTU_jdDLD3V1pJ_1NW839PujwivcEWC3wOKbE2EsvUOWinTy-dXTmFi6HQDZvqJ5QGdkYOC9utR4nNHS65wvG5vjx8w3JqV9gfd3uGyXLoGNhEBn8KC11pZRpCzKOqYzHEe84iZ8ssIBgQ=w640-h310" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The Global address book page is an inquiry form where you can create new records. But typically you're not going to be creating address records or people or organizations directly from the Global address book page. Instead, you'll typically do it from the Customer form or the Vendor form, for example. The party records are created behind the scenes. The nice thing about this is that you can see the full list of all of the different contacts, different people, and different organizations. All of your warehouses are actually parties in here as well. You can see the full list of all of them in a single view, it can be searched, you can filter this list down, you can also look at what type of role they have. So if you just wanted to see the vendors or the contacts in your address book that have a vendor relationship you can filter that role down. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When you click on a particular record, it will open up the details of that global address book record. Now, this isn't your grandmother's address book. We have way more information and data that we can track and store against it. Your grandmother was probably just handwriting a name and address and maybe a phone number. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The relationships tab will show you anywhere that we have a relationship between parties. For example, if you're using the human resources functionality in Dynamics 365, you could set up a worker who has multiple beneficiaries or dependents. It is possible for a single-party record to have multiple roles associated with it. You'll also notice up at the top that there are buttons where I can create new records that are related to this party, and we can also update and control the registration IDs, do searches against those registration IDs, and so on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Once you've configured all of the details of your global address book this is where all of the records get created and mastered to store the information about a person or organization.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Create an address book</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Open <b>Organization administration > Global address book > Address book</b>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Click <b>New</b> to create a new address book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. Enter a unique <b>Name</b> for the address book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. Enter a detailed <b>Description</b> for the address book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Optionally, select <b>Teams</b> to link to the global address book.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9jkUxxLcCZ8x6_zviF2b35qE1LB3LKtGXovAnWkd7SEHB7kYSJ0NDxYckT4t6sdJ6ZmACFVzxvU1rbyrrxxrKiH8zacjh9isq_neFmDxgowY2AK6hC8ogsh_6coJdyyOLaYLcxRuyDQQSpUE-IINHlSh6J2lIqdTHycbxjk4gCCYmOBLme7DN7_hAHw=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Screenshot of the Address books page" border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1920" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9jkUxxLcCZ8x6_zviF2b35qE1LB3LKtGXovAnWkd7SEHB7kYSJ0NDxYckT4t6sdJ6ZmACFVzxvU1rbyrrxxrKiH8zacjh9isq_neFmDxgowY2AK6hC8ogsh_6coJdyyOLaYLcxRuyDQQSpUE-IINHlSh6J2lIqdTHycbxjk4gCCYmOBLme7DN7_hAHw=w640-h310" width="640" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">These address books are used in a variety of ways to group records that can be used for the commerce functionality in deciding which customers to synchronize to a retail point of sale, for example. It can also be used to control security around groups of users in different regions, and who has rights to see what in your human resources module as another example. There's no limit to how many address books you create.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Configure Global address book parameters</span></h3><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Open <b>Organization administration > Global address book > Global address book parameters</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Select a <b>Name sequence</b> to determine how names will be stored and displayed in the user interface.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Optionally, select <b>Delete parties with no roles</b> to automatically delete a party record when there is no role related.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Optionally, select <b>Use duplicate check</b> to check for a duplicate party record when you create new party records.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Optionally, select <b>Display DUNS number on addresses</b> to display the DUNS number field when you are creating addresses. This allows each address to have a different DUNS number. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Optionally, select <b>Check for unique DUNS number</b> to automatically check for duplicate DUNS numbers across parties and addresses.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Select an option for Person or Organization to default when creating each of the following</span></li><ol><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Party</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Customer</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Vendor</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Prospect</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Competitor</span></li></ol><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Click the P<b>rivate location security</b> tab.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Use the arrows to select <b>Security roles</b> that are allowed to view addresses where the Private check box is selected.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9MdR_I9TJ1SysB1Fir191cF6KHqtlJ03flV2eLZcAePsh371lNO7cuezrRVdnoYJNGWFqoYQii8AxLRxcWrVXy4G2XLBLXCUSgHFR2qOpyKki9ATJF6GFbg4Tj9GKnMRfiSovTZ3kDTK1t2BXAcja53dqC9vD1ThAlhvb8LzwM-tGb7WdDn4-44tFiQ=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot of the Global address book parameters page." border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1920" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9MdR_I9TJ1SysB1Fir191cF6KHqtlJ03flV2eLZcAePsh371lNO7cuezrRVdnoYJNGWFqoYQii8AxLRxcWrVXy4G2XLBLXCUSgHFR2qOpyKki9ATJF6GFbg4Tj9GKnMRfiSovTZ3kDTK1t2BXAcja53dqC9vD1ThAlhvb8LzwM-tGb7WdDn4-44tFiQ=w640-h310" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Create or view Name sequences</span></h3><p></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Open <b>Organization administration > Global address book > Name sequences</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Click <b>New</b> to create a new name sequence.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Enter a unique name in the <b>Name sequence</b> field.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Enter a brief <b>Description</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">In the fields (without labels) select the name component to appear first, second, third, and fourth (in sequence from top to bottom and then left to right). </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Between each name component field, optionally type a <b>Separator </b>such as a comma or a space.</span></li></ol><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4t1VIgswhWSDDkDItPhHUtMyass3RVoqugTK1D6REeMVCHm-Eaugg-JLWmlGaMpVqCmjU7ED9KbZtSVDZlp9AiB2ZQmVnQDeJvd5jz7vhPtJ2QTWLNDQ80Mry22ZyT4J2mabm1S3L5oAMlskNz8krdqRgIs9d0geAirHxMyvFtmrnqPZ6hzNYkiybqg=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Screenshot of the Name sequences page." border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1920" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4t1VIgswhWSDDkDItPhHUtMyass3RVoqugTK1D6REeMVCHm-Eaugg-JLWmlGaMpVqCmjU7ED9KbZtSVDZlp9AiB2ZQmVnQDeJvd5jz7vhPtJ2QTWLNDQ80Mry22ZyT4J2mabm1S3L5oAMlskNz8krdqRgIs9d0geAirHxMyvFtmrnqPZ6hzNYkiybqg=w640-h310" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For the full video, check out my YouTube channel here:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="394" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vj_lH4M9oJs" width="473" youtube-src-id="Vj_lH4M9oJs"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><br /><p></p>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0Elizabeth, CO 80107, USA39.3602662 -104.59691511.050032363821153 -139.753165 67.670500036178851 -69.440665tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-24597613087895251832022-01-17T11:42:00.003-07:002022-01-17T11:42:35.140-07:00Program Strategy: Project Stakeholders<p><span style="font-family: arial;">For today's success by design nugget, I want to talk about your project stakeholders having all the stakeholders for your project identified is very important. It's probably just as important that each of those stakeholders know their role and responsibilities in the project. Even if you have assembled the dream team for your project if no one knows what they're supposed to do you might just wind up with chaos. In your solution blueprint review template, slide 15 is designed for you to help communicate your stakeholders to your solution architect.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dsm01pap004files.storage.live.com/y4m2nK3cXJm7ZooMe-M3bugRTV0B-In7ncM-rpihLKQtn_TwDWdM_VBWyPbBFXS_F4opxzQz5ZAARE9I6oylJprnbZRb3mbjAXci-RgU3ea_DyVPWzBgqPiSxiAdc1kZjbE4aEQMGjxcaHipGx3nY0S9sn9X70zSKAQWb08LBl0xAZC7MCI3yo66Kk9laFIy8ia?width=1920&height=920&cropmode=none" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot of the Program Strategy slide for Customer, Partner, and Microsoft teams" border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="800" height="191" src="https://dsm01pap004files.storage.live.com/y4m2nK3cXJm7ZooMe-M3bugRTV0B-In7ncM-rpihLKQtn_TwDWdM_VBWyPbBFXS_F4opxzQz5ZAARE9I6oylJprnbZRb3mbjAXci-RgU3ea_DyVPWzBgqPiSxiAdc1kZjbE4aEQMGjxcaHipGx3nY0S9sn9X70zSKAQWb08LBl0xAZC7MCI3yo66Kk9laFIy8ia?width=1920&height=920&cropmode=none" title="Project Stakeholders Slide" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">On the left side, we ask for you to identify your customer business sponsor. This will likely be an executive in the organization that is responsible for the success of the project. If there is no executive sponsor or the executive sponsor is not engaged or involved in the project this will be called out as a risk. Lack of executive ownership can lead to delays unresolved conflicts or issues getting changes approved typically recommend that you assign an executive owner to the project. This person should have the authority to make scope and budget decisions directly or as part of a larger steering committee that makes these types of decisions the person assigned should also be empowered to resolve conflicts between the business stakeholders.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Now the next row in this template asks for the customer product owners this is likely a large group of people in your organization that make up the bulk of your project team. While you may have champions for each product such as Finance, Supply Chain, Human Resources, Customer Service, and so on, you should have assigned specific resources from your business for each major business process area in your organization. For example, if you're implementing Finance you will likely have finance, accounts receivable, accounts payable, budgeting, and fixed assets business process owners assigned. A single person may be assigned to multiple areas but use caution when thinking about the load of work that will be assigned to these people and if the scope of work is reasonable. When you don't have an appropriate number of product owners business process owners or whatever you call this project resource your project can lack vision and input into the design of the solution and this can lead to low user acceptance and adoption of your system. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Your project should have a good spread of users and ownership across the organization be sure to include representation from different parts of your organization as well for example if you're a global organization being sure to include representation for each country or region if you have many business units divisions or operating sectors whatever you might call the, make sure you have representation from each of those groups. If your project team is only made up of IT resources or business analysts this will be a concern as well. This can lead to the same issues like a lack of business ownership but also introduces additional risk that requirements may not be fully understood, and in the end, can lead to poor user adoption. We always recommend that your business requirements are sourced directly from the business users and those business users should write their own test scripts and they should play an active role in the development of your standard operating procedures and training materials. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Next up in the slide are your project managers. We'll be looking to make sure that you have a project manager on both the customer and the partner sides. Another point to make here is that if you have multiple projects running simultaneously, including projects external to the Dynamics 365 project, we will be checking to see if you have a program manager or someone that's overseeing all of the projects. Lack of project management and program management on both sides can lead to issues. For example lack of a customer project manager can lead to the inability to get the proper resources or to marshal those resources to get tasks completed on time due to competing priorities of their daily work. While lack of a partner project manager can lead to a lack of direction for the partner resources, misunderstandings, unwarranted gaps in the solutions, and the risk of ambiguity of the overall solution. We'll also be looking to see that you have solution architects called out. Tenant administrators, data migration owners, training and adoption owners, cut-over plan owners, and maybe, even more, depending on the scope and size of your project.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When you're completing this slide feel free to type the details directly in or provide your detailed project team makeup in another format this could be an Excel file, a SharePoint list, your statement of work with all the stakeholders identified, a project charter, or another PowerPoint slide from your kickoff, for example. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Another thing your solution architect will likely look for and ask about is a steering committee and an architecture review board. We do typically recommend that your steering committee be made up of key customers, partners, and Microsoft representation. For this reason, your solution architect is likely to ask you to include them in the meetings. If you have a steering committee but it doesn't have good representation from all of the parties then the risk is introduced to the project. In chapter 8 of the implementation guide success by design book, it talks about project organization which directly relates to your stakeholders and project team makeup. It also discusses collaboration, accountability, and alignment of your workstreams to the goals and leadership. You can find this starting on pages 159-163. I encourage you to check it out and use this guidance when forming your project team and be sure to communicate the full details of your product team and organization to your solution architect during your solution blueprint review. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="396" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/isaIFa4-Z4A" width="476" youtube-src-id="isaIFa4-Z4A"></iframe></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For the complete 📖 Implementation Guide: Success by Design book click here to download: https://aka.ms/D365ImplementationGuide</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To learn about Success by Design, check out this eLearning 🖥: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/success-by-design/ </span></p>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0Elizabeth, CO 80107, USA39.3602662 -104.59691511.050032363821153 -139.753165 67.670500036178851 -69.440665tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-23594573218444159572022-01-17T11:12:00.005-07:002022-01-17T11:14:28.409-07:00Program Strategy: Scope Change Process<p><span style="font-family: arial;">In today's nugget, I want to talk about the scope change process. I think we can all agree that having no scope change would be great, but it's not likely reality in most large technology projects. From a FastTrack perspective, your solution architect will be checking to make sure that you have a clear process in place for introducing scope changes that are understood and agreed to by all parties. Although there's not a slide that specifically asks you for your scope change process, it ties in with your overall solution scope which is covered on slide 13 in the solution blueprint review template. Your architect will likely want to see a statement of work, project charter, or a business process catalog that outlines in detail what the scope is and what happens when the scope changes.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dsm01pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mIgQl5JKRanIotlWvjV9qGodDAD1_W1VZ-cyKdUFYahctKEm7CVQw8EidVuZWllJPJaJf0eaGwndtUnlhFChgNVLomLwq5Dz0rWHhqMi_En1hVFj02tq4JuxQpC68oh7uKI3DfMoUxV_hnPoe7V5DiQFi01VBtEToEROqxQ7_Xln2MIl1d20OMkk4sYd0vqw1?width=1920&height=920&cropmode=none" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Screenshot of the Program strategy slide Success by Design Template" border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="800" height="191" src="https://dsm01pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mIgQl5JKRanIotlWvjV9qGodDAD1_W1VZ-cyKdUFYahctKEm7CVQw8EidVuZWllJPJaJf0eaGwndtUnlhFChgNVLomLwq5Dz0rWHhqMi_En1hVFj02tq4JuxQpC68oh7uKI3DfMoUxV_hnPoe7V5DiQFi01VBtEToEROqxQ7_Xln2MIl1d20OMkk4sYd0vqw1?width=1920&height=920&cropmode=none" title="Program Strategy Slide" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When describing your scope change process there are three key elements that we're going to be looking at. The first is a notification process, the second is a mitigation process, and the third is your approval process. If one or more of these key elements is missing from your description of the artifacts that you provide us or you're unable to describe this process then it is likely to be called out as a risk. If you provide these details in your solution blueprint template or as an additional artifact for your solution architecture review then this topic may not even be brought up. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So what are the risks of not having a clearly defined scope change process? First is the lack of visibility to potential changes in scope to your decision-makers that may delay or even prevent go live. When there is not a clearly defined process at the onset of your project you might find that when a change order is needed you wind up with a delayed resolution because the project team does not have a clear process to get the change approved, doesn't know who to contact, or who can approve and there's not a mechanism in place to figure out possible workarounds.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Module 8 in the implementation guide success by design book dives into program strategy and offers a lot of great advice for a well-defined program strategy pages 172 and 173 specifically are great to learn about how you can implement a design review and change board in your project to help manage the overall design and change in your project to help avoid change orders in the first place. So the moral of the story is to define a clear process that's documented and put in place for introducing changes to the scope that's understood and agreed to by all the parties at the beginning of your project.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="394" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fSHLHxwsQWg" width="474" youtube-src-id="fSHLHxwsQWg"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: arial;">For the complete 📖 Implementation Guide: Success by Design book click here to download: https://aka.ms/D365ImplementationGuide</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To learn about Success by Design, check out this eLearning 🖥: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/success-by-design/</span></p>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0Elizabeth, CO 80107, USA39.3602662 -104.59691511.050032363821153 -139.753165 67.670500036178851 -69.440665tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-13415677800946881052022-01-17T09:54:00.006-07:002022-01-17T10:22:18.594-07:00Program Strategy: Project Goals and Objectives<p><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the first things you will likely be asked when you are doing a solution blueprint review is what are the goals and objectives of the project. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When you are filling out the Solution Blueprint Review template, this is one of the first slides you will complete. It simply says Project goals and objectives at the top and asks for you to add your goals and objectives. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="800" height="306" src="https://dsm01pap004files.storage.live.com/y4meOSvVp4kH9VAANwrDCzJhJDY1sbyE8rz6uoP-DvLroG2R4Mu41lyVWGYkqLVD1Fxrtl054BKeacJ4gBdztpwZn9X30Ras3Y5Ljvn-58Q3SSdSEkuUKS_2bYnKUHPCgZe4ULqwZ-_yWkU76rpbDOJVr3UxPB6vLxryGFFgL8LvDTQNZH7UaCHAeZFAju6M7xk?width=1920&height=920&cropmode=none" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Screenshot of the Program Strategy project goals and objectives slide.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dsm01pap004files.storage.live.com/y4meOSvVp4kH9VAANwrDCzJhJDY1sbyE8rz6uoP-DvLroG2R4Mu41lyVWGYkqLVD1Fxrtl054BKeacJ4gBdztpwZn9X30Ras3Y5Ljvn-58Q3SSdSEkuUKS_2bYnKUHPCgZe4ULqwZ-_yWkU76rpbDOJVr3UxPB6vLxryGFFgL8LvDTQNZH7UaCHAeZFAju6M7xk?width=1920&height=920&cropmode=none" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Seems simple right?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Well in my experience this slide is rarely filled out well, and this creates problems from the beginning of your project. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Module 8 in the Implementation guide: Success By Design book dives into Project governance which starts on page 151. But for a closer look at project goals, you will want to focus on pages 156-158.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The book offers some great advice on how to craft your goals and objectives. I recommend that your goals and objectives are communicated very early in the project even to your sales team. If you do your own due diligence to document these and communicate them to the sales team and ensure they are part of your statement of work, and you have deliverables that are tied to the goals, your chances of success are increased ten-fold.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When you are filling out the template to prepare for your solution blueprint review you might consider adding a bulleted list of your goals and objectives. If you have a PPT slide from your kick-off meeting, you could insert that slide, if you have documented the goals well in a project charter or statement of work, consider including either a screenshot or a link and indicate which pages the details are documented on to your solution architect. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It is also important to make sure that you evangelize your goals and objectives to the entire project team. This includes everyone from the partner and ISV's that are helping you deploy your solution as well as all the project team members from your own organization.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="470" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FD8Fc57XMwM" width="565" youtube-src-id="FD8Fc57XMwM"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For the complete 📖 Implementation Guide: Success by Design book click here to download: https://aka.ms/D365ImplementationGuide</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">To learn about Success by Design, check out this eLearning 🖥: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/success-by-design/</span></div><p><br /></p><p> <br /><br /></p>Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-47960880884899361032020-01-06T09:45:00.000-07:002020-01-06T09:45:12.112-07:00Adventures in PowerApps and Power Automate - Part 3<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In part one of my
<a href="https://www.dynamics365lady.com/2019/12/adventures-in-powerapps-and-power.html" target="_blank">Adventures in PowerApps and Power Automate</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>blog I showcased the sign up PowerApp. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In <a href="https://www.dynamics365lady.com/2019/12/adventures-in-powerapps-and-power_20.html" target="_blank">Part 2:Adventures in PowerApps and Power Automate</a> I showed you the Flow, or Power Automate as it is now called, that saves the
records into the Azure Blob.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Now in part three I
am ready to unveil the second PowerApp that will be showcased at Priority
Bicycles during the National Retail Federation conference. This second app has
a lot more going on. So in this blog I will just focus on the facial
recognition portion, then in a future blog we will look at the other features.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This app will be
prominently displayed on the new Surface Hub 2S when you arrive at Priority
Bicycles. While running a PowerApp on a Surface Hub is maybe not the most
practical application, it sure is cool. If you have not seen the new Surface
Hub 2S, you should check it out <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-hub-2s/8p62mw6bn9g4?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab" target="_blank">here</a>. ()</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The initial page of
this app is much more simple by design. It is similar to the sign in app in
that it contains the same camera and image controls. However the camera control
and image control are much larger because I don't need to take up real estate for
the contact information. (After all, I theoretically already know who you are
because you signed up in the sign up app at the booth or on the bus.) [Also it
does not do leg or feet recognition - HA!]</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2tiN485k1J4qq95Xt1rUawuChI_bHn6OyerNABqFS4IsuoVHzfTi6oBrIk2Ld_b-BAPIXGtyCUHUbgAWSwZKZGbE1SxDt0Cso1CMxW8GHggT-GAWIjwN6RA-GAqpMvQl_9qtEp8Xwr1r/s1600/FacialRecognitionScreen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2tiN485k1J4qq95Xt1rUawuChI_bHn6OyerNABqFS4IsuoVHzfTi6oBrIk2Ld_b-BAPIXGtyCUHUbgAWSwZKZGbE1SxDt0Cso1CMxW8GHggT-GAWIjwN6RA-GAqpMvQl_9qtEp8Xwr1r/s400/FacialRecognitionScreen.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The first page of
the app is quite simple to look at. You click a get started button to take the
picture. Then you click the Initiate Facial Recognition button to kick off the
whole thing. The camera and image controls again, are the same size and overlap
each other. You can learn more about these controls in the first part of this
blog series.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Where the magic
really happens is in the OnSelect of the Initiate Facial Recognition Button. I
wish I could make the button play audio in the Start Trek/Sci-Fi voice, because
that would make this even more often.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here is a run down
in real words about what the function does.</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Set a variable called
gloResult to whatever the flow sends back. The first line was a little
tricky at first. We are passing the image that was taken from the app into
the flow along with a string called "PowerAppImage".</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Next, we are setting another
variable called gloNextScreen. If the facial recognition is succesful, we
want the AI Success Screen; otherwise, we want the AI Failure Screen.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Next, we set another variable
called gloResultContact. Here we are searching for the contact record that
was passed back from the AI facial recognition based on the full name. We
use this variable to welcome the person by name on the AI Success Screen.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Next, we set yet another
variable for the bike category for the contact. We use this variable to
indicate that the person is interested in a particular category of bikes
on the AI Success Screen. We also use this variable to default the filter
into the bike exploration screen.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The next variable that we are
setting is the Full Name called gloResultContactName. This is the actual
variable that we display on the success screen.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The final step of this
function is to navigate to appropriate screen. We do this by calling the
navigate() function and passing in the variable we set in step 2.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here is the actual
function in the OnSelect button property:</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #295ea3;">Set</span><span style="color: black;">(gloresult,'NRF-Sign-In-AI-Facial-Recognition'.</span><span style="color: #295ea3;">Run</span><span style="color: black;">(</span><span style="color: #a31515;">"PowerAppImage"</span><span style="color: black;">,</span><span style="color: #742774;">ImagePreview</span><span style="color: black;">));</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #295ea3;">Set</span><span style="color: black;">(</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloNextScreen,
</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: #295ea3;">If</span><span style="color: black;">(</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloresult.ismatch,
</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: #742774;">AISuccessScreen</span><span style="color: black;">, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: #742774;">AIFailureScreen</span><span style="color: black;">)</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
);</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #295ea3;">Set</span><span style="color: black;">(</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloResultContact,</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: #295ea3;">First</span><span style="color: black;">(</span><span style="color: #295ea3;">Search</span><span style="color: black;">(</span><span style="color: #007c85;">Contacts</span><span style="color: black;">, gloresult.name, </span><span style="color: #a31515;">"fullname"</span><span style="color: black;">))</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
);</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #295ea3;">Set</span><span style="color: black;">(</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloResultCategory,</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloResultContact.'Bike
category preference'</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
);</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #295ea3;">Set</span><span style="color: black;">(</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloResultContactName,</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloResultContact.'Full
Name'</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
);</div>
<div style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #295ea3;">Navigate</span><span style="color: black;">(</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
gloNextScreen,</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
ScreenTransition.Fade</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo; font-size: 9.75pt; margin: 0in;">
);</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The AI Success
Screen is also very simple. It simply displays the persons name and the
category of bikes they selected from the first app. The next button navigates
to a new screen where they can start to explore the bikes. I will explore this
screen and the amazing IoT magic that is happening there in my next blog.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45CGrToiwg1ufsD06PWcw5TU4bHdLeIUEuf00vXkNdA_8WeGcF7YEnIPALZTXZwjvIF0Y74rlvJ0I8gZrDNfmfuUbqCMieNfxPqrRE05MT3V7Z827r1_6stCvcoxcbNQ8pL4lhW50-b6K/s1600/AISuccessScreen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45CGrToiwg1ufsD06PWcw5TU4bHdLeIUEuf00vXkNdA_8WeGcF7YEnIPALZTXZwjvIF0Y74rlvJ0I8gZrDNfmfuUbqCMieNfxPqrRE05MT3V7Z827r1_6stCvcoxcbNQ8pL4lhW50-b6K/s400/AISuccessScreen.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The failure screen
is also very simple. This could use a bit more design work to make an
experience to recapture their data if we could not find them, but again for
simplicity sake we just say sorry we could not find you. Keep in mind that
facial recognition is not perfect. Although we have done some testing with
different lighting, faces, beards, glasses, hats, and so on - it is by no means
perfect. One thing to note is that the images you capture for facial
recognition really need to be a close up with just a face. It cannot be a full
body shot or have multiple people in the image. We also found that the Surface
Hub 2S camera requires you to get awkwardly close to get a good enough image
for the API to recognize you. So we are actually casting a Surface Pro tablet
to the Hub and the image is captured with the tablet. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit22GAiJKe1x7pfCKNrw7DZVfFjIsyEDlhlh5-tuP6d388S34a1c4WlUygfRaL9pW8WYuGSXBqK157MiyNicN10jk1pjVCiXCroeJICopy-L7mAgPFLMc1U3hwFuIHH98CQPXVC6hgUmcO/s1600/AIFailureScreen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit22GAiJKe1x7pfCKNrw7DZVfFjIsyEDlhlh5-tuP6d388S34a1c4WlUygfRaL9pW8WYuGSXBqK157MiyNicN10jk1pjVCiXCroeJICopy-L7mAgPFLMc1U3hwFuIHH98CQPXVC6hgUmcO/s400/AIFailureScreen.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">In the next part of
the blog we will explore the Power Automate or Flow that is behind the facial
recognition.</span></div>
<br />Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-88303908057251494192020-01-02T11:20:00.000-07:002020-01-02T11:20:07.177-07:00Adventures in PowerApps and Power Automate - Part 2<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In part one of my
<a href="https://www.dynamics365lady.com/2019/12/adventures-in-powerapps-and-power.html" target="_blank">Adventures in PowerApps and Power Automate</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>blog I showcased the sign up PowerApp. In this second part, I will explore the
Flow, or Power Automate as it is now called, that saves the records into the
Azure Blob.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The Flow has a few
basic steps:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Button is clicked in
PowerApps (this is the trigger of the flow)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Get Record - this retrieves
the full contact record that was created in the PowerApp from the Common
Data Service.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Create Blob - this creates a
copy of the image in the Azure Blob where the Face API reads images in our
second PowerApp for facial recognition. (This will be highlighted in a
future blog.)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">HTTP - This is a HTTP Post
request that adds the face into the face list on the server.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Condition - this checks to
see if the status code from the HTTP request is 200.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">If the condition is true then
another HTTP request is called. This HTTP request is another flow that
creates the contact as a customer in Dynamics 365 Retail</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">There is not false step. The
final step is to respond back to the PowerApp to let if know if the flow
was successful.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here is a picture of
the Flow with all the steps collapsed.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnfXRmYHQHDLO_wxlOaIFA0fKS18922bFh3-gcKs_zPfjwk3xZk6kOjxadurXRnySpL5bHMBpZG9FyBN2SOss8ocIDD4aaaxWbTK54HrInnAolu2Y07g_Z-fS9xIX_4go0Nqgs99L2qrXm/s1600/FlowTotalImage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnfXRmYHQHDLO_wxlOaIFA0fKS18922bFh3-gcKs_zPfjwk3xZk6kOjxadurXRnySpL5bHMBpZG9FyBN2SOss8ocIDD4aaaxWbTK54HrInnAolu2Y07g_Z-fS9xIX_4go0Nqgs99L2qrXm/s400/FlowTotalImage.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In the Get Record
action step (this is an action for the Common Data Service), we specified the
environment and selected the Contacts entity. In the Item Identifier column, we
choose the options to Ask In Power Apps. This creates special variable that must
be passed from the PowerApp. For our example this is the GUID for the contact
ID. We saved the contact ID that is created in the PowerApp as a variable
called gloSelectedContact.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The next step called
Create blob is used to save the image that was captured in the PowerApp into
the blob. We selected the folder path where the images are stored. For the Blob
name, which is basically the file name we set this to [First NameLast Name].jpg.
For First Name and Last Name we selected these from the dynamic content
selection screen. They are the First name and Last name fields in the Contact
entity that was retrieved in the previous step. The Blob content is also
dynamic content and it is the Entity image field from the Contact entity. In
the PowerApp we save the captured image to the Entity image. This is a nice way
to do it, because if you actually open Dynamics 365 Sales you can see the image
of the person on the Contact record.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBtLnaVWdhB8368U-Lpun5c03lmZipFu6TYVIwDN_Bnjm7R6-XQ_SYips0U7UQmskryR9WCYgcVR4WdZWw9ELEpEs-ktM2yH5eDvWwezyIGwb7QL0gmBEKrSlZkgXcMurt7mV950pg6hlD/s1600/GetRecordandCreateBlob.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBtLnaVWdhB8368U-Lpun5c03lmZipFu6TYVIwDN_Bnjm7R6-XQ_SYips0U7UQmskryR9WCYgcVR4WdZWw9ELEpEs-ktM2yH5eDvWwezyIGwb7QL0gmBEKrSlZkgXcMurt7mV950pg6hlD/s400/GetRecordandCreateBlob.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The next step in the
flow is an HTTP request. We named this Add face to face list on server. In our
case we call the POST method of the URI. I have grayed out the URI for security
reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We specified the Headers, there
were no queries for our example, and the body is the JSON formatted message
expected by the method. In our example here the file is dynamic content from
the Create blob step and we are passing the Name. The name we are passing is
again the First Name and Last Name fields with a space in between from the
contact record that we found in the Get record step.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimztGjKuFHAoB5IahmCYaOfmIvFJOHH71rDCXnqP9lFyv17rTeCjiKdGDe_OexFsJ5bI3bZud1gGVGWDa6VqSvlE8bf9nC0GEwL-JN9SoimKpvZgvcfBZO2IZ0hftsEhY71qmEMmHXjbNK/s1600/HTTPAddFace.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimztGjKuFHAoB5IahmCYaOfmIvFJOHH71rDCXnqP9lFyv17rTeCjiKdGDe_OexFsJ5bI3bZud1gGVGWDa6VqSvlE8bf9nC0GEwL-JN9SoimKpvZgvcfBZO2IZ0hftsEhY71qmEMmHXjbNK/s400/HTTPAddFace.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Next we added a
condition to see if the HTTP step has a status code of 200. In our case if the
status code is 200 then we call another HTTP request. If it is not, we are
currently doing nothing. It may make sense to do some better error handling
here, but for simplicity, we skipped that. The final step in the flow is to
Respond to PowerApps or Flow. In our case we are passing back an expression:</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0in;">
equals(outputs('HTTP_-_Add_face_to_face_list_on_server')['statusCode'],
200)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The HTTP request
that is in the If Yes branch is used to call another Flow. Now technically we
could have just added the steps to connect to Dynamics 365 Retail into this
flow. However, it can be useful to architect your flows like this for several
reasons including performance, reuse of a flow, and so on. We have several
different actions and Flows that can create customers so we built the flow once
to create customers in Dynamics 365 Retail. You simply paste the URI in from
the HTTP Request step in flow you want to run. Here is a great article on how
this works: <a href="https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/build-nested-flows/">https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/build-nested-flows/</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Once you are done
creating your flow you will want to save and test the flow. To get the flow to
trigger and run from the PowerApp, you must link it into your button. In my
PowerApp this was done on the Submit button in the waiver screen. You insert a
flow by clicking the Action tab in the Action Pane, and then click Power
Automate button. This opens a new dialog and you select the flow you want to
run on the button. In the formula bar you must pass in the correct parameters.
In my case here is the formula that runs the Power Automate flow.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
'NRFsign-upaddface'.Run(gloNewContactID)</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">There you have it,
that is how you save images into a blob and save data into the face list for
future use by the Face API. In the next blog we will explore the Facial
Recognition PowerApp that uses the data from people who have signed up.</span></div>
Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-62260132154790971332019-12-26T09:35:00.000-07:002019-12-26T09:35:06.646-07:00Adventures in PowerApps and Power Automate - Part 1<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">
My company is headed to the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference this year and we have teamed up with Microsoft and Priority Bicycles in New York to bring a real-life Retail Customer Experience center to the conference participants. You might be wondering why I am telling you this--well, I have been working with a team of people to put together some really cool solutions to showcase at the Priority Bicycle store.</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Among these cool
solutions are two Power Apps that will be used to "kick-off" the
whole experience. This blog features the Sign-Up App. Future blogs will feature
the flow behind the sign-up app, the facial recognition app, and several flows
that make that app do it's magic.</span></div>
<h1 style="color: #1e4e79; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Sign-Up
App</h1>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The first app is the
Sign-Up app. This app will be used at the booth and on the bus from the
conference center to the Priority bicycles store. As the name suggests it is an
app that allows people to sign-up and give us their information and consent.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The app design is
pretty simple. In a nutshell, you enter some basic information about yourself
and take a picture. Next, you select a category of bikes you are interested in.
Then you are prompted to read and accept the terms and conditions. Once you are
finished you are taken to a confirmation screen.</div>
<h2 style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Connections</h2>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We used a Canvas App
with the Common Data Service (from a Dynamics 365 Sales instance) as the
connection for the data source. There is also a connection to an Azure Blob
Storage account where we are saving images for facial recognition in the second
app. Lastly we have a connection to the Face API to send data about the image
that is captured.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h2 style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Pages</h2>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The initial page of
the app is the sign up screen. This page has a form (which defaults to the new
mode) with 5 fields from the contacts entity in the common data service.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The page also
includes a camera control and an image control. Now you can't tell from looking
at the layout preview because these two fields are exactly the same size and
positioned to be right on top of each other. When an image is taken, we hide
the camera control and only show the image that is captured. Once design flow
with the way we did this is that the Retake picture button in it's current
state does not reshow the camera control, it just takes another picture. This
could be changed easily, but consider how you want this to work if you use
camera and image controls.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The page also
contains two buttons. A Take/retake picture button and a next button.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The next page of the
app is the bike category selection page. This page features a simple gallery
with the data source<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>linking to the new
bike category entity we created in the common data service. The arrow button on
the gallery serves as the button to navigate to the next screen.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTMDbFvdIRm5g2GlM4uNwGBJiPGQVB-NHQO1thkponXc5fJDop-I2kwv5gozlzSnL8s2mPpGetqRwuoTRwzYueAQu_2RELztkXEhtSX0ALaInH2EtFnh1GyiU4kZ9LWkzYcfryQItCpC9G/s1600/BikePrefenceScreen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTMDbFvdIRm5g2GlM4uNwGBJiPGQVB-NHQO1thkponXc5fJDop-I2kwv5gozlzSnL8s2mPpGetqRwuoTRwzYueAQu_2RELztkXEhtSX0ALaInH2EtFnh1GyiU4kZ9LWkzYcfryQItCpC9G/s400/BikePrefenceScreen.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
After you select a
bike you are taken to the waiver screen. This screen is also pretty simple, but
this is where the magic happens. There is a large HTML text control that has
all the actual text for the waiver. It was important to use the HTML and not a
normal text control in order to get a scroll bar. Now, if you don't need a
scroll bar and all the text fits on the page, you could use a regular text
field. The page also has a check box control that sets the global variable and
the submit button. The OnSelect property of the submit is doing a number of
different things:</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Call the Flow to save the
face into Blog storage.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Patch the contact record -
which is just a fancy way of saying update the contact that we created on
the first page with the waiver signed and bike category preference.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Navigate to the success
screen.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Reset the variables back to
false for the next user.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here is the formula
in the OnSelect of the Submit button.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
'NRFsign-upaddface'.Run(gloNewContactID);</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Patch (</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contacts,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LookUp(</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contacts,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contact = gloNewContactID</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>),</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>{'Waiver Signed': gloWaiverSigned},</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>{'Bike category preference':
gloBikePreference});</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Navigate(SuccessScreen);</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Set(gloWaiverSigned,
false); WaiverCheckbox.Value = false;</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Any good app with a
submit function should have a success screen. If I was a better
designer/developer, we would make a failure screen and handle errors - but we
will leave that for another day. The success screen is very simple with a thank
you message and a mechanism to navigate back to the home page of the app.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h2 style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Variables</h2>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Next, we are using a
number of variables to store values that are used from page to page.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">TakePictureClicked</span>: This is a boolean that lets
us know if the user has clicked the Take picture button. Based on the value of
this button we toggle the button label back and forth between Take picture and
Retake picture.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This value is set in
the OnSelect property of the TakePicture button and the formula is</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
set(TakePictureClicked,true)</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">gloNewContactID</span>: This is a guid which is the
unique identifier for the contact that is created when you submit the first
form. We need this number because later we patch the contact with additional
values from other pages of the app.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This vale is set on
the OnSelect property of the Next button, and here is the formula that was
used. First we submit the form, then we set the variable.</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
SubmitForm(ContactInformationForm);</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Set(</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gloNewContactID,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ContactInformationForm.LastSubmit.Contact</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
)</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">gloWaiverSigned</span>: This is also a boolean that is
used to indicate if they signed the waiver. We added a custom field to the
contact entity to track if the waiver is signed. This value gets patched in on
the final screen.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This variable is set
on the Waiver check box on the waiver screen and the formula is</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Set(gloWaiverSigned,
WaiverCheckbox.Value)</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">gloBikePreference</span>: This is a record. We added a
new entity to the common data service to store a list of bicycle categories.
Each category has an image and some basic details about the category. We also
add a lookup field on the contact to the bike category. This is where we store
which bicycle category the person preferred.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This variable is set
in the arrow button on the gallery item. The formula goes in the OnSelect of
the button and here is what the formula looks like:</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Select(Parent);</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Set(gloBikePreference,
ThisItem);</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikLT17hEpfLCAc7KVBzPrkzXctrVYhrmra-G0dNbWiGM-p0wr64645uQSrqREliHIee578hxl32fbnet_uK1GUBhyphenhyphen8tY7wPmGpFbfkHPsPN5Q01dFjaoIE7xS8NGddOBYkJfrJ1N94Cdej/s1600/AppVariables.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikLT17hEpfLCAc7KVBzPrkzXctrVYhrmra-G0dNbWiGM-p0wr64645uQSrqREliHIee578hxl32fbnet_uK1GUBhyphenhyphen8tY7wPmGpFbfkHPsPN5Q01dFjaoIE7xS8NGddOBYkJfrJ1N94Cdej/s400/AppVariables.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In the next blog I
will show the Flow behind this App that makes it work. Then in future blogs we
will explore the second app which is the one that actually performs facial
recognition. There is also a lot of other things going on behind the scenes
with both apps such as emails being sent from Dynamics 365 Marketing, some IoT
magic, some Dynamics 365 Retail Cloud POS magic and more which will be
featured!</div>
Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-15124632531186799302019-09-17T14:19:00.000-06:002019-09-17T14:19:01.143-06:0010 Reasons to Attend User Group Summit - North America 2019<br />
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="10"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">What
better way to kick off the week than learning about Power Apps immediately
after the Keynote. </span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
My first session is
immediately following the keynote. AND YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THIS ONE. I have
done this sessions a number of times around the world, and I am pumped to bring
it to #UserGroupSummit North America. Here is the session description:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Building Practical PowerApps for Embedding in Talent
or D365FO</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Are you wondering
what you might actually use PowerApps for in Dynamics 365 for Finance and
Operations? Then be sure to join Rachel Profitt, MVP in this session to learn
about practical and real life examples of how you can leverage PowerApps in
both Finance and Operations and Talent. We will walk through the process of
creating a basic canvas app from scratch. We will use a cascading drop down and
configure some basic formulas as well. Most importantly, we will walk through
how to embed the PowerApp into the interface.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="9"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Session
Recordings come to UG Summit! - Hear me speak! Getting Started with the
Regression Suite Automation Tool (RSAT)</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We all know
#ContinuousUpdates have been a hot topic. #RSAT is what what makes it even
remotely possible to take those updates. This year, for the first time ever,
the user group is recording sessions. This session will be one the list of
recorded sessions. If you can't make it to my session live, be sure to add the
recordings to your conference pass for just $100. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Wondering which
other sessions are being recorded? Check them out <a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/nasummit/conference-schedule/sessions">here</a>
and look for the video icon:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here is the session
description:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Join Rachel Profitt,
MVP to learn how you can start creating your own regression tests leveraging
the Task Recorder, Excel and Azure Dev Ops together. If you are concerned about
how your organization can practically take continuous updates then you will not
want to miss this session. I will share tips and tricks for creating and
running your tests.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="8"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">A
friendly competition where you can get all your questions about #Dyn365FO
answered</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This might be the
session I am most excited about. We have formed two teams. Also there will be
costumes. I encourage you to come and vote for my team "The Toros".
Not familiar with the Toros? Here is a short video to get you up to speed: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8tvkrs76is">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8tvkrs76is</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
All I have to say to
the other team, is you better be ready to BRING IT ON! </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In all seriousness
though, send your questions in ahead of time to make sure they get answered.
Here is the session description:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Visit a group of
Dynamics experts in this competitive Ask the Experts session and see how they
compete to provide answers to your most gnarly AX 2012 or D365FO issue! If
you'd like to provide a question or problem prior to the event, please email
to: julie.deutz@dynamiccommunities.com.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="7"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Earn
CPE credits and learn about managing your indirect costs for production</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Many sessions are
eligible for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. You can find the
whole list of sessions here: </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Be sure to look for
the certification icon to find all the sessions you can get CPE credits for.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In this session, I
am excited to be joined by Lenora Randle who is a Cost Accountant at Algood
Food Company. She will help bring her real life tips and tricks to the world of
costing. Here is the session description:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Join Rachel Profitt,
MVP and Lenora Randle from Algood Food as we share how to plan and implement
your costing sheet. We will discuss the various types of indirect costs and how
to configure each type. You will hear how these costs help manufacturing organizations
get better insight and more accurate costs.</div>
<div style="color: #595959; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 9.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="6"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">It's
not just about Dynamics 365 - there is still great content for AX 2012</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are entire
tracks of content dedicated to AX 2012. Including this great session I am
presenting with my MVP cohort, the one, the only, Kelly Kane. The session is
called Ask the Experts: Making the Most of AX 2012. And this session is just
one of many in the AX 2012 Best Practices track. You can find and tag all the
AX 2012 sessions in your session builder by visiting<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/nasummit/conference-schedule/sessions">https://na.usergroupsummit.com/nasummit/conference-schedule/sessions</a>
and then selecting AX 2012 Best Practices in the Track drop-down box.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<b>Here is a
description of our session:</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Are you on AX 2012
and an Upgrade to Dynamics 365 is not anywhere in your near future? Perhaps
your upgrade is going to take 12-18 months, and you want to fix some problems
that you have now. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Join MVP’s Kelly
Kane and Rachel Profitt in this panel session and be sure to bring all your
questions. We will talk about what you need to do to reduce risk if you plan to
stay on 2012, and we will have tips for getting more value of the investment
you already made in AX 2012. Even if you aren’t planning your upgrade now, you
can likely take action on many of these tips right away.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="5"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The
Dream Team presents…A real-life story, from a real-life customer</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
What's not to love
about a user getting up on stage for the first time and sharing their story. I
have the great honor of joining Sempra Global to present on the Financial
Period Close Workspace and how they integrated it with Microsoft Flow. This is
certainly not the only real-life story you can hear at summit, there are tons
of them and that is why this is a definite-must attend event. I will be joined
by Rene Raagas, Suhas Rao, and Ismar de Campos to present this unforgettable
session. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; margin-top: 15pt;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">How Sempra Global Extended the Financial Period Close
Workspace with Flow</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-bottom: 7pt; margin-top: 15pt;">
In
this session, Sempra Global will present the business case for using the
Financial Period Close Workspace (FPCW) and the gaps found by the business. We
will review the overall business process flow and explain how the workspace was
extended to integrate with SharePoint using Microsoft Flow. We will also look
at the approval process that was implemented with Flow for approving tasks in
the checklist. We will also discuss how SharePoint document retention policies
drove the business process and were implemented to help the long term retention
of documents.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="4"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The
Power Zone! UG Content meets Silent DJ</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
So this exciting new
feature is going to be amazing. I have been promised that at least one of my
sessions will be on this fantastic new stage. In the Power Zone there are four
stages with presenters presenting simultaneously - but silent DJ style!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you don't know what a Silent DJ, Silent
Disco, SoundDown party, or whatever you want to call it is…here is a link to a
Wikepedia article where you can read up on it. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_disco">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_disco</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In a nutshell, you
will don a pair of headphones and pick the presenter you want to listen to.
Have a question you want to ask! No worries, there will be these cool cubes
that the presenters can throw at you to talk into and ask your question. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Not only will this
be fun, but it will be interactive, and you can say that you participated in
the first ever Power Zone! Here is the session I am hoping will be on the Power
Zone stage. #PowerZone</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Flowing with the Common Data Service</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Microsoft MVP,
Rachel Profitt, will demystify the Common Data Service (CDS). She’ll start by
creating a new CDS environment, review how to create and modify entities and
pick lists, and import and export data. Discussion will also how to configure
basic security options for the CDS. We will touch on the new features to get a
CDS with your F&O environment and we will briefly discuss the Dynamics
Integrator and Dual Write features as techniques for getting your data into the
CDS.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="3"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">A
full day or half day of Pre-Conference Academy training!</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Well maybe all the
great sessions were not reason enough to attend. I will also be hosting a half
day academy class on Monday where you can get your hands on the product and get
live instructor-led training. Maybe you need lots of CPE credits, you can rack
them up with all the pre-academy training. You can view the whole schedule
here: <a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/conference-schedule/academy">ttps://na.usergroupsummit.com/conference-schedule/academy</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
My class is called <span style="font-weight: bold;">Create Automated Emails and Approval Flows with
Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In this course you
will learn how end users can configure Microsoft Flow to create customized
emails and approval processes. These can include people outside of Dynamics 365
F&O, and are based on the new business events framework. You will learn how
alert rules, workflow, change based events, and much more in F&O can act as
a trigger to perform functions outside of the system. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="2"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The
Women in Technology Luncheon</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I am a big fan of
diversity and helping to mentor and grow young professionals into power houses
no matter what their background. I am honored to be asked to be a
panelist/mentor at this year's Women in Technology Luncheon. It will be taking
place on Wednesday, October 16th and is a don't miss event in my opinion. You
don’t have to be a woman to join and support all the women - you just have to
come with a positive and open mind. Here are the full details:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Please join your
User Group peers for a special event at Summit North America! Women in
technology are dealing with similar challenges, craving the same opportunities,
seeking new ways to grow, and looking for like-minded professionals with whom
to share their experiences. We are excited to bring you this special luncheon,
inspiring presentation, and great conversation with your peers – entirely
dedicated to encouraging and empowering women in technology-related fields.
This luncheon is free of charge to all registered Summit Orlando participants.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The
Medic Booth</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The Medic Booth has
been a long running tradition, and I am proud to be back at the medic booth
this year to help answer your questions. You can stop by the medic booth
anytime and get help on those pesky problems that you can't seem to find an
answer for. We don Doctors coats and it makes us feel like we really do have
all the answers! Haha!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH-pk1KiBNkhc9yDbWGqktWe1bQ0wSYbomKYDqVAOe7v2vyw1VGDKiMULJYMsZOAv8bLqDU9Fl9TgGnUiShUu11Kioiqi-AzE_U4wG7GQKKLCJ_5iCdUzQvQyEFltOutfhRNGZN-4XCkA/s1600/MedicPic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH-pk1KiBNkhc9yDbWGqktWe1bQ0wSYbomKYDqVAOe7v2vyw1VGDKiMULJYMsZOAv8bLqDU9Fl9TgGnUiShUu11Kioiqi-AzE_U4wG7GQKKLCJ_5iCdUzQvQyEFltOutfhRNGZN-4XCkA/s400/MedicPic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="color: #2e75b5; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="0"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">All
the other great sessions, networking opportunities, and pointless swag you
can take home</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
If those were not
enough reasons to get you down to Florida for the User Group Summit, that I am
not sure what is. But<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>maybe my sessions
are not your cup of tea…check out the full session schedule here: <a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/conference-schedule/sessions">https://na.usergroupsummit.com/conference-schedule/sessions</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Maybe my Academy
class wasn't what you were hoping for…here is the full list of academy courses:
<a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/conference-schedule/academy">https://na.usergroupsummit.com/conference-schedule/academy</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Maybe my reasons for
attending were not enough to convince your boss…the UG site has even more
resources for you on why you should attend here: <a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/attend/why-attend">https://na.usergroupsummit.com/attend/why-attend</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
But wait, there's
more…don't forget about </div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">the Expo receptions with free
drinks and appetizers!</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">all the opportunities to
network with your peers!</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">the sponsors who have
pointless swag that your kids (or you, secretly) will love</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">the sponsors who have parties
to celebrate</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-41600340561750824742019-09-16T12:12:00.000-06:002019-09-16T12:26:45.937-06:00Microsoft Dynamics 365 Regression Suite Automation Tool (RSAT)<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Welcome
Guest Blogger Latha Kalaga</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Hello World!...for the
first time ever, I have a guest blogger. Please help me welcome Latha Kalaga. I
have been working with Latha for nearly 13 years and she brings a myriad of
expertise on all things technical related to Dynamics 365. Because Microsoft
has introduced her in more than one session as the "number one user of
RSAT", I thought, hey why not get her to write this blog about RSAT. I can
honestly say, Latha taught me everything I know about RSAT, and I hope you
enjoy this post.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Introduction
to the RSAT</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Microsoft introduced
the concept of continuous update in July of 2018 to ensure that all Dynamics
365 for finance and operations will be on One Version of the software. The
customer will have 7 calendar days to validate an update that has been applied
to a sandbox environment prior to rolling out the update to production. To
support this activity, Microsoft also rolled out Regression suite automation
tool (RSAT) to help the customers validate the update.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It is very important
to test every update with your mission critical business processes in mind.
Typical manual testing of major critical processes could take 40 to 60 hrs or
more and depending on the number of test cases, a company may have to allocate one
or more resources to this testing effort prior to every update. The cost of
this manual testing prior to taking the update is too high and prone to errors.
The regression suite automation tool significantly reduces time and cost of
user acceptance testing by allowing the acceptance testing to be mostly
automated.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The regression suite
automation tool allows functional power users to record core business processes
using the Dynamics for Finance and Operations task recorder and convert these
task recorders into test suites without having to write a single line of code.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Technical
Details</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Regression testing is
an art as much as it is a science. Laying out what you want to test, the
combinations of a process that you want to test needs to happen before any
testing or testing suite finalization comes into play. You will want to start
with a release validation plan layout. This is a paper and pencil exercise in
which the functional testing subject matter expert lay outs the process and the
intended validations of the expected values. It is also important to think
about data dependent testing suites versus a data independent testing suite.
Once the release validation plan is in place, the testing suites can be
assembled from the processes that have been laid out in the business process
modeler.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The business process
modeler that resides in the Life Cycle Services (LCS) is one of the, if not the
most important component of a regression testing life cycle. It is important to
lay out the business processes that are needed to successfully run a business
and then record these business processes using the task recorder provided. For
a task recording to become a regression testable recording there are two
components that are required. </div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Validations</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Reference variables</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The first component is
adding validations and the second, optional but a valuable component is the
reference variable. Validations in a task recorder allows RSAT to compare the
actual value to the expected value. The reference variable allows the tasks in
a test suite to be chained.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The business process
modeler is synced over to Azure DevOps in two passes. The first pass syncs the
business process modeler nodes as epics and the second sync, synchronizes the
task recordings as test cases over to Azure DevOps. Using the release validation
plan the user can create a test plan in Azure DevOps and add the test cases to
the testing suite. A Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise level license is
required to create a test plan in Azure DevOps or per user per month license
can be purchased to allow the user to create these test plans. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Once the test suite is
created the test suite can be loaded into the RSAT tool that is typically
installed on an Azure Server or a laptop of a quality assurance tester. The
RSAT tool runs the business processes through the user interface of Dynamics
365 for Finance and Operations as it runs through the steps of the task
recorder while validating the values called for in the task recorder. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The results of the run
are stored in Azure DevOps allowing the user to evaluate the results of each
run and compare different runs of the same test suite. Errors are logged in
Azure DevOps in easily decipherable comments allowing the functional experts and
the user acceptance testing teams to figure out the issues if any caused by the
uptake of an update be it a customization or a Microsoft update. This triage
will enable businesses to identify issues prior to taking the update in
production. The values used by the RSAT tool are decoupled from the original
recording and can be changed in the excel spread sheet that is generated by the
RSAT tool using the task recording. The power of using reference variables to
chain tests allows for running of test suites that are complete end to end
processes without having any manual intervention.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The following is a
screen capture of the type of test suites that can be created. This is a data
independent suite for order to cash that can be run against any dynamics for
finance and operations environment. The inputs and expected values are the only
pieces that needs to be checked in the excel spread sheet that is attached to
the test case prior to running this against any environment.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29Xu-LjThzqiTHNhsx8ePtIJDyheI8FqeEybwZND651ubWSWh-3kRlQO9U4v6fYVaqBAU2X4_fLprEbJsNt5zHBT7dZPWaJbCWtB8Nv14QyJgS7TaZTHWRzD6g7jQ6qHQCW3Uyw48cxZj/s1600/RSAT1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="948" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29Xu-LjThzqiTHNhsx8ePtIJDyheI8FqeEybwZND651ubWSWh-3kRlQO9U4v6fYVaqBAU2X4_fLprEbJsNt5zHBT7dZPWaJbCWtB8Nv14QyJgS7TaZTHWRzD6g7jQ6qHQCW3Uyw48cxZj/s400/RSAT1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Below is a screen
capture of the suite from Azure DevOps loaded into the RSAT tool:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZwY1MPzbexKpTd4paaObOePsBUkvGEVwGgqhX1aH-lY4pE4QlavjFMAWRoH_0R21wuywsoaGpGtrPzBpKOaon7EZJZn7bPn4KeA50eYjBQBj6HAtaBRGe3qs7f3fNirNh17H1kIAgDRi/s1600/RSAT2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="926" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZwY1MPzbexKpTd4paaObOePsBUkvGEVwGgqhX1aH-lY4pE4QlavjFMAWRoH_0R21wuywsoaGpGtrPzBpKOaon7EZJZn7bPn4KeA50eYjBQBj6HAtaBRGe3qs7f3fNirNh17H1kIAgDRi/s400/RSAT2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
RSM
value</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
At RSM we pride
ourselves on being the First Choice Advisor to our customers. We participated
in the beta release of the Regression Suite Automation Tool and are heavily
engaged in helping improve the tool and the components that go into making RSAT
truly a good testing tool. We are working with several customers to put
together their release validation plan and help them build out their suites
using the tasks recorded and attached to the business process modeler. We also
train our customers in using RSAT if they choose to build out their own suites.
We advocate best practices for all the components starting from what it takes
to create a good business process modeler, a good task recorder that will then
lend itself to creating a powerful RSAT suite. We are participating in the
release validation program that Microsoft announced by enrolling our RSAT
suites that we have built out for our customizations sold through the Market
place. We are one of the leading RSAT users if not the leading user with a staff
that is trained in everything RSAT starting from installation, to test creation
to execution.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here are some
statistics from our efforts at some of our customers.</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Recorded 140 tests (4
resources, 1 month), 50 processes covered enabled the client to cut down
manual testing by 52% (Once we record the mobile processes this percentage
will reduce further)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Recorded 208 tests (4
resources, 1 month), this suite runs in about 2.5 hours. Manual testing
takes about 40 hours today for this same set of tests</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
</ul>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Conclusion</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
RSAT has a lot to
offer and it is very hard to capture all the information in a blog post. Please
feel free to reach out to RSM if you would like for us to demo the capabilities
of RSAT or in general the planning and execution of a test suite.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Quote</div>
<div style="color: #6b6b6b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #6b6b6b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white;">“Why do we never have time to do it right, but always
have time to do it over?” - Anonymous</span></div>
<div style="color: #6b6b6b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
References</div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/fin-and-ops/get-started/one-version"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.0pt;">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/fin-and-ops/get-started/one-version</span></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Again, a HUGE THANK YOU to Latha Kalaga for writing this post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lkalaga/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10.0pt; margin: 0in;">
If you would like to
see me live presenting on the RSAT be sure to sign up for the Dynamics 365 User
Group Conference <a href="https://na.usergroupsummit.com/nasummit/attend/register?utm_source=website&utm_medium=wisepop&utm_campaign=Summit%20North%20America%202019">here</a>.
My session (along with many others) will be recorded and available to attendees
who have registered to receive the recordings. Don't miss out! This is a
special add-on to your conference pass for just $100 that adds a lot of value
that keeps on giving even long after the conference is over.</div>
Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-25483703053910414182019-09-06T16:21:00.000-06:002019-09-06T17:21:52.815-06:00Data Integration Between CE and F&O<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This has been a
really hot topic lately, especially with the addition of new Dual write
features and the CDS coming with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. I
have given webinars on this topic a handful of times and presented this topic
at various user group conferences around the world as well and it has always
been a topic of interest. So, I figured, it was time to go ahead and make a
blog post about it.</div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
What
is the Data Integrator</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVqJDffyemKYyiLfAV2Y-EDknHY3oxDWpWcVSH4d8J0MwdHLX6oSji4SJN92zIt1gJBUXubGlYSApSLn1Y3T9G7muBiFKKcjVFOMafpKmV2ZTeJlLQmw4KX3biv6kdGgJ3wYbvYUo4KJW/s1600/DataIntegrator.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="813" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVqJDffyemKYyiLfAV2Y-EDknHY3oxDWpWcVSH4d8J0MwdHLX6oSji4SJN92zIt1gJBUXubGlYSApSLn1Y3T9G7muBiFKKcjVFOMafpKmV2ZTeJlLQmw4KX3biv6kdGgJ3wYbvYUo4KJW/s400/DataIntegrator.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
We have all seen
this picture before. But what is missing are a few key circles.</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">First we should add a circle
for Dynamics 365 for Talent to both sides.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">It is possible to have two
destinations but this diagram does not depict that scenario.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The last thing you can't
really see from the picture is the Power Query options to connect to 20+
other sources. This includes things like SQL Databases, Sales Force
(Heaven Forbid you don't use Microsoft Dynamics 365 for your CRM :)), and
Excel Spreadsheet just to name a few.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In a nutshell, Data
Integrator is part of the PowerApps admin experience. You can access it by
going to admin.powerapps.com and clicking on Data integration.</div>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Data
Integration Components</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Next up, let's
quickly review the data integration components. What my picture (and many
others don't tell you is that you have to start with connection sets).<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUa-eudt3hYd3aSyQ_Q8kycT-qs4J3mbLt5lUQ52lGuex6_aA18CJcy6Ry7s0EzMKEatW755g3FhvCMDchTGnokw0lwn_gpep5SFf_F2HnFWOsFXHwkPF3ai_99jfB5ppuE3NzpARC0ZV/s1600/DataIntegratorComponents.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="806" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUa-eudt3hYd3aSyQ_Q8kycT-qs4J3mbLt5lUQ52lGuex6_aA18CJcy6Ry7s0EzMKEatW755g3FhvCMDchTGnokw0lwn_gpep5SFf_F2HnFWOsFXHwkPF3ai_99jfB5ppuE3NzpARC0ZV/s640/DataIntegratorComponents.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Connection sets - Which
environment to want to be the source and which environment should be the
destination.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Projects - A set of one or
more mappings for one or more entities. These are typically a logical
grouping for a functional feature/form in the user interface.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Integration keys - This is
where you tell the system which field is the "key" or index for
a particular entity.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Mappings - This is where the
magic happens. You tell the system exactly which field from your source
points to which field in the destination. The good news is the templates
usually have most of this figured out for you.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Schedule - The last component
is where you tell the system when and how often to run. By default there
is no schedule for a new project so you have to run it manually or create
a schedule.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
Microsoft Templates</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
Microsoft
has so kindly created a number of different templates to support four major
processes.</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/supply-chain/sales-marketing/prospect-to-cash" target="_blank">Prospect to cash</a></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/supply-chain/sales-marketing/field-service" target="_blank">Field Service Integration with Finance and Operations</a></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/financials/project-management/psa-integration?toc=/fin-and-ops/toc.json" target="_blank">Project Service Automation Integration with Finance and Operations</a></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/talent/talent-financeandoperations-integration" target="_blank">Talent Integration with Finance and Operations</a></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #2e75b5; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
Unspoken Tips and Tricks</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
Some
notes for you that you will want to consider:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Make sure to install the
solutions for each template before attempting to set it up.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Consider using the advanced
query option on your projects to "filter" down the results. This
can allow you to do more complex mapping scenarios where you need an if
this, then that type of mapping. Here is a link about the advanced queries
since I don't cover it in my webinar. </span><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/data-integrator#advanced-data-transformation-and-filtering"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/data-integrator#advanced-data-transformation-and-filtering</span></a></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">You will want to consider
your business processes. The templates are only designed to work in a
single direction. If you require multi-directional - consider using Dual
Write instead.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">If you require real-time
integration, consider using Dual Write instead. You can schedule a job to
run every one minute but the reality is the job takes more than one minute
to run. You may also see performance issues with very high volumes if
trying to run that often.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">There is not solution/packaging option yet for Data Integration projects. So you cannot move them from one environment to another or share them with other users in your organization. For now that means, make sure to create them with a service account, and create templates to easily "copy" your setup from one environment to another. The only thing you will have to change is the connection set you want to point to.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Hopefully you have
found this information to be helpful. If you would like to see my full
presentation, it is available on the Dynamics 365 User Group site <a href="https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/understanding-the-dynamics-integrat?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">You will need to be
a member of the User Group to watch -- But membership is free and you will get
so much benefit, so join now, if you have not already.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">P.S. I will plan to write another article on the Dual Write features soon. As well as my Flowing with the Common Data Service series.</span></div>
<br />Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-69533889064004562052019-06-03T22:01:00.001-06:002019-06-03T22:04:42.472-06:00Technologies for the Restaurant Industry<p dir="ltr">I just read/watched an interesting <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6539260163000537088">article/video</a> about technology trends in the retail industry. </p>
<p dir="ltr">As a consumer I can agree that some restaurants have taken it too far. While I can appreciate the technology of the Ziosk as an example of really cool technology, I think it is being marketed and implemented in the wrong type of retail. I can name at least two restaurants that my husband and I will not go to anymore because of the so called "lost soul".</p>
<p dir="ltr">Likewise, I have a number of friends that work in retail. The complaints of the scheduling process are really quite depressing. It makes me wonder why people stick with it sometimes. This is an area that I think restaurants could do well with some more technology. There are plenty of affordable options like StaffHub, an addin to Microsoft Teams, among others that could help solve this problem and help to build more camaraderie through out the team. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, I see so many people changing jobs every one-two years. While I have never been one to jump ship, I know that many seek the "greener grass". Again there are plenty of affordable and easy to implement solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent that can help engage employees from the moment they accept an offer. I'm actually envious of some of the solutions we implement got clients, and excited to help implement some of these technologies for my company. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Bottom line...you should be investing I. Your people and your technology. And sometimes, your technology may be an investment for your people. In a client focused age, remember your employees are your "internal clients" and you need to serve them just as well or better than you expect them to serve your clients.</p>
Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-18102603260614162732018-08-22T15:40:00.000-06:002018-08-22T15:40:04.942-06:00Optimization Advisor<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Dynamics 365 for
Finance and Operations introduced a new feature called the Optimization Advisor
along with a default set of rules to go with it. This great new feature is like
50 different hack-a-thon projects just waiting to happen. I introduced this new
feature in the fourth webinar of my Functional Friday series earlier this year.
If you missed the webinar you can check it out on the Dynamics Communities site
here: D365 Functional Friday Series: Optimization Advisor <a href="https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/d365-functional-friday-series-opti?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments">https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/d365-functional-friday-series-opti?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Here is the cliff
notes version of the Optimization Advisor:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Who</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: Designed for power users,
business analysts, functional consultants, and IT support functions</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">What</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: Help to identify issues
related to module configuration and business data, and suggest best
practices for configuration.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">When</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: You can run it any time
using a periodic batch job.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Where</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: Version 8.0 (April 2018
release) or later for Finance and Operations</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">How</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: Here are some quick and
dirty step-by steps</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
To view the complete
list of Optimization advisor rules and to see how often the rules are
evaluated, follow these steps.</div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Open </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">System
administration</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> > </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">Periodic tasks</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> > </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">Maintain
diagnostics validation rule</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Only rules that
have a status of </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Active</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> are evaluated. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The evaluation
frequency can be set to </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Daily</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Weekly</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Monthly</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">, or </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Unscheduled</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjks9TTePhYCtOuu55h80fFESijHUAF8_xtSPPFJw8BnbgV9wSTgExbfeHIYmIn9rxaGyqf6XG8EPez2o3nHsCYNlnrUc9gpuZyqJDwXLTd07pWh1K6jerfeB5TAk0Fi_mkG00M_B_7Y18S/s1600/OptAdvisor_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1600" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjks9TTePhYCtOuu55h80fFESijHUAF8_xtSPPFJw8BnbgV9wSTgExbfeHIYmIn9rxaGyqf6XG8EPez2o3nHsCYNlnrUc9gpuZyqJDwXLTd07pWh1K6jerfeB5TAk0Fi_mkG00M_B_7Y18S/s400/OptAdvisor_01.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
To trigger the
evaluation of unscheduled rules, or to reevaluate periodic rules outside their
predefined schedule, follow these steps. </div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Open </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">System
administration</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> > </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">Periodic tasks</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> > </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">Schedule
diagnostics validation rule</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Then, in
the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Diagnostic rule validation</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> dialog box,
select an evaluation frequency. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">All rules that
have the specified frequency will be reevaluated.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUaA4NwatRH6oTepOGwl5b5av4FKnff-7vUh7iuDSvDjuU_ReU3YOoTTy1MUAQZbCqxTFhrtOW-CKKfHwprxGtOvDZHH5EBPXkrVW4slZ0-oGe1ErC-DCjsxyAJc5RL1epp_vFOEE2jwu/s1600/OptAdvisor_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="646" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUaA4NwatRH6oTepOGwl5b5av4FKnff-7vUh7iuDSvDjuU_ReU3YOoTTy1MUAQZbCqxTFhrtOW-CKKfHwprxGtOvDZHH5EBPXkrVW4slZ0-oGe1ErC-DCjsxyAJc5RL1epp_vFOEE2jwu/s400/OptAdvisor_02.png" width="273" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">If you have that genius idea for the next great optimization
advisor rule we would love to hear it. You can submit ideas on the Microsoft
Idea site here: </span><a href="https://experience.dynamics.com/ideas/"><span style="color: #006621; font-size: 10.5pt;">https://experience.dynamics.com/ideas/</span></a></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Don't
forget to tweet or post about it on LinkedIn so that all your friends
(including me) can go vote for it.</div>
<br />Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-91254560197511875062018-08-20T14:33:00.000-06:002018-08-20T14:33:02.652-06:00Vendor Collaboration versus the Vendor Portal<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In the third webinar
in my Functional Friday series was Vendor Collaboration. Many of you might
remember the Vendor Portal that used to run on Enterprise Portal back in the
day. The good news is that the old Vendor Portal is gone. It came with its own
set of issues, it was difficult to deploy, for example, and the user interface
was not unified. The bad news is it that the Vendor Portal is gone. The new
vendor collaboration portal is not quite everything the old portal used to be.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
In case you missed
the webinar and want to see it you can find it on the AXUG website here. D365
Functional Friday Series: Vendor Collaboration <a href="https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/d365-functional-friday-series-vend?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments">https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/d365-functional-friday-series-vend?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are several
processes that are supported by the Vendor collaboration module in Dynamics 365
for Finance and Operations:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Create new vendor
collaboration contacts</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Provision new vendor
collaboration users</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Provide collaboration between
purchasing agents and external vendors</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Monitor consignment inventory</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Work with purchase orders</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Update vendors on purchase
orders</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">View and submit vendor
invoices</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Dynamics AX 2012 had
a concept of vendor requests that served various purposes related to updating
vendor-related information, such as requesting new procurement categories for
the vendor, internal employees requesting new vendors, or requesting to add a
vendor to another company. Only the vendor's request of being added as a vendor
has been implemented in version 7.3.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
For those of you who
are upgrading from an older version of Dynamics AX, you may or may not be
familiar with the new change management feature. This feature enables a
workflow and review process on a purchase order that requires an approval
process to be completed. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There are a few<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>different statuses of a purchase order that
are typically used in Vendor collaboration:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Approved</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: When you’re working with a
vendor, a status of Approved typically means that the purchase order has
been created and you are ready to send it to the vendor for confirmation
and acceptance. However, the purchase order can also appear as Approved if
you have cancelled a purchase order and the vendor has not confirmed or
rejected the cancelation yet.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">In External
Review</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: When
you’re working with a vendor, the status will change to In external review
when you send the purchase order to the vendor. It will also stay in that
status after the vendor accepts the purchase order if the system is not
set up to automatically accept, or if automatic acceptance is blocked for
some reason.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
The
purchase order status will also remain as In external review if the vendor
rejects the order or accepts the order with changes.</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Confirmed</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: When you’re working with a
vendor, the purchase order status is set as Confirmed if the vendor
accepts the order and the system is set up for automatic conformation.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Cancelled</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: When you’re working with a
vendor, the purchase order status is set as Cancelled after you cancel a
purchase order and the vendor confirms the cancellation.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
If change management
is enabled for POs, the PO goes through an approval workflow to reach
the Approved status, after which the standard statuses apply. The
change management process isn’t visible to the vendor. There are two statuses
that are relevant here.</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Draft</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: When you’re working with a
vendor, the purchase order status is set to Draft in a few situations:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">It will be set to Draft when
the initial purchase order is created.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">It will be changed to Draft
if you make changes to the purchase order that are requested by the
vendor.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">In Review</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">: When you’re working with a
vendor, the purchase order status is set to In Review during the approval
process between the Draft status and the Approved status.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The following
diagram shows the various scenarios where the responses a vendor gives to a
purchase order in the vendor collaboration portal and what the resulting order
status is.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3gDQb67_1UGA6N3ypKR4WPAKqDhym-49530_OYeqRfRjUNWq31NKiOg_qVMn3lkbPDqs2PZXS4nJv_nyFaafazPFp7EVNQGdlNIevPQHV2SjGoGxmA4znkwUpsC1sJ9N7NWSXiV5nOBtD/s1600/VendorPortalStatuses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="899" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3gDQb67_1UGA6N3ypKR4WPAKqDhym-49530_OYeqRfRjUNWq31NKiOg_qVMn3lkbPDqs2PZXS4nJv_nyFaafazPFp7EVNQGdlNIevPQHV2SjGoGxmA4znkwUpsC1sJ9N7NWSXiV5nOBtD/s400/VendorPortalStatuses.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">In the first scenario, the
vendor accepts the order and their profile is configured to
automatically confirm PO's when the vendor accepts. At that point, the
status of the order is updated to Confirmed. If something prevents
the order from being updated, the vendor response is still recorded
as Accepted, but the status of the PO remains In External
Review.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">In the second scenario, the
vendor accepts the order and their profile is not configured to
automatically confirm POs when the vendor accepts. The vendor response is
recorded as Accepted, but the status of the PO remains In
External Review.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">In the third scenario, the
vendor rejects the order. The vendor response is recorded
as Rejected, and the status of the PO remains In External
Review. The rejection is received together with the vendors note.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">In the fourth scenario, the
vendor accepts the order with changes. Changes are suggested at
the line level. It’s possible to accept or reject individual lines. Other
possible changes include:</span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Changing dates or
quantities.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Splitting lines for
different delivery dates or quantities.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Substituting an item.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Price
information and charges cannot be changed by the vendor. Suggestions for
changes to these can be made using notes. The vendor response is recorded
as Accepted with changes, and the status of the PO remains In
External Review.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin-left: .375in; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
You can use
the Purchase order preparation workspace to monitor which
PO's the vendor has responded to. This workspace contains two lists
that contain purchase orders with a status of In External Review:</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">In external review requires
action.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">In external review awaiting
vendor response.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754436726532702199.post-90829204926523063722018-07-20T16:20:00.000-06:002018-07-20T16:20:01.878-06:00What's New for Expense Management<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The second webinar
in my Functional Friday series was centered around expense management. This is
another one of my favorite feature areas that Microsoft has made investments in
Dynamics 365. I have to say I am a bit #jealous that I don't get to use this
feature to do my expense report. #maybeOneDay</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Since I was not able
to demo the actual mobile device during the webinar, I thought I would show it
off a little bit in my blog on this topic. In case you missed the webinar and
want to see it you can find it on the AXUG website here. D365 Functional Friday
Series: Expense Management <a href="https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/d365-functional-friday-series-expe?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments">https://www.axug.com/viewdocument/d365-functional-friday-series-expe?CommunityKey=82b0ede9-11c2-43ba-8c73-de1b44f1aa09&tab=librarydocuments</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
First you will
need to install the Dynamics 365 for Phones app from the Google Play Store for
Androids or the App Store for iPhones. The app is free to download and install,
but you will need an actual Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations instance and
license to actually log into it. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8-grn-6AU_oHUcPXkMZLQMluacTuGd-8RtcfWg388NiIxeXDOrd7K9IchYecrZ3Mp-fie4prC7aP_G4klRTj8yo1KOUIX_H2uQInMMpwbxObArVhhw_EGJP-274xEgyH7-FNqwf2j6gZ/s1600/ExpenseBlog01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1502" data-original-width="878" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8-grn-6AU_oHUcPXkMZLQMluacTuGd-8RtcfWg388NiIxeXDOrd7K9IchYecrZ3Mp-fie4prC7aP_G4klRTj8yo1KOUIX_H2uQInMMpwbxObArVhhw_EGJP-274xEgyH7-FNqwf2j6gZ/s320/ExpenseBlog01.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
After you have
installed the mobile app, you can log into the mobile app. You will need to
provide the connection information for your environment. This is done by
entering the URL for your environment. If you have previously logged in, then
the Recent Environment drop-down will appear and you can easily select the
environment from list, and then click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Connect</span>.
(Be sure to accept the terms and conditions if prompted.)</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8J_Mmm3P_lUP2RLEtikzlzCDmaJE103DWVztruJ6hu_TLeko4mAVZeBKyb4NyoHU3pyse6Y0grYjw_wqLKTpvz5BFE4pGlz3zcZO9WpHam4oxusMhoVarqm6deb9E2LXBhVrkjRpfcw8/s1600/ExpenseBlog02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8J_Mmm3P_lUP2RLEtikzlzCDmaJE103DWVztruJ6hu_TLeko4mAVZeBKyb4NyoHU3pyse6Y0grYjw_wqLKTpvz5BFE4pGlz3zcZO9WpHam4oxusMhoVarqm6deb9E2LXBhVrkjRpfcw8/s320/ExpenseBlog02.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
You will be prompted
to enter your password after entering or selecting the user account.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZVG4bef-6fd-yyYn53-z43yezTnNJXeDXWB-dmMc4ML1s_5NSFGxLgv8WLfX8c31PmbkGceZcx3gSRsyXpmj35zRltFwOcRYySwTgFsDCXbswfM3JmXlc8PgjUwln8RkyKCUhr_JvHey/s1600/ExpenseBlog03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ZVG4bef-6fd-yyYn53-z43yezTnNJXeDXWB-dmMc4ML1s_5NSFGxLgv8WLfX8c31PmbkGceZcx3gSRsyXpmj35zRltFwOcRYySwTgFsDCXbswfM3JmXlc8PgjUwln8RkyKCUhr_JvHey/s320/ExpenseBlog03.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Once you are logged
into the mobile app, you will see a list of mobile workspaces. Now the list of
mobile workspaces you have may be different depending on your security and
which mobile workspaces have been published in your environment. If you have
not published any workspaces you will want to do so in the web interface for
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, by following these steps:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Click the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-weight: bold;">Settings</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> icon in the upper right
corner.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Select </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Mobile app</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> from the list.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Highlight the mobile
workspace you want to publish and click </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Publish</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The following screen
shot shows the mobile workspaces. You may need to scroll down to see the
Expense management workspace depending on how many workspaces you have.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIkH-gB3dzR1o2BVAt3Xo08HSqM272-tzax2cd6FBWK4nCOq_65BzPMMK02uY0bW5yCLk2yyuzEsMeCkZZK8AwT9kKkefZp06XhIKgFGp2iD6MHAgI-Vq5hR-ggGu2xhhHbOaxj5sCewx/s1600/ExpenseBlog04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIkH-gB3dzR1o2BVAt3Xo08HSqM272-tzax2cd6FBWK4nCOq_65BzPMMK02uY0bW5yCLk2yyuzEsMeCkZZK8AwT9kKkefZp06XhIKgFGp2iD6MHAgI-Vq5hR-ggGu2xhhHbOaxj5sCewx/s320/ExpenseBlog04.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Once you launch the
workspace you can quickly and easily get started. If you don't have an expense
report started already you will want to create one, and add the expenses to it.
But you also have the option to just do a quick capture and add the receipt to
the expense report later. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo92HOrd-4aL7oHfGiaAg2lKfZzvNNBTkZOLAURlEtGYdJQcTD4zswI_5eru7XOttZqaY6D0_Y7RZ-i33V3R0ru2O1i-IvyWAab2j6KWZwQoTqMqFiSlVw1zMOVXvyOe_TFsWRbf2-npGn/s1600/ExpenseBlog05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo92HOrd-4aL7oHfGiaAg2lKfZzvNNBTkZOLAURlEtGYdJQcTD4zswI_5eru7XOttZqaY6D0_Y7RZ-i33V3R0ru2O1i-IvyWAab2j6KWZwQoTqMqFiSlVw1zMOVXvyOe_TFsWRbf2-npGn/s320/ExpenseBlog05.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
To create an expense
report, click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Create an expense report</span>.
This will open a new page. If you already have an expense report you will see
the lines that you have added to the report on the page. The numbers at the top
represent any expenses you created that are not attached to a report, or
receipts you captured that are not attached. If you want to start a new report
you can click<span style="font-weight: bold;"> New report</span>.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cNJ_osOXBJfXlpDw_7S5nW-UpR2tQhPj8URKO5z94NACMZxYdnfaUYeAwOhpbC39LIhnCGhdfUukKpDsLEb2aSfY00MLYvtAd4wQZNgWytP2MA9-n3wfIG06hOysq4SQyIFb-j90gUkG/s1600/ExpenseBlog06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cNJ_osOXBJfXlpDw_7S5nW-UpR2tQhPj8URKO5z94NACMZxYdnfaUYeAwOhpbC39LIhnCGhdfUukKpDsLEb2aSfY00MLYvtAd4wQZNgWytP2MA9-n3wfIG06hOysq4SQyIFb-j90gUkG/s320/ExpenseBlog06.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Entering an expense
has never been easier. Either start a new expense report or select an existing
one, or click Create expense from the home page. For my example I have created
a new expense report:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Click Create an expense
report from the home page of the mobile app.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Click New report.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Enter a Purpose, for example
Client Visit.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Enter a Location, for example
Kentucky.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Click Done at the bottom of
the page.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Click New expenses.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Click the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: bold;">Expense
category</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">
drop-down box.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Select an option or search.
For example select Meal.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Enter the Transaction amount,
and any other required information such as the date and merchant. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Click Done when you are
finished entering the details.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeK0M8CSXJE6P_uo4dTmVwN-JShLlIOgfbxEhRzlfeiROofW_Ueo8qpPEA_zLW6mGHi4Anb0q59Y7nkih5oL0SDOde4Vo4rraCFGrWkPrBQHitgI2c-RQpcZDyXTh4f-p5SZS7t5He7Bz/s1600/ExpenseBlog07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeK0M8CSXJE6P_uo4dTmVwN-JShLlIOgfbxEhRzlfeiROofW_Ueo8qpPEA_zLW6mGHi4Anb0q59Y7nkih5oL0SDOde4Vo4rraCFGrWkPrBQHitgI2c-RQpcZDyXTh4f-p5SZS7t5He7Bz/s320/ExpenseBlog07.png" width="186" /></a></div>
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<ol style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="1">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value="11"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Click Receipts to add a
receipt. </span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Select to Capture a receipt
or attach an existing receipt.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Click Done to attach the
receipt.</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkkjN13HjVCwYVoF_N18kkS_zm7slYWNglw-UOJwfF5P_oVAiPIgpUzqd18sHDDg9VB7Kb4RSzJiIjVnYbpofpoktfbIINY6crHtnpMzvGEAqf_XYMCQMWEtl_1Fa2sWSwfnARpfKZ_CI/s1600/ExpenseBlog08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="875" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkkjN13HjVCwYVoF_N18kkS_zm7slYWNglw-UOJwfF5P_oVAiPIgpUzqd18sHDDg9VB7Kb4RSzJiIjVnYbpofpoktfbIINY6crHtnpMzvGEAqf_XYMCQMWEtl_1Fa2sWSwfnARpfKZ_CI/s320/ExpenseBlog08.png" width="186" /></a></div>
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If required you can
use additional buttons to add guests, do a breakdown of the receipt or remove
the expense. The options and fields that are visible and required are
controlled by the configuration in the Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
web interface for Expense management.</div>
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Hopefully with this
information you can see how easy it is to use the new mobile app. This is a great
feature to enhance your already existing implementation or another great addition to your ROI and reason to start your upgrade today.</div>
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And now for my
shameless plug to the Dynamics 365 Days in Portland I am hosting on August
17th. Get registered soon as space is limited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="http://pages.d365ug.com/dynamics-365-day-portland-rsm">http://pages.d365ug.com/dynamics-365-day-portland-rsm</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Dynamics 365 Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13766415610754725811noreply@blogger.com0