Sure Step 2010 New and Improved FREE

Mark Smith, 30 December 2009

On December the 17th Microsoft released the 3rd version (3.0.11.0) of Sure Step.

We were involved in the TAP program for this release, so I have had time to understand the product over the past months. Once again Microsoft has continued to improve on the past product.

Templates have been added to and updated where appropriate but by far the best features are support for Agile implementation and xRM developments. I am biased as we work with Dynamics CRM and we develop software based on the scrum agile framework.

Agile Projects

Agile projects are now supported allowing a project to get underway quicker without the cumbersome paperwork requirements of past methodologies. This is not to negate a thorough understanding of a project with satisfactory documentation. However I have heard of many stories of Microsoft Dynamics CRM projects not going live due to the amount of time spent on designing over complicated solutions (at high cost) and the attitude that a client feature request cannot been done as in not possible (this is “IT speak” for I do not know how to do it, but I told you that you will wonder why you are paying us so much). The sooner a project can go live correctly the sooner the customer can get their return on their investment…. and what business does not like ROI?

Organisational Change Management

I have come across projects where staff within an organisation that has implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM frustrated and not using the technology as it was perceived that it was thrust upon them as a tool by management to monitor what they are doing. This was not the intention, but due to no work been done on “Organisation Change Management”, left major problems to be solved.

Organization Change Management is defined as “an integrated communications, training, sponsorship, and organisation alignment approach to assist employees in transitioning effectively into a new way of accomplishing work.”

ISV Guidance

Content has been added that assists in engaging an ISV on Dynamics CRM projects, the questions that need to be asked, and the best practices that can be followed. There is also content on CfMD (Certified for Microsoft Dynamics). This is important for a business like ours as we work towards getting some of our products Certified for Microsoft Dynamics.

SharePoint Integration

Setup and configuration with SharePoint are very straight forward, out of the box. On past versions of Sure Step we have not had much success. With this version it works no problem. It is very important as version control on project documents and who is working on what documents, contributes to the success of the project.

Diagnostic Phase improvements

Sure Step has more content around ROI calculations and estimation tools combine this with the content from Nucleus Research and you are on to a winning formula.

Training Content

eLearning content is already available (4 courses) and web seminars are planned at the start of 2010.

xRM

Last but not least Sure Step now supports xRM. This means that best practices can be applied to take Microsoft Dynamics CRM and use it as the “xRM Platform” If you have been involved in any of the xRM challenges that have run over the last six months you will know that to be effective in creating xRM solutions you need to follow a process to create a robust solution. Sure Step now has documents on “xRM Development Standards” and “xRM Capabilities”

Links for more information:

Download Sure Step 2020 from Partner Source (Account Required) 
eLearning Content for Sure Step 2010
Benefits for Customers
Microsoft Dynamics ISV Playbook