Setting Up Your System

Announcements

As you might guess, you can use the Announcements feature to create and post information to the entire organization. For example, you can post information about scheduled system downtime or a list of new customizations that you recently published to the system. Users can view announcements by clicking the Announcements subarea in the Workplace area of the user interface, as shown in Figure 2-15.

When you create announcement posts, you can include a URL that Microsoft CRM will display as a clickable hyperlink. You can use this feature to link to additional information regarding the announcement. To create an announcement, browse to the Settings area of Microsoft CRM, click Announcements, and then click New on the grid toolbar. You can enter up to four attributes for each announcement:

1. Title The text that appears above the line in a bold font

2. Body The body text that appears below the line

3. More Information URL An optional address that users can access for more information about the announcement
4. Expiration Date The date on which the announcement will be automatically removed from the Announcements list

Note that when the expiration date passes, Microsoft CRM automatically removes the announcement from the grid. You cannot update the expiration date after an announcement expires; if you want to display an expired announcement, you must create it again.
Also note that announcements are displayed to all the users in the system. You cannot create an announcement specific to a particular business unit.
Tip You can't force users to check the Announcements list every day, so they might miss a new posting. If users want to make sure that they always see new announcements, they can configure the Announcements list to be their default start page by clicking Tools and then Options on the application menu bar, and then specifying the default page on the General tab. Microsoft CRM will direct them to the Announcements list every time they log on to the system.