For more than a decade, Pivotal CRM has been the choice of Microsoft-centric organizations that want the flexibilityto model their specific business practices within their customer relationship management system. CDC Softwarecooperates closely with Microsoft to ensure Pivotal CRM customers can always take advantage of the latest advancesin Microsoft technology

1. W H I T E
P A P E R
Pivotal CRM and Microsoft:
Evolving in Lock Step
Executive Summary
For more than a decade, Pivotal CRM has been the choice of Microsoft-centric orga-
nizations that want the flexibility to model their specific business practices within their
customer relationship management system. The Pivotal CRM product line leverages
the Microsoft technology stack to provide not only usability and productivity advan-
tages through integration to Microsoft Office, but also the reliability, scalability, and
ease of integration and deployment required in an enterprise-strength CRM solution.
CDC Software is moving Pivotal CRM onto the Microsoft .NET Framework to allow
our customers to realize its benefits, including simplified deployment and ongoing
management of Pivotal CRM solutions, more flexible customization capabilities, cost-
effective integration, and an enhanced user experience.

2. For more than a decade, Pivotal CRM has been the choice of Microsoft-centric organizations that want the flexibility
to model their specific business practices within their customer relationship management system. CDC Software
cooperates closely with Microsoft to ensure Pivotal CRM customers can always take advantage of the latest advances
in Microsoft technology. The Pivotal CRM product line leverages the Microsoft technology stack to provide not only
usability and productivity advantages through integration to Microsoft Office, but also the reliability, scalability, and ease
of integration and deployment required in an enterprise-strength CRM solution.
Microsoft’s latest technology stack is based on Microsoft .NET, which is enjoying widespread adoption within the
software development community because it provides a standards-based platform for developing, integrating, and
deploying service-oriented applications. Service-oriented applications are built as reusable components that can share
the services they provide over the Internet, thus enabling true interoperability among applications written in different
programming languages.
CDC Software is moving Pivotal CRM onto the Microsoft .NET framework to allow our customers to realize its benefits,
including simplified deployment and ongoing management of Pivotal CRM solutions, more flexible customization
capabilities, cost-effective integration, and an enhanced user experience.
Adopting the Microsoft Roadmap Microsoft Products
As a Microsoft Global Independent Software Vendor Windows 2003 Supported
(GISV), CDC Software benefits from a managed relation- Windows Vista Under development
ship that spans multiple corporate dimensions, including SharePoint Server 2007 Supported
sales engagements, co-marketing, and technology adop-
tion. This distinguishes us in terms of technology access, SQL Server 2000 Supported
go-to-market cooperation, and support services from the SQL Server 2005 Supported
7000+ companies that Microsoft defines as “partners.” MS Office XP/2002 Supported
CDC Software is a Gold Certified Partner and full MS Office 2003 Supported
participant in Microsoft’s GISV Partner Advisory Council, MS Office 2007 Under development
an invitation-only group of Microsoft’s top 40 global ISVs. Visual Studio 2003 Supported
As a member of the GISV-PAC, we provide input on
Microsoft’s programs and go-to-market strategies. Visual Studio 2005 Supported
Exchange 2003 Supported
As a result, we are able to take a proactive approach Exchange 2007 Under development
to supporting Microsoft’s core platform products by
BizTalk Server 2000 Supported
participating in beta, pre-release, and early access
programs. Wherever possible, we align our Pivotal CRM BizTalk Server 2004 Support planned
roadmap with Microsoft’s, allowing our customers to take IIS 5.x Supported
first-mover advantage of new capabilities in Microsoft’s IIS 6.0 Supported
core platform products and ensuring customers can lever-
IIS 7.0 Supported
age and extend their existing infrastructure investments.
Pivotal CRM | White Paper

3. Pivotal CRM: Built on the Microsoft Technology Foundation
Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft Operating Systems
Pivotal CRM solutions can take advantage of the powerful Pivotal CRM is optimized for the Windows platform and
business intelligence (BI) capabilities in SQL Server utilizes advanced operating system features to improve
2005, including integration services, analysis services, performance, scalability, manageability, and usability,
reporting services, and data mining, allowing businesses greatly reducing the effort of deploying Pivotal CRM solu-
to apply complex multi-dimensional analysis capabilities tions. Additionally, Pivotal CRM solutions take advantage
to operational CRM data. Information relevant to each of Windows 2000/2003 Advanced Server Network Load
user’s needs can be displayed in portals personalized to Balancing services to distribute IP traffic across a Pivotal
each role, improving the customer experience through CRM-deployed application cluster of standard, low-cost
better access to decision-making data. For example, SQL Intel servers, reducing the cost of implementing an
Server’s BI capabilities make it possible to perform sales enterprise-strength solution.
forecasting and create executive dashboards that offer
key business performance indicators at a glance.
Microsoft Internet Information Server
Additionally, because SQL Server 2005 is part of the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is the key
Windows® Server System™ line of products, Pivotal infrastructure behind Pivotal CRM’s reliable, manageable,
CRM customers can benefit from reduced total cost of and scalable web-based CRM applications, facilitating
ownership and faster development time when integrating synchronization of not only data, but also upgrades
to other Windows Server System products. and customizations, to all systems within and beyond
enterprise boundaries.
With respect to Pivotal CRM and the BI capabilities of SQL
Server 2005, CDC Software’s intentions include building
out a reporting structure based on Microsoft Reporting
Services, which offers a single, server-based point of
focus for delivery of both traditional static reports to user
desktops and interactive reports via the Internet.
Pivotal CRM | White Paper 2

4. Pivotal CRM customers deploying a web-based solution can take advantage of Microsoft IIS 6.0’s support of the
Microsoft Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI)—which includes automated health monitoring, process isolation, and
improved management capabilities—to increase application availability while lowering system administration costs.
Microsoft BizTalk Server as the ability to look up Pivotal CRM data directly within
any Microsoft Office application. A Web Service makes
Pivotal CRM can leverage Microsoft BizTalk Server any Office document (including Word, PowerPoint, and
to integrate business processes within and between Excel) a gateway into the Pivotal CRM database.
organizations. The Pivotal Integration Connector provides
BizTalk-compatible schemas that facilitate developing, For example, when a user is creating a contract in
executing, managing, and optimizing distributed business Microsoft Word, the company’s name will automatically
processes. be highlighted. If the user right-clicks on the highlighted
name, that company’s Pivotal-based record will be
Customers that choose to integrate their CRM business displayed in a sidebar in Word so the user can quickly
processes using BizTalk can also take advantage of the get the customer’s fax number or other required details—
application and technology adapters that come standard there’s no need to switch or cut and paste between
with BizTalk Server, including connectors for such line-of- applications. In this way, users can work in their favored
business applications as SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Oracle, environment, Microsoft Office, organizing information,
and JD Edwards. scheduling meetings, tracking progress, and creating and
recording e-mailed communications. And by conducting
Microsoft Exchange Server every interaction in the context of the customer’s CRM
data—which includes support issues, purchase history,
Pivotal CRM ships pre-integrated with Microsoft Outlook
contact preferences, and more—the quality of every
and the Exchange Server communications infrastructure,
customer interaction is improved.
enabling users to not only manage all customer e-mail
communications from within the Pivotal CRM application, In Sedna (the codename for the next release of the Pivotal
but also to ensure that their contacts and scheduling data CRM platform, a.k.a. Pivotal CRM 6.0), CDC Software
are always up-to-date in both their Pivotal CRM solution will deliver even deeper integration between Pivotal CRM
and Outlook. and Microsoft Outlook, providing direct access to e-mail,
Exchange, calendars, and contacts. Outlook task panes
Microsoft Office will allow users to display relevant Pivotal CRM data
when working in Outlook, in order to access contextual
Interoperability with Microsoft Office is a key capability of customer information without having to toggle between
Pivotal CRM, allowing information workers to use the tools systems.
with which they are most familiar. Pivotal LetterExpress
provides the capability to perform mail merges between
Pivotal CRM data and Microsoft Word documents. Pivotal
CRM also offers integration to Microsoft Outlook, as well
Pivotal CRM | White Paper 3

5. Pivotal CRM information related to the task
being performed (i.e., literature fulfillment)
MS Outlook task pane
displaying Pivotal CRM data
Automatically link the e-mail to Pivotal CRM.
Customizers can define the business objects
to link to; end users can modify the links
Outlook Task Pane with Sedna Capabilities (Mockup)
Additionally, Sedna will utilize Microsoft SharePoint to allow customers to create standard launch pages— interactive
portals that give employees in different functional areas direct access to their most commonly used features. For
example, customizers will be able to create a standard portal for Technical Support employees, a different one for
salespeople, for marketing, and so on. Customizers can then populate each portal with task menus that feature the
kinds of commonly used tasks specific to the user function. End users will then be able to personalize their standard
portal by adding in new web parts (either those defined by the customizer or imported from a third party, including
Microsoft) or modifying existing web parts. In this way, users will be able to assemble their own highly personalized,
relevant, and visually enhanced portals.
Microsoft Visual Studio® Migrating to Microsoft .NET
When customizing their Pivotal CRM solution, customizers
currently work within Pivotal CRM’s own graphical toolkit The current Pivotal CRM platform (generation 5.x) has
to make modifications at all levels of the application, been formally .NET-certified and is on its way to becoming
from designing forms to modifying workflow to creating fully .NET native. As with any enterprise software solution,
extensions. With Sedna, customizers will be able to it is imperative that a balance is established between the
take advantage of the Visual Studio Forms Designer to desire to embrace the future while protecting existing cus-
create and edit Pivotal CRM forms using drag-and-drop tomer investments. To that end, CDC Software is pursuing
functionality. a strategic adoption of .NET that allows customers to
evolve their Pivotal CRM solution via migration, rather than
CDC Software’s proposed product direction is to forcing complete reimplementation.
investigate whether the Pivotal Toolkit can be integrated
with Visual Studio to provide customers with a single An Evolving Three-Tier Architecture
integrated development environment from which to build,
deploy, and manage Pivotal CRM applications. Pivotal CRM solutions are built on a three-tier Internet
application architecture (the Pivotal CRM platform) with
clear separation of the presentation services tier (user
Compatibility interface), business services tier (where business logic
CDC Software’s policy is to provide compatibility between resides), and data services tier (where customer data is
Pivotal CRM and new versions of key Microsoft products kept separate from metadata, or information about the
as they are released. customer data).
Pivotal CRM | White Paper 4

6. Pivotal 5.0 Pivotal 5.x Sedna Sedna+1 (proposed)
Windows Client Web Client Windows Client Web Client Smart Client Smart Client Presentation
(Pivotal Windows (Pivotal Rich (Pivotal Windows (Pivotal Rich (Pivotal Client) (Pivotal Client) Services
Client) Client) Client) Client) Tier
Pivotal Business Pivotal Business Pivotal Business Pivotal Business Business
Server (COM+) Server (COM+; Server (COM+; Server (.NET) Services
.NET) .NET) Tier
Enterprise Enterprise Enterprise Enterprise Data
Business Module (Customer) Business Module (Customer) Business Module (Customer) Business Module (Customer) Services
(metadata; VB6 Data (metadata; VB6; Data (metadata; C# Data (metadata; C# Data Tier
code) C# code) code) code)
The Business Services Tier for the Pivotal 5.0 generation of CRM products started out exclusively based on COM+, but
has evolved to include .NET capabilities while ensuring compatibility with all existing COM+ components. “Sedna+”
(the current moniker for the Pivotal CRM platform release to follow Sedna) will deliver .NET interfaces for all existing
components and ensure that all new components can be developed natively in .NET.
The Presentation Services Tier has always offered customers a choice between multiple clients, allowing them to
support their users according to their needs, whether they are LAN-based, remote, or mobile and whether they are
using wireless or thin client devices. All current-generation Pivotal CRM deployments, however, have deployed one (or
both) principal client(s):
• Pivotal Windows Client, a feature- and func- applications to be easily customized at all levels, with no
tion-rich thick client primarily intended for users that disruption to the rest of the system or to end users:
require an application with high UI complexity and high
responsiveness, and/or Data Model: Customize the underlying database
entities or business objects that most closely model a
• Pivotal Rich Client, a feature-rich, web-based customer’s business, such as changing and creating data
client intended to provide the interactive transactional elements and relationships between the data entities.
support of Pivotal Windows Client, together with the low
maintenance, low TCO, and high accessibility that a • Business Processes: Design, update, and
browser-based application provides. manage the business rules that define day-to-day busi-
ness operations.
With Sedna, CDC Software will replace these two Pivotal
CRM clients with a single client built on Microsoft’s • User Interface: Personalize the end user’s experi-
.NET-based Smart Client technology. Smart Clients offer ence of the CRM system.
the best features of thick clients—a rich user experience, The Pivotal 5.x generation provided full support for
high developer productivity, and high responsive- programming customizations in Microsoft Visual Basic
ness—by taking advantage of local processing power and (VB) and partial support for .NET-based programming
resources, as well as the benefits of thin clients—broad languages. Sedna will continue to support and run exist-
reach, easy change management, and ease of deploy- ing customizations, scripts, and extensions, but it will take
ment—while avoiding their negative attributes. Sedna will full advantage of the Common Language Runtime (the
continue to support all current access methods, but will execution engine of Microsoft .NET), which allows for the
provide a common presentation layer through which all creation of highly efficient managed code written using
LAN- and mobile-based users will be able to access their new .NET programming languages like C# and VB.NET.
Pivotal CRM implementation. This means that customers can deploy their existing
system on the new Sedna platform, and then migrate their
At the Data Services Tier, all CRM system data is col-
application over time to .NET. For new deployments, CDC
lected in two separate databases: the Business Module
Software will deliver out-of-the-box Pivotal CRM solutions
(BM) metadata database (which contains such applica-
based on C#, but will support customizations written in
tion-specific features as forms, UI definitions, workflow,
any .NET language.
business rules, and table and record structures) and the
Enterprise Data (ED) database (which contains just the CDC Software’s proposed product direction for Sedna+
customer information). In contrast to CRM applications is to make Pivotal CRM solutions .NET native (from front
that mix customer data together with metadata, Pivotal end to back end to the applications themselves), allowing
CRM’s separation of these elements not only promotes customers to take advantage of all aspects of Microsoft’s
enrichment of customer data, but also allows Pivotal CRM next generation of technology.
Pivotal CRM | White Paper 5

7. Adoption of .NET Technology install a single client for all local, remote, and mobile users
of Pivotal CRM.
As Pivotal CRM evolves to embrace Microsoft .NET, new
The implementation of Smart Client technology for Pivotal
capabilities will be added to the Pivotal CRM platform,
CRM aims to:
allowing customers to take advantage of a number of
benefits. • Reduce implementation and ongoing maintenance
costs by centrally deploying, managing, and updating
Native Support for Web Services Pivotal CRM solutions, dramatically decreasing deploy-
ment time, effort, and resources
Web Services help organizations interconnect their
applications, facilitating the creation of a service-oriented • Deploy the same Pivotal CRM implementation on
architecture (SOA). SOA lets businesses create a loosely mobile online/offline and desktop systems, lowering
coupled application infrastructure, speeding solution development, upgrade, and training costs
development and allowing them to respond more quickly • Improve the usability of a web-based implementation
to changing market conditions. by providing the responsiveness and UI flexibility of a
thick client, while also lowering the cost of deploying
While the current generation of Pivotal CRM supports Web and maintaining a Windows Client-based Pivotal CRM
Services, Sedna’s native support will make it more cost- solution
effective to integrate disparate applications, enabling our
customers to execute every interaction (whether it origi- • Reduce the cost of upgrading. Changes made to
nates in the field, with a partner, or in the supply chain) in the application and/or client are automatically down-
the context of a 360-degree view of their customers. loaded the next time the user connects to the server.
Additionally, standards-based integration significantly
For example, customizers will be able to present data reduces the cost and complexity of upgrades.
from disparate systems in the Pivotal CRM user interface,
thereby allowing users to complete business processes Customization User Experience
that span multiple enterprise systems without having
The user interface and user experience are key to the
to leave the Pivotal CRM application. In this way, users
success of any CRM deployment. Sedna’s UI will leverage
are able to work with all relevant enterprise data and
Microsoft’s Smart Client technology to deliver a more
are empowered to take action faster and make better
intuitive, responsive, and flexible task-oriented navigation
decisions.
structure and to improve the way that users interact with
Additionally, customers will be able to expose Pivotal CRM commonly used features.
functionality as a Web Service to develop new revenue
Windows Forms, part of the Microsoft .NET Framework
streams or facilitate application integration.
and Visual Studio 2005, is the core development platform
for building Smart Client applications. Windows Forms
Smart Client Technology give developers a comprehensive set of reusable,
Built on Visual Studio 2005 Windows Forms technology, extensible controls and components that are presented in
Smart Client applications are easy to use, deploy, and a WYSIWYG designer for quick development of sophisti-
manage. They also have the additional benefit of being cated UIs.
able to interact with distributed data sources across the
In Sedna, when customizers work with Pivotal CRM forms,
enterprise and across the Internet.
they will actually be creating, designing, and editing
Windows Forms within the Pivotal Toolkit using the Visual
Reducing TCO Studio forms designer. The implementation of Windows
Forms in Pivotal CRM will offer flexible form customization
With Microsoft .NET shipped on all modern Microsoft
and rich data presentation, resulting in a more intuitive
Windows computers (and made freely available for
UI, better task-oriented, role-based, and persona-based
download to older systems), the .NET Framework will
navigation, and improved searching. Features will include:
soon be as ubiquitous as the browser on the desktop.
The ClickOnce capability of the .NET Framework allows • A Microsoft Office 2007/Vista look and feel
Smart Client applications (like Sedna) to be deployed and
• A customizable task-oriented layout that allows users to
updated seamlessly over LAN, WAN, or Internet connec-
navigate easily between functional areas
tions to all users, significantly reducing deployment and
maintenance costs. • Customizable content-specific tasks, allowing users to
quickly access their most commonly performed tasks
Additionally, because Smart Clients combine the best
attributes of thick and thin clients, companies need only
Pivotal CRM | White Paper 6

8. Context-specific task pad
Each group has a list of
related task menu items
Related tasks are organized
into group menu items
Task-Pad Functionality (Mockup)
• The ability to place controls anywhere on forms, allow- from third parties, such as RSS feeds or those created
ing customizers to more easily match the way their end for Microsoft SharePoint. Web parts can be powerful
users work end-user productivity enhancers, allowing customizers, for
• The ability to easily create complex queries example, to:
• Display a task pad that draws information from other
All of this will allow customizers to improve user adoption
systems, allowing users to check order status without
and productivity, as well as better model end-user and
leaving their CRM application
business requirements.
• Display a small contact form that provides a subset of
Extensibility the most-used fields/data, allowing end users to quickly
enter/display just the contact information they require
Pivotal CRM solutions built on the .NET Framework will
allow our customers to utilize managed (.NET) code to • Display all opportunity-related information in a single
extend their solution with lower risk by creating small, portal, so managers can monitor the status of all deals
reusable, task-specific routines rather than taking a from a single, central location
traditional software-development approach. For example,
by consuming existing Web Services rather than building
the required functionality into their solution, our customers
can manage risk by lowering development cost and effort.
Additionally, Pivotal CRM will allow customers to create
multiple portal pages to display web parts that are
provided out of the box, created in-house, or available
Pivotal CRM | White Paper 7

9. Web part personalization
Portal Page (Mockup)
• Best-of-Breed Industry Applications: Pivotal
Conclusions: The Future of the CRM solutions offer out-of-the-box, industry-specific
Pivotal–Microsoft Partnership business processes, as well as the flexibility to model
unique business practices, no matter how complex.
Pivotal CRM customers are committed to Microsoft • Seamless Microsoft Office Integration:
and have already begun incorporating Microsoft’s .NET Information exchange between Pivotal CRM and
platform within their businesses. In support of our custom- Microsoft Office applications allows end users to
ers and in order to retain a leadership position on the manage their day without ever having to leave the
Microsoft platform, CDC Software is moving its product Pivotal CRM application.
suite to become .NET native.
• Standards-Based Enterprise Integration:
The Pivotal CRM roadmap is focused on ensuring Native support for Web Services streamlines the sharing
customers will be able to migrate their Pivotal CRM of customer data across and between enterprises,
implementation cost-effectively over time in order to facilitating customer-centric decision-making at all
take advantage of the new and improved features and levels of the organization.
functionality that .NET offers, including: • Rich User Experience: A UI consistent with the
• Low-Cost Flexibility: The ability to make changes Microsoft Office 2007 look and feel delivers world-class
to the data model, business processes, and UI presentation and navigation capabilities that are highly
utilizing graphical (WYSIWYG; drag-and-drop) and intuitive, responsive, and flexible.
coding methods ensures customizers can quickly and
cost-effectively evolve their implementation to match
changing business needs.
For more information or a complete list of our worldwide offices, please visit www.pivotal.com.
Copyright © CDC Software 2007. All rights reserved.
The CDC Software logo and Pivotal CRM logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of CDC Software.