Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

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1 Work Smart by Microsoft IT Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Customization note: This document contains guidance and/or step-by-step instructions that can be reused, customized, or deleted entirely if they do not apply to your organization. The text marked by yellow highlighting indicates either customization guidance or organization-specific variables. All of the highlighted text in this document should be deleted, replaced, or carefully considered for relevance prior to distribution. In addition, please note that the screen captures used throughout the guide represent a customized user interface. As appropriate, you should replace them with images that are specific to your organization. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Advanced Find is a powerful set of tools you can use to modify system views and build reports which display exactly the data you want to work with. By using Advanced Find, you can create a custom data query, view and customize the results, and then save the query as a personal view so that you can quickly focus on the data you use most often, without needing to re-create the search parameters each time you want to run the query. You also can share the data from your personal views with other users. Topics in this guide include: Comparing filters and Advanced Find Creating a personal view using filters Creating complex personal views with Advanced Find Tips on using Advanced Find effectively Managing columns Using and managing personal views For more information

2 2 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Comparing filters and Advanced Find Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online contains numerous predefined system views that allow you to quickly view commonly used data sets. To help you better focus on the specific data you need, you can modify system views and create custom views by using either filters or Advanced Find. About filters Use filters to quickly customize an existing system view. Filters allow you to manage lists in Dynamics CRM Online much like you would in an Excel spreadsheet. For each column, you can select one or more filter criteria to narrow the results being displayed in the list. You then can save those parameters as a personal view, thereby allowing you to quickly access the same data set again without needing to recreate it. However, filtering has several limitations. About Advanced Find Use Advanced Find to create more complex, reusable views that let you explore detailed relationships and conditional associations among main, related, and individual entities. As with filters, after you use Advanced Find to create and save a personal view, you then can quickly bring it up without needing to recreate it. You also can share your personal view with other users. Advanced Find gives you much more control than using filters, with a wider variety of options for querying, sorting, and designing your reports. With Advanced Find, you can: Query across main, related, and individual entities (for example, you can create an opportunity view that shows all opportunities to which a specific product has been attached, or create a view of all products associated with specific opportunities) Apply and combine conditional requirements to data queries Define a default sort order Add and delete columns, and rearrange the layout of columns in a view Review the filters that are being applied to the view

3 3 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Creating a personal view using filters Review and modify the example below so that it is relevant to your organization. The example below describes how to use filters to modify the My Team Opportunities system view to display only opportunities which have an estimated close date in either this or the next fiscal period and which are owned by specific individuals on a team. TIP: You can perform similar steps to create a wide variety of custom views. 1. Navigate to the system view you want to customize (in this example, My Team Opportunities). 2. Click or tap the Filter icon. 3. The Filter icon is highlighted in blue (to indicate that it is active) and a small arrow appears to the right of each column heading. To apply a filter, click or tap the arrow to the right of the relevant column heading (in the example below, Est. Close Date). Click or tap Filter by Fiscal Period and, in the fly-out menu, select This Fiscal Period and Next Fiscal Period, and then click or tap OK.

4 4 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 4. To apply a filter to the Owner column, click or tap the arrow to the right of that heading. In the drop-down list, click or tap Filter by specific Owner. 5. In the Look Up Records window, type the name of an opportunity owner you want to add to the filter, and then click or tap the search icon (or select the name you want from the list). To make a selection, click or tap in the column to the left of the person s name, and then click or tap Select to add that individual to the Selected records box. To add additional opportunity owners to the filter, repeat this step. When you are done, click or tap Add. 6. Once you have applied the filters you want, you can save the modified system view as a reusable personal view. Click or tap the arrow to the right of the name of the view, and then click or tap Save Filters as New View. 7. In the Save as new View window, in the Name field, replace the default name with a unique, descriptive name (such as My Team s Opportunities Closing This or Next Fiscal Period). The Description field is optional. When finished, click or tap Save.

5 5 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 8. In the system views list, the view you just created appears in the list view beneath My Views so you can easily view it once again without needing to recreate it. Creating complex personal views with Advanced Find Advanced Find offers all the functionality of filters, plus many additional options for organizing your data. This section describes two data-query scenarios that highlight some key features. TIP: Before using Advanced Find, verify that Advanced Find is in Detailed mode. To do so: 1. In the upper right-hand corner of Dynamics CRM Online, click or tap the Settings icon, and then, in the drop-down menu, click or tap Options. 2. In the Set Personal Options window, on the General tab, for Advanced Find Mode, click or tap Detailed. 3. Click or tap OK. Understanding entities Data in Dynamics CRM Online is related and hierarchical, and consists of main, related, and individual entities. Understanding entities and their relationships is key to creating complex reports (for example, a list of opportunities with associated products or associated competitors). Main entities The nine main entities are displayed in the row of tiles under Sales on the navigation bar. Figure 1: Main entities tiles on the navigation bar

6 6 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online The main entities are: Activities Partner Deals Accounts Partner Accounts Contacts Sales Programs Leads Marketing Lists Opportunities Related entities A main entity may have a relationship with more than one related entity. For example, in an account record, related entities include contacts and activities, as shown in the illustration on the right. Individual entities Individual entities are the individual pieces of data in a record, such as a specific contact or activity in an account record, as shown in the illustration on the right. Figure 2: Example of a main entity and its relationship with related and individual entities Review and modify the examples below so that they are relevant to your organization. The examples below provide the steps needed to use Advanced Find to create two common personal views from the perspective of a Sales Manager and a Sales Rep, respectively. Example 1: Sales Manager s Team s Opportunities Due this Fiscal Year For this example, the sales manager wants to create a query to find all of the open opportunities which are due this fiscal year in two of his sales territories. Displayed below is the final query that we will create:

7 7 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online To create this query: 1. From the Open Opportunities system view, on the navigation bar, click or tap the ADVANCED FIND icon. 2. The Advanced Find window opens. Click the Select hyperlink. 3. From the drop-down list, select Est. Close Date. 4. Since in our example we do not want to select a specific date, click or tap the On hyperlink and, from the drop-down list, select This Fiscal Year. NOTE: Fiscal information is always based on the Microsoft fiscal year.

8 8 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 5. Next, we want to select the select the sales territories. In the new row, click or tap Select. 6. Since the entity Territory is from a related entity (Account) rather than the Opportunities entity, in the drop-down list, scroll down and, beneath the Related category, select Account. 7. A new row appears in the query. Click or tap Select and from the drop-down list, select Territory.

9 9 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 8. Position you cursor over the Enter Value hyperlink and click or tap the look up icon when it appears. 9. In the Look Up Records window, search for and select the relevant territories. For example, to select territories in Canada: a. In the Search box, type Canada and then press Enter. b. Click or tap the column to the left of each result to select it (you can select more than one), and then click or tap Select. c. Repeat this step until all the territories have been selected, and when done, click or tap Add. 10. The Advanced Find window now shows the final query. To run the query, on the ribbon, click or tap Results. To save the query, on the ribbon, click Save As, give your query a unique name, and click Save.

10 10 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Example 2: Sales Rep s Open Opportunities Due this Fiscal Year For this example, the sales rep wants to create a query to find all of his open opportunities which are due this fiscal year. Displayed below is the final query that we will create: To create this query: 1. From the My Open Opportunities system view, on the navigation bar, click or tap the ADVANCED FIND icon. 2. The Advanced Find window opens. Click the Select hyperlink. 3. From the drop-down list, select Est. Close Date.

11 11 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 4. Since in our example we do not want to select a specific date, click or tap the On hyperlink and, from the drop-down list, select This Fiscal Year. 5. The Advanced Find window now shows the final query. To run the query, on the ribbon, click or tap Results. To save the query, on the ribbon, click Save As, give your query a unique name, and click Save. Tips on using Advanced Find effectively Tip 1: Start from a relevant system view To save time when creating a personal view using Advanced Find, it is recommended that you start from a relevant system view. It is likely that one of the wide variety of available system views, with a few modifications, will come close to meeting your data-query needs. For example, if you want to create a query that will search among all open opportunities, open the Open Opportunities list view, and then click or tap the ADVANCED FIND icon.

12 12 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online However, if you were interested in viewing only a subset of your own open opportunities, start with the My Open Opportunities list view, and then click or tap the ADVANCED FIND icon. You can begin on any system view page to create any query. The advantage of first opening a relevant system view is that, in the Advanced Find window, the Look for and Used Saved View fields (and certain other parameters) will default to relevant choices so that you do not need to select those parameters manually. Tip 2: Add parameters from a related entity You may wish to add a filter that is not a component of the main entity. For example, to create a query of your open opportunities in which the customer account was owned by a specific individual, the owner of the account (the Account Owner ) is not available at the Opportunity entity level but is a component of the related Account entity. To add a filter from a related entity: 1. To open the drop-down list, click or tap Select. Notice that, in the primary list, under the Fields heading, Account Owner does not appear.

13 13 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2. Scroll down the list to the Related heading to view a different set of fields including those available at the Account entity level. Click or tap Account. 3. A new section heading is added to the set of filters in the Advanced Find window. The blue bar indicates that you are adding a filter (or filters) from a related entity level. 4. Click or tap Select, and then, from the drop-down list, select the field you want to add (in this example, Owner), select the appropriate operator (such as Equals), and click or tap the Enter Value hyperlink to select the name of the relevant account owner(s). Tip 3: Use the appropriate operator As you add parameters to your query, be careful to choose the appropriate operator. For example, if you select Est. Revenue as a parameter, the default operator is Equals (allowing you to then enter the appropriate amount in the Enter Value field).

14 14 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online However, if you click or tap the Equals hyperlink, a drop-down list displays a range of options. You then can query, for example, for opportunities in which the estimated revenue Is Greater Than a certain amount. Tip 4: Use AND and OR effectively As you create your query, you often will want to create a test to determine whether two or more conditions are true. For example, the query below will return all of your open opportunities in which the Est. Revenue is greater than 500,000 and the Est. Close Date is the current month. When building this query, after you select the values for the Est. Revenue and Est. Close Date, click or tap the arrow to the left of Est. Revenue and then click or tap Select Row. The Est. Revenue row is highlighted in blue. Then, perform the same action for the Est. Close Date.

15 15 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Then, with both rows selected, in the ribbon, click or tap Group AND. The query will now return only results in which both conditions are true. NOTE: If you wanted to view your open opportunities in which either the Est. Revenue was greater than 500,000 or the Est. Close Date was the current month, you would perform the above steps but would click or tap Group OR. Managing columns Once you have defined the queries of a view, you next need to manage how you want the results to be displayed in a report. Adding a field on which to filter (for example, Account Owner) does not necessarily mean that the field will appear in the results. Instead, you may need to explicitly add the Account Owner field as a displayed column so you can see that information in the results. Use the Edit Columns feature to add and delete columns in a report, rearrange the layout of the columns, pre-set the sort order for the data in a column, and more.

16 16 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online To manage columns in Advanced Find: 1. On the ADVANCED FIND ribbon, click or tap Edit Columns. 2. The Edit Columns window shows the data column names in the sequence in which they appear in the current view. To view more columns, use the horizontal scroll bar. Adding a column To add one or more columns: 1. Click or tap Add Columns. 2. In the Add Columns window, select the column or columns you want to add, and then click or tap OK. TIP: When you add a column, it displays by default at the far right of the view. You can reposition it by following the steps in the Moving a column section below, but it may be more efficient to first click or tap to select an existing column header and then add a new column or columns. If you do so, the newly-added columns will appear immediately to the right of the column you selected.

17 17 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Adding columns a level above the record type If you do not see the column you want to add in the Add Columns list, you may need to select a different record type. NOTE: In Advanced Find, you can add columns to a report only if they are one level above the entity you are working on. For example, from the Opportunity level, you can add Account Details, but not Products. Similarly, from Products, you can add Opportunity fields, but not Account Details. To change the record type: 1. Click or tap Add Columns. In the Opportunity level view we are working on, the Record Type, by default, is set to Opportunity. To select a different type, click or tap the arrow. 2. In this example, from the drop-down list, we select Account (Account). 3. The Add Columns window now displays all the columns available at the Account (Account) level. Select the columns you want to add, and then click or tap OK. Moving a column You can rearrange the columns of a view so that they display in the order you want. To move the position of a column, click or tap the column name to select it. Then, to move the column left or right, click or tap an arrow, as shown below.

18 18 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online TIP: To delete a column in a view that is not useful to you, click or tap the column name to select it, and then click or tap Remove. Configuring data sort order You also can use the Edit Columns window to select the sort order for the data in specific columns. To configure the sort order: 1. In the Edit Columns window, click or tap Configure Sorting. 2. In the Configure Sort Order window, open the Sort By drop-down list. 3. Select the column you want to initially sort the report by, and then select Ascending Order or Descending Order. In this example, we select Est. Revenue, sorted by Ascending Order.

19 19 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 4. To apply a secondary level of sorting, open the Then By drop-down list and select the column you next want to sort the report by, and then select Ascending Order or Descending Order. NOTE: You can define the default sort order only on fields related to the main entity on which the view was created. For example, in an Opportunity view, you can sort by any field on the Opportunity level, but if the report contains information from the Account (such as Owner or Segment), those fields are not supported in this default sort feature. 5. To close the Configure Sort Order window, click or tap OK. To close the Edit Columns window, click or tap OK. Using and managing personal views Once you apply the relevant filters and configure your new personal view, you should save that view so that you do not need to re-create it again. You also should run the query to verify that it returns the data you are expecting. Saving a personal view To save a new view as a personal view: 1. On the ADVANCED FIND ribbon, click or tap Save As. 2. In the Save as new View window, the name of the original system view you have been working with appears in the Name field. You must change this name; you cannot save your new customized view with the name of an existing system view.

20 20 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Type a name that will make sense to you when you want to use this view again (for example, My Open Opportunities - Due This Fiscal Year). The Description field is optional. When you are finished, click or tap Save. 3. Your new personal view now appears in Advanced Find, in the Use Saved View list. The new view also is available in your Opportunities views list beneath My Views and is ready to use again when you need it. Running an Advanced Find query After you have created a new view, you then should run the query to verify that it returns the data set you expect. To run the query: 1. On the ADVANCED FIND ribbon, click or tap Results. 2. In the Advanced Find window, on the List Tools tab, the query results display as a grid. You may find that not all the data you expect appears in the view. You may need to explicitly add a data column for that information to display. See the Managing columns section above for more information.

21 21 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 3. To return to the details of the modified view, on the ribbon, click or tap the ADVANCED FIND tab. Sharing a saved view Once you have created and saved a personal view, you can share it with other Dynamics CRM Online users. This allows them to see exactly the same query results you see, in real time. The advantage of sharing a view as opposed to other methods, such as exporting a report to an Excel spreadsheet is that a shared view always displays current results, but a static report can quickly become outdated as records are worked on. To share a personal view: 1. On the Advanced Find ribbon, click or tap the ADVANCED FIND tab (if it is not already open). 2. On the ribbon, click or tap Saved Views. 3. To select the view you want to share, click or tap the view name. On the ribbon, click or tap Share. 4. In the Share saved view window, click or tap Add User/Team. 5. In the Look Up Records window, search for and add the user(s) you want to share the view with, and then click or tap Add.

22 22 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 6. Select the permissions you want the user(s) to have, and then click or tap Share. ing a link When you share a view, it is immediately available to the users with whom you have shared it. You may wish to notify them that the view is available by ing them a link to the new view. To a link: 1. With the SAVED VIEWS tab open and the view selected in the list, on the ribbon, click or tap a Link. 2. Your default program opens, with the subject line completed and the link in the message body. Enter the name of the recipient(s), and click or tap Send. Deleting a personal view When you no longer need a personal view whether created using filters or Advanced Find you can use Advanced Find to delete it. NOTE: You can delete only views you have saved with a unique name. The built-in system views in Dynamics CRM Online cannot be deleted. To delete a personal view: 1. On a system view page, on the command bar, click or tap ADVANCED FIND. Then, in the Advanced Find window, on the ribbon, click or tap Saved Views.

23 23 Creating personal views and using Advanced Find in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2. Select the view or views you want to delete, and then click or tap Delete Saved View. 3. In the Confirm Deletion window, click or tap Delete. A deletion cannot be undone. For more information Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customer Center Work Smart by Microsoft IT Microsoft IT Showcase This guide is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.