Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization: Add custom Field
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is a customization-friendly Customer Relationship and marketing automation platform that allows for increased productivity and efficiency when dealing with prospects and existing clients. Above all, the main advantage of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its extensive level of customization. It varies from simply changing the label of a single field, to completely custom-developed add-ons. In short, this enhances and extends the functionality of the system.
It is important to know what level of customization is required to achieve the required task. It is not feasible to heavily invest in a Custom-developed, fully-integrated add-on. As only a few customized fields and workflows from within CRM can do the job just as well.
In this example that I’m about to show you will demonstrate how to add a simple custom field to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM online environment. I will be adding a “Follow-up date” field to the Lead entity and will change the view to sort by the newly created field.
As we are making irreversible changes to the CRM system, we would need to create a backup of the system as it is now. Customizing the system will not compromise the data itself, however, modifications and changes to the forms and fields will be affected. Therefore, it is prudent to export the solution.
Please refer to our earlier blog post about exporting customizations in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You can find it here.
Customization of fields
The following steps describe the process for creating a custom field and placing that field on a form.
- Open the personalization toolbar by selecting Options, and then Personalize this form.
- Click Insert and then Field.
- Select the region of the form where you want to expose the new field. As a result, the Insert fields dialog box will display a list of existing fields that can be inserted into the selected region of the form.
- Ensure that the field you are interested in does not already exist in the list. If it does, you can simply select that field in the list and click Insert.
- Click the Create new field button above the list to initiate the process of creating a custom field. Consequently, this will open the Create new field dialog box. If you do not see the Create new field button, you do not have the necessary permissions to use this feature.
- In the Create new field dialog box, enter the required information.
- If this is the only field that you need to create for this form, click Save. If you need to create additional fields, click Save and new and go back to step 7. Note that there is currently a limit of 20 custom fields per table.
- Leaving the Create new field dialog box will return you to the Insert fields dialog box. Any custom fields that were just added will be automatically marked in the field list to be inserted into the form.
- Click Insert to insert the marked fields into the selected region of the form.
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Export Customizations
It’s a good idea to have a backup of your CRM system’s “Solution”. A Solution is a repository of all customizations and modifications to all components within your organization. Components include entities, fields, relationships, forms, reports, processes, and other elements as well.
The Solutions feature can be used to export all unmanaged solution customizations such as modified forms, views, and mappings. Later, the solution customization can be imported to the same organization or a different organization.
For example, you can export a solution from an on-premises deployment of Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement and then import it into a Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement organization.
The Solutions feature is located in the Customization area of the Settings area in the Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement web application. It is a good practice to export your customizations before you make changes. If there is any unexpected behavior, they should be imported back by the user.
Steps to Export Customizations
In order to export customizations in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you need to export them from under Settings → Customization →Customize the System:
In order to export the solution, all customizations must be published first.
After that, there is an option to export system settings along with the solution. When you import the solution later, the settings are automatically applied to the system.
And there you are! The exported solution will appear as a .zip file. If you import it, you can easily restore the previous customizations. This will give you the chance to play around more freely.
Dynamics 365 is highly customizable. You can use its online tools to modify or create fields, entities, business processes, and more. Usually, you’ll do your customization work on a sandbox environment, test them, and then transfer the final customizations to your production environments when they’re ready. Best practices recommend that you proceed as follows:
- Create a copy of your current production environment onto a sandbox environment where you can work without affecting your ongoing operations.
- Create a new managed solution on the sandbox and implement your customizations there. This lets you add customizations without affecting the underlying system, and you can revert your customizations at any time by removing the solution.
- Test the customized solution on your sandbox until you’ve confirmed it’s working correctly.
- Export the custom solution from your sandbox and then Import it into your production environment.
For more information, please visit us at Microsoft Dynamics GP – Great Plains
AccSoft Business Solutions will help you in dealing with the issue you are looking at now.
You can email us at info@accsoft.com or call us at 1-888-929-3266.
- Published in Add-on, Dynamics 365 BC, Dynamics GP, eCommerce Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics, Technology