Microsoft Dynamics CRM reporting functionality seems to be most used by the business owners and executives as it provides great real-time insight in to the current state of business. However one common complain that I have heard from end-users is the not so easy process of generating a pdf document of the report. The reason is the total number of steps involved in executing a CRM report, exporting as pdf and then saving it locally is quite high (for example: it took more than 13 clicks for exporting a quote to PDF from CRM report and then emailing it... for more details refer my blog: Creating a quote PDF document in Microsoft Dynamics CRM). Further if this report needs to be emailed then additional steps to create an email in CRM and then uploading this report as an attachment. This is clearly a waste of time for the users and makes them less productive then they could be.
So to speed up this process, we decided to automate all the steps. First, let me provide some context: for purposes of this discussion I'll be referring to the IOTAP 1-Cick PDF solution (free) which is a productivity enhancement for generating pdf, word or excel documents from report on the fly on click of button.
There is a configuration entity where we store details like the entity, report, action (Download, Attach to email, Attach to notes), File format (PDF, Word, Excel). Now all these parameters are tied to an action ID which is linked to a button. Thus on click of button, all the above steps run in an automated fashion. Below screen shows the configuration entity:
This custom button (which is a web resource) can be placed by CRM admin anywhere on the CRM form as shown in screenshot below:
Here three custom buttons have been added to the Quote form.
- Download Quote – Downloads the PDF copy of quote report locally (You could configure it to get a word or excel too if needed)
- Email Quote – Generates the pdf of quote report on the fly and creates an email activity with this report added as an attachment
- Attach to Notes – Generates the pdf of quote report on the fly and attaches this to the notes section.
Another approach is to click the 1-Click PDF button from the ribbon of the form or grid and then select the report to run.
Below screenshot shows running the Account Overview report by clicking 1-Click PDF button from the form ribbon.
Below screenshot shows running the Account Overview report by clicking 1-Click PDF button from the account grid ribbon (multiple records selected):
Below screenshot shows running the contact profile report by clicking the custom button that has been added to Contact form:
The above 3 reports (Account Overview, Contact profile, Quote) discussed in this blog are provided as free report samples to get you started fast. The standard report templates available out-of-box in CRM are limited in terms of functionality. If you need to make even a minor change, you need to re-design the entire report using FetchXML (if you intend to use CRM online). The report templates that we provide work seamlessly in CRM Online as well as On-Premise.
The solution is available as a free as well as paid version. For more details or to download the solution click here.
CRM Dynamics is great platform to build CRM solutions for small business to enterprise organization. However to enhance the platform, add-ons from different partners provide a great way to improve the user experience and improve productivity. Check out the various add-ons that you can purchase from our online store:
- Record Clone or Record Copy – Clone any record and related records in CRM with single click
- Advanced Auto Number
- Report Scheduler for CRM Online and On-Premise
- Email to Case Automation : Service Automation by automatic creation and linking of Case
- 1-Click PDF (free) : Convert CRM reports to pdf, word or excel document in just 1 click