The initial release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 introduced the out-of-the-box functionality of Calculated Fields and Rollup Fields, and that functionality is now enhanced with the 2015 Spring Release!
Date Difference Calculations
Calculated fields will now be able to calculate the difference between two date fields in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. To illustrate how the date difference calculations work, let’s look at a scenario where we want to calculate how long it takes between a lead coming into the system and when contact is first initiated with that lead.
First, we’ll create a date field called Initial Contact Date. Then, we’ll create a field called # of Days Before Contact whose data type can be calculated, such as whole number or decimal. Set Minimum and Maximum values appropriately, choose Calculated for Field Type, then click the Edit button.
We’ll set a condition to calculate if the Initial Contact Date contains data. For our calculation action, we’ll start typing “DIFFIN…”, which will bring up the following options:
For our purposes, we’ll do our calculation in days. Because we’re comparing when a lead enters the system to when that lead is initially contacted, we’ll use Created On as our start date and time and Initial Contact Date for our end date and time. Our calculated field will end up looking like this:
With the Spring Release, determining the difference between two dates is now little harder when it comes to creating an appropriate field and selecting the relevant date fields!
The Now() Function
To complement the Date Difference calculations in the Spring Release, there’s another function in Calculated Fields called “Now()”, which populates the current date/time value in a field or a formula. The Now() function is a little selective in how it interacts with another new concept also rolling out in the Spring Release: Behavior of date fields whose choices are User Local, Date Only, and Time-Zone Independent.
For our purposes, we’ll only delve into date field Behavior inasmuch as it interacts with the Now() function. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- As of publication time, you can only use Now() directly in a Date Difference formula if the Behavior of the date field is set to “User Local”
A Date Difference formula comparing a date field with User Local Behavior and Now() might look like this:
- You can’t directly use Now() in a formula where the other date field has a Behavior of Date Only, but if you create a new date field, set its Field Type to Calculated and its Behavior to Date Only…
…you can use the Now() function on its own to populate the field…
…and then use that field in a calculation.
- So far, the Now() function doesn’t work at all—either in a Date Difference formula or used on its own to populate a field—with date fields whose Behavior is Time-Zone Independent.
Rollup Fields – Aggregate on the Activity Pointer
After diving in deep with the Date Difference calculations, we’ll end our discussion of the enhancements coming to Calculated and Rollup Fields to briefly note that the Spring Release will now allow you to aggregate on the Activity Pointer. In the initial release of CRM 2015, you could roll up individual Activity types (Appointments, Tasks, Emails, etc.) to other entities, but the Spring Release will now allow you to roll up all Activities and filter from the top-down.
We hope this blog was useful to you. Check out our main Dynamics CRM 2015 page for even more tips and tricks!
Happy CRM’ing!
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