1. Performing Advanced Find Queries
Business needs can change frequently over the course of a
project and, as a result, reporting needs also change. Ad hoc
reporting has become a standard feature within most business
applications, but expecting end users to define all of their reporting
needs before a system is implemented is unrealistic. The Advanced Find
tool within Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a flexible interface that
allows end users to query, view, analyze, and update data on an
ongoing basis. With Advanced Find, predefined queries can be saved as
the system is implemented and new queries can be created as the
reporting needs of a business change. Examples of how Advanced Find is
commonly employed by end users include:
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Configuring a customized to-do list to follow up on open
opportunities.
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Determining leads that fall into a specific geographical
region for distribution and assignment.
-
Finding all activities due on the current date for a
specific customer service representative who has called in sick,
so that the activities can be reassigned to a different
representative.
-
Obtaining a list of contacts that have not been modified in
more than two years, so that they can be considered for
deactivation.
Advanced Find queries rely on an intuitive set of operators that you select when building a query. The
data fields you select in your query determine the operators that will
be available for filtering. The following table highlights the
operators available for the different types of data fields.
For each query, you can specify as many search criteria as you
need. You must designate the primary record type you want to have
returned in the results, but you can also include data fields from
related records in your query. For example, you might
search for top sales opportunities that are assigned to sales
representatives in a particular geographic region. Your search could
include the data fields that the sales team uses to rate opportunities
as well as the sales region field for the user records to which
opportunities are assigned.
In this exercise, you will create an Advanced Find query to view the opportunities that have
a probability value greater than 50 for accounts in the
city of Redmond.
Note
SET UP Use your own Microsoft
Dynamics CRM installation in place of the site shown in this
exercise. Use the Windows Internet Explorer web browser to navigate
to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM website before beginning this
exercise.
-
In the Data
group on the ribbon, click the Advanced
Find button.
The Advanced Find window appears.
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In the Look for list, select
Opportunities.
This specifies the primary entity for which you will be
executing the query.
-
In the Select field, choose
Probability to set the search
criteria for the opportunity’s Probability field.
A list of operators displays to the right of the Select
field.
Tip
The Select field shows all searchable fields for the
specified entity. System administrators can modify the selection
of fields that are searchable in the database.
-
In the Operator field, select
Is Greater Than, and then enter
50 in the Enter Value field.
Tip
The Select field turns into a list when you click it, and
a new row automatically appears below each row you add to your
query, so you can add as many rows as needed in your search
criteria.
-
In the second row of the Advanced Find query, in the Select field, scroll to the bottom of the
list to the Related
section and select Potential
Customer (Account) to add a data field from the account
record type to your search. This allows you to filter on
attributes of the accounts related to the opportunities.
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In the Select field, choose
Address 1: City.
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Leave Equals selected in the
Operator field, and in the Enter Value field, enter Redmond.
-
Click the Results
button in the Show
group on the Advanced Find tab of
the ribbon.
The results of your search are displayed.
Tip
If you want to modify an existing system view, navigate to the
view in the Saved View list before clicking the Advanced Find
button. This will open the Advanced Find screen with the criteria
from the system view already set. This also allows you to easily
understand the criteria used in the system views.
