Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 : Using Advanced Find (part 3) - Creating and Sharing a Saved View

4/30/2013 4:43:55 PM

3. Creating and Sharing a Saved View

What if, sometime in the future, you want to run the same Advanced Find query for which you have already defined the criteria, specified the output format, and defined the sort order to address your needs? You would find it frustrating if you had to go through all of these steps each time you wanted to produce the report. Fortunately, Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows you to create saved views to save your Advanced Find queries for future use. Saved views can be run or modified at a later date, sparing you from recreating reports you run on a regular schedule.

Tip

Although saved views store the specified criteria and formatting settings, results are dynamic and reflect the records that match your search criteria at the time the saved view is accessed. Saved views are not point-in-time data snapshots.

Saved views can be shared with other users or with teams (groups of users that share access privileges to certain records). By default, each user or team is granted Read access when you share a saved view. This allows the user or team to access the saved view, but not modify it. Additional permissions can be assigned when you share a saved view. The following table outlines the security privileges available when sharing a view.

Privilege	Description
Read	Users can access the view but cannot modify it.
Write	Users can modify the view to include additional criteria, results fields, or other formatting.
Delete	Users can delete the view from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM database.
Append	Users can associate other records with the view.
Assign	Users can assign the view to a new system user.
Share	Users can share the view with additional users or teams while maintaining their own access to the view.

In this exercise, you will save the view you created in the previous section so you can access it in the future. You will also share the view with another user.

Note

SET UP Use your own Microsoft Dynamics CRM installation in place of the site shown in this exercise. Use the Internet Explorer web browser to navigate to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM website, if necessary, before beginning this exercise.

In the Advanced Find window that displays the query you created in the previous section, click the Save As button.

The Query Properties dialog box appears.
In the Name field, enter Hot Opportunities in Redmond Market.
In the Description field, enter Opportunities in Redmond with a probability greater than 50.
Click OK. Then, in the Advanced Find window, in the Show group of the ribbon, click the Saved Views button to see the newly created saved view.

In addition to being accessible from the Saved View list, the saved view will appear in the View list on the Opportunities grid.
Select the newly created view, and then click Share in the Collaborate group on the Saved Views tab of the ribbon.

The Who Would You Like To Share The Selected Saved View With? dialog box appears.
In the Common Tasks pane, click Add User/Team.

The Look Up Records dialog box appears.
Enter the name of another system user in the Search field, and then press Enter.
Select a user record and click the Add button to move the record from the Results box to the Selected Records box. Then click OK.

The selected user is returned to the shared user screen. By default, the user receives Read rights to your view. In addition to Read rights, you can empower the user to write, delete, append, assign, and share your view with others.
In the Who would you like to share the selected saved view with? dialog box, click OK.

With just a few clicks, you have now allowed your colleagues to benefit from the reports you created.