Three Ways Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Delivers Data to Empower Decision Makers

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Reporting & Analytics Tools

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM offers a robust and flexible CRM that allows businesses to build their ideal solution. It can be deployed in the cloud using a software as a service (SaaS) subscription model, as an on-premise solution, or as a hybrid offering. What many businesses find most beneficial about Dynamics 365 CRM is how its reporting and analytics features enable leaders and team members to get the data they need to make informed and timely business decisions.

1. Advanced Find

Advanced Find is a real-time query tool built into Dynamics 365 CRM. Because it allows users to do so much, some people mistakenly think it’s complicated and never take advantage of it. That’s unfortunate because it can be of immense value.

Advanced Find is more robust than the native universal search feature in Dynamics 365 CRM. Using Advanced Find, you can run a search on any field available in the database (e.g., accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities) and options within those fields. Also, you can filter data across record types or entities.

By applying filters and adding columns, you can use Advanced Find to create “views” of data based on specific criteria and save them so you can readily access that information in the future without recreating the search. You can also share the Advanced Find views you create with others or use them to create charts and graphs that can go into a dashboard.

For example, say your company has launched a new accessory for an existing product. Someone in your sales group might want to create a view that shows the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of active customers in a specific geographic region who bought the product so they can contact those customers about setting up an appointment to offer a demo of the new product accessory.

Besides looking for fields on a specific record, Advanced Find allows users to set up filters and find related records. For example, say a B2B manufacturing business wants to focus a sales campaign on active customers that also have open opportunities of $50,000 or more associated with them. Advanced Find allows users to look across the account and opportunity records to get to that data.

To see Advanced Find in action, watch our online video tutorials that step you through the basics and more in-depth features.  

2. Dashboards

You can define your own personal dashboards to bring forward the information, charts, graphs, and reports that are most relevant to your role. Information in dashboards is updated in real time, so you get a current, at-a-glance view of the information you need to better track performance, gain business insight, and make strategic decisions.

The beauty of dashboards is that they put all the information you want to see in one place. Instead of having to jump between different areas of the software to see information related to Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Activities, and the Sales pipeline, you can create a dashboard with all of those categories on it to see the information all at once.

Dashboards also make complex data easy to understand. You can customize how data is displayed according to your preferences (e.g., pie charts, line graphs, funnel charts, and more). Moreover, dashboards make it easy to share meaningful information with others in your organization.

3. Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft’s Power BI is a business analytics service that allows you to consolidate and organize data from disparate systems used across your company. It takes the business intelligence available in Dynamics 365 CRM to the next level, facilitating fast and informed decisions.

Power BI works seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, and you also can connect to a range of other services that you use to run your business including Sage Intacct, Google Analytics, Dynamics 365 Business Central, and others. It provides dashboards and reports, automatically showing you data from the systems you’ve connected it to. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to customize the information you want to see and drill down into data and charts. As it delivers visual insights into different aspects of your business in one place, you can see the big picture and gain a better understanding of what’s happening throughout your organization.