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 that 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.
In addition to saving a view for yourself, it’s likely that your reports will also be useful to your colleagues. Rather than trying to articulate the steps it took for you to create a view, you can share the view with other users in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Typically, a sales manager or other "power user" creates a saved view that will be valuable to other team members. These saved views solve business-critical reporting needs without requiring advanced programming skills.
Saved views can be shared with other users or teams, which are groups of users that can share access privileges for 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. You can assign additional permissions when you share a saved view. The following table outlines the security privileges available when sharing a view.
Privilege | Description |
|---|---|
Read | Shared users can access the view but not modify it. |
Write | Shared users can modify the view to include additional criteria, results fields, or other formatting. |
Delete | Shared users can delete the view from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM database. |
Append | Shared users can associate other records to the view. |
Assign | Shared users can assign the view to an additional system user. |
Share | Shared 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 that you can access it in the future.
Note
USE your own Microsoft Dynamics CRM installation in place of the Adventure Works Cycle site shown in this exercise.
On the Advanced Find screen that includes the query you created in the previous section, click the Save As button.
In the Name field of the Provide Information For This View dialog box, enter Hot Opportunities in Chicago Market.
In the Description field, enter Opportunities in Chicago with a probability greater than 50.
In the Advanced Find query form, click the Saved Views tab to see the newly created saved view.
In addition to being accessible from the Saved Views tab, the saved view will appear in the View list on the Opportunities grid.
In the Saved Views tab, click the More Actions button, and then click Sharing.
The Who Would You Like To Share The Selected Saved View With? dialog box opens.
In the Common Tasks pane, click Add User/Team.
The Look Up Records dialog box opens.
Enter the name of another system user in the Look for field, and then click Find.
Select a user record, and click the right arrow to move the record from the Available Records box to the Selected Records box. Then click OK.
The selected user has been returned to the shared user screen. By default, the user receives Read rights to your view. Besides Read rights, you can empower the user to Write, Delete, Append, Assign, and Share your view with others.
Click OK in the Who would you like to share the selected saved view with? dialog box.
With just a few clicks, your colleagues can now benefit from the reports you created.
