This entry is part of our Feature Review Series. These short, to the point blogs strive to provide a quick snapshot of information to a user looking for a quick overview of a feature, how it's managed or configured, some insight into how a business / organization would use it, and provide links to resources or tutorials for a deeper dive.

What Are Views in Dynamics 365?

Views in D365 are like windows into the myriad of data sitting behind the scenes of the user interface. Views are used to surface this data to the user in an easy to digest way, and resemble data in a table (because, that's what it is!).

There are technically three types of views: System, Public, and Personal.

• System views are views created by the administration team and made available to all users as part of the app itself.
• Public views are views managed within the table itself, such as the Advanced Find view which dictates the visible columns for a new view for that table, or the Quick Find view which dictates the visible columns for a new search in Quick Find ("Search This View").
• Personal views are views created and managed by users who has at least user level security access to the Saved View table. Users can share their personal views with others per the standard sharing function.

Views are a powerful tool for all levels of an organization. An individual user can use views to see the information they need to see about their records without having to open them up. A manager can use views to see the data of their team.  Teams can filter data in views to find specific customers to target communications to, or to consider various deals or promotions for.

Let's take a quick look at the basics of working with views.

The Structure of Views

As stated earlier, a view is a grid of data. Views resemble a spreadsheet because that's effectively what it is. Views allow you to configure which columns show up for your users, the order they appear in, and their size:

1. When a view has more columns than space to display them, a scroll bar is added at the bottom of the window to allow a user to slide back and forth to see the other columns.
2. Views include an alphabet at the bottom of the window to help you locate records that begin with a letter. 
3. Views also come equipped with a counter to show you the number of records available on the view (Note that this does not appear in editable grids).

Where to Find Views

Views are displayed to the user as shown below. Note the differentiation between "System Views" and "My Views" (personal) .

If a personal view is shared, the view will show up as a "My View" for the user it was shared with.

Views In Action

There are plenty of reasons to use views in the day to day user experience. Some simple examples are:

• A salesperson segmenting Accounts by city

  This could help the salesperson think about who else to visit when visiting the city

• A salesperson looking for Accounts with no open Opportunities

  This provides insight into customers the rep could contact to discuss potential purchase interests

• A listing of won Opportunities this month, last month, this year, etc.

  This can be used to see what kinds of deals have been won recently

• A listing of lost Opportunities with the loss reason visible

  This can be used to examine why deals are being lost in order to adjust the sales approach or offer inclusions

• A listing of all Contacts with their parent Account and direct phone number and email visible

  This could be used to quickly reach out to key stakeholders someone needs to contact

These are just simple examples, but the list is truly endless. Views also set the foundation for how to use D365 charts.

Unsure how views might benefit your company or CRM users? Contact our team at C5 Insight to discuss: 704-895-2500.