If you have just started working in Dynamics CRM and need a quick course on the proper way to work with records (or at least one of the right ways) then continue reading.

Microsoft CRM has a navigation structure that is geared towards master records being found, reviewed and updated, and then subordinate records created.  What that means is that if your company deals with other companies in its everyday operations then you will first search for an account and then create related records from within the found account record, or if your company deals with consumers in its everyday operations then you will first search for a contact and then create related records from within the found contact record.  And, if you are a very fortunate individual working for a company that deals in both B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) then you may have to work with a combination....but that's ok because CRM makes it pretty easy either way.

Example 1....The account that's new to you

In most companies their is an opportunity for overlap or duplicate efforts in almost all aspects of the daily business.  For this reason, many business systems end up with duplicate data added from the perspective of two or more different users.  Dynamics CRM is no less prone to duplicate data entry than most other applications with the exception of its exceptional search capability.

This brings up the first tip, save yourself some time and search for a record before you add.  Dynamics CRM has a quick search bar at the top of every list view that allows you to search on any field deemed searchable by your consultant or system manager.  What that means to a user is you can simply type the CRM Wildcard (*) plus your search term and be confident that your search will return the results accurately the first time. 

Example 2....The new contact, for an existing an account

A perfect example of how to take advantage of Dynamics CRM's navigation structure is to look at the process of adding a new contact to an existing account.  There are two ways to add a new contact to an existing account.....

THE WRONG WAY....The wrong way to add a new contact to an existing account would be to start from the contact list, click new, add all of the new contact's information and then set the parent account.  When a contact, in this situation, is added this way, then you lose the record mapping automation that is available in CRM.  See the the right way for further explanation.

THE RIGHT WAY....The right way to add a new contact to an existing account is to first locate the account, open the account record, verify that all of the account information is up to date and correct, then click on the contacts section within that individual account record.  Once in the contact section, you will see a "new contact" button, click that button and a new contact form will open with almost all of the contact's information defaulted for you already, including address, phone, and parent account.  This is because CRM has a field mapping from Account to Contact that will transfer the relevent data from the parent record (the account) to the child record (the contact) when created from within the parent record.  This is setup out-of-the-box with all native Dynamics CRM Entities, i.e. Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Quotes, Cases, etc.  If you have custom entities then this may not work in all situations.  If you find that it does not work where you think it should then speak to your consultant, chances are that they can resolve the issue quickly.

Example 3....The new quote, from a quote???

If you're company is using opportunites, then you probably want to be pretty careful about how you're creating new quotes.  Most companies that have a sales cycle longer then a few weeks want to track quotes underneath the umbrella of an opportunity record.  This is good practice because it allows managers to report on estimated values and forecasted dates without getting into the multiple quote revisions and details that may bog down their efforts.

As a salesperson however, you need to be aware of the policy that your company enforces when it comes to creating quote revisions and/or product additions.  Generally speaking, it is a good idea to prioritize the up-to-date maintenance of Opportunity Products as these will transfer to new Quotes created from within the Opportunity record.  What this means is that the list of products inside your Open Opportunity should always be as up-to-date as the Products within a Quote.  This helps maintain a more accurate Opportunity Estimate and a more easily maintainable set of records.

Many companies fall into the trap of using Quote revisions from within the Quote form itself.  Although this feature saves time it can result an poorly forecasted Opportunity.  When Quote revisions are used, a new quote iteration is created and the old is deactivated, making the new revision available to receive new product addtions.  However, new product additions to the quote will not update the products in the opportunity and will not update the estimated value of the opportunity.  This type of record management can mislead the Sales Manager's focus and can put sales people in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

If you're a current CRM user that's familiar with the Opportunity and Quoting process in CRM then you may be wondering how all of this works with the write-in products available at the quote level.  If you're using write-in products then you probably have a ways to go with your CRM implementation.  In some form or fashion, all write-in products can be done away with.  Write-in products are usually the result of a poorly setup product list or a lack of automation in some form or fashion.  A suggestion is to think about the reason your company uses write-in products and brainstorm on methods that those could be converted to standard product list items.  Often, a simple import routine or calculation can remove the need for write-in products.