Feb 14 2008
Improving The Default Views In Microsoft CRM 3.0 & 4.0 – Part II
In one of our previous blogs we gave you the instructions to change the Default Views in CRM. Today we’ll discuss making another change to Views that is a simple change but the effect is powerful.
While viewing the History of an Account, Lead, Contact, etc., the default view in the History grid is missing an important column, Description. The Description field contains the details of the phone call, email, etc. This forces the users to open the activity record so they can read the full content of the record. For new CRM implementations, users can get quite frustrated with all these clicks (a double click to open the record, a single click to close the record). What we’re going to do is add the Description field to the views so that we can reduce those clicks.
In CRM 3.0 or CRM 4.0, go to Settings then Customization. Open the Activity entity and then go into Forms and Views. Locate & open the view Closed Activity Associated View. In the new window click the Add Columns on the right hand side. Click the Description field, and then click OK. Click Save & Close and make sure you Publish.
Since this is the Associated View for activities, it will affect all activities for all entities. Meaning you only make the change once and it will take effect on Contacts, Leads and so on.
Finally, even though the Description field is now a viewable column, users will still not be able to read the entirety of the many records since the length is too long. Our job now is to train users to use the mouse-over tool tip. By simply placing the mouse over the Description of one of our History records, the tool tip will display the contents (see image).
All in all, a very simple modification but one that will save possible hundreds of clicks per day!
DG
Microsoft CRM Consultant
Unitek Microsoft CRM Services
