Reporting with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 - Harnessing the Dynamic Pivot Table

Reporting with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 - Harnessing the Dynamic Pivot Table

Excel Pivot Table is an incredibly powerful reporting tool, as it allows any user to quickly design a report that reveals valuable insights by combining different dimensions of an otherwise flat data table. Combined with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 dynamic Pivot Table feature, it supplies a powerful reporting option.

Once a user has built a dynamic report using Excel, he can attach the file as a CRM report and share it with other users or the entire organization. This report can than be consumed via the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application. Of course, any CRM user that will open the report will receive only the data he is authorized to. 

Any Excel Report sheet can be also saved to the desktop or sent by email and whenever opened will show the opening user the data he is authorized to view. Take, for example, the higher management layer, which usually is interested in the business bottom line. Such managers can be given a Dynamic Excel report which will always display them with the summarized data without ever opening the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application. Of course they still need a user in the application in order to view the report data.

In my last workshop ‘Reporting with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Workshop’, I demonstrated building a live Service oriented dashboard report using Excel Pivot Table in just about 20 minutes. Here is how the final result looks like:

These charts present live data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 application. Behind each chart there is a matching Pivot Table which extracts data from the CRM data exported to Excel.

Now show me a developing tool that can do that in 20 minutes!