Bespoke Microsoft Dynamics CRM Reports

TCS are able to build custom and bespoke Reports that cater for many different scenarios involving the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application.  We have an eye for detail and can offer expert consultancy, development and support to help make owning and operating MS Dynamics CRM 'plain sailing'.

It is likely that Dynamics CRM is not your only Line of Business Application.  I'm guessing, as you've found this page, that you're searching for solutions to help you build reports based upon data contained in your CRM application and possibly other in-house/3rd Party or bespoke databases and data warehouses.  If so, please read on as TCS Computer Services can help you with this task.

CRM Reporting

Not as Easy as Microsoft Hope One of the things I have learned over the years whilst working with Microsoft is that they often expect the end-user to be au fait with the most technical aspects of their software.  As brilliant as Microsoft Dynamics CRM is at allowing end-user administration and self-service 'customisation', Microsoft still believes that the end-user has the desire and knowledge to learn what are still developer orientated tasks such as implementing bespoke reports based upon the SQL Server databases that underlie the Dynamics front-end. For instance, take their "Create a report in 15 minutes or less" article.  Now I'm sure that a system administrator could attempt to follow this article and get the anticipated result, but, asking the end-user to open Visual Studio .Net is, well, asking for trouble. For those of us with no desire to learn about publishing bespoke reports into the Dynamics CRM environment, let alone learning how to make the reports Context-sensitive or add either predefined or dynamic criteria to allow them to be filtered, please read on!

Bespoke Reports for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Dynamics CRM has a complex database underlying it and often the fields within the tables have specific meanings which may not be obvious to the end-user.  Also, you may require data from another 3rd Party or In-house/bespoke Database or Warehouse to be integrated with the data in Dynamics and then captured in a single report. TCS has worked with a number of clients to produce custom reports that deliver targeted, filtered and correctly formatted information to end-users either integrated into the CRM environment or delivered via a separate Reporting Services environment. Not only can we build custom reporting solutions, but we can also document and maintain them at very competitive rates so that you can be assured that the right information is at your finger tips even if your IT environment changes.

Our Solutions

We are able to utilise many 3rd Party Reporting Solutions to deliver a comprehensive and integrated reporting solution for your MS CRM data.

We have developed solutions using Crystal Reports, but our primary focus is on delivering reporting solutions hosted by SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SSRS) and developed using Microsoft Business Intelligence Developer Studio.  Data extraction occurs through the use of stored procedures and views in both the CRM databases and any other 3rd Party Line of Business database.

The reports can be distributed enterprise-wide over both your intranet and extranet and can be made available via a dedicated "reports" menu within the CRM interface.

Reports can also be created that are "tied" to a specific Organisation entity within Microsoft CRM and therefore are capable of being run from within that Organisation's CRM Record.

For instance, we can develop sales reports on Clients which can be opened directly from their "Client" record with predefined criteria, or we can create performance, productivity or audit trail reports capable of being run from specific Staff records within CRM.

Security to the reports is controlled through CRM's Active Directory integration and any user is therefore able to access the reports depending on whether they are a member of the appropriate Active Directory security group.

There are many different types of report that we can create that will work independently or from within your Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

CRM Integration

One of the main aims of integration is to build an integrated view of your company's data for the purposes of executive reporting.  We therefore also provide various solutions to integrate Microsoft CRM data into your wider corporate environment.

Your Call

In the mean time, please refer to our asblaw Microsoft CRM Reports Case Study which describes the work we carried out to integrate Microsoft CRM and the Axxia Practice Management System using Visible Practice to provide an integrated platform on which to build a suite of Reporting Services reports.

Also, for more information about the Dynamics CRM solution itself, please refer to Microsoft's CRM website here.

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