Welcome to Day 5 of our Dynamics 365 CRM Fundamentals series! After learning how to customize data in CRM, it’s time to turn that data into insights.

Today, we explore one of the most exciting and powerful features of Dynamics 365: Dashboards and Charts.

You’ll learn how to create visualizations to monitor leads, sales performance, follow-ups, and more – all without writing a single line of code.

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📊 What Are Dashboards in Dynamics 365?

Dashboards are interactive pages that show summaries of data through components like:

• Charts – Pie, bar, column, funnel, and line graphs
• Lists/Views – Tables filtered by criteria
• Web resources – Custom HTML, images, or Power BI tiles

They provide quick access to important KPIs, help sales teams stay on top of targets, and assist managers in tracking overall performance.

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🧭 Where to Access Dashboards

1. Open the Sales Hub or any model-driven app
2. From the left menu, click Dashboards
3. Choose from available dashboards like:
   • Sales Activity Dashboard
   • Lead Management Dashboard
   • My Dashboard (user-created)

You can also create your own!

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🛠️ How to Create a Personal Dashboard

Let’s create a dashboard for a sales rep to track leads and opportunities.

1. Go to Dashboards → + New Dashboard
2. Select 2-Column Regular layout (or any style)
3. Give your dashboard a name: My Sales Overview

Add components:

• Chart: Opportunities by Sales Stage
  • Choose Opportunities as the entity
  • Use view: My Open Opportunities
  • Select chart: Sales Pipeline (Funnel)
• List: My Active Leads
  • Choose Leads → view: My Open Leads
• Chart: Opportunities by Owner (if you’re a manager)

Click Save and Close. Your dashboard is now active!

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📈 How to Create a Chart (Pie, Bar, Funnel)

1. Go to Advanced Settings → Customizations → Customize the System
2. Choose the entity you want (e.g., Opportunity)
3. Go to Charts → + New Chart

Example:

• Chart Name: Leads by Source
• Series (Values): Count of Leads
• Category (Group by): Lead Source
• Choose chart type: Pie or Bar

Click Save and Publish. The chart will now appear in your dashboards or views!

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📌 Real-Life Examples

Here are a few chart ideas to visualize your CRM data:

Chart	Purpose
Leads by Source (Pie)	Which marketing channels are generating more leads?
Opportunities by Stage (Funnel)	Where are deals getting stuck in your pipeline?
Follow-Ups Due This Week (List)	Tasks or contacts that need immediate attention
Sales by Owner (Bar)	Which reps are closing the most deals?

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💡 Tips to Use Dashboards Effectively

• 📍 Pin your favorite dashboard as default for quick access
• 📤 Share dashboards with team members (system dashboards)
• 📊 Use filters in views to narrow down the data
• 📱 Dashboards are mobile-friendly in Dynamics 365 apps

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🚀 Bonus: Use Power BI for Advanced Dashboards

If you’re ready for advanced analytics, you can embed Power BI dashboards inside Dynamics 365:

1. Create reports in Power BI Desktop
2. Publish them to Power BI service
3. Enable Power BI integration in CRM settings
4. Embed tiles in your CRM dashboards

This allows richer visuals, cross-entity data, and external data integration!

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📘 What’s Next – Day 6

Tomorrow in Day 6, we’ll cover the essential topic of Activities and Timelines:

• Track customer emails, calls, appointments
• Use timelines to see interaction history
• Create tasks, notes, and reminders

This is the heart of day-to-day user productivity in Dynamics CRM. Don’t miss it!

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💬 Comment Below

Are you using dashboards in your CRM yet? Which chart type do you find most useful — Pie, Funnel, Bar, or Power BI tiles? Let’s discuss in the comments!

👉 Stay tuned for Day 6 – We’ll make CRM your daily workspace!