Dynamics 365 CE: Check if Lead is contacted – Part 1

Advanced Find/Reports can help us understand collaboration with a Lead. However, often we need to have a simple flag to segregate contacted leads from others. For example, list all the Leads with sent Emails and/or completed Phone Calls.

Views and Process (Workflows) do not look into related records (1:N) like Activities. Usually we have to writed a custom code activity of plugin for such requirements.

Although, there are couple of simple approaches which do not require coding and admins can easily follow these steps.

We will walk through both approaches in 2 parts:

1. Rollup Field (Part 1)
2. Process with a custom flag (Part 2)

We will discuss pros/cons of the both approaches.

Problem

Find if Lead is contacted (have Phone Call/Email activities).

Solution 1 – Rollup Field

Lets create a roll-up field to capture count of specific activity (for example Email).

Here are steps to follow:

• Go to make.powerapps.com, choose the right environment.
• Go to Data -> Tables -> Lead. (If you prefer classic customization interface, Go to Advanced Settings -> Customization -> Solutions and create or open an existing solution with Lead entity).
• Add a column (field) with following properties:

• Click on Add and choose

• option.
• Save the field/table as instructed on the screen.
• Click on Open rollup link.
• Configure the Rollup Field as shown below:

• Save the table and Publish the changes.
• Similarly you can add another field to count the Completed Phone Calls (if needed).

Now this field can be used in the views, queries or processes.

Lets take a look at Pros/Cons of this approach:

• Pros:
  • Easy to configure (no coding required).
  • Count updates automatically when activity is added/removed.
• Cons:
  • Limited filters available (for rollup field configuration).
  • Updates every 12 hrs. (by default).

This approach is good when you do not have to get the counts in real-time or near-real-time (as soon as an activity is added/removed).

Else, lets look for the next approach in the Part 2.

Result