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Customer experience | Sales, Customer Insights,...
Suggested Answer

Lead to Opportunity BPF - Qualify Button vs Next Stage

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My company is in the process of adopting Dynamics 365. I have been tasked with a portion of its development and understanding how the tools works. I have created a BPF that starts with the Lead Entity and transitions into the Opportunity Entity and then Closes the sale. The Lead Entity has 2 stages "New" and "Qualify", in the "Qualify" stage once all the step requirements have been met it is expected that a sales team member will qualify the lead and move to the next stage which exists in the Opportunity entity. 

I have been directed by my leadership that they want it so when you click "Next Stage" it qualifies the Lead and begins the opportunity. They feel that the qualify button on the top ribbon in conjunction with the next stage button in the steps dropdown is too confusing. To my understanding this is not possible or very difficult to do through advance customizations. (For longevity, I am trying to stay as far away from major customizations as much as possible) The only way to qualify and create an opportunity from a lead is through clicking the "Qualify" button in the top ribbon once all required conditions are met. 

So, I have two questions:

First, what is the intention of the "Next Stage" button which when clicked prompts a user to create a new opportunity if a related one does not already exist, but it doesn't qualify the lead. I feel that understanding this will help me be able to present its purpose to leadership. (Understanding the why, may help change perspectives of its purpose and existence)

Second, is there a better way of approaching this? Such as separating the BPF into two different BPFs one for lead and one for opportunity. My hesitation is that by separating them into two parts will cause the user to not get a full picture (or sense of progression) of the remaining steps to a closed sale. 

I am open to ideas and thoughts. So far, I have tried hiding the "Next Stage" button once in the "Qualifying" stage and then having a pop-up box instructing the user that the lead has met qualification requirements and to click the qualify button in the top banner, but this causes the loss of reverting back to the "New" stage.

For some context, this assignment is a bit outside my wheelhouse. However, I do have a background in CS and software development, so its semi-adjacent, but MS Dynamics is very new to me. 
I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Daniyal Khaleel Profile Picture
    760 Most Valuable Professional on at
    • The Next Stage button advances the Business Process Flow stage, not the underlying record status.
    • The Qualify button advances the Lead lifecycle, creates the Opportunity, and performs system logic (create Account/Contact, disqualify lead, convert ownership, etc.).
    • These two actions are intentionally separate because BPF stages ≠ entity lifecycle logic, and Microsoft designed it this way for flexibility.
    • Because of this architecture, “Next Stage” cannot and should not auto-qualify the lead without custom code.

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