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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Customer experience | Sales, Customer Insights,... / Buyer Site Associations
Customer experience | Sales, Customer Insights,...
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Buyer Site Associations

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Posted on by HB-24021459-0 4
We converted from NetSuite to CRM.  We are attempting to create buyer/site associations.  We had the ability in NetSuite associate sites with multiple buyers - we could with a couple clicks see everything the buyer owns/purchased and on another screen we can see everything a contractor bought on their behalf.  We need to be able to do the same thing in CRM with one site record.  We are not sure how to go about doing it?  I would like to know how others have solved for this problem, so I can enlighten our development team. 
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM
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  • Suggested answer
    Goloknath Profile Picture
    Goloknath 1,909 User Group Leader on at
    Coming from NetSuite, the biggest "culture shock" in Dynamics 365 is often how relationships are handled. NetSuite handles multi-entity associations quite fluidly in its UI, whereas Dynamics prefers a more structured Relational Database approach.
    To replicate that "who owns what" and "who bought what on behalf of whom" visibility without duplicating site records, you essentially need a Many-to-Many (N:N) relationship with metadata.
    Here are the three ways "enlightened" Dynamics teams typically solve this, ranked from the most basic to the most robust.
    1. The "Junction Entity" (Recommended Best Practice)
    Since a simple relationship can't tell you how a person is related to a site (e.g., are they the Buyer, the Contractor, or the Tenant?), we create a middle-man entity called "Site Association" or "Site Stakeholder."
    • How it works: You create a new custom entity that acts as a bridge.
    • Fields on this record:
      • Site (Lookup to your Site/Account record)
      • Party (Lookup to Account or Contact)
      • Role (Dropdown: Buyer, Contractor, Property Manager, etc.)
      • Is Primary? (Two-option toggle)
      • Active Dates (Start/End date of the association)
    Why this wins: On the Site record, you’ll have a subgrid showing every Buyer and Contractor. On the Buyer’s record, you’ll have a subgrid showing every Site they own. On the Contractor’s record, you see every site they’ve worked on.
    2. Utilizing "Connection Roles" (Out of the Box)
    If you want to avoid creating custom entities, Dynamics has a native feature called Connections.
    • How it works: You go to a Site, click "Connect," and link it to an Account. You then assign a Connection Role (e.g., "Contractor for" or "Buyer of").
    • The Advantage: It’s built-in and very fast to set up.
    • The Downside: Reporting and Power BI dashboards on "Connections" are notoriously more difficult to build than reporting on a custom Junction Entity. It’s great for "seeing" the link, but harder for "analyzing" the data.
    3. The "Customer Asset" Approach (If tracking purchases)
    If your goal is specifically to see "what the contractor bought on their behalf," you should look at the Customer Asset entity (standard in Field Service, but can be used in Sales).
    • The Logic:
      • The Site is the "Functional Location."
      • The Product is the "Asset."
      • The Asset record has two key fields: Account (The Buyer/Owner) and a custom field for Purchasing Contractor.
    • The Result: When you look at the Site, you see a list of Assets. Each asset tells you who bought it and who owns it. This solves your "what was purchased" requirement perfectly.
     
    Advice for your Dev Team
    Ask them to build a Custom Junction Entity named Site Relationship.
    1. Ensure Quick Create forms are enabled for it so users can add associations with two clicks.
    2. Add a Subgrid to the main "Account" or "Site" form so the associations are visible immediately upon opening the record—not buried in the "Related" tab.
     
    if this helps pls mark as verified so that it may be helpful for someone else. Thanks!
  • HB-24021459-0 Profile Picture
    HB-24021459-0 4 on at
    Thank you so much for the detailed suggestions!  I will speak to the Dev team.  I can see how a custom Junction entity would meet several needs across the organization.  I appreciate the time you took to write out the options.

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