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Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

Posted on by Microsoft Employee

Hi all,

I work for a commercial property management company. i.e. An owner of a commercial real estate investment will hire us to manage their properties. By far the most common service we provide in relation to the client's building is finding them a tenant. We also provide services once a tenant is in place, for example maintenance.

My two related questions are about organising our clients and potential clients property data within CRM.

Is it better to create a custom entity to store these properties or to use a pre-existing entity? I'm thinking I could just use "Sites"? Is sites in the context meant to be used for our offices only? and is it ok to use sites in this way?

Once I have figures out where to store all the info (there may be several thousand properties once I add potential clients) I have another question...

Is it better to use connections or relationships to indicate which account or contact "owns" which property? i.e. "John Smith" is the owner of "21 Jump Street" and "Acme corp" are the owners of "22 Jump Street". Keep in mind one person may own several properties. A property can only have one owner and it may be a contact or an account.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

*This post is locked for comments

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    Thanks for your help everyone!

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    Guido, to be honest, I'm not sure which I was referring to! :)

    Sounds like I have 3 options.

    1. Connections.

    2. Relationships.

    3. Just use a look-up? (Is this even an option? maybe I need to play around with it a bit more - my lack of understanding is not helping me here!).

    Perhaps the best option would just be to put an account lookup and a contact lookup on the "property" entity form and use a rule to hide or show the correct field?

  • Aiden Kaskela Profile Picture
    Aiden Kaskela 19,692 on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    Ah, thanks for the clarification Guido. Joel, if you're referring to "connections" vs 1:N or N:N relationships, the relationships would be the way to go.

  • Suggested answer
    Aiden Kaskela Profile Picture
    Aiden Kaskela 19,692 on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    Hi Joel,

    Yes, connections are superior to relationships: www.powerobjects.com/.../replace-relationship-roles-with-connections-in-dynamics-crm

    Microsoft addressed the limitation of Relationship Roles in CRM 2011 by introducing Connections. Relationship roles limit connections between accounts, contacts and opportunities only, while connections allow CRM users to create connections between most entity types.

    Thanks,

     Aiden

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    I'm getting mixed feedback especially with the Connection VS Relationships questions (after having asked off-line as well).

    Is it correct that Connections are meant to supersede relationships? If that is the case I would assume it is a superior option. Is there anything else I should consider here? And do you have any resources I could read that might help?

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    This makes sense to me. Thanks for your help Guido!

  • Aiden Kaskela Profile Picture
    Aiden Kaskela 19,692 on at
    RE: Using "Sites" in CRM to manage clients buildings.

    As a followup concerning the Owner of a property, for an Account that could be the Parent Account (another company), or even the Primary Contact.

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