Recently I noticed a post on the Microsoft Forums regarding the how to render a report through a dashboard using Microsoft CRM.  Microsoft Dynamics Labs actually has a free solution published on the Marketplace called the Dashboard Reporting Control for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 .

I have used this solution several times for clients and find it very valuable for clients who want to combine the power of SQL Server Reporting Services with the Dashboard function of CRM.

The references are a bit spotty; therefore I am going to attempt in this post to elaborate on this post how to use this tool.

First you must download the solution, please referrer to the link above, sign into the marketplace and save the solution locally.

Open your copy of Microsoft CRM 2011, (On line or On Premise the solution works on both).  Go to settings, customizations, solutions and click on the import button.

Browse to the Downloaded file called ReportcontrolforDashboard10man.zip.cab and select it. Click on Next, Next and import the solution into your copy of CRM 2011.

Click on Publish All Customizations.  When complete you are ready to use this tool.  To make sure this control is functioning properly go back to My Work, Dashboards click on the View Selector by Dashboards and choose the My Won, Lost and Open Opportunities.  Make sure the control is rendering the solutions’ built in report.

OK let’s create a new dashboard report component for ourselves.  I am going to for the sake of this example use one of the out of the box reports for this exercise.  Go to My Work, Reports, and highlight the User Summary Report, Click on the Edit button on the Ribbon.

Bring up the Edit Dialog box and hit the F11 Key on your Keyboard.  At this point you want to copy the GUID associated with this report, (Please see the illustration below). Very Important: Hint you want everything to the left of the Right of the %7B and the left of the %7B. 

Ok let’s install the report.  Go to Settings, Customizations, Customize the System, Dashboards.

Click on New.  Choose the Layout you wish to deploy and click on the Create button.

Name your new Dashboard, and then click on the Web Resource button.

When you installed the Dashboard solution you installed a control a Web Resource which actually mimics as Report Control for Dashboard. This control is called msdyn_ReportControl.  Browse for this control at the Add Web Resource Dialog Box.

Click ok fill in the Name and Label on the Webpage Dialog, in the Custom Parameter (data) paste the GUID you copied from above

Size and position the dashboard element on your new Dashboard. Save and then publish.

Go back to My Work, Dashboards and browse for your New Dashboard on the View Selector.  Your new element will render automatically.

Using the dashboard functions in CRM 2011 offers a great deal of power of reporting information from the database.  There are sometimes where the dashboard controls will not pick up exactly the information you require or you need to include sub-report functions in order to “Pull” the correct data from the database or you might want to use a graph element not available in the current feature set that you can use through a custom report.  Using the Reporting Control will allow you the added features available in SSRS for reporting while allowing your end users the ability to view these components in their dashboards.  It is just another option for your Configuration Tool Kit.

Below is an actual solution we produced for a client using this control and the dashboard functionality inherent in SSRS.

Happy CRMing!

Steven