Understanding Basic Terms in D365, part 2 — Dashboards

There are a lot of parts to a Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation and it can be overwhelming to a new user to try and understand every aspect of the program. That’s why we are writing a blog series to help new users who are having trouble understanding basic terms in D365.  

In part 1 of our Understanding Basic Terms in D365 series we looked at Forms. Today, in part 2, we dive into what Dashboards are and how to best use them.  

The powerful Dashboards are one of the most useful features in Microsoft Dynamics 365. are the They allow you to set-up unique views of your business that allow you to have a 360 degree view of how your business is operating at all times. You can easily and efficiently display data in charts and dashboards.  

Breaking that down further, a chart is a visual representation of filtered data, or a view. Meanwhile a a dashboard is a collection of charts, giving users an at-a-glance snapshot of the key performance indicators they want to track. Much like a dashboard in a car, it provides information on what’s going on with various functions at that precise moment. 

Properly configured, charts and dashboards in Dynamics 365 can be your organization’s go-to place for business intelligence. Charts and dashboards in D365 are not limited to information in the CRM proper; rather, CRM can connect to numerous other databases (ERP, accounting system, etc.) to bring in data from these diverse sources, to create a truly complete view of all key metrics. 

Many users make the mistake of thinking that Dashboards are only used to track sales activities. Nothing can be further from the truth. Users can track absolutely any data that is important to their organization. Dashboards can also be configured can be displayed in whatever fashion best suits you. That includes funnel, pie graph, bar graph and stack bar graphs. 

Dynamics 365 gives users powerful “drill down” capabilities In Dashboards. That means that with a single click you can look at that data that any chart is comprised of in detail. Users are free to keep drilling down to more and more granular levels 

So, with just a few clicks, users can easily navigate from very high-level dashboard views to a very detailed look into the data. 

If you want to learn more about Dashboards you can join our Learning Academy for free and browse through the hundreds of hours of instructional videos and webinars in our archives. 

Or, give one of our experts a call and they will walk you through how Dashboards can help your business reach its goals.