One of the great add-in apps (or solutions) available for Dynamics 365 is called “Organization Insights”. This add-in has been available for a while, but many folks still don’t know it exists, don’t understand what it is, don’t know how to get it, or don’t know how to set it up. This blog will cover these topics.
WHAT IS Dynamics 365 (CRM) Organization Insights?
Organization Insights, , “provides important adoption and use metrics for your Dynamics 365 (CRM) organization, and tools to help you stay ahead of performance and support issues”.
Basically, you can monitor system activity of users in Dynamics 365. This includes understanding which users are creating records and how many records they are creating. This also includes the same information on deleting, updating, and reading of records. This is just a very small portion of the data included.
In the below simple example, you can see a few key metrics on the activity of users within the system over a period of time.
HOW DO I GET IT?
Organization Insights is easy to obtain, and, the best part, it’s FREE! Who doesn’t like free stuff?
Organization Insights is found in . Here is the current link directly to Organization Insights: .
You can also obtain this solution directly from Dynamics 365. To do this, click the drop-down arrow next to “Dynamics 365” in the top-left corner. At the bottom of this menu, there is an option to “Get more apps”. Simply click this to launch Microsoft AppSource, find “Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Organization Insights”, and click “Get it now”.
INSTALLATION
The installation of the solution file is automatic once you select the appropriate instance. You can check on the status of the installation by going to your Dynamics 365 Administration Page:
Then select the Instance and click “Solutions” on the right-hand side bar. This will show the “Manage Your Solutions” page.
NOTE: Depending on the Solutions you have installed, your list will vary from the one shown below.
Find the “Organization Insights” in the list and you will see a status of Installing or Installed. Once you see the “Installed” status, go back to your Dynamics 365 instance and refresh the browser page to see the updates.
HOW DO I ACCESS THE NEW SOLUTION OPTIONS?
Inside of your Dynamics 365 instance, you should see a few new options available to you.
First, you need to double-check that the “Organization Insights” has been “turned on”. To do this, go to Settings > Administration > System Settings > Preview tab
After the "System Settings" window opens, go to the "Preview" tab, tick the checkbox to agree to the terms, and then select “Yes” to “Enable Organization Insights Preview”.
Second, in the Settings area, you will notice an “Organization Insights” option listed.
By selecting this option, you will land on the Organization Insights Dashboard. This provides valuable metrics on your Dynamics 365 environment.
In addtion, you can change the date range (top-right corner) to see the various metrics over time. Located on the left-hand side, you can see other metric options to choose from.
HOW DO I “TURN ON” THE ORGANIZATION INSIGHTS HOME PAGE DASHBOARD?
The second dashboard that is available is located on the home page dashboard lists.
From the “Dashboards” area, click on the drop-down arrow and there is an option for the “Organization Dashboard”.
This dashboard shows some great metrics. However, you will need to set up who can see this dashboard through the dashboard security.
DASHBOARD SECURITY
Note: To access this area of Dynamics 365, you will need to be a System Administrator.
There are two methods to access this setting. These depend on how you set up your system customizations.
Method 1
This first method would apply if you have customized your Dynamics 365 through the Default Solution. This is, in my opinion, not the recommended method of customizing your system. However, for some small organizations, this may be the simplest method.
To access this, go to Settings>Customizations>Customize the System. This will open the default solution to edit the system.
Method 2
Another method is to open the named solution file for handling customizations in your system. You will need to open the appropriate solution file as you may have multiple solution files to handle customizations. So, be sure to know which solution file is the correct one.
To access this, go to Settings>Solutions – or – Settings>Customizations>Solutions. Either approach will take you to the same location.
In The Solution
From this list, open the appropriate solution file for your system customizations, and a new window will open with a list of Components down the left-hand side. From this list, select Dashboards.
In the list on the right-hand side, you will see a list of Dashboards. Select the “Organization Insights” dashboard.
At the top of the list, you will need to select “Enable Security Roles”. After the "Assign Security Roles" window appears, you will need to select from a couple of options: “Display to everyone”, or “Display only to these selected security roles”
- “Display to everyone” means what it says. Anyone with access to Dynamics 365 has access to this dashboard. So, choose this option wisely.
- “Display only to these selected security roles” allows you to pick and choose which of the Security Roles should be allowed access. So, I would recommend choosing this as the best option.
Once you have selected the options you need, click "OK". Finally, click the “Publish” button to publish the customizations.
After the customizations are published, you will need to refresh your browser page. Once the browser is refreshed, you should see the “Organization Insights” in the Dashboard list.
Hopefully, you have learned a few things through this blog tutorial. Keep an eye out for future Dynamics 365 posts!
Enjoy your journey!
Aaron
Aaron Back is Microsoft Certified Professional with many years experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM). He is actively involved with the Microsoft Dynamics (User Group) Community. He involvement includes: Serving as Chapter Leader for his local CRMUG Chapter, serving on the CRMUG Board of Advisors, and speaking at the annual conference.
For more information or assistance with Dynamics 365 (CRM) contact !
What is the additional cost to activate this feature: Organization Insights in my existing Dynamics 365 on line?
There is no additional cost for Organization Insights. This is a free add-on from Microsoft that can be found in the Microsoft App Source. Use this link to take you to the App Source: