Report Development Environment

[Applies to: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011]

You must have the required development tools and appropriate privileges in Microsoft Dynamics CRM to write and publish a report. Also, make sure you have working knowledge of:

• The Transact-SQL language and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.

• Creating Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports using Business Intelligence Development Studio.

• The Microsoft Dynamics CRM FetchXML language.

Required Tools

The following are required to write a custom report for Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services. It must be installed on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server or on a separate reporting server, depending on where reports are being served from.

  Note

  Microsoft Dynamics CRM supports only native mode of deployment of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. If you have deployed Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services using any other mode, such as SharePoint integration mode, you must uninstall the existing instance of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, and then reinstall it using the native mode.

  For more information about the various deployment modes of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, see Planning a Deployment Mode.

• Business Intelligence Development Studio . This is a report authoring environment in Visual Studio 2008 that hosts the Report Designer (a component of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services). You can install Business Intelligence Development Studio from the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Setup CD.

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Report Authoring Extension . You require this only if you are writing custom fetch-based reports, such as for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. It must be installed on the computer where Business Intelligence Development Studio is installed. You can install Microsoft Dynamics CRM Report Authoring Extension from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=199124. Alternatively, you can also install it from the BIDSExtension folder in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Setup DVD.

For more information about how to set up the environment for writing reports, download the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Implementation Guide at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=200050.

Required Privileges

To deploy custom reports to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you must have a security role assigned to your account that includes the prvPublishRSReport and prvPublishOrgReport privileges. For more information, see Report Entity Privileges and Privileges Not Associated with an Entity.

Report Development Process

The following lists the steps for developing custom Microsoft Dynamics CRM reports. You may have to repeat some steps while you develop a report:

1. Develop a report concept or specification based on what business information is to be displayed.

2. Decide on the type of report you want to create: SQL-based or Fetch-based. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online users can only create custom Fetch-based reports.

3. Download an existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM report definition (.rdl), and modify it or create a new report by using Business Intelligence Development Studio. For more information, see Create Custom Reports Using Business Intelligence Development Studio.

4. Create basic report parameters. For more information, see Use Parameters in Reports.

5. Specify datasets and filtering criteria for retrieving data:

   • For SQL-based reports, create datasets that contain Microsoft Dynamics CRM data obtained from the filtered views. For more information, see Use SQL and Filtered Views to Retrieve Data for Reports

   • Enable pre-filtering on the primary entities. For more information, see Use Filters in a Report.

6. Define the basic layout of the report, including headers and footers.

7. Add report items as required based on the report specification. For more information, see Add Report Navigation.

8. Preview the report in Microsoft Visual Studio, and resolve any errors. For more information, see Test and Troubleshoot Reports.

9. Deploy the report to the reporting server by using Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For more information, see Publish Reports.

10. Run the deployed report to verify.

For more information about the administration of reports in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, see the Administrator's Guide that is available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Help.

For more information, see books about how to write reports for Reporting Services, such as “Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services” by Brian Larson.

See Also

Concepts

Use SQL and Filtered Views to Retrieve Data for Reports

Other Resources

Create Reports for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Using SQL Server Reporting Services
Getting Started with Custom Reports in the Cloud
Business Intelligence Development Studio
Report Designer and Business Intelligence Development Studio

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
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