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How to create a Microsoft Dynamics CRM workflow notification that is based on the number of days that the record has been opened.

Post Author: Joe D365 | October 28th, 2011

I love passing along Microsoft Dynamics CRM problem solving stories that come out of client requests. (We're a bit passionate MS CRM if you can't tell)

Recently a PowerObjects client requested to be notified when a Case has been open for 45 days and the status is still set to new. The following steps below will walk you through the process of being able to send an email notification after that 45 day condition is met. While there is a wait condition available while setting up the workflow, it is best practice to set the workflow up this way to ensure that the 'number of days' condition is meet.

  1. The first step is to create a new field to store the number of days that record has been open. In this example we created a new field call "Number of Open Days" and set the type to a whole number.

  1. We will now create a workflow that will update this field on daily basis.
  2. The first part of the workflow will check to see if the Number of Open Days contains data.

    If it does not contain data we will set the value to 1. We need this part of the workflow to set the value so that we can use the increment process later on in the workflow.

    We will put a cursor in the Number of Open Days field and enter in 1 in the default value field.

  3. The next part of the workflow we will add a wait condition. This will allow the process to wait till one day has passed since the workflow has run. This will allow the workflow to run on daily basis.

  4. The last part of the workflow is to increment the Number of Open Days by 1 for each day.

  5. We will change the operation on the right hand side of the screen to "Increment by" and set the default value to 1.

  6. We now have a value to use for the workflow notification. We will build another workflow using this field.
  7. We will check the case type and the status and then use a wait condition to wait the Number of Open Days equals 45. Once that condition is met, it will send an email notification to management team.

Isn't CRM fun? Let us know if you have any questions or would like to see other Microsoft Dynamics CRM "how-to" posts.

Happy CRM'ing!

Joe CRM
By Joe D365
Joe D365 is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 superhero who runs on pure Dynamics adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe D365’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics 365 and bring the application to more businesses and organizations around the world.

2 comments on “How to create a Microsoft Dynamics CRM workflow notification that is based on the number of days that the record has been opened.”

  1. I would choose another approach. Since the customer wanted only notification in case the record stays open for 45 days, I think that it is not necessary to store number of days. One workflow that will time out 45 days after created by, then check conditions and send notification. Lot of WF records in WF table would be created in your approach and the performance would decrease (not rapidly, but would decrease).

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