The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2015 Update 1 includes additional versions of the ‘Older Than’ clause in Advanced Find and Fetch XML. Today’s blog will delve into the specifics of this new clause as well as provide some examples of how this update can be useful in daily activities.

Previously, Advanced Find included the clause ‘Older than X Months’. However, with the new enhancement in CRM 2015, your searches can be more versatile. Now, the clause ‘Older than X …’ includes options for Minutes, Days, Weeks, and Years, which allow you to retrieve search results that are targeted and relevant.

This means that users can now create custom searches and determine the aging of fields without custom JavaScript. And yes, this is available out-of-the-box! Your search capabilities can now be empowered to the ‘nth degree’ (which is geek speak for the possibilities are endless)!

There are many instances where these new clauses can be used, especially when you are needing to look for Service Cases, Marketing Campaigns, and Activities in a specific time frame. Since records are always aging, the ability to adjust the time frame of a record is another reason why CRM is so dynamic. Let’s take a look at a possible scenario where this functionality would be useful.

Example: Simple Case Related to Service

The scenario will determine the age of cases for all Training Users and then creates Custom View. Let's use Advanced Find.

1. First, you will want to open up an Advanced Find.
2. Create a query with the following rules:

• Created by: All the Training Users 1-5
• Created on: Older than 30 Minutes,
• Created on: In the Last 3 hours and with Status equal to Active

Now we have a search set up to retrieve a custom view showing all users having active cases for the last 2.5 hours. It will look something like the example below:

3. Click on Results.

As you can see above, we have now successfully retrieved a list of all the cases that were created in the time frame we specified.

And there you have it! The results that were retrieved are targeted and match exactly what the user needed to view. Pretty spiffy stuff! Remember to check out our website for more information on the Spring Updates for CRM 2015, and please reach out to us with any questions you may have. We love hearing from our readers!

Happy CRM’ing!