"How can I have my own default dynamic system views open automatically?"

"Can we hide some of the system-defined views as we are not using them?"

I have had to answer similar questions in almost every CRM project I have done, especially in XRM implementations as the out-of-box system views are aimed for traditional Sales Force Automation. After all, Dynamics CRM should be Dynamic!

The main challenges are:

• If you attempt to delete out-of-box system view in CRM, you will receive message "System-defined views cannot be deleted." and the delete fails.
• You have no access to modify the filtering criteria of the system-defined views in CRM, to re-purpose them in any way.
• You can set any system view to be the default view in CRM, but this default applies to everyone in your organization. There is no way to set different default view for your sales force, helpdesk/services team, executives, etc.

Hiding system-defined views can be solved through a plugin that runs just before system views are retrieved by MS CRM. In plugin like this, we have access to the query before it has actually run. We add additional filter to it, for example to exclude any views that are prefixed with "To Be Removed-". Now we can simply rename any system view to be prefixed and they would disappear from our view list.

For example Account System Views cluttered with Campaign and Order specific views:

We prefix some of the views and publish the changes:

And the result is a clean view list:

Setting Default Views dynamically can be solved through a plugin that runs right after the list of system views has been retrieved by MS CRM. At this point, we have access to the retrieved collection of system views before it is rendered to the end-user. We can query user's role, team or custom preferences and set the Default System View dynamically.

For example assume a custom entity where user can define their own default view for each entity:

Now when this user navigates to account screen, instead of default "My Active Accounts", he will get his defined default "Active Accounts":

This has allowed us to give more dynamic, actionable content to end-users, serving their precise roles and needs in more diverse organizations and custom Microsoft Dynamics CRM/XRM implementations. At PowerObjects we strive to give our customers systems that meet their needs – if you are looking for help with a Sales force automation or Sales Management system or a full blown XRM development projects give us a ping!