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CRM 2011 Schedule Report & Email Subscription

Post Author: Joe D365 |

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 schedule report feature is used for creating report snapshots. There are a few reasons to use this report snapshot functionality:

  • Send as a SQL Report Server email subscription
  • Cache 'point-in-time' snapshots
  • Use as the user-run report for especially long-running reports

Select the report you wish to schedule and click Schedule Report from the ribbon:

CRM 2011 Schedule Report

This will launch a wizard for creating the snapshot

In our scenario we are going to select 'On a schedule'

CRM 2011 Schedule Report

Frequency window offers a myriad of options. Set your run time (server time)

CRM 2011 Schedule Report

Select a start date and end date, if necessary

CRM 2011 Schedule Report

If the report has parameters you will need to select them here. Optionally you could the edit the filter and for example use date parameters such as 'Last x days' that will of course be respected for each subsequent snapshot.

CRM 2011 Schedule Report

A final review screen will summarize your selections

CRM 2011 Schedule Report

It is now essentially a copy of the report you selected so you have the same options such as visibility controlled by the 'Display In' selection. If the report will be used for an email subscription you may decide to hide the snapshot from general users.

Sales Pipeline

After your snapshot has run it will be accessible from the report management list in CRM

Sales Pipeline

In order to set up the email schedule we need to navigate to the CRM report server and the organization that you were accessing. Usually this will be http://ReportServerName/Reports

The scheduled snapshot will be in the 'CustomReports' folder

Sales Pipeline

Hover over your snapshot report to see the drop down menu and select 'Subscribe'

Sales Pipeline

The first time a subscription is set up for this report you will need to select 'New Subscription'. If you come back to modify the subscription you will select and edit

Sales Pipeline

Several options for emailing: The subscription can go to any address however if you check the 'Include Link' only CRM users will be able to access. If any recipients will be non-CRM users you will want to check the 'Include Report' box and select a render format – the same options are available as when you run the report (Excel, PDF, etc.)

I like to include a valid 'Reply-To' address in the user has issues they may be apt to click reply

The subject will default with @ReportName variable which will be the GUID of the report. I recommend changing to friendly text

Sales Pipeline

Lastly click the 'Select Schedule' button to schedule the email.

Since I had set the snapshot to run at 3:00 PM I'm choosing to send the email at 3:02.

Just like the CRM schedule you can set start and end dates.

Click OK and wait for the scheduled email!

Sales Pipeline

Happy CRM'ing and Reporting from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Experts PowerObjects!

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.

48 comments on “CRM 2011 Schedule Report & Email Subscription”

    1. Hi Blake - Unfortunately not yet. Hopefuly we will be able to do this in the near future.

  1. Hello,
    Great article but I got few problems:
    1. I can`t find my reportserver. I asked around no one knews where it is. How do I find it?
    2. Just in case I won`t find the reportserver. Is there another way of doing it without an programming?
    (like workflow)?

    Thanks

    1. Hi Roy - for this method you do need access to your report services. Ask your system administrator or the partner that helped you build crm. If you still can't find it, feel free to contact us and we can do a support ticket to help you via a live meeting.

  2. Great Post ,

    Could you please let us know whether the feature is available in Online Version of mscrm 2011

    1. Hi - the ability to email a report from srs is currently not available in crm online.

  3. I managed to get throug adding a new subscription. From this point, I only have the option Windows File Share as method of delivery. So, I cannot send a report by e-mail.

    Any ideas?

    N.B.

    1. Hi Rene - Make sure you have the smtp settings configured in your srs server. If you do not see the option to email it most likely mean you do not have the smtp settings configured.

    1. Hi - This is currely only available wiht crm 2011 on premises or partner hosted. Hopefuly it will be available online in the near future.

  4. Hi I have completed all the steps except for one. I cannot add recipients for the mail. The field is greyed out. Any ideas what the issue could be.

    1. Hi Juice, I can't reproduce the issue, but there are a couple of things to check:

      - Confirm in the SRS Configuration manager confirm your settings such as your SMTP server

      - In the RSReportServer.config file check this setting; most likely need to set to ‘False’:

      This value works with DefaultHostName.

      When SendEmailToUserAlias is set to True, users who define individual subscriptions are automatically specified as recipients of the report. The To field is hidden.
      If this value is False, the To field is visible. Set this value to True if you want maximum control over report distribution.
      Valid values include the following:
      True =The e-mail address of the user creating the subscription is used. This is the default value.
      False =Any e-mail address can be specified.

      Hope this helps!

      1. Hi Joe
        This helped. Thanx a lot!!.
        Quick question. If i were to need to change the filter criteria on the scheduled report, would i need to create a new snap shot? or is it possible to edit the filter criteria on the snapshot.

  5. Thanks for this post, it was very helpful. When I choose to include a PDF copy, the name of the file attached is the GUID as you had mentioned with the default subject. I noticed there is an option in the report properties for the name, which is editable. Do you know of any issues that might arise if I were to change that name so the PDF filename looks correct?

  6. Thanks for post on report scheduling, wondering if scheduled reports executes under CRM user context or not. Whether data Security, Field level security etc applicable for such reports?

  7. Thanks, this is a really useful article on scheduling reports. One thing...

    I have a report with multi-value parameters, but when I come to define the parameters for the schedule it only gives me the option to choose one value (rather than all, or a selection). Do you know if this is at all possible?

    Many Thanks

  8. After enabling the report service on the SQL server, weill I need to restart the SQL server before I will see the email option?

    1. If you don't see the email option in srs, make sure you specify an smtp server in the srs configuriration manager.

  9. One more thing. If I have a daily report scheduled, is there a way to delete the old snapshots so they don't get out of hand?

    1. Hi NIck - Yes - You can configure it on a per schedule basis how many snapshots to keep. We highly recommend this even if you want to keep for a year or longer. We have seen many clients with large reports, snapshotting daily, and having a huge reports db with many years of reports.

      1. Thanks! So how do I do that, and will it mess things up if I rename the report on the report server so it's not just a random character string?

  10. Hi, when trying to schedule a report, once I click into new subscription I only get to select the option for report delivery as windows file share and not via e-mail, any suggestions on how to get the email option also? Many thanks

    1. Hi RB - Usualy the most common cause of this is when an smtp / email server is NOT configured in your srs. OR if the report you are scheduling does NOT have a uid/pwd in the data connection specified.

  11. Hi, I followed all the steps written in this article, but in the step The scheduled snapshot will be in the ‘CustomReports’ folder I don't see that folder in my SSRS portal, I saw the hidden datasource. What I miss.
    Thank you

  12. Hi, Thanks for your great post. I am interested in this now. It just needs to configure my SRS only? Is it supported for SQL server standard version?
    Thank you so much

    1. Hi - Correct - this can be done by configuring srs and does work in sql standard version. Besure to configure the smtp option in your srs configuration too.

      1. Thanks for your replying, I cannot input email address in "To", that field is gray out.

      2. Hi Joe, I have fixed that issue. But I have another :D.
        Can we use dynamic parameter in subscription? For example: I want to send email to each salesperson and data in report just shows of each salesperson through parameter. Could you please help me?
        Many thanks Joe.

        1. Hi I have the same problem as Quyen. Is it possible to send to each saleperson data in report which shown only data addressing to them? an we use it in CRM 2013 online?

  13. not able to select dropdown , actually my crm is on premises but still not able to subscribe report.
    Help me out , tnx in advance

  14. hello

    i have a problem., when i send email like you teach i got this error

    The server rejected the sender address. The server response was: 530 5.7.0 Must
    issue a STARTTLS command first. x6sm5467563wjf.24 - gsmtp Mail will not be
    resent.

    what should i do?

  15. hello

    how could i setting email

    i got the below error too

    The server rejected the sender address. The server response was: 530 5.7.0 Must
    issue a STARTTLS command first. x6sm5467563wjf.24 - gsmtp Mail will not be

    1. Hi - your gmail smtp server is requiring ssl/tls. One option is to configure a winodws smtp server local on the crm or some other vm. Then have this windows server with the smtp server relay all email to your google smtp server.

      so ssrs ---plain smtp---> local smtp server ---tls smtp----> google smtp

  16. Hi
    Our CRM system will allow you to schedule the report and only keeps the last 8 snap shots before it over writes it. Is there a way to add more snapshots..

  17. I've set up scheduled reports (exactly as shown). They are designed to provide data from "Yesterday". They work okay for about a week and then they...how do I describe this...uhm...they get stuck on a date. It sends the report correctly but it's not sending "Yesterday" it's sending the data from the last day it worked correctly over and over. I can't figure out why the parameter for Yesterday somehow sticks.
    It's happening on multiple reports.
    Help!

  18. Hello, do you have a solution for Schedule Report & Email Subscription for CRM 2016 online?

  19. Hello, do you have a solution for Schedule Report & Email Subscription for CRM 2016 online?

  20. Hello, do you have a solution for Schedule Report & Email Subscription for CRM 2016 online?

  21. Hello, do you have a solution for Schedule Report & Email Subscription for CRM 2016 online?

  22. Hello, do you have a solution for Schedule Report & Email Subscription for CRM 2016 online?

  23. Hi
    I am unable to find custom report folder on my report server? I have my custom report on report server but when I scheduled it. The schedule one will not showed by report server. Where should I find it? What should I do to find my scheduled report? May I directly schedule my custom report from report server without scheduling it from CRM for weekly usage.
    Thank you

  24. Hi
    I am unable to find custom report folder on my report server? I have my custom report on report server but when I scheduled it. The schedule one will not showed by report server. Where should I find it? What should I do to find my scheduled report? May I directly schedule my custom report from report server without scheduling it from CRM for weekly usage.
    Thank you

  25. Hi
    I am unable to find custom report folder on my report server? I have my custom report on report server but when I scheduled it. The schedule one will not showed by report server. Where should I find it? What should I do to find my scheduled report? May I directly schedule my custom report from report server without scheduling it from CRM for weekly usage.
    Thank you

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