Create a new entity

Can I do this task?

This procedure guides you through the process of creating an entity, and through additional tasks required to make the custom entity useful and accessible to users.

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Customize Entities.
2. Click New.
3. Define the Display Name and Plural Name that will be used for this entity throughout Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
4. In the Ownership list, select either:
   • User

     Records for this entity can be owned by individual users and security can be defined according the the business unit the current owner is associated with. For example, contact records are set to User.

     - OR -

   • Organization

     Records for this entity are used for reference by all Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online users, and so are not owned by individual users. For example, product records are set to Organization.

5. In the Name box, a name that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will use for this entity is created using the text you entered in the Display Name field. You can modify this before saving the entity.
6. In the Offline Availability section, if you want users to be able to create, read, update or delete records while offline, select the Show in Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook when offline check box.
7. In the Duplicate Detection section, select whether to enable duplicate detection for this entity. More information: Avoiding Duplicate Records
8. In the Relationships section, select whether to have Notes and Activities associated with the entity. These relationships can only be established when the entity is first created.
9. In the Areas that display this entity section, select the Navigation Pane areas where you want the entity to appear in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online user interface. All new entities are displayed in Advanced Find.
10. Click the Primary Attribute tab. The primary attribute is displayed when relationships to this entity are created or displayed, such as in the Look Up Records dialog box. To make sure an easily recognizable name is used when this entity is referenced, enter a descriptive Display Name, and leave Requirement Level set to Business Required.
11. Click Save.

    When a new entity is created, the following items are also created:

    • The default form and the preview The view used to preview data for a record type. form.
    • A default public view A view that all Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online users can view. Public views are displayed in the View list in the System-Defined Views section. showing active records and a view showing inactive records.
    • An Advanced Find View The view used to display results of searches created with Advanced Find., a Quick Find View The view used to display results of searches done using the Search for records box., an associated view The view of an entity that is displayed in the forms of other entities. The associated view is different from the views that are visible for the entity in its own area of the user interface. For example, in an account record, under Details, you can click Contacts to view and open a contact form. That is the Contacts associated view. There can be only one associated view of each entity., and a lookup view The view used when a user clicks a lookup field..
    • The primary attribute you defined, as well as standard attributes: Created By, Created On, Import Sequence Number, Modified By, Modified On, Status, Status Reason, timezoneruleversionnumber, and utcconversiontimezonecode.
    • For entities that have Ownership set to User, the Owner and Owning Business Unit attributes are created. For entities that have Ownership set to Organization, the Organization ID attribute is created.
    • A filtered view A view of data in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online database used for reports and exported dynamic Microsoft Office Excel files. When users view a report or file that uses a filtered view, they can see only the data that they have permission to view. is created in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online database for the entity. This filtered view can be used to write reports using data from this entity.
    • Relationships are created with the User entity so that user names can be resolved for the Created By and Modified By attributes.
12. Change the icon for the new entity.

    More information: Update Icons

13. Modify attributes, forms, views, relationships, mappings, and messages for the entity, and test that the entity works as expected. More information: Customizing Entities, Work with Entities, Edit Entity Forms, Work with Views, Entity Relationships, Mapping Entity Attributes.
14. Set entity privileges for security roles. By default, when an entity is created, only the System Administrator and System Customizer security roles have any privileges to read or change data in the custom entity. You must add privileges explicitly to all security roles that need to use the new entity. For any security roles that need to use the new entity, add the needed privileges:
    1. On the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Administration, click Security Roles, open a security role, and then click the Custom Entities tab.
    2. When adding privileges, you can follow the pattern for the privileges used on the Marketing, Sales, or Service tabs for the security role to provide the same access to the custom entity as is provided to other entities. More information: Customization Permissions
15. When your customizations are complete, publish your customizations:
    • To publish customizations for the entity you are currently editing, on the Actions menu, click Publish.
    • To publish customizations for all entities at once, open the Customize Entities list. On the More Actions menu, click Publish All Customizations.
    • To publish customizations for specific entities, open the Customize Entities list and select the entities you want to publish. On the Actions toolbar, click Publish.

Tips

Important

Any time you change user interface elements or implement form scripts for an entity you must publish changes to apply them. Any customizations that change the data schema of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online such as custom entities, relationships, or attributes are applied immediately.

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