Create a new entity
Applies To: Dynamics 365 (online), Dynamics 365 (on-premises), Dynamics CRM 2013, Dynamics CRM 2015, Dynamics CRM Online, Dynamics CRM 2016
You can create new entities for your Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation to address specific business requirements. After you create a custom entity, additional tasks are required to ensure that the entity is accessible to your users.
.jpeg "System_CAPS_security") Security Note |
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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. |
Make sure that you have the System Administrator or System Customizer security role or equivalent permissions.
Check your security role
Follow the steps in View your user profile.
Don’t have the correct permissions? Contact your system administrator.
Go to Settings > Customizations.
Click Customize the System.
Click Entities, and then on the command bar, click New.
Specify the Display Name and Plural Name that will be used for this entity throughout Microsoft Dynamics 365.
In the Name box, view the name that Microsoft Dynamics 365 will use for this entity.
Note
When you specify the display name, a default value for the Name field is provided. If you change the display name before you save, the value in the Name field will not change. You can also modify the value in the Name field independently of the display name.
The Primary Image list only has the option [None] when you create a custom entity. After you create the entity you can create a new image field. Each entity can have only one image field. After you create a new image field, that field will be available for selection. After you change this setting you must save the entity and publish the customizations.
In the Ownership list, select one of the following:
User or Team. Records for this entity can be owned by individual users or by teams. Security can be defined according to the business unit with which the current owner is associated. For example, contact records are set to User or Team.
Organization. Records for this entity are used for reference by all Microsoft Dynamics 365 users. Individual users or teams can’t own these records. For example, product records are set to Organization.
Under Areas that display this entity, select the areas where this entity will be displayed in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 user interface.
Note
All new entities are displayed in Advanced Find.
Under Options for Entity, select the appropriate options for your scenario based on the detail provided in the following table.
Option
Comments
Enable for interactive experience
Select this to enable an entity for interactive experience. More information: Enable entities for interactive experience, Interactive service hub – User’s guide
Business process flows (fields will be created)
Select this to enable creating business process flows for this entity.
Note (includes attachments)
Select this to create a relationship with the Note entity, and add a note control to the entity form. This allows users to make annotations for each record.
Activities
Select this to create a relationship with the activity entities, and add an associated view to the entity. This allows you to track activities such as phone calls, emails, and tasks.
Connections
Select this to permit connections between a record in this entity and records in other entities.
Sending email (if an email field does not exist, one will be created)
Select to add the Send Direct Email button to the main ribbon tab for the entity.
Mail merge
Select this to allow this entity to be used in a mail merge.
Document management
Select this to track documents on SharePoint that are associated with a record in Microsoft Dynamics 365. More information: Managing Documents Stored in SharePoint from Microsoft Dynamics 365[Dynamics 365]
Access Teams
Select this to enable this entity for access teams.
Queues
Select this to use this entity in queues. More information: Find what's assigned to you in a queue (Customer Service)
Knowledge Management
Select this to include knowledge management information. More information: Set up knowledge management in Dynamics 365
Enable for SLA
Select this to enable for service level agreement (SLA). More information: Enable entities for service level agreements (SLAs)
Allow quick create
When this is enabled, and after you have created and published a Quick Create Form for this entity, people will have the option to create a new record using the Create button in the navigation pane.
Duplicate detection
Select this to detect duplicates for this entity. This feature notifies you of identical records in Microsoft Dynamics 365, and allows you to resolve them.
Auditing
Select this to track changes made to your business data.
Change Tracking
Select this to change tracking information.
Enable for phone express
Select this to display and use this entity in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for phones.
Enable for mobile
When this is enabled this entity will be available using Microsoft Dynamics 365 for tablets. You also have the option to make this entity Read-only in mobile.
If the forms for an entity require an extension that is not supported by Dynamics 365 for tablets, such as I-frame or web resource controls, use this setting to ensure that the data for these entities is not editable by people using Dynamics 365 for tablets.
Reading pane in Dynamics 365 for Outlook
Select this to display records in the reading pane in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Microsoft Office Outlook.
Offline capability for Dynamics 365 for Outlook
Select this to let users include records for this entity with those they can work with while offline.
Use custom Help
Select this to use your own custom Help. Provde the URL to your Help file in Help URL. More information: Customize the Help experience
To ensure that an easily recognizable name is used to reference this entity, on the Primary Field tab, enter a descriptive Display Name, and then verify that Requirement Level set to Business Required.
The primary field is displayed when relationships to this entity are created or displayed, such as in the Look Up Records dialog box.
Note
The default Display Name for the primary field is Name. The Name will be “new_name” if you use the default publisher customization prefix of “new”. If this is not the name you want to use, you must set the name when you create the entity. You can edit the display name after you save the entity.
Click Save.
When a new entity is created, the following items are created also:
A default public view showing active records and a view showing inactive records.
An Advanced Find View, a Quick Find View, an associated view, and a lookup view.
The primary attribute you defined and the standard attributes. To see a list of them, navigate to the new entity you created, and under it, click Fields. They are displayed in the main pane.
For entities that have Ownership set to User or Team, the creation of the Owner and Owning Business Unit attributes. For entities that have Ownership set to Organization, the creation of the Organization ID attribute.
A filtered view is created in the Dynamics 365 (online) database for the entity. This filtered view can be used to write reports using data from this entity.
Note
Relationships are created with the User entity to resolve user names for the Created By and Modified By attributes.
Change the icon for the new entity. More information: Change custom entity icons.
For any security roles that need access to the new entity, add the needed privileges.
Go to Settings > Administration.
Click Security Roles.
Open a security role, and then on the Custom Entities tab, specify the level of privileges that you want users with that security role to have.
Click Save and Close to save the changes to the security role.
Note
When adding privileges, you can follow the pattern for the privileges that are used on the Marketing, Sales, or Service tabs for the security role to provide users the same level of access to the custom entity that they have to other entities.
Publish your customizations:
To publish customizations for only the component that you’re currently editing, select the entity you’ve been working on, and then click Publish.
To publish customizations for all unpublished components at one time, click Entities, and then on the command bar, click Publish All Customizations.
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 365 such as custom entities, relationships, or fields are applied immediately.
Installing a solution or publishing customizations can interfere with normal system operation. We recommend that you schedule a solution import when it’s least disruptive to users.