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Make business recommendations based on business intelligence with Dynamics 365

Applies to: Dynamics 365

 

The fall 2016 release of Dynamics 365 introduced a powerful new feature called business recommendations, that enables a Business Analyst or System Customizer to guide users to optimal data based on intelligence they have about their business.

 

Recommendation action in the Components tab

 

Business recommendations work like the Show Error action by adding an indicator next to a form field. When the user clicks the indicator, they see a bubble with a recommendation that tells them how to fill out the field based on other data on the form. You can associate a Portable Business Logic (PBL) action with the business recommendation. That PBL action can automate setting the value to that or other fields, making the experience much more streamlined for the user.

 

Drag-and-drop designer for business rules and recommendations

 

In Dynamics 365, you can use a new drag-and drop designer to create business rules and recommendations.

Example: Product Selection

A great example is product selection. Suppose the user is running an Insurance Sales business process and is at the stage where they are discussing with their customer what insurance products they want to buy. Business analysts and customizers can check the performance and profile of past deals and establish, for example, that:

  • Married customers who buy auto insurance also usually buy home or renter’s insurance.
  • Married customers with children who buy auto insurance are usually willing to buy extra personal injury protection for their children.
  • Single, young customers who buy auto insurance are usually willing to buy extra liability insurance due to their inexperience with driving.

To set up the last example:

  1. Open the form editor for the Opportunity form.
  2. Add a new business rule.
  3. Set the branch condition for the business rule to:

IF Marital Status = single
AND Age <= 25
AND Insurance Type = Auto
  1. In the designer window, drag a Recommendation component “Young, single drivers are still learning to drive and afraid accidents. They are usually willing to pay more for extra liability insurance, so make sure to offer it.”
  2. For the associated action, drag two Set Value components with the following values:
Set Add Liability Insurance? to value Yes

Set Liability Insurance Amount to value $2,500
  1. Save and activate the rule.Whenever the condition is met, the business recommendation will show prompt the sales rep to take advantage of this type of opportunity. Even better—the fields will automatically be filled out for them in the form.

Programmability

Business recommendations are exposed through the Client API just like error messages. To add a business recommendation to a field, add the following JavaScript snippet to the running web resources, as follows:

First, create a Notification object:


var myNotification = {

messages: ['Recommendation Text'],

notificationLevel: "RECOMMENDATION",

uniqueId: "unique_id", // Pick a unique id; you will need it to clear the notification later, if necessary

actions: [{

message: "Recommendation Action Text",

actions: [function () {

// This action will execute as the button on the bubble is pressed

}]

}]

}

Next, get a control and add the notification, as such:



Xrm.Page.ui.controls.getByName(“control_name”).addNotification(myNotification);

The addNotification function returns True or False depending on whether the notification was successfully applied. To clear the bubble, call the following:


Xrm.Page.ui.controls.getByName(“control_name”).clearNotification(“unique_id”);

 

For more information, see:

 

 

Carlos Mendonça | LinkedIn

Program Manager

Microsoft Dynamics 365 team

 

 

365blog

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