Goals Management – Adding Stretch Targets To System Goal Progress Charts

Colin Maitland, 05 November 2012

Previously I described how to create new personal Goal Progress charts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 based on the existing Goal Progress charts with the addition of the Stretch Target value.  In this blog I will describe how to modify the existing system Goal Progress Charts to include the Stretch Target value. The following screenshots show the Goal Progress charts displayed on the Sales Performance Dashboard before and after they have been modified in this way.

 

The following steps will guide you through this process.

Step 1 – Security Roles

You will need to have either the System Administrator or the System Customiser security role. Refer to Settings -> Administration -> Users -> <Select/Open User Profile> -> Security Roles. Whether or not you have these roles will depend on your businesses policies and practices for administering and customising Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

 

Step 2 – Create New or Use Existing Publisher

When customising Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the best practice is to use a designated Publisher for customisations instead of the Default Publisher. The Publisher could be you or it could be your organisation. If required, complete the following steps to create a new Publisher:

1. Select Settings -> Customisations -> Publishers.

2. Click New. 

3. Enter a Display Name. E.g. This could be either your name or your company name.

4. Enter a Prefix. E.g. This could be an abbreviation of either your name or your company name. 

5. Click Save and Close.

 

 

Step 3 – Create New or Use Existing Solution

When customising Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the best practice is to use a designated Solution for customisations instead of using the Default Solution. Refer to Settings -> Customisations -> Publishers. If required, complete the following steps to create a new Solution:

1. Select Settings -> Solutions.
 

2. Click New.

3. Enter a Display Name. E.g. Stretch Target Charts.

4. Select a Publisher.

5. Enter a Version. E.g. 1.0.0.0. 

6. Click Save.

 

Step 4 – Add the Goals entity to the Solution

In order to customise the system Goal Progress charts, first add the Goals entity to the Solution by completing the following steps:

 

1. From the Solution, select the Entities branch of the Components tree.

2. From the tool bar, click Add Existing, Entity. 

3. From the Select Solution Components page, scroll down and select the Goal entity and click OK.

4. If required, from the Missing Required Components page, select Yes, Include required components and click OK.

 

Step 5 – Export the Goal Progress Charts

1. From the Solution screen, select and expand the Entities and Goal branches of the Components tree and select the Charts branch under Goal.

 

2. Select the Goal Progress (Money) row.

3. From the More Actions menu, select Export Chart.  

 

4. When prompted to Save the chart, choose instead to Save As and save the Goal Progress (Money).xml in a location of your choice.

Step 6 – Edit the Goal Progress.xml File

1. Using Windows Explorer, locate your saved copy of the Goal Progress (Money).xml chart and make a backup copy of it. E.g. Name the copy, Goal Progress (Money) Backup.xml.

2. Edit the Goal Progress (Money).xml file and add the Stretch Target marker to it. Refer to Adding Stretch Targets (Steps 8-11) 

3. Save and close the Goal Progress (Money).xml file.

Step 7 – Import the Goal Progress Chart

1. From the Solution screen, in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, select and expand the Entities and Goal branches of the Components tree, if not already expanded, and select the Charts branch under Goal.

 

2. From the More Actions menu, select Import Chart.  

 

3. When prompted, browse to and select the modified Goal Progress (Money).xml file and click OK.

 

4. If a Duplicate found prompt is displayed, click Replace.

 

5. The chart will now be imported. Click Close when finished.

 

6. From the Solution toolbar, click Publish All Customisations.

 

The updated system Goal Progress chart, showing the Stretch Target value, will now be available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If desired, you can complete the same steps for the Goal Progress (Count) chart using the values described at the end of my previous blog.