Qualify a Lead in Dynamics CRM 2011 using a Dialog Process

Paul Nieuwelaar, 09 October 2012

In Dynamics CRM 2011, to qualify a lead we must use the out-of-the-box ‘Qualify Lead’ method where you select to qualify or disqualify the lead, then if you choose to qualify, you can select which records to create (Contact, Account, and Opportunity). This process works well if you are using CRM as an out-of-the-box solution, however most companies have their own ways of doing things, and so the standard method of qualifying a lead may not always work the way you want it to.

There is no supported way of modifying this ‘Qualify Lead’ screen, however if you need to make any changes to this process, you can consider replacing the existing functionality with a custom Dialog Process. Not only will this give you full control over what is available to users who qualify leads (adding additional functionality etc.), but it also allows you to automate a lot more of your processes. For example if you used a dialog to follow up with your leads, you could have a condition at the end to check if they are interested, and then launch a child dialog to convert the lead. This would save several clicks having to close out of one dialog, and then open the ‘qualify lead’ screen.

In this blog post I will be looking at recreating the basic functionality of qualifying a lead using a Dialog Process. For the purposes of a proof of concept, I will try and keep this as simple as possible.

I started the dialog by prompting the user whether to Qualify or Disqualify the lead.

If the user selects to Disqualify the lead, the lead’s status is set to disqualifed (lost), and the dialog is ended. If the user selects to Qualify the lead, the next page prompts the user to select which records to create. I have listed the different valid combinations of records that can be created, meaning an opportunity cannot be created without a potential customer for example. I have used only a few of the common combinations, however in a real situation you may want to consider other combinations (such as Contact and Opportunity without Account etc.).

Next the appropriate records are created depending on which option is selected. Because we can’t use ‘OR’ statements in a Dialog, we need to specify the opposite as an ‘AND’ statement. For example to create a contact, any option that does not equal just ‘Account’ must be selected (as all other options include contact). The same can be applied to create an account (any option that does not equal just ‘Contact’).

Next we can link the account and contact together, by adding another check to say if any option that includes both account and contact is selected (any option that does not equal just ‘Contact’ and does not equal just ‘Account’), then update the account with the primary contact, and the contact with the parent customer.

We can then check if the first option is selected (the only option to create opportunity), and then create an opportunity linked to the account. We know if an opportunity has been created, an account will also be created, so it is ok to directly link the account to the opportuntity.

Finally we can mark the lead as ‘qualified’, and then end the dialog. Once the dialog is closed, we can refresh our lead to see the status changed to ‘Qualified’, and depending on which qualifying option was selected, our records will be available in the system, and linked together with each other just like it would be using the out-of-the-box method.

As you can see it’s quite easy to build a simple convert lead screen using a dialog, however you can make it more complex depending on what your requirements are, but hopefully this at least shows that it is possible. This can be useful if you need to make any modifications to the lead conversion process, such as adding additional functionality, or running the proccess automatically at the end of another dialog. I’ve added the full steps of the dialog process below for your reference.