Dynamics SL 2011: How Quick Query Gave Me My Morning Back

This month we thought we would share one our favorite new features in Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011 and how it recently gave me my morning back.  I’m referencing the new Quick Query tool that is the long-anticipated, long-awaited feature in Dynamics SL 2011 that gives users the ability to ad hoc queries against the Dynamics SL database.

First a little background if you are new to this feature.  Quick Query gives the end user over 100 out-of-the-box views.  The queries are organized by Series/Modules and allow you to filter, modify, and save the data to your needs.  The queries can be exported to Excel with the push of the button should you need to analyze the data at a deeper level.  Another great feature is the ability to drill back to source transactions directly from the Quick Query Viewer.

Now on to the story of how this tool will save you time.  As a preface I am not a Dynamics SL power user.  I am just like many of my clients, I have certain key things I do in our system.  I place orders, I handle customer service, and work with some billing.  I can’t tell you all the table names or field names behind the screens I work in most.  I simply need the system to help me do my job. 

One day recently I was trying to help cover for a co-worker and needed to research a credit card payment that we had done to an ISV partner we work with.  I knew the date and the amount.  What I didn’t know was who the end user was.  In prior versions of the software, this would have been quite a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack.  Remember I am not a power user and do not have access to write SQL queries.  And even if I did I would have no idea what tables to query against!  What I would be left with is going through each and every Sales Order looking for the “item” that was sold matching my dollar amount.  My other option would have been to find the appropriate Order Management report that listed all Sales Orders with customer, inventory, and cost information listed.  Again, we do a lot of Sales Orders and I would be left with a lot of data to sort through assuming I would find the right report.  

With Quick Query in Dynamics SL 2011, I simply ran the Sales Order Line query to display all of my Sales Orders broken down by line items.  I added one field to the view to give me the item description and created a filter to pull the exact unit cost I needed.  With only a few minutes and clicks gone by I had all of the information I needed.  

I can’t begin to tell you how big a timesaver this is going to be.  I can think of so many situations where I have had to mess with the built in Crystal reports by figuring out what fields I needed, what table they were in, and creating template after template to meet my needs.  With Quick Query I now have a logical tool that allows me to easily find the information I need.  This tool saves me time and that is why I think all Dynamics SL users are going to love it.

Want to see the Quick Query Data Sheet? 

By Associate Solutions, Kansas Microsoft Dynamics GP, SL, and CRM partner serving KS MO IA NE