At enCloud9, we like to spotlight powerful features in Dynamics 365 that don’t always get the attention they deserve—like Kanban Boards. This visual tool lets users manage Opportunities and Activities through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making pipeline tracking much easier. Kanban Boards in Dynamics 365 must be enabled by a CRM administrator, once active, they can greatly improve sales visibility. Introduced in the 2020 Release Wave 1, this feature is still limited to a few record types and is not yet fully supported on the mobile app. We hope to see Microsoft extend Kanban functionality to other areas of Dynamics 365 in future updates.
What are Kanban Boards in Dynamics 365?
Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 are a project management tool in which records can be visualized in a handy board-like sequence – using cards and columns to easily display the data. Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 are especially appealing to people who are “visual learners” and prefer to use charts, graphs, diagrams, and other images to interpret and work with information. The Kanban view provides a centralized view of opportunities and activities.
The Kanban view shows opportunities and activities as “cards.” The lanes in the Kanban view (referred to as “swim lanes”) represent the business process flow stages of opportunities or the status of activities. At a quick glance you can see the stage or status of an opportunity or status of an opportunity.
Easily manage opportunities throughout the project’s life cycle. Opportunities can easily be moved to a different stage or status by simply dragging the opportunity to a different lane.
Stage of an Opportunity as shown in the Kanban viewStatus of an opportunity as shown in the Kanban view
Just as you can drag opportunities to different lanes, the same can be done to activities. For example, when an open activity is completed, canceled, or scheduled – you can just simply drag it to the appropriate swim lane.
Activities in the Kanban view
In addition to the ability to “drag and drop” opportunities or activities to different lanes, there are other features that make Dynamics 365 Kanban boards very user friendly. The card fields are editable inline, which means you can quickly change details without having to navigate to another screen.
Also, the search box can be used to filter records/ cards in the same swim lane based on desired criteria. These Microsoft documents offer more information for working with opportunities or activities in the Kanban view
Why Use Kanban boards in Dynamics 365?
Centralized View – Probably the biggest benefit of using Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 is having a centralized view of all opportunities and activities. Having a centralized view allows teams to really focus. Teams can easily stay on top of things, rather than being distracted by lots of lists and data in different places. Because all of the data is in one centralized location, valuable time is not navigating elsewhere. Users can easily toggle between the grid and the Kanban board for opportunities or activities.
Task Completion – The Kanban solution is all about focusing on task completion. If your team is failing to complete task, this is an ideal time to start using Kanban boards in Dynamics 365. Watch your productivity and efficiency soar!
Reduces bottlenecks -Kanban boards reduce bottlenecks. Using Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 can show you when a specific task is holding up a project -making it very easy to change course if necessary. Because of this feature, it is easy to identify weaknesses and change the course if needed.
Improve delivery rates – Because of the increase in productivity and efficiency, you can get back to clients quicker.
In conclusion
Kanban views provide a solid base for organizing your tasks in a structured manner. Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 are an important piece of functionality to add to your overall toolkit. The Kanban feature can be used for a variety of purposes including software development, marketing, operations, and sales.
See Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 in action
We’ve created a short video walkthrough that shows how to use Kanban boards in Dynamics 365 to organize and manage your sales pipeline more effectively. If you’re ready to boost productivity and get a clearer view of your opportunities, watch the video now.
How can we help?
If you’ve got an upcoming Dynamics 365 deployment and are looking to get the most out of your CRM, turn to enCloud9 for assistance.
From platform selection to licensing to implementation and go live, we guide you every step of the way. Once you are live, enCloud9’s Dynamics 365 Management Services support your users and keep your system up-to-date and running smoothly. To learn more, contact us today.
We’d love to hear about your business and discuss how our custom Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions can work with your business and its specific needs.
