How to customize entity?

Entity is one of the key building block of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In the simplest terms possible, an entity is a table that holds a certain type of data, with the attributes functioning as the columns of the table and determining which information goes into the records of that entity type.

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM there are two different type entities:

• Standard Entity
• Custom Entity

Standard Entity:

These are the entities which comes as an out of the box functionality. These entities are created by the system at the time of Microsoft Dynamics CRM setup.

To update or customize the standard entity click on
Advance Setting > Settings > Customize the System > Click the Entities located in the left panel.

Make changes and click on the publish button. Publishing your changes is a must or else your changes won’t reflect on the form level.

Custom Entity:

These entities are practiced when different business requirements(which are different from standard functionalities) have to be implemented . Custom entities can be linked with standard entities, which makes D365 more dynamic, as you can use the standard functionality as well as the custom functionality, all together.

To Create custom entity follow the steps:

Step 1:
Advance Setting > Settings > Customize the System > Entity > New

Fill in the details to create the custom entity. In the section(Areas that display this entity) check the module where you want to display and access the custom entity. You can check and display the entity in multiple modules as well. For now we will display it in sales module only.

There are multiple check boxes. These check boxes have there own meaning and functionalities. For example, if we check the NOTES in the communication and collaboration section, this will enable the notes in which you can attach the text files.

For now we will create and save the entity as per default selection.

Step 2: Update Primary field(optional):
Click Primary Field

Terminology can be changed from this page as per the requirement.

Step 3:
Click Save and Close. This will create the custom entity in the environment.

Click on the Publish All Customizations

Step 4:
Refresh the CRM page and click on the Sale module. In the extensions, the employees entity will be available.

Creating custom entities and publishing them are quite simple, Right.

In the next blog, I will include new fields in the form, which will brand the custom entity more significant and relevant.