In recent years, kanban boards have been rising in popularity as an effective way for teams to manage the smaller tasks within a larger project or process. They provide a great visual representation of tasks within a larger project or process. This visualization can be a great asset to help teams get an understanding of how they are progressing through a project, or what point within a process different items have reached. Opportunity and activity entries in Dynamics 365 Sales can be viewed as kanban boards for quick editing and management options.

What are kanban boards?

A kanban board is a tool used in agile project management that helps to provide a visualization of a project’s tasks and the flow towards completion. Kanban boards are broken up into columns, and each column will then contain smaller cards that detail tasks or items of the project. For example, a kanban board can be used to visualize tasks for the week and where they are within the completion process as a good visual representation of what each person is working on and their progress on the task.

Kanban in Dynamics 365 Sales

The kanban view in Dynamics 365 Sales presents opportunities as the cards or tasks on the board. The columns indicate the stage within the sales process. As opportunities advance through the sales pipeline, they can be dragged into each column. Access the kanban view on the Opportunities page. The More commands dropdown on the function bar will have a Show As option. From there, select Kanban.

In the kanban view, there are two options for view type: Status and Business Process Flow.  The Status type simply displays opportunities within three lanes depending on their status: Open, Won, or Lost. Business Process Flow allows for opportunities to be viewed based on where they stand within the Opportunity Sales business process flow.

At the top of each lane of the board, the total estimated revenue amount for all opportunities in that lane. Around 10 or so cards fit within the view at a time. In instances where there are more than 10, simply scroll down in the lane to view the rest. The number on the top right will update based on where you are in the list. There is also a search bar in the top right of the view that will filter cards in the view based on what is entered.

Selecting a card will bring up the main form of the opportunity to allow edits to be made. The view automatically refreshes after closing the form. Alternatively, the fields visible on the card can be edited right within the kanban view without needing to open the opportunity form.

Each card can be freely dragged around through each of the lanes on the board. When viewing the Status board type, dragging an opportunity between the columns will bring up the status change dialogue in order. Also when on the Status board type, cards moved into Won or Lost are closed and locked. The fields on the card will be unable to be edited unless the opportunity is reopened. When moving a card on the Business Process Flow board type, the opportunity window is opened with the business process flow opened to move to the next stage. Similarly, closed opportunities cannot be edited, but can be moved around in lanes.

Activity entries

Activity entries are also viewable as a Kanban board. The board itself functions the same as opportunities with each card able to be dragged around and edited freely. It works great with activities like appointments. The columns show Open, Completed, Canceled, and Scheduled appointments to be sure each one is properly followed-up on.

Getting started

If you’re interested in learning more about utilizing kanban boards in Dynamics 365 Sales or how the system can impact your sales funnel management in general, fill out the contact form below to get in touch with one of our consultants!