Qualify a Lead into Dynamics 365 PSA the Right Way

This is Part 1 of a 4-part Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation tutorial/blog series you’ll get from me this upcoming year. Each part will dive deeper into a specific function when using the Project Service Automation (PSA) solution in your organization. My hope is for you and your organization to utilize these blog posts to maximize your PSA solution. Read Part 2 here.

As the title indicates, I’ll provide an overview to properly setup your Lead qualification process to the correct PSA Opportunity record. In the process, we’ll be addressing the errors you may encounter if you do not take these steps into action. You can find links to additional documents with screenshots for all the steps we cover at the end of this post.

If you’re reading this blog, you must know Qualifying a Lead to an Opportunity for an PSA Instance may not be as simple as a qualifying a Lead in a Non-PSA environment, or you may have ran into one of the following errors:

1. Trying to change the Opportunity form from “Opportunity” to “Opportunity: Project Information” form on the Opportunity record.

2. Getting a Business Process Error:

3. Getting a “NULL” error

This blog post covers how to address the errors above and will provide best practices, so you and your users won’t run into this error again.

Information you should know about the PSA Opportunity record:

1. The Opportunity entity uses two different forms for different purposes: one for out of the box (OOB) Opportunities and one for Project Service. You will easily be able to see those when you click the form selector in the upper left corner of an Opportunity record. However, the Lead form does not have a Lead: Project Information form to select.

 

2. The Opportunity and Opportunity: Project Service forms are linked by the Type field on the Opportunity.

• This field is originally hidden from the form since there is Microsoft development that sets this field based on the Opportunity form selection.
• There is also a Type field on the Lead entity which needs to be mapped properly.

3. You will not be able to create and save an Opportunity: Project Service record without a Product Price List field and a Contracting Unit filled out.

4. You won’t be able to successfully utilize all PSA functionality without filling out the Contracting Unit on the Opportunity: Project Service form. It is recommended that users should have this field filled out during Lead Qualification.

Click on the links below for more information about qualifying a lead record to an opportunity:

• How to Correctly Qualify a Lead to the Proper Opportunity Record
• How to Address all Known Issues/Errors When Qualifying a Lead to an Opportunity
• Best Practices to Optimize the User Experience

If you have any questions about using Project Service Automation in Dynamics 365, please contact us.