Solutions in Dynamics 365

A solution is a bucket where we can store all the customizations of a particular project. Creating a solution helps the user to move the changes from one environment to another. We can use solutions to extend the capability of Dynamics 365. There are basically three different types of solutions: System/Default, managed and unmanaged.

System Solutions: System solution represents the solution components that are already defined within Dynamics 365. It defines the default application behavior. Many of the components in the system are customizable and it can be used in managed or unmanaged customizations.

Managed Solutions: They are built on top of system solution and we can add/modify the solution components.  A managed solution is a finalized solution that can be distributed and installed. They are created by exporting an unmanaged solution by setting restrictions to prevent any further customizations. 

Unmanaged Solutions: Initially the state of solution is the unmanaged solution. Here in this state, we can add, edit, update, delete any components of the solution. We can also create any restrictions on the component.

Creating a Solution:

Every organization has their own default solution. The default solution contains all the components that are currently available in the system/organization such as entities, fields, views etc. Let’s see in detail how to create a solution in Dynamics 365.

Create a solution named “Intro to Solution”.

1. In the navigation bar, click on the Main button and then click settings.
2. Select Solutions present under the Customization (shown below).

3.  In the menu bar, click New. The Solution: New Solution form will be displayed.

4. Enter the name of the solution which you wish to provide under Display Name field. ie Intro to Solution and provide a version number.

Create a publisher

1. In the Solution: New Solution form, in the Publisher field, click the lookup icon.
2. Click Look Up More Records.
3. In the Look Up Record dialog box, click New.
4. Enter the name which you wish to give for the Display Name.
5. Enter details for the Prefix
6. In the toolbar, click Save and Close.
7. In the Look Up Record dialog box, click Add.
8. In the Solution: New Solution form, in the toolbar, click Save. If the publisher is already present, we can directly select the publish by clicking on select value for publisher. Suppose if I want to select demo as publisher, select demo.

Add entities to the Solution (The entities are used to model and manage business data in Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement apps). For a particular solution, we select only the entities that we are going to customize.

1. In the Solution: Intro to solution, in the solution explorer at the left side, click Entities.

2. In the menu bar, at the top of the list of entities in the Solution, click Add Existing. We can select an entity that is already present in the system or create a new one.

3. In the Select solution components dialog box, notice that the Component Type is filtered to Entity only.
4. Click to the left side of the entities such as Account, Contact to enter a check mark next to each.
5. Click OK.
6. You should now be prompted to add specific Entity Assets, for each of the Entities that you added to the solution.  For example: we can select the forms, views and charts which are already present in the system of an entity to a particular solution.
7. Click Next
8. Select specific entity asset for Contact Entity
9. Click Finish and Click the Save button to save the solution and leave it open.

Conclusion:

Solution is an important part of Dynamics 365. It helps you to customize the applications as per the business needs. Solutions come into play because by creating individual situations and grouping all of those different changes and components and elements together into one package, it's much easier to transport that information from one environment to another.