Dynamics 365 Sales – Playing With Playbooks (Part 1)
Rolled out in October 2018, Playbooks in Dynamics 365 Sales provide the ability to create a defined series of repeatable sales activities i.e. Task, Phone Call, Email, etc. For example, when a new lead is created a playbook can be launched to ensure that there is a Lead Qualification Phone Call activity setup. Another illustration is when an opportunity is placed on hold, a playbook can be created to make sure that your sales team doesn’t drop the ball and continue to engage to keep the ball rolling.
When there is a playbook associated with one of the entities listed above a button will appear that enables the user to Launch Playbook.
When first introduced, Playbooks were only available for Leads, Opportunity, Quote, Order, and Invoice. However, in the October 2019 update, Playbooks were added to interact with the Account and Contact entities as well.
If a playbook is not associated with the entity this button will not be visible. Once the playbook is launched users will open the tab by navigating to the Related tab and Click on Playbook.
This provides a view of all the related playbooks. It also offers quick insights into the Total Number of activities, Number of completed activities, and the current statuses of the playbook.
There are two roles related to the Playbook: (1) Playbook Manager and (2) Playbook User. The Playbook Manager is responsible for creation of the playbook categories and templates. The playbook template helps ensure that best practices are consistently followed by the Playbook users as they interact with the playbook on the related record.
A playbook is comprised of:
- Playbook information: Consisting of playbook name, total activities, completed activities, Estimated Close Date, Estimated Start On, Related Record
- Playbook template.
- Activities associated with the playbook.
- A timeline summary, including Notes.
When creating a playbook template, the template is limited to the following activities:
- Task
- Phone Call
- Appointment
This link provides users with detailed guidance on managing Playbook templates: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/sales-enterprise/manage-playbook-templates
However, once the playbook is launched the user can create and add any kind of activities.
The following links provides a more in depth example of tracking Playbook Activities: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/sales-enterprise/track-playbook-activities
A really interesting feature is the ability to associate a playbook with a Workflow and Business Process Flow. This enables the users to automate the Launching of a Playbook based on the Entry or Exit of BPF stage.
We see a lot of potential for the playbook but there is still has a lot of room for growth. Please see the next blog of this series where we crafted out some unique use cases for the playbook!