Last Activity Date in Dynamics 365 – Rollup field vs Workflow

Dynamics 365 has lots of great features but one thing it does not have is the ability to easily see when the last activity was for a case. This article shows you how…

Staying in touch with your customers is essential for providing the best customer service and making sure SLA’s are met.  Luckily, its easy to get the last activity associated with a case.

Rollup Fields

Rollup fields can be used to aggregate data from related records without the need for custom code.  A roll-up field is created in the same way as standard fields, the difference being you can configure what data to display.  Counts, Max, Min and Sum of related records can be used.  There is a system job which can run up to once an hour to populate the field.

Last activity date

Pro’s

  • Allows quick aggregation of related records
  • Can be added to forms and views

Con’s

  • Not updated in real time. Minimum update time is 1 hour
  • Can not be used to trigger other processes

You can find details on how to set up a Rollup Field in our knowledge base article Using a rollup field to add last activity date to a case

Workflows

Another way to populate Last Activity Date is using workflow.  You will still need to create a date field on the Case entity.  A workflow for each activity type is also needed.  When an activity is created, a workflow will run.  If the activity is regarding a case, the Last Activity Date is set.

Workflow

Pro’s

  • Field can be updated in real time
  • Not limited to Last Activity Date. This can have Last Activity Subject, Last Activity Type, etc.
  • Can be used to trigger other processes
  • This can be added to forms and views

Con’s

  • Need to create a workflow for each activity type

You can find details on how to set up a Rollup Field in our knowledge base article Using workflow to add last activity date to a case

Summary

So there we have it.  The quickest and simplest way to get the Last Activity Date is to create a Rollup Field, however, if you are looking for extra functionality then using workflows instead may be the answer.

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