How to Change a Lead’s Contact Name to Company Name in Dynamics CRM 2016

NO CODE OR WORKFLOW NEEDED!

Oftentimes Microsoft Dynamics CRM users have the need to see their leads as Companies instead of a Primary Contact Name.

Out of the box, Dynamics CRM doesn’t offer the ability to change the view to a company name, however, there is a workaround to achieve the desired capability without needing additional code or workflow.

This blog shares the steps to take to view Leads by Company Name instead of Contact Name in Dynamics CRM 2016. The process includes creating two new custom fields, one business rule, and two custom mappings.

How to view a Company Name on a Lead

1. Create two custom new fields as First Name and Last Name. Make sure to set these to 50 max characters. Add these new fields to the Lead form. These will replace the existing ones.
2. Spot the out-of-the-box First Name and Last Name fields in the field explorer (Right side) and add these to the form.
3. Change the Last Name required level to “Business Recommended” and Hide the Name
4. Add an OOB word next to First Name and Last Name labels, just for distinguishing those.
5. Hide or Remove First and Last OOB fields.
   
   
6. Now, click on the Business Rules button and create a new one.
   
   
7. Make sure the condition and action look like this:
   
   
8. Save and Publish the Lead form, you can close this if you want to.
9. Go to the Lead entity in the Default Solution and search for 1:N Relationships section. Select “Contact to Lead” (contact_originating_lead) and open this up.
   
10.  Click on Mappings section and delete the existing built-in mappings for First and Last Name attributes:
    
    
11. Add two new mappings in the same relationship. Use the custom fields created on 1 and map these in the first and last name native fields against the contact entity.
    
    The fields should look like this:
    
    Let all the customizations cook for a bit (Click on Publish All Customizations)
    
    

Test the New View

Create a new lead, type all the information related to the contact and company, and Voila! There you have it! The Company is now the Lead Name!

Additionally, if you qualify the lead, you’ll notice the Contact field has the correct Full Name typed in the Lead form, so, we didn’t break anything!

It’s as simple as that! There is no coding or workflow required to make this change. If you have any questions about customizing lead and contact information or about Dynamics CRM, please feel free to reach out to us by filling out the form below.