Dynamics 365 Essentials: Getting Started with Dynamics 365 Apps in the Common Data Service

Getting a business application to fit real work takes more than knowing where its menus are. In Dynamics 365 Essentials, Sarah Critchley connects the platform’s core tools to everyday customer, service, sales, and operational processes, with practical attention to setup and customization.

This second edition introduces the Common Data Service and explains how Dynamics 365 fits within the Power Platform. Its broad tour is useful for readers who need to understand both the applications themselves and the ways model-driven apps can be shaped around business needs.

From customer records to service workflows

The book moves through customer management, customer service, sales, field service, and marketing. Topics include accounts and contacts, case handling, queues, knowledge articles, service-level agreements, entitlements, product catalogs, resource scheduling, and marketing forms and events. Seeing these areas together helps readers understand how the platform supports connected business activities rather than a single isolated task.

Customize the experience and manage access

Separate chapters cover the security model, mobile applications, model-driven apps, and user-interface customization. Critchley also explores forms, views, relationships, and site maps—building blocks that help teams tailor how information and workflows are presented.

Make information and processes work harder

Reporting receives dedicated attention, including views, charts, and dashboards. The book also covers processes, Power Automate, and Power Apps Portals, rounding out its look at ways to organize work, automate steps, and support portal-based experiences.

A practical orientation for Dynamics 365 teams

Consultants, business analysts, administrators, and project managers can use this guide to build a structured understanding of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and its main configuration areas. It is a second edition published in 2020, so readers working with newer deployments should also check current product documentation when applying platform-specific instructions.

For anyone mapping the breadth of Dynamics 365—from customer records and service operations to automation and model-driven apps—this book offers a substantial, organized starting point.