Power BI Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 – Part 17

Colin Maitland, 16 December 2014

In my previous blog in this series I have demonstrated how to reorder the columns in the Account, Contact and Opportunity ODataSets downloaded to Microsoft Excel 2013 from a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Organisation. In this blog I will demonstrate how to rename the columns. This is the final step to complete prior to using the ODataSets for building reports in Microsoft Excel using PowerPivot, Power View and Power Map.

Renaming columns is a step that I like to keep as one of the last steps to be completed. This allows for columns to then be renamed more than once, such as when there has been a change of mind or change of requirement, without impacting dependencies on column names that exist in any following Applied Steps that occur after the Rename Columns step.

The following screenshot shows some of the columns in the OpportunitySet prior to being renamed:

The process for renaming columns is as simple as either right-clicking on the column heading, selecting Rename... from the drop-down menu and then renaming the column, as shown in the following screenshots:

Or as simple as just double-clicking the column heading and then renaming it.

The following screenshots shows the same columns after they have been renamed:

As a result of renaming columns one or more Renamed Columns steps is added to the list of Applied Steps. The following screenshot shows all the Applied Steps for the OpportunitySet with the Renamed Columns as the last step that has been applied to this ODataSet:

Finally, apart from the methods demonstrated above for renaming columns, columns can be renamed as part of other preceding steps using the Advanced Editor such as the Expand and the Added Custom steps.

In the following example the Expand ActualValue step has been edited, using the Advanced Editor, to rename the expanded column from ActualValue.Value to Actual Value:

Before:

After:

In the following example the Added Custom – OpportunityRatingCode step has been edited, using the Advanced Editor, to rename the added column from OpportunityRatingCode to Opportunity Rating:

Before:

After

In the remaining blogs for this series, I will demonstrate how to create some simple PowerPivot, Power View and Power Map reports in Microsoft Excel 2013 Professional Plus using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online ODataSets such as the AccountSet and OpportunitySet that have been prepared using the methods demonstrated in these first seventeen blogs this series.