In a previous blog post "Visualize hierarchical data in CRM 2015" I showed you how to visualize the out-of-the-box hierarchy for Accounts.

To enable a hierarchy, you need to have at least one self referential 1:N relationship. After creating the relationship, you can select one 1:N relationship as hierarchy relationship. In this blog post I'll show how to do this for the Contact entity

Go to Settings > Customize and select Customize the System.

Fig. 1 - customize the system

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Expand Contacts

Fig. 2 - Contacts entity

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Click 1:N Relationships and then New 1-to-many relationship

Fig. 3 - relationships

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Select Contact as “Related Entity”. Provide a name. Specify this relationship as "Hierachical" . Select “Yes” to “Hierarchical”. Provide a Display Name for the Lookup Field

Click Save and Close

Fig. 4 - define relationship

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Navigate to Contact > Hierarchy_Settings and click New

Fig. 5 - hierarchical settings

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Enter unique name and select any card (quick view form - you can customize those)

Click here in the 'Please click here to mark a relationship as hierarchical' string to open the dialog

Fig. 6 - mark as hierarchical

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Select the newly created referential 1:n relationship and click Done

Fig. 7 - select relationship

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Note the Hierarchical Releationship box now lists the relationship

Fig. 8 - verify selection

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Navigate to Forms, and open any form - eg Contacts

Fig. 9 - edit form

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Add the relationship lookup field ("Parent Contact") to the form, and then publish all customizations

Fig. 10 - add Lookup field

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Now done with the configuration set the “Parent Contact” for several contact records and see Hierarchy view

Fig. 11 - define parent

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Fig. 12 - contacts with hierarchy icon

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Fig. 13 - visualization one branch

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Fig. 14 - visualization another branch

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Note: Dynamics CRM 2015 is in beta when writing this blog post. Things can change between now and the actual launch of the service