Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud Tips and Tricks Power Automate Series – Part 4: Instant Flows

In this series of bi-monthly blogs, Western Computer shares our expertise with tips and tricks to help users work more efficiently in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud. Based on our more than 30 years in business—with 1,250+ solution implementations, including more than 350 in the cloud—we share the expertise we have accumulated to enable users to work as proficiently as possible. You can also subscribe to these blogs in our LinkedIn newsletter. 

This is the fourth and final blog adapted from my video—Unlocking Automation in Business Central with Power Automate. You can check out this video to learn about the four types of automation offered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud in conjunction with Power Automate. You can create these automated flows in your environment to unlock a new set of potent tools to boost team collaboration. 

Within this four-part blog series, I have further explored these workflows, highlighting their key features and demonstrating how you can use them within your daily operations. In Part 1 and Part 2, I discussed Automated Flows and Approval Flows. Part 3 presented Scheduled Flows. This blog covers Instant Flows and provides some final considerations on using Power Automate flows.

You can only execute Instant Flows manually, but it’s easy! Just click on an action that’s placed directly in the Business Central interface. In contrast to the other types of flows that are triggered in the background, Instant Flows appear within forms on the screen.

To show you what I mean, in the screenshot below, I created a flow linked to a Sales Orders list that will send an e-mail with a list of Open Sales Orders. Because this is an Instant Flow, Business Central fetched it from Power Automate, and added it automatically to my Sales Orders list:

You will mostly use Instant Flows when you have a group of tasks that you need to repeat often—but not often enough that would justify turning it into a Scheduled Flow.

For example, imagine this scenario: every now and then, you review the list of outstanding Sales Quotes and e-mail customers to follow up on those quotes. The criteria you use to review this list might not be systematically clear: you may know that you already inquired about some of those quotes a few days ago. You may also know that some of the customers require constant follow-up.

With that in mind, here’s how you would tackle this if you chose to use a manual process:

1. Analyze quotes, one by one
2. Determine which quotes are eligible for a follow-up e-mail
3. Open the sales quote
4. Click on the <Send> e-mail button
5. Enter text asking for follow-up
6. Hit <Send>

However, you can replace this lengthy manual process with this Instant Flow:

1. Analyze quotes, one by one
2. Determine which quotes are eligible for a follow-up e-mail
3. Click on the Instant Flow action

That’s all you have to do! The third step automatically grabs the e-mail address from the sales quote, enters pre-determined text (using placeholders, such as the name of the contact), and sends the e-mail for you.

You can apply an Instant Flow action to several scenarios:

• Instead of manually blocking a customer and sending a separate email to a coworker on why that customer was blocked, create an Instant Flow that automatically blocks the customer, notes the reason, and emails the co-worker.
• Set up an Instant Flow to automatically create a purchase order for the default vendor number on an item; the flow fills in the quantity based on a rule (or a fixed quantity) and sends an e-mail to the vendor right away.
• Create an Instant Flow to inquire through a third-party API about the current inventory level for a certain item and add the result to the comments on that item

Just like all the other types of flows, Instant Flows give you many possibilities to automate tasks without engaging a Business Central developer.

Final Considerations for Creating and Managing Power Automate Flows 

As I’ve shown in these four blogs, Power Automate flows provide you with a very powerful tool to unlock a whole new dimension of activities linked to your ERP platform. However, this power needs to be used responsibly. 

If you or other users create a lot of flows for different areas of the company, the flows may end up having different sorts of usage. In the future, managing them will be like herding cats 🐈… or juggling frogs 🐸. 

To avoid such a chaotic scenario, keep in mind the following best practices:

• User Responsibility: Consider assigning a user or a small group of users (dedicated or not) who will take responsibility for managing Power Automate flows company-wide.
• Granularity: Give preference to flows that can be used by multiple users at the same time. But don’t lose sight of your power users: identify who they are and listen to their ideas. This will help you find great ideas for flows, whether they benefit one person or multiple users and departments.
• Security and Permissions: You can assign Power Automate licenses to any user. But when possible, keep all your flows linked to one username. This makes it easier to find a full list of all flows that are currently active. You will also find it easier to manage permissions and revoke permissions in cases where you need to stop a flow from executing.

I avoided delving into the Power Automate world for a while because I like organization, documentation, and source control. Power Automate is great, but it lacks some of these features, which make the lives of IT Managers and System Administrators easier. 

As intuitive and user-friendly as Power Automate tries to look, it can still get a little too technical at times. Still, this should not stop you or your company from benefiting from all that Power Automate can give you. For whatever Power Automate needs you may have, or should you run into any challenges, Western Computer is here for you.

To Learn More 

Western Computer offers deep expertise across the Microsoft technology stack, particularly in Dynamics 365 solutions. Our thought leaders can help you ensure your critical ERP application meets your business needs for today and beyond. For more information on how to use these Business Central tips, or for help in designing, deploying and supporting Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions, contact Western Computer today. 

About the Author

Marcelo Borges has been very enthusiastic about ERP systems since the time he first experienced Microsoft Dynamics, back in 2005. He joined Western Computer in 2017 as a consultant focusing on Microsoft Dynamics solutions for customers in the finance, trading, warehousing, and distribution sectors. When advising on technology and designing solutions, Marcelo calls upon his experience of having worked on both sides of the table: as a consultant for known Microsoft Partners, and as an end-user in multiple industries.

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