Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud Tips and Tricks: Using Power Automate to Set Up Workflows

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. 

One of the coolest benefits of using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud is the way the ERP platform integrates with the Microsoft ecosystem of applications. One such example is Power Automate, which you can tap into if you have a Power Automate license and activate the function within Business Central.

Once that happens, Power Automate can be accessed via drop-down menus in Business Central. You can then quickly create workflows based on popular templates, or you can choose to write a workflow from scratch, using the PowerAutomate link within Business Central.

Here’s a quick rundown of the four types of workflows you can set up in Business Central:

• Automated Flows—When an event such as releasing a sales order or blocking a customer occurs, you can create specific workflows that automatically trigger specific actions. For example, Business Central can send emails to specific users to notify and prompt them to take action.
• Approval Flows—Power Automate enhances standard Business Central approval functions, which are limited to conditions and responses preprogrammed by a developer. Power Automate expands that capability by creating more flexibility in the approval flows. When requesting approval for a new item in your catalog, for instance, Power Automate can block the item automatically and dispatch an e-mail for approval to users that contains an approval decision right in the body of the e-mail. This eliminates the need for some of the customizations in Business Central, and it allows users to approve actions right from their mobile devices.
• Scheduled Flows—You can create flows that run recurrently on a scheduler and do not depend on user interaction. This is very similar to the Business Central Job Queue tasks but with the added flexibility of Power Automate. As an example, you can dispatch a list of all customers each day with records that have changed in the last 24 hours so your inside sales team can review the changes.
• Instant Flows—Lastly, and this is a very neat one, you can create instant flows that behave just like any other action in Business Central. They have the look and feel as if a developer had developed them, but you are in control of the actions. These include creating a more “powerful” block action on a customer list that not only blocks the customer, but also requests input from the user on why the customer was blocked. From there, the flow dispatches either a Teams message or an Outlook e-mail to all parties interested in this blocking.

With these workflows, all departments using Business Central can communicate better when certain actions happen, and this helps your business ultimately run more efficiently.

See Power Automate in Action

To see portions of these workflows in action in Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud with Power Automate, check out my demo. You will discover just how easy it is with the Power Automate templates that Microsoft provides. The templates provide standard actions for workflows such as when a customer is blocked or unblocked, when sales orders and purchase orders are released, and when purchase receipts, sales shipments, and sales invoices are posted. You can easily add and delete steps in the template workflows and determine how to notify stakeholders—whether it’s through Outlook email, Teams, or another communications channel.

To Learn More 

Western Computer offers deep expertise across the Microsoft technology stack, particularly in Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud. 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 Power Automate to set up workflows in Business Central, or for help in designing, deploying or 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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