How to Automate Workflows in Business Central

One of the benefits of using Dynamics 365 Business Central as your enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is the ability to set up automated workflows. They provide relief from the manual work that often bogs users down during the day. You don’t need a technical background to become proficient at building Business Central workflows. 

What Are Some Key Features of Business Central Workflows?

Business Central provides out-of-the-box automated workflows. Users can use them as starting points to build customized workflows, which helps reduce the time it would take to set up Business Central automation from scratch. Examples of templates you can work with include:

• Purchase Approvals
• Payment Processing
• Invoice Approvals

Because each company is different, Business Central also provides components for customizing workflows to fit specific processes. The framework lets users build workflows from scratch or modify existing templates. For example, a doctor’s office can change an existing Business Central approval workflow to sign off on purchases of medical supplies or expense reimbursements. 

Users can use condition-based logic to define the conditions that control the flow of information. For example, a company can create a workflow designed to escalate a purchase if the amount exceeds a specified amount. 

Other components of Business Central workflows include:

• Triggers: Users can set workflows to activate by setting triggers like status changes to an order or a user submitting a new approval request.
• Notifications: You can automatically send messages in response to a specific action.
• System integrations: Business Central workflows can integrate with third-party tools or other Microsoft platforms, like Power Automate. This expands the functionality of your workflows and makes it easier to perform tasks like syncing data across different systems.  
• User Role Assignment: You can create workflows to route approvals and tasks based on different user roles. For example, you might send a purchase request to department heads for an initial review before forwarding it to a manager for final approval. 

How to Set Up Workflows in Business Central 

Let’s look at how to set up Power Automate or work with templates within Dynamics 365 Business Central. 

Create Workflow from Scratch

You can sign into Power Automate or navigate the following path from a page in Business Central: Automate -> Power Automate -> Create automated workflow or Manage Flows.

1. Select Create on the left side of your screen. Below are instructions on how to start from a blank template.
   1. To start from a blank, click Automated cloud flow.
   2. From the Build an automated cloud flow page, add a descriptor to the Flow name field.
   3. Look for Choose how to trigger this flow, then select the Business Central trigger.
2. Follow the below instructions to start from a connector.
   1. Look for Starting from a connector, then choose All connectors.
   2. Search for Business Central and look for Dynamics 365 Business Central.
   3. Once the Business Central page opens, select the When a record is created (V3) trigger.
   4. Rename the text in the upper left corner to the name of your flow.
3. Fill in all applicable parameters for your workflow.
4. Select + New step, then add the actions and triggers needed for your workflow.
5. To add a Get url action, select the Actions tab from the Choose an operation step.
6. Look for Get URL (V3) to find the Business Central connector.
7. Add the Environment name and Company name. These values should match what you entered for the When a record is created (V3) step.
8. Set Page to the ID of your page.
9. Click the Row ID field to display the Dynamic content pane, then select RowID.
10. To add the card to a Teams channel, select + New step.
11. Select the Actions tab from the Choose an operation step, then look for Post a card in a chat or channel.

12. Set all applicable fields, then click Save.

Work With Template 

1. From Power Automate, select Create.
2. Go to Starting from a template, then choose All templates.
3. Search for Business Central to see all available workflows.
4. Select the template to start working with the flow.

You can do the same from Business Central by opening a card, document, or list. From there, navigate to Automate -> Power Automate -> Create automated workflow. You can then select one of the available templates. 

Set Up Approval Workflow in Business Central

You can quickly set up an approval workflow within Business Central by using a template.

1. Go to the search box and type in Workflows.
2. Select the New Workflow from Template option to open the Workflow Templates page.
3. Choose a template and select OK. 

Use the following steps to build a workflow from scratch.

1. Go to the search box, type in Workflows, then select New.
2. Enter a name for your workflow in the Code field.
3. Select the New Workflow from Template option if you want to use a template to start building a new workflow.
4. Enter information about your workflow in the Description field.
5. Specify the workflow category in the Category field.
6. Enter the event required to start a workflow step in the When Event field.      
7. Go to the On Condition field and add all the conditions that must be met to trigger the When Event action.
8. Go to the Response field and add a response to occur for a workflow event.
9. Go to the Options for the Selected Response tab to add options for the workflow response.
10. You can define step positions for a workflow using the Increase Indent and Decrease Indent buttons to position an event name in the When field.
11. Turn the Enabled toggle on to start the workflow when the Entry Point step occurs.

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