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Set Up Automated Workflows

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  • 5 minutes to read

As an admin, you can set up Business Central online so that users can create and run Power Automate flows from inside Business Central.

Note

The relevant users must have a valid account with Business Central and with Power Automate.

With Power Automate, you can create business flows directly in-house and rely on citizen developers​. You can use Power Automate to connect to various cloud services, such as the following list:​

  • Dataverse
  • Outlook
  • Teams
  • Approvals
  • Excel
  • SharePoint
  • Connectors to third party services

Add automated workflows

The Business Central connector for Power Platform and Azure Logic Apps becomes generally available in May 2022. As the admin, you can add flows that will run as automated workflows, or as manually triggered instant flows. If you're inside Business Central, then choose the Automate action, and then choose the Create a flow action. That sends you to powerautomate.microsoft.com in a new browser tab.

Alternatively, go directly to powerautomate.microsoft.com, and then create your flows.

Starting in April 2022, the updated Business Central connector for Power Automate​ gives you even more power. A flow can:

​

  • Pass context or parameters to Power Automate​

    • Environment name, such as PRODUCTION​
    • Company, such as Contoso​
    • Table ID, such as the table underlying the current page​
    • System ID, such as a specific record ID​
    • Page ID, meaning the page that the flow was triggered from
    • WebClientURL to open a specific page object

  • Ask the user for more input

To create workflows in Power Automate

  1. From inside Business Central, choose the Automate action, and then choose the Create a flow action.

    In Power Automate, you're automatically signed in, and the Business Central connector shows as the For a selected record (V3) trigger.

    The connector inside Power Automate

    You can limit the flow to a specific environment or company, but leave the Environment name and Company name fields blank to make the flow available in all environments or companies. The Page or table field specifies where you want to make the flow available from inside Business Central. For example, to add the new flow to the Automate menu on the Item Card page, set the Page or table field to 30.

    Tip

    Learn about the Business Central connector here.

  2. Add the relevant steps. For more information, see Create your first flow in the Power Automate content.

Tip

Remember to test your flow before you share it with other users. You can test it from inside Power Automate, and the connection to Business Central runs the various steps automatically. If the flow fails, you can troubleshoot the issue right there as illustrated in the following screenshot.

A failed step in a flow

Once you're ready, share the new flow with the organization. For more information, see Share a cloud flow.

Create workflows from the Power Automate landing page

You don't have to start from inside Business Central. Alternatively, in your browser, navigate to powerautomate.microsoft.com, and then sign in. In this case, you must choose the Create menu item in the navigation pane, and off you go. In this case, there are three ways to create a flow:

  • Start from template
  • Start from blank
  • Start from a connector

A template is a predefined flow that has been created for you. To use a template, select it and create a connection for each service the template uses. With the Start from blank and Start from a connector options, you can create a new flow completely from scratch.

In all three cases, search for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central connector, choose the relevant trigger or template, and off you go. Power Automate will prompt you to select an environment and company within your Business Central tenant, plus any conditions in your data that you want to listen for.

Note

The Business Central connector for Power Automate supports multiple production and sandbox environments. If you haven't created multiple production or sandbox environments, Production is the only available option that you can choose.

You've successfully connected to your Business Central data and are ready to begin building your flow. For more information, see Create your first flow in the Power Automate content.

Predefined triggers and templates from Microsoft

Microsoft provides predefined triggers, including the following list:

  • When a vendor approval is requested
  • When a general journal line approval is requested
  • When a record is deleted
  • When a record is changed
  • When a record is created
  • When a record is modified
  • When a general journal batch approval is requested
  • When a customer approval is requested
  • When an item approval is requested
  • When a purchase document approval is requested
  • When a sales document approval is requested

Microsoft also provides predefined templates, including the following list:

  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central sales order
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central sales quote
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central sales invoice
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central sales credit memo
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central customer
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central purchase order
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central purchase invoice
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central purchase credit memo
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central item
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vendor
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central general journal batch
  • Request approval for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central general journal lines

Power Automate shows a list of services that are used in the flow template. The user will be signed in to those services automatically. If Power Automate can't connect to a service, the user will be prompted to sign in to each of the relevant services. A green checkmark will appear next to each service once a connection has been successfully made. Choose the Continue action.

Power Automate will prompt you to select an environment and company within your Business Central tenant. Because each step in the flow is independent of the next, you may be required to define the environment and company multiple times when using a Business Central Power Automate template.

For more information, see the Power Automate Documentation.

Use the connector for other scenarios

The connector for Power Platform and Azure Logic Apps also supports other scenarios. For example, use the Find records (V3) action to create or edit table data for document headers or lines. You can also build a Power App that creates and posts times sheets, or a Power Automate flow that posts journal lines.

The Find records (V3) action finds records in the same way as filter expressions in OData URIs. but it does so behind the scenes, so all you have to do is to add the action as a step in your flow. For more information, see Find records (V3).

Telemetry

We recommend that our partners use the Business Central telemetry app in Power BI to keep track of workflows. It shows usage of connectors for tenants that you manage or own. the app also uses any app insights​ telemetry that​ you have set up in Business Central administration center.

Get the app at https://aka.ms/bctelemetryreport.

See also

Switch on Manual Instant Flows
Troubleshoot Your Business Central Automated Workflows
Use Business Central in an Automated Workflow