Dynamics 365 CRM + PowerApps Developer Course – Part 3

What is Automation in Dynamics 365 CRM?

Automation allows developers to automate complex and repetitive business processes so that less manual intervention is required to execute them.

As part of customizing Dynamics 365 CRM, developers can implement automation. And much of the automation can be implemented using UI tools, we call them as Out-of-the-box (OOB) tools.

Dynamics 365 CRM application suite provides set of OOB based tools to implement automation such as workflows, business process, actions and business rules.

Examples:

•Sending email notification on field service appointment creation.

•Assigning lead to sales reps based on their location, product.

•Automating lead qualification

•Assigning cases to agents based on the severity of the application.

In this lecture, you will learn what is a Process and how we can utilize processes for automating business process in Dynamics 365 CRM/CE.

What is a process?

A process is an automated workflow consisting of steps which will help business users to automate their business processes.

Example: A process to which send a mail to the supervisor when a case is pending to resolve for more than 2 days.

A process is automated task that perform a repetitive task or business process. Processes in Dynamics 365 CRM can be automated as well as interactive (user-initiated).

Workflows and actions are automated while Dialogs and Business Process Flows are interactive.

How to develop Processes?

Processes in Dynamics 365 CRM can be implemented using OOB tools as well as code.

In this course we will talking about implementing automation using OOB tools such a workflows, business process flows, actions and business rules.

And in thee second course 'Dynamics 365 CRM + PowerApps developer course', we will be discussing about developing processes using code such as plugins and custom workflow activities.

What processes are made of?

A Dynamics 365 CRM process is based on the Windows Workflow Foundation programming model.

You can develop workflows outside of Dynamics 365 CRM using XAML and import to CRM and other workflow supported applications.

Processes are part of OOB customization capabilities of Dynamics CRM which can be created by normal business users.

We talked about processes in detail in the last chapter, and here we are talking about the types of processes.

Process Categories

Processes in Dynamics 365 CE is broadly classified into 4. Where Dialogs are obsolete.

1.Workflows

2.Dialog

3.Actions

4.Business Process Flow(BPF)

Note: Dialogs are still available in Dynamics 365 CRM application to perform but there are obsolete. They would be eventually removed from Dynamics 365 CRM application.

1. Workflows:

Workflows are tools which allow to automate your business processes. Workflows are the mostly used tool to develop automation in Dynamics 365 CRM. Workflows and dialogs are present in Dynamics 365 since Dynamics CRM as the two basic forms of automation tools available.

Using workflows, normal business users can implement business logic without writing code.

2. Dialogs:

Used to create an interactive step-by-step data entry form that requires user input to start and run to completion.

A wizard-like interface is presented so you can make appropriate selections or enter data as you progress.

3. Business Process Flows (BPFs):

A Business Process Flow is a tool to help guide users through a business process.

A business process flow is composed of Stages, and within each stage there are Steps to complete which are fields.

4. Actions:

Using actions, developers can create  custom events in Dynamics 365 CE application.  In Dynamics 365, we have a set of pre-defined events for each entity. These events are not customizable.

Additional events can be created using Actions. We can create more events or we can combine existing events.

What we have learned so far in this section.

• Automation basics

• Process

• Process Types

• Familiarizes with process types

What is a Workflow in Dynamics 365?

Workflows are UI based tools which allows to automate business processes. Workflows often act as an alternative to custom plug-ins.

Normal business users can implement business logic without writing code. When compared to Plugins only a limited number of operations can be done using Workflows.

Applications of Workflows:

• Trigger the logic when condition(s) is met.

• Changes in the business logic must be performed by people who are not developers.

• You need the ability to let users apply your logic run manually.

Configuring Workflows:

When configuring a workflow in Dynamics 365 CRM, we have 4 areas to configure.

1.When to start them?

2.Should they run as a real-time workflow or a background workflow?

3.What actions should they perform?

4.Under what conditions should actions be performed?

Workflow Properties:

A Workflow consist of a set of properties and series of steps and rules that serve to automate a business process.

• Process Name

• Activate As: Process / Template

• Entity:

• Category

Triggering Criteria:

Start When (Triggering Criteria):

• Record is Created

• Record Status Changes

• Record is Assigned

• Record field change

• Record is Assigned etc.

Scope of Workflow

The scope of workflow defines at what level in the CRM organization the workflow should be triggered.

• Organization

• Parent-child BU

• Business Unit

• User

Available to run ( modes of running workflow)

• Run in the background

• As on-demand process

• As a child process

Elements Of workflows:

Every workflow in Dynamics 365 CRM has a set of elements and those are given below:

• Stages

• Conditional Operators

• Wait statement

• Tasks ( CRM tasks)

Conditional Operators:

Check Condition(IF): a check condition is made up by an if statement, and a then statement.

Conditional Branch( ELSE IF) : can only be created directly after a Check Condition. Functions as an Otherwise, If, Then statement.

Default Action ( ELSE) : used to run a series of steps if the Check Condition and Conditional Branch fail.

Workflow steps:

Stage: a stage is used to split a workflow into manageable sections.

Wait: waits until a condition is met, then performs desired step.

Parallel Wait Branch: a wait condition that runs parallel to the original workflow.

CRM Tasks:

Create Record: creates an entity record (or a related entity record) in selected entity.

Update Record: updates selected entity record (or related entity record)

Assign Record: assigns selected entity record (or a related entity record) to a user or a team.

Delete Record: Delete a specific record.

Send E-mail: sends an e-mail via new e-mail creation or via e-mail template.

Start Child Workflow: starts a Child Workflow. Usually to perform a task outside the original selected entity.

Change Status: changes status field of selected entity record.

Stop Workflow: stops the workflow with a status of cancelled or completed.

Types of Workflows:

In Dynamics 365 CE you can create two types of Workflows depends on how they run:

1. Asynchronous Workflows

2. Synchronous Workflows

1.Asynchronous Workflows ( Background workflows).

Runs in the background when triggered.

Triggers few moments ( or even minutes) after the event occurred.

Synchronous Workflows

• Real-time workflows

• Triggers right after an event Is occurred.

• Almost equivalent to Plugins

Synchronous Vs Asynchronous Workflows

• Async workflow wont interrupt the main business process flow.

• Sync workflows execute as part of the main UI thread.

• With Async workflow, latest information wont be reflected on the UI after execution. Sync workflow does this.

• Sync workflow impact UI performance.

In this lecture you will learn about Asynchronous workflows and how Asynchronous workflows can be used to automate processes.

In this lecture, you will learn and create an asynchronous workflow from scratch.

In this lecture, we will trigger the asynchronous workflow that we created in the previous chapter. We run the workflow and see the result.

In this lecture, you will learn about the basics of synchronous workflows in Dynamics 365 CRM application.

In this lecture, you will learn how to create a synchronous workflow and the steps involved. Also you will learn the process of creating synchronous workflows.

In this lecture, you will learn about On-demand workflows and how to configure a workflow as on-demand one. Also you will learn about how to run on-demand workflows.

In this lecture, you will learn about child workflow and how to configure a workflow as child workflow. You will also learn how to create and call child workflows.

In this lecture, you will learn how to check the status of workflows in different ways. You will learn checking the status of running workflows from the workflow, from individual records and from system jobs.

In this lecture, you will learn about business rules and how we can use business rules to implement logic for Dynamics 365 CRM forms.

In this lecture, you will learn about how to access business rules in Dynamics 365 CRM.

In this lecture, you will learn about the different components of business rules and to configure these components.

In this lecture, you will learn about the scope of business rules in Dynamics 365 CRM.

In this lecture, you will learn about how to work with business rules and the different operations you can do with business rules.

In this lecture, you will learn about how to create business rules from scratch.

What is a Business Process Flow:

A Business Process Flow is a UI tool to help guide your users through a business process in Dynamics 365 CRM (Customer Engagement). It is one of OOB tools available to perform automation.

Business process flows provide a guide for people to get work done.

Example: Create a business Process Flow (BPF) so that everyone in customer service department handle customer issues in the same fashion.

Benefits of Business Process Flows:

• Can guide users through the standard business process in the organization.

• Cut down time spend for training.

• Standardization of processes in the entire organization.

• More productivity.

Enable Business Process Flows:

By default BPFs are enabled only for core entities - Accounts, Leads, Opportunities, Cases etc. For other entities BPFs wouldn't be enabled and you have to enabled them.

Admin users can enabled/disable BPFs for Entities. Once enabled, Admin and power users can create multiple BPFs for the entity.

To enable BPF for an entity

• Navigate to Customization -> Entities -> Process.

• Check Business Process Flows option.

Components of Business Process flows:

Each BPFs can have the following  components ,and developers can add more components from the 'components tray' from the BPF tray:

• Stages

• Data Fields

• Components

• Workflows

• Actions

• Flows

In the business process flow heading, a user can see which stage they are at in the process.

You can also see which steps they need to complete before they proceed in the process.

Each stage can be linked to a sales stage category selected from the Category Option Set.

Business users can perform the following tasks on the existing business process flows:

1. Switch processes

2. Abandon and

3. Reactivate Processes

Switching processes.

Users can switch processes if they do not wish to use the default business process flow. To switch the process navigate to Processes -> Switch Process.

Then choose from the available business process flows.

Abandon and Reactive BPFs

If you don’t have to trigger a BPF temporarily you can abandon it.

Reactivate the process when required.

Editing/Customizing a Business Process Flow:

In Dynamics 365 CRM application, Developers and system admins can customize BPFs using the UI. Developers can use the Business process flow (BPF) designer would help for the same.

What can be customized on a Business Process Flow:

• You can add/change stages

• Add/change data fields

• Add Workflow

• Add Action Step

• Workflows/ Action steps.

In this lecture, you will learn how to configure a business process flow to use for your business requirements.

In this lecture, you will learn about creating a business process flow from scratch step by step.

In this lecture, you will learn about branching in business process flows (BPFs), and branching can be used effectively while implementing BPFs for your business requirements.

In this lecture, you will learn about the limitations of business process flows (BPFs) in Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM/CE.

In this lecture, you will have the summary for the section where we discussed about Business Process Flows and how developers can use BPFs for automation in Dynamics 365 CRM.