Tag Archives: Flow
Before You Buy Dynamics 365, SalesForce, Zoho, or P2xRM, Get a Process Flow Diagram
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a tool. So is SalesForce, Zoho, and P2xRM. A tool is only effective when it is used properly, according to directions, and for the purpose for which it was designed. But even the best tools will not make your work successful if you don’t follow a blueprint.
Whether you are considering Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM, SalesForce, Zoho, or
At P2 Automation, part of our
This diagram is a chart you can look at to see the workflow processes necessary for conducting business within your organization. The above graphic illustrates a complicated Process Flow Diagram that we recently designed during the initial stages of a Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation.
You can see precisely how this organization progresses from initial lead to customer-needs evaluation through implementation, training, and continuing support.
We do charge our customers for the
It is worth noting that most of the avoidable extra expenses in a project come from additions and change orders that could have been prevented by having a well thought out blueprint to follow. Making changes on a diagram is a lot easier and less costly than trying to make changes mid-implementation.
Before you proceed with your Dynamics 365, SalesForce, or Zoho project,
By P2 Automation,
Now visualize Business Process Flow in the form of Kanban Board and categorize rows for better data clarity in Dynamics 365 CRM & PowerApps
Growth of an organization depends upon the collective effort put together by all the departments; be it Sales, Marketing, Finance or Accounts. This effort includes pursuing each and every business process diligently and maintaining decorum while doing it. In order to pursue these processes, one needs to know about it and understand it. Once it is done, all you have to do is prioritize the work and follow the processes to the T.
Kanban Board – our latest visualization tool which provides Kanban like view of Dynamics 365 CRM records has recently released two new features which will help you achieve the above feat effortlessly. These new features are as follows:
- Business Process Flow
- Row Grouping
Business Process Flow (BPF)
This new feature will provide you simplistic view of business processes. It will organize and categorize the records of an entity as per the Business Process Flow stages of that entity in a Kanban View. For example, let’s say you have enabled BPF function for Opportunity entity. Now, the records will be organized in Kanban view according to the BPF associated with Opportunity entity in Dynamics 365 CRM and lanes would be categorized by the BPF stages i.e. Qualify – Develop – Propose – Close. You will get a clear view of how many of your records are in which stage of business process and accordingly you can come up with action plan to close all the pending deals.
Row Grouping
Initially, in Kanban Board records were categorized in lanes but now you can categorize the records in rows also. With this added feature, you can easily group records in a row based on any field value which will further help you to take stock of the situation, make plans and implement actions accordingly. For example, if you enable this feature for Case entity on the basis of Priority attribute, then you will get the Kanban View of all records in case entity grouped in row on the basis of priority – High, Normal and Low. Further, you can also drag and drop these records from one row to another and update its status. This grouping will give you clarity about the tasks that needs your immediate attention and help you to take actions accordingly.
You can explore these new features by downloading the solution from our
If you have any doubts or want to give suggestions about our product then feel free to mail us at crm@inogic.com
Until then – Stay safe, Stay healthy!
On-Demand Microsoft Flow for Dynamics 365 and PowerApps
Why this post?
This post is a segment of something I covered during my
If you attended the User Group Summit 2019 in Orlando, FL, and you purchased the video recordings add-on package, you can access the recording library now.
Now, on with the blog!
On-Demand Microsoft Flow – What is it?
If you have been using Dynamics 365 (CRM) for sometime, you will know about on-demand workflows. They are a way to allow users to run automation only when needed. They will not run through some sort of automated trigger.
So, like the on-demand workflows of old, we are now in the age of
First Things First – Dynamics 365 Settings
Prior to utilizing Microsoft Flows within Dynamics 365, you will need to enable this setting. New versions of Dynamics 365 since the October 2019 update will have Microsoft Flows already enabled.
To enable the setting, you will need to navigate to Settings>System Settings>Customizations. Next, click on “Yes” under “Enable Microsoft Flow”.
Second Things Second(?) – PowerApps Settings
The Power Platform Admin Center contains the Microsoft Flow setting as well. To enable the setting, you will need to navigate to
Microsoft Flow Menu Button
Once the settings are enabled, the Microsoft Flow menu button will be visible in various places. First, you will see the menu button above a view in Dynamics 365.
Second, you will see the menu button at the top of a record form in Dynamics 365.
Third, you will see the Microsoft Flow option in the classic Dynamics 365 Settings Menu.
Fourth, you will see the menu button at the top of a view in a model-driven PowerApp.
Fifth, you will see the menu button at the top of a record in a model-driven PowerApp.
Start Creating the On-Demand Microsoft Flow
Now, we are at the fun part of creating a Microsoft Flow! You can start your Microsoft Flow creation in a couple of ways. You can navigate to
The example today will be a simple one, and it’s only meant to demonstrate how to set up the on-demand Microsoft Flow.
On the Microsoft Flow site, click on “New” and select “Instant – from blank”.
Next comes a small tip you need to know. When the “Build an instant flow” window appears, the “When a record is selected” option is NOT visible.
Now, click on the “Skip” button at the bottom, and this will load the “Search connectors and triggers” screen.
Now comes the tip. Type “Common Data Service” in the search field, and you will now see the “When a record is selected” option.
Building the On-Demand Microsoft Flow
After the “When a record is selected” option is available, select it. Next, give your Microsoft Flow a name, and then select an Environment and an Entity. Also, be sure to rename the first step to something more meaningful.
The next step will update the Account Name on the Account record to uppercase.
- Rename the step
- Always put a meaningful name on your Flow steps.
- Select the Environment
- Use the “Current” option from the list. This will make exporting and importing Flows from environment to environment easier.
- Select the Entity
- Choose the correct entity to use in the action.
- Input the “Record Identifier”
- Select the “Account” option using the fields available from the prior step.
- Update the field
- This is where the Account Name will get updated to uppercase. The formula to use here is toUpper(triggerBody()?[‘entity’]?[‘name’]).
Microsoft Flow Tips
Before we continue, I wanted to provide some quick tips to help you build the expression used above. The expression portion of “triggerBody()?[‘entity’]?[‘name’]” is the code for the Account Name field. Now, let’s look into how you can obtain this.
First, let’s get the code for the Account Name field. Select the “Account Name” field from the list so that it appears in the field. Then click on the ellipsis button and choose “Peek code”.
Second, look in the code list and you will see the “name” code in the middle. Highlight the code to copy it, but DO NOT copy the “@” symbol and the “” quotes.
Third, you need to know how to input an Expression. Remove the “Account Name” field you just added, and click on the field in the action step. Next, choose the Expression tab on the pop-out box.
Fourth, type in the expression “toupper()” (without quotes) in the Expression field. Now, paste the code you copied from the second step above. The expression should look like the below screen shot.
Lastly, your Flow should look like this. Be sure to save the Flow now.
Running the On-Demand Microsoft Flow in Dynamics 365
The last step is to run the Flow in Dynamics 365, and in PowerApps, to see if it will work. After you have saved your Microsoft Flow, you should now see it within the Microsoft Flow menu button.
Next, click on the Flow and a “Run Flow” window will pop up. Click on the “Run Flow” button.
Once the Flow runs, you should refresh the list and you will see the “Consolidated Messenger” account name is now uppercase.
Running the On-Demand Microsoft Flow in PowerApps
Lastly, let’s look at this within a model-driven PowerApp.
After the Flow has been run, you will now see the Account Name is uppercase.
In Closing
You will need to keep in mind that the Flows need to be set up for each Environment. I had set up 2 Flows with one for the Dynamics 365 environment and one for the PowerApps environment.
Also, I would recommend you test your Flows against a Sandbox environment to ensure your Production environment is not harmed. You can export and then import Flows from one environment to another. Or, you can include Flows within a Solution ONLY within the PowerApps Maker site. You can’t do this in the Classic interface.
Hopefully, this blog helps you understand how to get on-demand Flows working for you. Until next time.
Refresh your Power BI dataset using Microsoft Flow
When speaking with customers about how they’ve used Power BI to improve collaborative business processes in their organization, we often hear that Power BI is used to summarize and visualize data that many end users are entering into tools like Excel files, SharePoint lists, or the Common Data Service. Business processes like managing a team’s budget requests, planning hiring activities, and evaluating marketing campaigns can all fit this pattern.
With these sorts of processes, users often expect Power BI reports to be updated as soon as they enter data in underlying systems. Power BI’s existing fixed refresh schedules are not sufficient to accomplish this and manually refreshing the Power BI dataset each time your access a report adds extra steps and creates confusion.
Today, we are making scheduling of refreshes much more flexible to improve how Power BI works in processes like the ones described above. Specifically, we have added a new Refresh a dataset action to the Power BI connector for Microsoft Flow. Now, you will be able to trigger dataset refreshes based on hundreds of Flow triggers. Whether your trigger is based on changes to items in your SharePoint list or updates to an Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint Online or a complex day and time schedule, there are dozens of use cases for this action.
Excited? Read on for a full tutorial of using the new refresh a dataset action to automate refreshing a Power BI report based on changes to a SharePoint list. Or, head on over to Flow to try it out for yourself.
Tutorial: Trigger dataset refresh for SharePoint lists or OneDrive Excel files with Flow and Power BI
In this tutorial, we will create a Flow that triggers a dataset refresh whenever items in a SharePoint list are updated.
Consider an example where you are the office administrator for Northwind Traders and you have been given the responsibility of ensuring the office is well stocked with office supplies, by monitoring inventory, placing new orders, and maintaining the overall budget for the team. You might have a report that looks something like this:
Furthermore, imagine that various employees in the company have access to a SharePoint list to report supplies that are getting low in their parts of the office:
To ensure you have an accurate picture of your supply requests and budget levels, any requests made on this SharePoint list should immediately reflect in the report. Instead of having to manually refresh your dataset each time you or someone else views the report or wait until the next scheduled refresh, you can easily automate this process using the new dataset refresh action in Flow.
To get started, navigate to Flow. Sign in, and then go to My Flows, then choose + New, and select + Automated – from blank from the drop-down. You should see the following:
Go ahead and give your Flow a name and select a SharePoint trigger depending on your use case. In this example, since we want the Flow to trigger when there’s a new row added to the list, choose When an item is created or modified.
Next, click on the + New step button, then enter ‘power bi’ in the search box. You should see a list of actions like below:
Then choose the new Refresh a dataset action.
Now, we’re at the last step of the Flow: Select the name of the workspace, then the name of the of the dataset that you want to trigger the refresh for. In our case, we have chosen Northwind Traders workspace and Northwind Budget Tracker dataset.
And that’s it! Select Save and ensure your Flow is turned on. Now, whenever there is a new supply request made in the SharePoint list, your budget tracker dataset should automatically refresh.
Going back to our budget tracking example for Northwind Traders, if there is a new request made to the Supplies Request SharePoint list that exceeds the budget:
Your flow will trigger and the dataset will automatically update. Considering this individual, placed an order for 500 4K monitors, you will certainly know when you’re out of budget next time you visit the Northwind Budget & Supplies tracker report:
Next steps
- Try out the feature! Head on over to Flow and use the new refresh action to automate your refreshes
- Existing limits on refreshes apply when running the refresh dataset action in Microsoft Flow. For datasets in shared capacity used by Power BI Pro, your refresh action is limited to eight refreshes per day (including refreshes executed via Scheduled Refresh). In Premium capacities, there is not limitation on the number of refreshes per day, although you are limited by the available resources in your capacity. If there are not sufficient resources, the refresh execution may be throttled until the load is reduced. If this throttling exceeds 1 hour, the refresh will fail.
- For more ideas on Flows, check out some of our existing Flow templates that allow you to add data from Flow into a Power BI dataset or use data alerts to trigger a Flow whenever the data changes. In the coming weeks, we’ll also be adding several Flow templates with the new refresh a dataset action, including the one featured in the tutorial above – so stay tuned for that.
- Have any feedback? Have an idea for another way that Power BI can connect to Flow? We’d love to hear it! Please leave comments below or in the Power BI community forums
Microsoft Flow versus CRM Workflows: What’s the Difference?

We’ve heard a lot about “One Microsoft” these past few years, a restructuring of Microsoft’s organizational structure that connects together all aspects of the company. By eliminating silos between departments and teams, Microsoft sought to increase communication and synergy across its entire organization.
It’s now offering organizations the tools they need to do the same: among them is Microsoft Flow, which lets you automate processes of all kinds and connect the various applications you use daily, including your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement or CRM solution, Microsoft Office 365 tools, and even third-party products.
What is Microsoft Flow?
In short, Microsoft Flow lets you create workflows, specific actions based on trigger events. These can be simple notifications when certain people send you an email, or multi-step workflows working connecting several applications. The core functionality of Flow is that it lets you connect all your various tools, including third-party mail services and social media apps.
Anyone with a Microsoft account can access Microsoft Flow, and it is also available with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (the exact level of functionality depends on your subscription). As a cloud-based tool, it can be easily accessed from the device of your choice.
How does Flow work?
Different types of flows are available: automated workflows are triggered by a specific event when it occurs, buttons can be used to trigger flows manually, and scheduled workflows run at a set time, recurring or not. Flow also provides templates to make the process as hassle-free as possible. In just a few clicks, you can pick the process you need, modify it if necessary, then put it in place. Flow also goes beyond CRM workflows as it can connect processes and applications that are outside the CRM, including third-party products.
From there the possibilities are endless: you can automatically save email attachments to Microsoft SharePoint, request approvals from managers, sync data between various applications, update your SQL databases, and have emails and notifications sent to yourself or other people in your organization, to name only a few examples. This creates a fully unified experience incorporating all tools used across your organization.
What’s the difference with native CRM workflows?
The basic concept behind Flow is the same as typical Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement workflows: both require a specified event to trigger the workflow, and if all conditions are met, a certain action will take place. This then begs the question: when should you be using Flow versus the native workflow capabilities of your CRM solution?
Even though Flow is expected to perform all actions that can be currently done with Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement workflows, in certain circumstances workflows might still be preferred. For example, you might opt for native CRM workflow capabilities if real-time actions are required: indeed, Flow processes are triggered every minute to every few minutes, depending on your subscription level. Workflows may also be easier to use if the process requires several “if” conditions to be implemented. For the time being, we recommend discussing with your Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement specialist which would be best for your organization based on your current and future vision.
With more improvements and integration possibilities continuously added to Flow, this tool opens up numerous possibilities for organizations looking to follow in Microsoft’s footsteps and connect their business into one coherent entity. But before you start re-writing all of your current CRM workflows in Flow, take the time to evaluate the process and the actions you require. It may make more sense to keep some in your Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement solution to ensure the greatest level of efficiency for your overall solution.
By JOVACO Solutions,
Brexit, Cash Flow, And The Supply Chain

Putting aside the impact Brexit has had on politics, culture, pride, and family, a burning question for businesses is: How will Brexit affect cash flow across critical supply chains? And if Brexit will have an impact on these cash flows, how do I mitigate against a shortfall in the lifeblood of my supply chain that directly impacts my ability to operate?
To explain why there is an impact at all, it’s important to look at how the overall supply chain works across Europe. The EU states’ free-trade agreement means goods can flow between the UK and the other European member states without customs and excise checks, thus there is an economic flow of commerce with a physical flow of goods and materials. The financial supply chain and the physical supply chain are therefore linked. For example, if you cannot receive delivery of your raw materials, then you cannot fulfill your customer orders. If you cannot fulfill your orders, then you cannot submit your invoice and, most importantly, you cannot get paid. Therefore, any disruption to the physical supply chain will quickly place greater demands on working capital requirements.
To understand the scale of the potential challenge, we can take the SAP Ariba Network as a benchmark. SAP Ariba’s B2B platform has buyers and suppliers trading between the UK and the rest of Europe, comprising of billions of pounds in commerce. This means the movement of goods, flowing logically (i.e., orders, invoices, and payments) through the network, the issuance of those invoices, and the resulting payment are dependent on goods and raw materials making it across the channel. A delay to this supply chain can not only have a knock-on effect on the efficiency of just-in-time, consumer demand but also on the ability to manage the receivables and payables of an organization’s cash flow.
So how do we manage this situation if it happens? There are options available, with financing a key underlying tool. Several choices are available:
- Cash-rich companies can help prop up the cash/liquidity shortfall in their supply chain by offering to pay suppliers early or even on purchase order (PO) issuance. Even partial payment at the pre-delivery stage may mean the difference between a key supplier managing through difficulty or facing real financial solvency issues.
- Acquire low-cost lending from banks via PO or invoice financing schemes. Even now, it may make sense to take advantage of buyer supply chain finance (SCF) schemes to build a stockpile of cash to manage through the leaner times ahead of Brexit.
- An alternative is the higher cost receivables financing (factoring) programs that a supplier can enter into with a bank.
- Use a card as a means of payment; although it’s even more expensive, it is a method of early payment against getting cash payment at the end of the invoice term.
- Focus on UK domestic goods for early payments. As there is no disruption between domestic buyers and suppliers, engage with your domestic supply chain to get either early payment agreements or low-cost early payment funding to help shore up the possibility of disrupted cash flows from the European supply chain.
Although all of these have a cost, the stark truth is Brexit (hard, soft, or otherwise) will have some impact on the supply chain and, therefore, create risks and costs to trading partners dependent on UK imports and exports to Europe. The real cost is hard to measure, but SAP Ariba is helping its customers by including options around the above key strategies. Organizations that can get ahead in this respect can secure their supply chains, form stronger partnerships, and outperform competitors by building a different type of partnership based on managed cash-flow risk and working capital needs.
By helping buyers and suppliers get better visibility of the supply chain, a business network can give assurances to buyers on their supplier’s orders, and to suppliers with low-cost funding to fill the shortfall. It also means buyers do not need to make knee-jerk reactions to shift risk onto suppliers without the foresight to see that jeopardizing liquidity in the supply chain actually jeopardizes your business. The old saying goes, “a chain is only as good as its weakest link,” and cash liquidity forms an important part of the strength in that linkage.
To learn more, register today for our Webinar on Managing the Impact of the International Supply Chain on Your Working Capital.
Document Flow Automation for Microsoft Dynamics 365

There are so many ways to mark progress in human history. In recent decades, we’ve made huge leaps in technology and capabilities that have re-defined modern life.
Xpertdoc vs. OOTB Document Generation in Dynamics 365
The evolution of document generation offers a similar picture. Progress isn’t measured only by a new product, but by automated capabilities that provide dynamic functionality, such as
Xpertdoc’s document flow automation solution is all about automating and executing every process needed for the creation, management and delivery of forms and documents from one spot. This is a powerful and competitive business advantage, not only for its efficiency, but also because it provides personalized customer service, which ultimately leads to better customer engagement and retention.
Modernize document-centric processes
Every day, organizations send out communications like flyers, proposals, quotes, intake forms, follow-ups, offers, and more. These items could contain reusable content and repeated details like legal clauses, pricing, product descriptions, scope of service, etc. What Xpertdoc offers is the ability to
A common document scenario for Sales
Let’s say you are a salesperson and want to
After the document is returned electronically, you can save it to a SharePoint site for general access. If someone requests a hard copy, it’s no problem to print one. And you can now define business rules and workflows for other documents, such as invoices and marketing communications.
To stay competitive, it’s time to go with the flow – Xpertdoc document flow automation that is.
To learn more about Xpertdoc for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Smart Flows component, visit