Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation: How to switch to a different Business Process Flow on the Project entity

Edited on:
February 5th 2018

Tested on:
Dynamics 365 version 8.2 and 9.0

Out of the box Dynamics 365 allows you to switch between Business Processes Flows on several of the default entities. The Project entity is a little bit different and the only visible option is abandoning the current process. While it is possible to edit the ribbon with a tool like the Ribbon Workbench, an alternative option is to create a simple workflow that changes the process.

Getting started I decided to create a Two Options field on my Project form to easily fire off the workflow that changes the Business Process Flow. If you have multiple different processes you could use an Option Set instead of a Two Options field. The idea in my example is to fire off the workflow when Yes is chosen on the Switch Process field.

The workflow I initially created in 9.0 was a background workflow as that's how I have it in a production environment in 8.2. For some reason the background workflow refused to change the process so I changed the workflow to run in real-time and the process then changed nicely. So at least in the current version of 9.0.0.2072 the workflow needs to be synchronous.

When setting the details of the workflow, remember to make the workflow run when your custom field changes. Create an if condition for the field you created followed by an Action SetProcess. The Entity dropdown will default to None (global). Don't be alarmed by this as this is normal behavior. Under Set Properties you will define the additional properties.

There are two values that need to be defined under Set Process:

1. NewProcess will define the Business Process Flow you want to use.
2. Target will define the entity the Business Process Flow will run under.

Where you're done setting and activating the workflow the Business Process Flow will change when you change the value on your custom field. I hope this small tip allows you to take more out of the Business Process Flows.

Remember that switching a BPF by using Switch Process doesn't change it for other users.

"If you change the BPF running in the record to another one via the switch process, it is now local to your view and does not change the BPF instance displayed to other users." Microsoft 2017.

Disclaimer: 
All my blog posts reflect my personal opinions and findings unless otherwise stated.