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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Customer experience | Sales, Customer Insights,... / Will Power Automate ul...
Customer experience | Sales, Customer Insights,...
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Will Power Automate ultimately replace plugin/custom workflow developers?

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Posted on by Community Member

Can anyone please explain why anyone would want to use plugins or custom workflows in Dynamics CRM when Power Automate is readily available? This article suggests that Power Automate provides less functionalities and is harder to debug. I suppose another detriment of Power Automate is that there is no source control and that it cannot be added to your solution. That being said, I still feel like it is far more desirable for organizations to have "citizen developers" make Power Automate flows so that they don't have to hire developers and go through the process of developing, testing, and maintaining plugin or custom workflow code.

  • GJones Profile Picture
    GJones 62 on at
    Will Power Automate ultimately replace plugin/custom workflow developers?
    My short list:
     
    1. Performance.  Flow can be very slow.
    2. Plug-Ins can be real time like workflows, without the limitations of what they can perform.  Can do pre-update checks to stop actions (like end date before start date).
    3. Licence Fees - Flow can cost a fortune.   I can't remember the last time I created a flow that didn't use a premium connector.
    4. Large Tasks.  If you have a task (like a renewal cycle) that only happens periodically, processing a large number of rows can easily start hitting MS product restrictions.  Your flows can be throttled, or turned off if they are "doing too much".   Flow is more suited to a steady flow of work, rather than large peaks.
     
    That's at least my experience.
  • Suggested answer
    Fubar Profile Picture
    Fubar 2,752 on at
    RE: Will Power Automate ultimately replace plugin/custom workflow developers?

    Just to correct one misconception in the original post - your power automate flows can be packaged in your solution files, you just need to add them from within the make.powerapps interface rather than the Classic interface.  In addition to packaging in a solution file with other components you can also export them in their own zip file  and import them in their own zip into another instance/environment (either from Flow or if in a Solution from the Default Solution, last time I looked you couldn't do this export/import it from other solutions)

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    Adrian Begovich Profile Picture
    Adrian Begovich 1,019 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at
    RE: Will Power Automate ultimately replace plugin/custom workflow developers?

    Hi Hapa1,

    Power Automate in its current state does not replace the need for plugin/custom workflow developers. It cannot do everything that a plugin/custom workflow can, and it is not as concise. You can find a list of advantages that plugins have over Power Automate flows in this article.

    Whether or not an organisation hires a citizen developer or a professional developer will depend on the organisation and their requirements. At the end of the day, Power Automate flows still require development, testing, and maintenance.

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