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Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

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Hi Team

Please share your opinion about custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS  by Extension. When I checked custom approval for BC, I see 2 types of articles: one is by customization in extension and the other is setup a flow by PowerAutomate. What are the difference and pros/cons between these 2 solutions?

Especially I am questioning which one is suggested to configure an approval on the documents/journals that are not supported by BC standard templates, such as Transfer Order, Assembly Order, Sales/Purchase Price Master, Item Journal etc.

Any feedback is highly appreciated!

Thank you

Haruka

  • HarukaMatsumoto Profile Picture
    HarukaMatsumoto 122 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    Thank you Josh and Yun for sharing details. Now I am more clear and confident of the capability of custom WF options in BC.

  • Verified answer
    YUN ZHU Profile Picture
    YUN ZHU 74,036 Super User 2024 Season 2 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    Hi, This can be done by simply adding a field to the page you need to control the flow, for example on Item journal you can add an Approved field (boolean) on the line, if this field will not be True, it will not allow to post. These controls are done in BC (using AL Language).
    Also as Josh said, add new buttons, such as send approvals, etc. This can be associated with PowerAutomate.

    PS: Business Central 2022 wave 1 (BC20) new features: New Automate action group (Run Power Automate flows without leaving Business Central)

    https://yzhums.com/23383/

    Hope this will help.

    Thanks.

    ZHU

  • Suggested answer
    JAngle Profile Picture
    JAngle 33,159 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    Let’s say you push forwards with a document approval using PA. A user makes use of the standard approval buttons in BC for this. However, if they cancel an approval nothing happens in PA. Hence why this blog exists: joshanglesea.wordpress.com/.../

    One of your examples is Transfer Order. For that one I’d add buttons for approve/cancel but I’d have them call a PA flow I’d setup. Similar to the pattern in the blog where I use codeunit 50100 PA_CancelApproval. In AL create a json body and send it to PA. From there you can mix up how you want notifications to work. Yun has a nice blog on that for using Teams.

  • HarukaMatsumoto Profile Picture
    HarukaMatsumoto 122 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    yzhums  Thanks for sharing the tech detail! those articles are very helpful. Have you tried a workflow that is not supported by the standard templates (14 templates as of 2021/09/19 you mentioned in the article)? Mostly I consider a custom WF when my client request approval on other than the standard ones, such as Item journal, Transfer Order etc. Do you know that the current PowerAutomate is capable to create Approval on non-templated documents/journals?

  • HarukaMatsumoto Profile Picture
    HarukaMatsumoto 122 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    JAngle  Thanks for your feedback. You mentions that Sometimes a mix of the two is necessary, but what case it requires a mix? can you give me an example?

  • Verified answer
    YUN ZHU Profile Picture
    YUN ZHU 74,036 Super User 2024 Season 2 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    Hi, If it's just a one-step approval and there are no complicated conditions, I recommend using the standard Workflow.

    Power Automate makes flow more flexible.

    Below are some tests I did, hoping to give you some hints.

    https://yzhums.com/8295/

    https://yzhums.com/19698/

    https://yzhums.com/20111/

    https://yzhums.com/23383/

    Thanks.

    ZHU

  • Suggested answer
    JAngle Profile Picture
    JAngle 33,159 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    Sometimes a mix of the two is necessary. From a Microsoft perspective I think this carries some weight on the direction things are headed: docs.microsoft.com/.../action-group-run-chosen-instant-power-automate

  • Suggested answer
    Inge M. Bruvik Profile Picture
    Inge M. Bruvik 32,748 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at
    RE: Custom approval WF by PowerAutomate VS by Extension

    If you are running BC online there is no doubt in my mind that you should do as much as your approval flows as possible in Power Automate.

    I think that is the direction the product is moving and it is smart to adapt to that.

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