Problem Statement: We need to update the BPF and move to the next stage using Power Automate. The change to BPF should happen after the DocuSign Envelope is Sent. In our scenario, DocuSign and CRM are not integrated and so we will be using Power Automate to help us achieve the task. Solution: When DocuSign Envelope is sent, trigger Power Automate by using the DocuSign connector. The Envelope event here will be Sent. Since our DocuSign is not integrated with CRM, we cannot complete the update of Opportunity, until we get the Opportunity ID. As a workaround, we have hidden the Quote Id on the Proposal during generation of proposal. On trigger of Power Automate, we extract the Quote ID from the document. To know more about it, you can refer the blog https://www.cloudfronts.com/close-quote-when-docusign-envelope-is-completed-using-power-automate/ In this blog I have directly saved Opportunity ID in Compose Action. To update the business process flow, we need to get the BPF record as below: List the Business Process Flow for the Opportunity ID. Get the Stage Id to which you want to set your business process flow and store in a Compose action. To know how to get Stage Id, refer my blog https://www.cloudfronts.com/get-stage-id-of-business-process-flow-stages/ Store the path traversed by the Opportunity in Compose. You can use the traversed path directly also. Update the BPF record Set the Active Stage and traversed path. Active Stage= processstages(ID of stage you want to set as active) Traversed Path= concat(existing traversed path,’,’,stage id)

Introduction: Using Power Automate we can format date in various formats, however we had a requirement to populate date in document in  June 10,2020  format. Solution: Here is how to achieve the same. In this example I am formatting the System date which is obtained from function utcnow(). formatDateTime(utcNow(),’MMMM dd, yyyy’) Output: If you do not need to display the full Month in words, you can write “MMM” instead of “MMMM” and get the below output.

Introduction: We are aware of dynamics 365 CRM’s Document template functionality. However document templates do not need XML Mapping which limit the fields that we can populate in template. SO here’s a way to use Power Automate and SharePoint and implement the Document template functionality. Steps: Create Word Template with content controls and Upload to SharePoint. Enable the Developer tab and click on Design Mode. From the available controls add the Content controls, repeating controls(For data table). Click on properties and add title, tag. Once done save the word and upload to SharePoint. In you Power Automate (You can trigger the power automate as per your requirements). Action 1: Get File Content. Site Address: your SharePoint link File Identifier: Your uploaded document template. Action2: Populate a Microsoft Word Template. Location: SharePoint Location. Document Library: Share Point Site Contents. File: Your uploaded document template. Content control: the content controls from your template will be visible here. Action 3: Create file. File Name: Should end with .docx File Content: will be the populated word template. Conclusion: Thus when your power automate runs, a Document will be created in SharePoint from the document template. It is easy to populate a Content control, to know about how to populate a repeating control- check my blog. Populate Repeating Control of Word Template using Power Automate.

Introduction: Power Automate makes it easy to populate word template, we can have table (Repeating control) that can be populated using Power Automate, For information on how to create and Populate Word Template- Refer my Blog: Create and Populate Word Template Using Power Automate Steps: Create a table and add content controls for each cell. After adding content controls, select the entire row and add repeating control. In Power Automate initialize an array Variable, Use append to array action and create the table you wish to populate in the Word Template. Note: Value for the array variable will be {“title in content control properties” : “actual value”} In Action populate the word template, you will see repeating control, Change the form to accept an array input, by clicking on the symbol highlighted in below screenshot. Now Add your array as input in populate word template action. Conclusion: You can populate any of your CRM Data to Word Template by using Power Automate.

Introduction: I had a requirement where I needed to compare the Active Stage of Business Process Flow to perform an action of the Stage was Develop The Flow trigger body provided the active stage id which I had to compare with Stage id of Develop. However, I did not know the stage id, so I used the below API to get the stage details. Solution: API Query- https://CRMURL.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.0/processstages?$select=stagename&$filter=processid/workflowid eq BPFGuid Example: Get the GUID of  Business Process Flow whose stage details you need. Replace below Query with Your CRM URL and BPF GUID. https://Test130.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.0/processstages?$select=stagename&$filter=processid/workflowid eq 9128E4D1-1234-4852-ABD0-A63A6ECA5C5D Output:

Introduction: We recently noticed the Power Automate Trigger body showing a date prior to the date selected in CRM. This behavior was not expected because the field was set to Date Only and so the time zone would not cause this problem. However, after discussion we found that : The behavior of field was set to User Local and so when this field will be set it will be seen as per the user time zone settings as Power Automate processes the Date in UTC Format. All existing date/time fields in CRM are set as User Local by default. Given below are the two approaches by which we can get the proper date in Power Automate. Approach 1: Create a new field in CRM with Format and Behavior set to Date Only. The date for this field will be correctly captured by trigger in power automate. Approach 2: Create a formula in Power Automate to add 1 day to the date coming from CRM, using add days expression. Adddays(parameter from which date is coming from, number of days to add, format of date[optional]) Eg: addDays(triggerBody()?[‘Fieldnamexyz’],1) Conclusion : The above workaround can help rectify the Date in Power Automate.

Introduction: Using Common data service(Current environment) connector to create a record, if we are trying to populate lookup field we might get the below error message. Solution: When you use the current environment connector. To populate a look up field, we need to specify the plural name of the entity and then the record GUID. Eg: opportunities(GUID). If we use the below approach, we will get the error Resource not found for the segment. Use the below method to resolve the same.

Introduction: Searching Power Automate connectors for Send Email Step available in Workflow? Follow the below steps to send Email from Power Automate . 1)Go to Common Data Service(Current Environment)Connector. Select Create a new record, Entity: Email Messages Add Activity Party Attributes, Email Body, Subject and set regarding. 2) Once Draft Email is ready, add Action Perform a bound action from Common Data Service( Current Environment)Connector. Entity name – Email Message Action name – Send Email Item ID – This will be the GUID (unique ID) of the record to send. (Note: Here, we will provide the Email message ID of the Draft email created in Step 1. IssueSend – This is a No/Yes option list. Set this to “yes” for the email to send. Conclusion: We can replicate the Send Email functionality of Workflows in Power Automate easily.

While creating a new Background Workflow, we all have noticed the below message. Microsoft Flow( Power Automate) is a growing platform with a variety of new connectors getting added overtime. However, we all are aware that Workflows have a great capability when it came to including steps like Call Plugins, Workflow Assembly. And thus, when we think of replacing our existing background Workflows with Microsoft Flows, we might worry about losing our existing Plugin Customizations used in Workflow. So, here are a few easy steps to use all the existing Workflow steps in your Power Automate( Microsoft flow). Step 1: Create an Action. Lets take an Example: We had a workflow which triggered on When a Note was created and had the below steps: The first step Notes Collection, was Workflow assembly that was customized to send history all  notes in a Tabular Format, and was something we wanted to use in Power Automate and so we created the below Action. The Action has the exact same steps as that of the Workflow. Step 2: Create a Flow with a trigger same as  your Workflow trigger and call the action. Once we have created the Action, our goal is to deactivate the Workflow, and call the Action from our power Automate. To do so, we will add the below step: This step is in the Common Data Service(current environment) Connector. Since we have action that belongs to Entity Note, we will create bound action. If we have a global action, which needs no identifier we can add the step- Perform an unbound Action. Conclusion: Any Workflow that runs in background and uses Plugins or steps that you would prefer not to change but to use them directly in your Power Automate, then here’s an easy way.

Problem Statement: Data Cleansing is always considered as a tedious task. When we have a look at our CRM systems we might find data full of duplicates, test records or blank records. A well defined approach comes in handy to systematically clean up your data. Below is the approach to clean Account data in dynamics CRM. Approach: We need to follow the below steps for cleansing the data. Step 1: Segregate the data Download the accounts data and segregate it in below sheets. Blanks Test Records Duplicates Step 2: Deactivate the test and blank records. These records are not of any use and so the right thing to do is deactivate this records. Step 3: Analyze the Duplicates For the duplicates, we will use the OOB Merge Functionality of CRM. Understanding Merge Functionality in CRM: D365 CRM has OOB functionality to merge two records. We can select the records we want to merge and then click on Merge button on the ribbon. Once we click on merge a pop up will ask us to choose the master record. The master record is the one that will remain active in the system which the other record will automatically become inactive. All the child records of this record will be moved to the Master record, also the inactive record will have a notification saying ” Merged with XYZ record”. We need to analyze our data on the below points, so that we choose the right Master record: A) Important Fields – For any records, fields like ID, Address, Name might hold significance and a record that has these fields has greater chances of being the Master record. B) Related Records- If we take an example of Account entity, it has related opportunities, contacts, projects, cases; the account record which has more no of related records can be the master records. With an Advanced Find we can get the count of related records. Analyzing the data on above points will help us decide the correct master record. Step 4: Deactivate/ Merge the records Once analysis is done, we have a better clarity for deciding the records to be merged or deactivated. Conclusion: Clean and precise data makes working with systems fast and easy. The above systematic approach for data clean up proves a boon when we have large amount of data.