Workflows in MS CRM

By

Workflows automate business processes within Dynamics 365 CRM.

Trigger Points:

  • Create
  • Update
  • Delete

Execute As:

  • User or Workflow Owner

Scope:

  • Organization (Org) – triggers for all records (commonly used in projects)
  • User – triggers only if the record is owned by the user performing the action
  • Business Unit (BU) – triggers if the record’s owning BU matches the user’s BU
  • Parent-Child BU – triggers if the record’s owning BU falls under the user’s BU hierarchy

Types:

  • Synchronous (Real-time): Executes immediately; can throw error messages on the UI.
  • Asynchronous (Background): Runs in the background without blocking the user interface.

On-Demand Workflow:

  • If enabled, the user can manually trigger the workflow for a specific record.

Common Use Cases:

  • Create or update records based on certain conditions
  • Send emails
  • Call custom APIs
  • Throw error messages based on conditions

Limitations:

  • Cannot handle looping scenarios (e.g., retrieving multiple records and performing actions on them)
  • Cannot be scheduled to run at a specific time
  • Cannot use external connectors like SharePoint or Outlook


Asynchronous / Background Workflow -

Synchronous / Real Time Workflow 


Difference between Power Automate vs Workflow vs Custom Workflow


Feature Power Automate Workflow (Classic CRM) Custom Workflow Activity
Execution Cloud-based, can connect to external apps Runs inside Dynamics CRM Runs inside Dynamics CRM with custom code logic
Triggers Wide variety: record events, schedule, manual, external connectors Only Create, Update, Delete Same as Workflow, but logic is custom-coded
Actions Can perform actions across Dynamics 365 and external services (SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, etc.) Limited to CRM actions Limited to CRM actions, but allows complex operations via code
Real-Time vs Background Can choose either real-time or scheduled/cloud flows Synchronous (Real-time) or Asynchronous (background) Depends on implementation; can be triggered in workflows or plugins
Scheduling Supports scheduling and recurring flows Not supported Not supported natively
Complex Logic Supports loops, conditions, switch, error handling, scopes Limited; cannot handle loops or complex branching Full flexibility via C# code
Use Cases Cross-system automation, modern integrations, complex business processes Simple CRM automation: notifications, field updates, basic record operations Custom business logic not achievable with standard workflows

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accessing Fields on QuickView Form through javaScript

By
QuickView form is template to view information about related entity record within a form for another entity record. Sometimes you need to access data from QuickView form for performing business logic. In order to get QuickView form in js you can use following syntax :  Syntax :  formContext.ui.quickForms.get(arg); Following is the example how you can access field from QuickView Form :  getAttributeValueFromQuickViewForm: function(executionContext) { var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext(); var quickViewControl = formContext.ui.quickForms.get("quickFormName"); if (quickViewControl != undefined) { if (quickViewControl.isLoaded()) { //not necessary to use this condition quickViewControl.getControl("new_name").getAttribute().setValue("Abhishek Dhandare"); //to get value used below syntax quickViewControl.getControl("new_type").getAttribute().getValue(); //perform your ...
Read more

Custom Subgrid Using HTML Web resource

By
Sometimes you will get requirement to show records in subgrid without any proper relationship. In such scenario you can go with custom subgrid and show all those related records in HTML table that won't be possible with OOB way of ms crm Below is the sample code for HTML web resource for creating sample custom subgrid Here we are showing all accounts in Case entity where matching criteria is Case Number = Account number(that too without any relationship between Case and account) html><head><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta><meta...
Read more

Check Dirty Fields or Forms in Dynamics 365

By
 In Dynamics 365, sometimes there is requirement to check if field value/form is changed or not. In that case we can use getIsDirty Client API reference which will return value true if field or form value is changed. Syntax: formContext.data.entitygetIsDirty();   //Form is dirty formContext.data.entity.attributes.get(arg).getIsDirty();  //field is Dirty To get the list of attributes that have been modified in this session, you can check the IsDirty of the attribute :  getListOfDirtyAttributesOnForm: function(executionContext) { var formContext = executionContext.getFormContext(); var AccountAttribute = formContext.data.entity.attributes.get(); if (AccountAttribute != null) { for (var i in AccountAttribute) { if (AccountAttribute[i].getIsDirty()) { listOfAttributes += AccountAttribute[0].getName() + ", "; } } } }
Read more