An instant cloud flow is triggered with the click of a button. Users can kick off an instant cloud flow on their mobile device or via their desktop. These are great automations to use when there are repetitive tasks. Good use cases include: requesting approval, creating tasks or actions in Teams or SharePoint, automating document creation and more.
If you’re coming from Dynamics 365 CE / CRM, an instant cloud flow is used like any on-demand workflow. Anytime you had a user manually trigger a workflow, you can now create an instant cloud flow for the same thing.
On-demand classic workflows still have their place! I am not suggesting that you go re-write your existing on-demand workflows. But if you have a use case where you want a user to trigger automation manually, this is a really neat thing to explore. You’ll be able to extend the reach too – with Power Automate the options are well beyond the standard confines of traditional CRM.
Getting Started at make.powerapps.com
- In Power Apps, open a solution file (or add a new one).
- At the top, click +New and select Cloud flow to add a new Cloud Flow to your solution.
Instant Cloud Flow Trigger: Dataverse (Legacy)
Very Important Note: Currently, the trigger you need to use to add this to Dynamics 365 is in the Dataverse (Legacy) connector and is NOT in the Dataverse connector. We expect this to change and this blog will be updated when it is.
May 12, 2021
In your new Cloud flow, search for Dataverse and a list of triggers will appear below. To run it on-demand (like we used to with classic on-demand workflows), select the When a row is selected trigger, highlighted below.
You may need to authenticate into the Dataverse connector if this is your first time using this. Afterwards, you will need to select the environment and table (entity) for the flow:
Click New Step to add your next step:
Now, you have come to the Choose an operation box. This is where you build out your flow – add conditional branches (using the Control trigger), actions and more. In this box, you will see some filters:
- All: shows all possible triggers and actions.
- Built-in: shows all built-in connectors (like Control, AI Builder, Date Time and more).
- Standard: Free connectors to use.
- Premium: Connectors that require additional licensing to use.
- Custom: Any custom connectors in your environment available to use.
At this point, you will add any and all actions using the Dataverse connector(s) and beyond!
Your Users: How to trigger an instant cloud flow in Dynamics 365
After you create the flow, your users will access it within their model-driven app of Dynamics 365. Here is where they can find it:
1. From the Opportunity (or whichever table you built your flow for), click the ellipses then select Flow.
2. In the Flow menu, select the instant cloud flow you built in the prior steps:
A Note About Dynamics 365 Security Roles
If you’re getting reports of your instant cloud flow failing, take a look at the security role(s) of your users in Dynamics 365. Ensure that Run Flows privileges is turned on – you can find this on the Customization tab under Miscellaneous Privileges.
