Streamlining Approvals in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central with Built-In Workflows

As your Microsoft Dynamics Business Central use matures, you likely have growing approval requirements for transactions. 

Approvers may need to greenlight purchases over certain amounts or review customer credit limits. Relying on manual email approvals is inefficient. 

Luckily, Business Central provides configurable approval workflows to automate multi-level sign-offs.

In this guide, we’ll walk through creating automated approval rules, assigning approvers, and adapting workflows to your processes. 

Once set up, you can ensure proper oversight without the hassle of constant manual approvals. Let’s dive in to simplifying sign-offs with nav Business Central workflows.

Overview of Approval Workflow Capabilities

Business Central’s built-in workflow engine lets you define approval rules at both the system and record level. Key capabilities include:

• Trigger automatic approval requests based on conditions like amount, vendor, or customer group
• Route to both specific users and generically to roles like “Sales Manager”
• Require sign-off by multiple approvers in sequential steps
• Set up approval rules for purchases, sales orders, payment journals, customer account changes, and more
• Customize approval emails and addcomments for approvers
• Halt documents from posting until approved
• View pending approvals and statuses in a central workflow inbox

While initially targeted for approvals, workflows can also automate other processes like sending order confirmations. We’ll focus on approvals here, but the framework is extensible.

Creating Approval Workflow Rules

Let’s walk through how to create an example approval rule for purchase orders. From the Business Central home screen:

1. Go to Workflows and select Workflow Rules.
2. Choose New to open the Workflow Rule Card.
3. Name the rule, like “Approve Large Purchases”.
4. In the Event Conditions section, select Release Purchase Document.
5. For Document Type, choose Order.
6. Set filter conditions like Amount greater than $5,000 and the Vendor Posting Group.
7. On the Workflow Response tab, select responses like Approval and steps like Approve.
8. Check Send Notification and customize the approval email body as needed.
9. On the Approval tab, assign specific users or Approver Type roles.
10. Set the number of approvers needed. Optionally add an escalation flow.
11. Activate and finish configuring other rule details.

Now purchases over $5,000 for selected vendors will route for approval automatically! Next we’ll look at managing and responding to workflow requests.

Handling Approval Requests and Responses

Once rules are created, approvers simply access pending approvals in their Business Central inbox:

• The inbox lists open approval requests and relevant document details.
• Approvers can preview the record and add comments.
• To respond, click Approve, Reject, or Delegate based on your review.
• Sales orders, payment journals, and other documents will release upon approval.

Requesters are notified of the decision and can see the workflow status on the record. Common actions like Delegate also automatically reroute the approval.

Best Practices for Business Central Approval Workflows

When designing approval rules and workflows in Business Central, keep these tips in mind:

Start small – Begin with high-value approvals like big purchases or new customers. Refine those flows before expanding to lower-risk areas.

Review default emails – Customize the default approval notification emails to match your tone and include key details about what needs approval.

Use escalations prudently – You can automatically escalate from one approver to the next after a set time. But overusing this feature is annoying.

Name rules intuitively – Call rules things like “Approve New Customers” rather than leaving the default names like “Workflow- “.

Avoid rule overlaps – Review conditions across rules to avoid contradictory or redundant approvals for the same records.

Integrate notifications – Use Power Automate to send approvers text messages or mobile alerts in addition to built-in emails.

Check statuses diligently – Make sure approvers are actively reviewing and responding in their workflow inboxes rather than letting requests pile up.

Extending Workflows with Power Automate and Power Apps

While Business Central’s workflow engine handles the basics well, you can augment it with Microsoft’s Power Platform too:

• Trigger flows in Power Automate when an approval request is assigned to call or text the approver.
• build custom approval Power Apps for tablet or mobile use vs. the standard inbox pages.
• Integrate with Teams, SharePoint, Planner, and other systems to extend record lifecycles.
• Create flows that trigger post approval, like sending order info to a supplier after signing a purchase order.

The options are vast. Business Central workflows plus Power Platform connections provide a robust approval automation foundation you can build on infinitely.

Conclusion

Manual approvals that rely on email and spreadsheets no longer cut it. By implementing automated Business Central workflows for common sign-offs, you gain enormous time savings and reduce human errors. 

Think through key approval scenarios, follow our tips to configure useful rules, and complement with Power Platform as needed. Your Finance and Operations workflows will reach a whole new level of speed and precision.