Setting Up Workflows

You can set up and use workflows that connect business-process tasks performed by different users. System tasks, such as automatic posting, can be included as steps in workflows, preceded or followed by user tasks. Requesting and granting approval to create new records are typical workflow steps. For more information, see Using Workflows.

Before you begin to use workflows, you must set up workflow users and approval users, specify how users receive notifications about workflow steps, and then create the workflows, potentially preceded by code customization.

On the Workflow page, you create a workflow by listing the involved steps on the lines. Each step consists of a workflow event, moderated by event conditions, and a workflow response, moderated by response options. You define workflow steps by filling fields on workflow lines from fixed lists of event and response values representing scenarios that are supported by the application code.

If a business scenario requires a workflow event or response that is not supported, a Microsoft partner must implement them by customizing the application code. For more information, see Walkthrough: Implementing New Workflow Events and Responses in the developer and IT-pro help.

The following table describes a sequence of tasks, with links to the topics that describe them.

To	See
Set up workflow users and user groups.	Set Up Workflow Users
Set up workflow users who take part in approval workflows.	Set Up Approval Users
Specify how workflow users are notified of workflow steps, including approval requests.	Setting Up Workflow Notifications
Specify if users are notified by email or note and how often notifications are sent.	Specify When and How to Receive Notifications
Customize the content of the email notification by modifying report 1320, Notification Email.	Create and Modify Custom Report Layouts
Set up an SMTP server to enable email communication in and out of Business Central	Set up Email
Specify the different steps of a workflow by connection workflow events with workflow responses.	Create Workflows
Use workflow templates to create new workflows.	Create Workflows from Workflow Templates
Share workflows with other Business Central databases.	Export and Import Workflows
Learn how to set up a workflow for approving sales documents by following an end-to-end procedure.	Walkthrough: Setting Up and Using a Purchase Approval Workflow
Add support for a business scenario that requires new workflow events or responses by customizing the application code.	Walkthrough: Implementing New Workflow Events and Responses

Example of an Approval Workflow

This video shows how to set up an workflow that will require someone to request someone else's approval before they can change information about an existing customer, or create a new customer.

Setting Up Workflows

Example of an Approval Workflow

See Also