Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate Solutions series and of the larger Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

Every solution requires a publisher; if you don’t create one, then the solution uses the default publisher. My advice, very strongly so, is to create a solution publisher of your own.

A publisher serves several purposes.

Firstly, the solution publisher defines who developed the solution or app. The very first thing you should do when starting to work with solutions is to create a publisher.

Secondly, the solution publisher defines the prefix of the solution, which is used to avoid naming collisions. This allows solutions from different publishers to be installed into an environment without conflicts (or if none then at least with minimal conflicts).

While it is possible to change the solution publisher name and prefix, existing components cannot have their prefix changed; this means that changing the prefix of a solution means you will have components with two different prefixes in the solution.

Thirdly, the publisher of a solution owns the components within the solution. This means they can control what changes publishers of other solutions are allowed to make to the components of the solution.

In the next article of this series, I’ll step through creating a solution publisher.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago

Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate Solutions series and of the larger Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

As I briefly mentioned in the last post, where I introduced solutions, there are two types of solution:

  1. Unmanaged
  2. Managed

Unmanaged solutions are used in development environments while the flows are being created or maintained. Unmanaged solutions can be exported either as unmanaged or managed; it is recommended that exported unmanaged versions of your solutions be checked into your source control system.

When an unmanaged solution is deleted, only the solution container is deleted; all of the unmanaged flows and other components remain in place.

Managed solutions are used to deploy to any environment that isn’t a development environment; this includes QA, UAT and production environments.

As an ALM best practice, managed solutions should be generated by exporting an unmanaged solution as managed and considered a build artifact. Managed solutions can be serviced independently from other managed solutions in an environment.

Some of the key features of a managed solution are:

  • Managed solutions cannot be exported.
  • When a managed solution is deleted (uninstalled), all of the flows and other components within it are removed.
  • Components in a managed solution cannot be directly edited. To edit managed components, they must first be added to an unmanaged solution. When this is done, a dependency between the unmanaged customisations and the managed solution is created. When a dependency exists, the managed solution can’t be uninstalled until the dependency is removed.
  • Some managed components can’t be edited. To verify whether a component can be edited, view the Managed properties.

Further information on solutions in general and the types of solution are available on Microsoft Learn.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago

Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate Solutions series and of the larger Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

A solution is how you can implement ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) with Power Automate. A simple way of viewing a solution is that it is a container of related flows and other components (connections, environment variables, and so on) which are part of the same project, which makes it easy to find everything in one place.

Solutions can also be used to transfer their contents from one environment to another for deployment

An example of this would be an VAR or ISV, I work for a company which os both, creating a solution for a client on our internal systems, or in one of their sandbox environments, and then exporting the solution to then import into their QA environment for testing before then deploying into their production environment.

Solutions can, in very simple terms, be unmanaged, which means the components can be changed, or they can be managed, which means the components cannot be changed; a production environment should never contain an unmanaged solution. I’ll cover the types of solution (unmanaged and managed) in more detail in the next article of this series.

The table below outlines the actions with a solution which help support ALM:

Action Description
Create Author and export unmanaged solutions.
Update Create updates to a managed solution that are deployed to the parent managed solution. You can’t delete components with an update.
Upgrade Import the solution as an upgrade to an existing managed solution, which removes unused components and implements upgrade logic. Upgrades involve rolling up (merging) all patches to the solution into a new version of the solution. Solution upgrades will delete components that existed but are no longer included in the upgraded version. You can choose to upgrade immediately or to stage the upgrade so that you can do some additional actions prior to completing the upgrade.
Patch A patch contains only the changes for a parent managed solution, such as adding or editing components and assets. Use patches when making small updates (similar to a hotfix). When patches are imported, they’re layered on top of the parent solution. You can’t delete components with a patch.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago

Working with Power Automate Solutions: Series Index

Power AutomateAs I have a number of articles to write on Power Automate solutions, I’ve decided to break these out into a sub-series of the main Working with Power Automate series; they will appear as posts within both series in the order written, so you can easily access and read them from within either.

The series index, below, will automatically update if you’re reading the original article on azurecurve | Ramblings of an IT Professional. If you’re reading elsewhere, the original article, which will update automatically is here.

Working with Power Automate Solutions
What Are Solutions?
What Types of Solution Are There?
What is a Solution Publisher?
Create a Solution Publisher
Create a Solution
Publish a Solution
Version Numbering for Solutions
Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Exporting A Managed Solution
Importing A Managed Solution
Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component

Ocean Dynamics Rebrands to MADIC dynamics

MADIC dynamicsIn September of 2023, I started a new job with Ocean Dynamics as a Functional Consultant, working with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

A few years ago, the French owned MADIC Group bought Ocean Dynamics and, late last year, decided to rebrand the company from Ocean Dynamics to MADIC dynamics, in order to align with the general branding of all companies in the group.

Nothing has changed in how the company operates as a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central VAR (Value Added Reseller) and ISV (Independent Software Vendor), but I thought it was worth mentioning that this name change had happened in case anyone noticed me referring to MADIC dynamics and wondered if I’d moved companies again.

Working with Power Automate: Power Automate with Business Central

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

Most of my work is with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business central, which means most of my work with Power Automate is going to using it along side Business Central.

I have a series currently underway for posts specifically about Power Automate with Business Central, to which I will be regularly adding articles.

Continue reading “Working with Power Automate: Power Automate with Business Central”

Working with Power Automate: What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

In the previous article of this series, I wrote that there were three types of flow available with Power Automate, and it was the cloud flows which this series would be covering.

There are four types of cloud flow available:

Flow type Use case Automation target
Approval flows Create an automation that is triggered by a user requesting approval in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Approval of purchase or sales documents, or changes to master records such as accounts, vendors or items.
Automated flows Create an automation that is triggered by an event such as a record being created or changed. Connectors for cloud or on-premises services connect your accounts and enable them to talk to each other.
Instant flows Start an automation with a click of a button. You can automate repetitive tasks such as sending an email to a salesperson or customer from a customer card or sales quote. Wide range of tasks such as requesting an approval, an action in Teams or SharePoint.
Scheduled flows Schedule an automation such as weekly run of invoice reminders to customers. Tasks that need to be automated on a schedule.

As most of my work is with Business Central, the above table includes the approval flows which are not generally listed in the standard documentation on Power Automate.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago

Working with Power Automate: What Type of Flow Are Available?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

Power Automate is a service that can help you automate repetitive tasks to bring efficiencies to any organization; there are three types of flow in Power Automate:

  1. Cloud flows – used when you want your automation to be triggered either automatically, instantly, or via a schedule.
  2. Desktop flows – used to automate tasks on the web or the desktop.
  3. Business process flows used to provide a guide for people to get work done. They provide a streamlined user experience that leads people through the processes their organization has defined for interactions that need to be advanced to a conclusion of some kind.

In this series of articles, I am going to be focused on cloud flows. In the next article, I’ll take a look at the types of cloud flow which are available.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago

Working with Power Automate: What is Power Automate?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

Microsoft Power Automate is a cloud-based service which allows users to automate repetitive tasks and streamline business processes; it was originally known as Microsoft Flow.

It is part of the Microsoft Power Platform suite of products, which includes Power Apps and Power BI amongst others.

With Power Automate, users can create automated workflows that integrate with hundreds of different applications and services, including Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and many more including non-Microsoft applications or services.

Power Automate provides a low-code environment that enables users to build custom workflows without, as Microsoft claims, requiring extensive programming knowledge. However, I think that the people with programming experience will find the logic patterns required to build flows easier to manage than someone with no development experience.

The platform also offers a huge range of pre-built templates and connectors that make it easy to get started with automation; the screenshot, below, shows just a small amount of the available connectors.

Image showing only the first few available connectors

Over the course of this series of articles, I am going to take a look at the basics of Power Automate before moving onto how to build flows and such like.

More information on Power Automate is available here from Microsoft themselves.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago

Working with Power Automate: Series Index

Power AutomateI recently wrote a few articles on Power Automate as part of my In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Power Automate), how do I… series. Since then I have started doing some work with Power Automate creating approval flows, as well as some other flow types along side Business Central.

I’ve decided I’m going to write about some of what I am doing, but decided to split this out as a separate series of posts, as much of it is standard Power Automate functionality, rather than being specific to Business Central.

The series index, below, will automatically update if you’re reading the original article on azurecurve | Ramblings of an IT Professional. If you’re reading elsewhere, the original article, which will update is here.

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago