Exporting and Importing a Workflow in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
Posted on: April 17, 2018 | By: Jarrod Kraemer | Microsoft Dynamics AX/365
Authored by: Dave Occhionero
Have you ever encountered an experience where you spent a considerable amount of time creating a workflow in D365? Maybe you were testing out a new purchase order approval process, and had to create a detailed header and intricate line workflow. The purchase order line workflow may have incorporated several conditional decisions, leveraged spending limits, and utilized built in automatic approvals. Unfortunately, after all of the sweat equity invested in setup and testing along the way, you realize your 365 instance has over 20 legal entities, and each one of them wants this exact workflow. Maybe worse you receive an email stating that the testing environment will be refreshed with data from production. Fear not, importing & exporting a workflow is a rather simple process that can be overlooked at times, but it is a feature that can save users from rework down the road.
Exporting a Workflow
Exporting a workflow can occur in any module that allows workflow. In my example I will be using the purchasing module.
Navigate to your purchasing workflow, by clicking Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Procurement and sourcing workflows. Find and select your workflow, and click the Manage > Versions button
Once clicked, select the version you want and click the Export button. As you can see from my example below, I had many versions spread and tested over a couple of days before my final draft.
Export the file to a location and you have completed the workflow export.
To Import a workflow, navigate to a legal entity or an environment that does not contain the previously exported workflow. Once there, click the Manage > Import button.
Note: Before importing, I recommend renaming the file so that the name contains an environment or the legal entity abbreviation. It will help you remember which users are saved within a workflow. (If your workflow is at a user approval/action level)
Locate the XML file, Import, and activate the workflow. The workflow we exported should be in another environment. No rework is required!
For additional information around importing & exporting workflows or anything other workflow related questions, please feel free to reach out to us at info@loganconsulting.com or (312) 345-8817.
All the best!
Logan Consulting
www.loganconsulting.com