by Tye Fender
In today’s fast‑paced digital landscape, seamless communication between ERP systems and collaboration tools is key to operational efficiency. In this post, I share two practical methods for integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with Power Automate to automatically create Microsoft Teams chats when a sales order is released. Whether you’re a Business Central consultant, IT developer, or simply looking to streamline your processes, this guide will help you implement a robust solution while demonstrating real‑world expertise.
Introduction
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a powerful ERP system, and when paired with Microsoft Power Automate and Teams, it opens up a world of process automation possibilities. In this post, I’ll walk you through two methods for automatically creating Teams chats when a Business Central sales order is released:
Method 1
A simple approach using hardcoded Teams user IDs.
Method 2
A dynamic solution that reads a Teams tag and filters out duplicate or unwanted IDs (like the flow creator’s).
These examples are designed to not only showcase the integration but also to empower you to customize and scale your own solutions.
The Business Case for Integration
Integrating Business Central with collaboration platforms like Teams can:
Improve Communication
Automatically notify the right team members when a sales order is released.
Enhance Productivity
Reduce manual intervention and ensure that the appropriate stakeholders are engaged immediately.
Boost Customer Service
Enable faster decision‑making and problem resolution by keeping everyone in the loop.
By automating these processes, businesses can achieve higher efficiency, reduce delays, and improve overall customer satisfaction.
Method 1: Hardcoded Teams Chat Members
Overview
The simplest way to create a Teams chat is to use Power Automate with hardcoded user IDs. This method is ideal when the list of recipients is fixed and rarely changes. For example, if you always want the same set of sales managers to be notified, hardcoding might be sufficient.
Implementation Highlights
Trigger
When a Business Central Sales Order record is created and released.
Action
Use Power Automate’s “Create a Chat” action and manually enter the Teams user IDs (separated by semicolons).
Initialize a Boolean Variable
Name: isReleased
Type: Boolean
Value: false
Create a Chat
Add your team members directly using their email address, separated by a semicolon.
Members to add: tye@fenderit.com.au; kyle@fenderit.com.au
Do Until
Check and delay until the Sales Order status is set to "Released".
See the bottom of the post for details of the Do Until block.
Pros
Straightforward setup.
Minimal configuration.
Cons
Not scalable if teams change frequently.
Hardcoding values means manual updates inside of Power Automate are required if user roles change.
Method 2: Dynamically Adding Teams Chat Members via Tag
Overview
For a more robust solution, the dynamic method leverages Teams tags. Here, Power Automate retrieves a list of team members associated with a specific tag, filters out the flow creator (to prevent duplicate member errors), and then constructs a semicolon‑separated string of user IDs.
Implementation Highlights
Trigger
When a Business Central Sales Order record is created and released.
Dynamic Membership
List members of a tag
Retrieves an array of team member objects.
Pros
Fully dynamic
Automatically adapts to team changes
Cons
Slightly more complex configuration
Requires careful handling of JSON data and string manipulation
Key Code Snippet: Extracting and Joining User IDs
Below is an example of how to use an Apply to each loop in Power Automate to extract and join user IDs:
1. Initialize a String Variable:
Name: UserIdsString
Type: String
Value: (Empty)
2. Filter Array
Excludes the current user (or any undesired IDs).
From: body/value (of List the members of a tag)
Filter Query: @not(notequals(@{item()?['userId']},@{outputs('Get_my_profile_(V2)')?['body/id']}))
3. Select & Join
Extracts the user IDs and combines them into a properly formatted string.
From: Body of the Filter Array
From:Body (of Filter Array)
Map: userID: userID
Note: the second userID value is dynamic, from the Filter Array output
4. Apply to Each Loop
From:The output of the Select action
Map: userID: userID
Inside the Loop: Append to string variable:
Name: UserIdsString
Value: concat(item()['UserId'], ';')
5. Remove Trailing Semicolon: Use a Compose action with:
Inputs: substring(variables('UserIdsString'), 0, sub(length(variables('UserIdsString')), 1))
6. This results in a string formatted like:
f95d9a0c-9f5f-41b1-8d95-a3c8f5edb1ce;e0a4f123-6cdb-41d3-b0a9-c83b9e1d76a4;a4f7b59a-dab2-4fbd-a1e6-938cc9bfa63e
Step‑by‑Step Implementation
1. Set Up the Trigger in Business Central
Trigger: Configure the flow to start when a sales order record is created (v3) and then check for its “released” status using a Do‑Until loop.
2. Retrieve Teams Tag Members
Use the List members of a tag action to get all members associated with the desired Teams tag.
3. Filter Out Unwanted Members
Use Filter Array to exclude the current user (obtained dynamically via Office 365 Users – Get my profile (V2)).
4. Extract and Join the User IDs
Use a Select action to map each member to a plain object with a key (e.g, UserID).
Then, use an Apply to each loop to append each user ID to a string variable.
Finally, remove the trailing semicolon to prepare the final string.
5. Create the Teams Chat
Pass the final user IDs string into the Create a Chat action.
Inside the Do Until Block
Condition
Both flows have a Do Until block that checks if the string IsReleased is equal to true. IsReleased is set by Condition 1, when the "Status" of the Business Central Sales Order record is set to "Open".
NOTE: Power Automate refers to "Released" in Business Central as "Open" 😛
Set Variable
Both instances of Set Variable will set isReleased to true.
Do Until
Keep running until isReleased is true.
Conclusion
Integrating Business Central with Power Automate and Teams can significantly enhance your operational workflows—whether you opt for the simplicity of hardcoded user IDs or the flexibility of a dynamic, tag‑based approach. In this guide, I demonstrated both methods to help you decide which best suits your needs. With the dynamic method, you can keep your Teams notifications current without constant manual updates, ensuring your teams always communicate effectively when key ERP events occur.
If you have any questions or need further assistance in customizing your solution, feel free to reach out.