In this demo, we would like to show you some of the capabilities of the business process flows. Fabricum would like to ensure that the information entered about their customers, such as email, business phone number, or mobile phone number, is verified before it’s used. Validation of the information is inherently an interactive process. Automated processes, such as workflows and flows, can be useful. But that’s where business process flows can really help. So let’s get started. We’ve already customised the system to include some of the fields we’ll be using in the business process flow. For the email, business phone number, and the mobile numbers, we added the simple flags that indicate whether the field has been validated or not.

We also added very simple business rules that lock the field once it’s been validated. For example, if email is entered and marked as validated, the field is locked. So let’s see how we can assist staff to maintain consistency of the data.

We go to the Power Apps portal. We go to Solutions, pick out the solution we would like to use. In this instance, we pick out the default solution. And switch to Classic mode to add business process flow. We go to Processes, select New, and say we name the process. Select the category. It’s a Business Process Flow. And select the entity, which is Contact. First of all, we would like to ensure that the information is entered. So the first stage is collection of the information. Now we can add steps. The first step would be to enter the email address. So we select the email address. And we say that it’s required. Then we add another data step.

And we enter phone number. And we select the field called Business Phone.

And it’s also required. And finally, we would like to add mobile number. And we’ll select the field Mobile Phone. And we decide to leave it optional. Then I would like to add a new stage in the process.

And first of all, we would like to validate a mobile number. Process stage is defined.

Then we can add the field that indicates that the phone number has been verified. And remember, we already added the Yes and No fields to indicate that. I would like to set it to Required. So user won’t be able to advance to the next stage without entering this information. We continue the editing and add a stage where we ask the user to verify the email and the phone number. Since mobile number is optional, we add a condition that skips the mobile number verification stage if the number is not entered or it’s the same as the business phone. Let’s switch back to our application and start entering the new contact. As we can see, the business process flow is already displayed.

Because mobile phone number is not entered yet, there’s only two stages, the information collection and confirmation stage. Now, let’s see what the business process flow says. It’s already copied the information from the email field. As we modify a field in one place, it’s automatically modified on the form as well. Because the record is not saved, we cannot advance the business process flow. So let’s answer the phone number. And let’s save the record. So now when we go to the information capture stage, we can advance to the next stage. And let’s enter the mobile number. If we enter it the same, nothing changes because we don’t need to validate the mobile number as it’s the same as the voice phone number.

And now we can see that the confirm stage has appeared. So if we go to the next stage, we will be asked to confirm the mobile phone number. Let’s say it’s verified.

We can verify email address. As you can see, as I check the box here, the business rule runs and locks the fields on the form as well as in the business process flow. That makes it easier to customise the system and apply rules consistently across all the fields, whether they use it on the main form or whether they use as part of the business process flow. Let’s finish validation and complete the process. Let’s enhance our process just a little bit. What we’ve done– we added a workflow that automatically sends an SMS message to a mobile number and waits for a reply. And when the reply is received, it marks the mobile phone number as validated.

So what we can do now, we can switch to the business process flow. And we can say that we would like to add a workflow to that stage when the stage is entered. And we would like to pick up Send Verification SMS Workflow. And update the process. So let’s see how that works. Let’s go back to our contacts. And let’s start creating a new one.

And let’s see what happens. Well, we’re entering the information. So let’s see what happens when we save the record and advance it to the next stage. And let’s take a look. The message has been sent and received. So no user interaction is required, and we can advance to the next stage. We verify the email, phone. And we can finish the process. In this short demonstration, we’ve seen how business process flows can assist and guide users through the processes in the system, ensuring the consistency of the data and repeatable business processes.