‘Workflow’ in Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a feature that is available from NAV2016 onwards. It connects business-process tasks or transactions performed by different users with system tasks. The approval mechanism in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 has improved and matured with this feature, providing the ease of template based configuration on any business process – be it sales, purchase, finance etc.

Workflow is represented by an ‘events’ and ‘response’ model.

A simple workflow is the pairing of a single event and a response, while the more complex workflow is built from a chain of events and responses.

Couple of examples:

• Simple workflows – When a new customer is created, a notification email is sent to the respective salesperson code
• Complex Workflows – When documents (Sales or Purchase Invoice) exceed some defined amount like $5000 it will be on hold until the approver approves it.

Workflow process in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 comprises of steps related to:

• Approval – a work task, item, master record or document remains in a blocked or unapproved state until it is approved by a suitable person in the organization.
• Notification – notifications tell users that something has happened and/or that they need to take an action.
• Process automation – involves executing a process/ routine and making Microsoft Dynamics NAV calculate something or perform an action.

With Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 we get predefined workflow templates as well.

Very easy for a new user to create a workflow by using the Wizard, and configure the process according to their requirements.

Some of the many advantages of using the workflow feature follow:

• Workflow processes are consistent and execute the business processes within the application system
• It reduces the cycle time, i.e, notification for tasks are sent immediately
• Easy to monitor- Users can check at any time how much the process has progressed and which stage the process has reachedWorkflow supports conditional processes
• No point of forgotten means- Approvals can expire and be automatically escalated
• Workflow automates the processes which mean, executing a process routine and making the Microsoft Dynamics NAV system calculate something or perform an action

Microsoft has released NAV 2018 and its latest product Business Central this year which gives a good option for companies to upgrade.