Overview
Flowon Process Orchestrator is a business orchestration (Process Orchestrator) engine built on Microsoft Dataverse. It leverages Flowon Logic Composer to empower businesses to transcend the limitations of Out-of-the-Box (OOB) Business Process Flows (BPF) in Dataverse.
In today's fast-paced business environment, organizations need the ability to quickly adapt their processes to changing market conditions, regulatory requirements, and customer expectations. Traditional Process Orchestrator solutions often require significant IT involvement and lengthy development cycles. Flowon Process Orchestrator bridges this gap by providing a powerful yet accessible platform that puts process design in the hands of business users while maintaining the enterprise-grade capabilities that IT teams require.
Whether you're automating a simple approval workflow or orchestrating a complex multi-department process spanning weeks or months, Flowon Process Orchestrator provides the tools and flexibility to model your business exactly as it operates in the real world.
The Problem with Native BPF
Dataverse CE offers Business Process Flow (BPF) for automating simple business processes. However, OOB BPF is significantly limiting when automating more complex business processes. Organizations frequently encounter constraints that force them to either simplify their processes (losing business value) or invest heavily in custom development (increasing costs and complexity).
Common limitations organizations face with native BPF include:
Sequential-only flow: Native BPF only supports linear, step-by-step processes. Real-world business processes often require the ability to skip steps, go back to previous stages, or follow different paths based on conditions. For example, a loan application that needs additional documentation should be able to return to an earlier stage without starting over.
Limited stages: BPF restricts the number of stages you can include in a single process. Complex processes with many touchpoints—such as employee onboarding, contract negotiations, or compliance reviews—quickly exceed these limits.
Single entity constraint: Each BPF is tied to a single Dataverse entity. Many business processes span multiple entities—for instance, an order fulfillment process might involve Accounts, Orders, Invoices, and Shipments. Native BPF cannot elegantly handle these cross-entity scenarios.
Basic branching: While BPF supports some conditional branching, the logic capabilities are limited. Complex decision-making based on multiple factors, nested conditions, or dynamic rules requires custom code.
Developer dependency: Extending BPF behavior beyond its built-in capabilities requires developer intervention, creating bottlenecks and increasing costs.
Flowon Process Orchestrator vs. Dataverse BPF
| Capability | Dataverse BPF | Flowon Process Orchestrator |
|---|---|---|
| Process Flow Type | Sequential only | Non-sequential supported |
| Number of Stages | Limited | Unlimited |
| Entities per Process | Limited to single entity | Unlimited entities |
| Branching Logic | Basic | Complex multi-branching via Decision Trees and Tables |
| Custom Logic Execution | Requires developer code | Invokes existing Flows and Processes |
| Integration with Flowon Logic Composer | N/A | Seamless integration |
Key Features
1. Support for Non-Sequential Business Processes
Flowon Process Orchestrator supports non-sequential business processes, allowing users to design workflows that adapt to real-world conditions. Processes can skip stages, return to previous stages, or follow entirely non-linear paths based on business logic.
This capability is essential for handling exceptions, rework scenarios, and processes where the path forward depends on information discovered during execution.
2. Unlimited Stages in Each Process
Unlike OOB BPFs, which have a limited number of stages, Flowon Process Orchestrator allows an unlimited number of stages within each business process. Complex workflows with multiple touchpoints, approvals, and decision points can be efficiently designed and managed.
3. Unlimited Entities Per Process
Flowon Process Orchestrator can work with multiple entities within a single business process, providing flexibility and scalability. Processes are no longer limited to operating within the confines of a single entity.
A single process can read from and write to Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Cases, custom entities, and any other Dataverse entity as needed.
4. Complex Multi-Branching Through Decision Trees and Tables
Flowon Process Orchestrator supports complex branching between stages via decision trees and decision tables, enabling conditional logic at any point in the workflow.
Decision Tables allow you to define complex routing rules in a structured, maintainable format. Decision Trees provide visual, flowchart-style logic for scenarios with sequential decision points.
5. Invoke Existing Flows and Processes
Flowon Process Orchestrator can invoke existing Dataverse flows and business processes at each stage, enabling the execution of customized logic with unparalleled control and flexibility.
This means you can leverage your existing automation investments. Power Automate flows, custom actions, and other processes can be called from any stage.
6. Seamless Integration with Flowon Logic Composer
Flowon Process Orchestrator leverages Flowon Logic Composer for business rule execution, enabling business processes to reuse Flowon Logic Composer artifacts such as Flows and Blocks.
This integration means that the business rules you define in Flowon Logic Composer—calculations, validations, transformations, and decisions—can be used directly within your Process Orchestrator processes.