A Comparison of Power Automate and Classic Workflow in Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365  and Power Platform have several different ways to automate tasks for your users.  It is essential to know which is the best tool for a given requirement.  Each of these techniques (tools) has their role to play in a successful CRM project.  The majority of these techniques do not require coding skills, although they do still require a logical way of thinking. 

This blog is only looking at Power Automate and Classic Workflow.  It is one of a series of short blogs that I am developing as I write a flexible training course for Microsoft's PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant exam.

Currently, neither Power Automate nor workflow will trigger conditionally on column values (For example, on a certain date in a date column).

Classic Workflow

Classic Workflow has existed since Microsoft CRM 1.0, although it has evolved significantly during that time.  Originally, workflows could only be background, although the last several versions of Microsoft Dynamics have had both background (asynchronous) workflows and real time (synchronous) workflows.

Power Automate

Power Automate is part of the Power Platform, and so is far newer.  The current recommendation is to use Power Automate for your background workflows.  New background workflow processes should be developed in Power Automate, and older ones should be migrated across over time.

Power Automate sits outside of your Power App.  Power Automate can link to applications outside of Power Platform, including non-Microsoft applications.

At the moment, Power Automate does not support real time workflows, so if you require autoamtion to happen immediately, you should continue to use real time classic workflows.

Comparison of the differences Power Automate and Classic Workflow