approvals agents Archives - D365 Demystified

In between all the AI conversations, you wouldn’t want to be kept wondering what Agents in Power Platform/Dynamics 365 Applications are capable of.

So, the name of the Agent itself suggests their capability and one such agent is Time and Expense Agent.

Enable Time and Expense Agent

Just like any other Project Operations features, you can enable the Time and Expense Entry Agent from the Settings area as shown below –

Navigate to Settings and then to Parameters.
Then, drop down from the Feature control menu and then look for the Enable Time and Expense Entry agent option.
You’ll be asked to confirm and you can first read through the instructions.
Once you click enable, it takes a few moments to complete loading and then you get to Download the policy document for Time and Expense entries.
Once you click on Download, a Microsoft Doc it just opens in a new tab. Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/project-operations/approvals/approvals-agent-policy#policy-document-examplesnt-policy?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Scroll down in this document, you’ll find Policy Document for each type of Entry.
Click on the same and then you’ll be able to save a Doc file.

Download what is exported when you click the above link.
Here’s what the document looks like, it looks like an SOP designed for internal processes.
While you are reviewing the document, also note that the Time Entry agent is now a new area in My Work in Projects in your Project Operations SiteMap.

Now, you need to first set the Approvals Agent up so that it can be used –

Open Power Apps App Builder (https://make.powerapps.com/) and make sure to open the right environment.
Then look for the solution Project Service Agent
Then, open Objects and then Connection References. Look for the ones marked as Add to Solution as shown.
Then select CDS solution (If you can remember it from a while ago 😊). Then click Save.
Then open the CDS Default Solution as shown below –
In the solution, go to Connection References and you should see the ones which you added in earlier steps. Edit the added connection and then on the right hand pane, select New Connection.
Once you click on New Connection, it’ll open a New Tab and you’ll need to search Copilot Studio.
Click on it, and it’ll ask you to create a new connection. Click Create.
Then, you’ll be asked to login (most likely, you’ll want to use the logged in user)
Then, the Connection will appear once logged in. After this, go back to the Connection in the CDS solution.
You’ll now be able to select this connection.
You’ll be asked to Save Changes.
Then, once this is done, go back to Project Service Agent solution and go to Cloud Flows. Look for Approvals Agent trigger (Production-ready preview) and turn it on.