Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales actions in action flows

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the action builder to the external system.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can connect action flows to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales to automate tasks like searching, creating, and updating leads, cases, contacts, and accounts. Use a dedicated service account for secure OAuth 2.0 authentication. This integration helps manage CRM data within workflows, improving data accuracy and collaboration across platforms without manual entry.


By connecting the action builder to external systems, such as Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Sales, admins can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated
workflows, improving collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple
platforms.
Note: The steps associated with external systems in
action flows are referred to collectively as external actions.

This article contains the following topics:
Connecting Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales to action builder
Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales actions in action flows




Connecting Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales to action builder

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the
action builder to the external system.
When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following best practices are recommended:
All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external
system.
All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However, it's important that you review and validate the scopes before authorizing the connection to the external system.
When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI, it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.



To connect action builder to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action
flows.

Create or edit an action flow.
Open the step sidebar.
Under External actions, click Microsoft Dynamics 365
Sales.
Click Connect.
Follow Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales's prompts to authenticate and complete
the connection. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales connection uses OAuth 2.0
authentication to securely access your Dynamics 365 CRM instance. You'll
be redirected to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales to authorize access to
your account.
You must provide your Dynamics 365 Sales
domain during setup. If your Dynamics 365 Sales URL is
https://abc.crm.dynamics.com, enter
abc.crm.dynamics.com as the
domain.

Note: All external actions performed by
an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the external
system. Therefore, it is a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each
external system.



After you've connected to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's connected and
details about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions available for
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales.



Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales actions in action flows

The following Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales actions are available:
Search leads
Create lead
Update lead
Search cases
Create case
Update case
Search contacts
Create contact
Update contact
Search accounts
Create account
Update account
Lookup user




Searching for leads

Use the Search leads action to find existing leads for deduplication or
enrichment.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Optional: Email,
Subject, Company name,
Phone Email and Phone perform exact
matches. Subject and Company name perform partial
matches (contains). Use this action before creating a
lead to check for duplicates.



Output
Array of leads with lead ID, subject, name details,
contact information, company details, lead quality and
source codes, state and status codes, owner ID, and
timestamps.








Creating a lead

Use the Create lead action to create a new sales lead in Dynamics 365
CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Subject Subject is the lead
title or topic with a maximum of 200 characters.

Optional: First name,
Last name, Email,
Business phone, Company
name, Description,
Lead quality
Lead quality
options include values defined in your Dynamics 365
configuration.



Output
Lead details including lead ID, subject, full name,
email, company name, state and status codes, creation time,
and owner ID.








Updating a lead

Use the Update lead action to modify an existing lead in Dynamics 365
CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Lead ID Lead ID must be the
GUID of the lead to update.
Optional:
Subject,
Description,
State, Status reason,
Lead quality
State options
include values defined in your Dynamics 365
configuration. Only provided fields will be
updated.



Output
Lead details including lead ID, subject, state code,
status code, and modification timestamp.








Searching for cases

Use the Search cases action to find existing cases for deduplication or
tracking.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Optional: Title, Case
number, Customer ID,
State Case number and Customer ID
perform exact matches. Title performs a partial match
(contains). Use State dropdown to filter by case
status.



Output
Array of cases with incident ID, case number, title,
description, customer ID, origin and type codes, state and
status codes, priority, owner ID, and timestamps.








Creating a case

Use the Create case action to create a new support case in Dynamics 365
CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Title Title has a maximum of
200 characters.
Optional:
Description,
Contact, Account,
Priority, Case
origin, Case
type
Provide either Contact or Account to
associate the case with a customer. Contact and Account
are populated from dynamic dropdowns of your CRM
data.



Output
Case details including incident ID, title, case number,
state and status codes, and creation time.








Updating a case

Use the Update case action to modify an existing case in Dynamics 365
CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Case number Case number
format is typically CAS-01003-XXXXXX.
Optional:
Title,
Description, Contact,
Account, State,
Status code,
Priority
Status code depends
on the selected state. Only provided fields will be
updated.



Output
Case details including incident ID, title, case number,
state and status codes, and modification timestamp.








Searching for contacts

Use the Search contacts action to find and enrich contact data. Use this
action to check for existing contacts before creating new ones.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Optional: Email, First
name, Last name,
Phone Email and Phone perform exact
matches. First name and Last name perform partial
matches (contains).



Output
Array of contacts with contact ID, name details, contact
information, job title, department, address, birth date,
description, parent customer ID, owner ID, and
timestamps.








Creating a contact

Use the Create contact action to create a new contact record in Dynamics
365 CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Last name Optional:
First name, Email,
Business Phone, Mobile
phone, Job title,
Parent account ID,
Notes
Parent account ID links
the contact to an existing account. Provide the GUID of
the account to establish this relationship.



Output
Contact details including contact ID, full name, first
and last names, email, and creation time.








Updating a contact

Use the Update contact action to modify an existing contact in Dynamics
365 CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Contact ID Contact ID must
be the GUID of the contact to update.
Optional:
First name, Last
name, Email,
Phone, Mobile
phone, Job title,
Description
Only the fields
you provide will be updated. Existing values for fields
you don't specify will remain unchanged.



Output
Contact details including contact ID, full name, first
and last names, email, and modification timestamp.








Searching for accounts

Use the Search accounts action to find and enrich account data. Use this
action to check for existing accounts before creating new ones.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Optional: Account name,
Email, Phone,
Website
Email and Phone perform exact matches. Account name and
Website perform partial matches (contains).



Output
Array of accounts with account ID, name, contact
information, website, full address details, description,
employee count, revenue, industry code, owner ID, and
timestamps.








Creating an account

Use the Create account action to create a new organization account in
Dynamics 365 CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Account name Account name
has a maximum of 160 characters.
Optional:
Email, Main phone,
Website, Street
address, City,
State/Province, Postal
code, Country,
Description
Website has a
maximum of 200 characters. Use the address fields to
store the organization's primary location.



Output
Account details including account ID, name, email, and
creation time.








Updating an account

Use the Update account action to modify an existing organization account
in Dynamics 365 CRM.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs
Required: Account ID Account ID must
be the GUID of the account to update.
Optional:
Account name,
Email, Phone,
Website, Street
address, City,
State/Province, Postal
code, Country,
Description
Only the fields
you provide will be updated. Existing values for fields
you don't specify will remain unchanged.



Output
Account details including account ID, name, email, and
modification timestamp.








Looking up a user

Use the Lookup user action to find a user by ID or email address.
This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Optional: User ID,
Email
Provide either User ID or Email to look up a user. If
both are provided, User ID takes precedence.



Output
User details including ID, email, firstName, and
lastName.








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