Dynamics 365 - Using Save As to clone the Business Process Flow. Here is something you need to know

As a developer,  we need find a faster way to complete a task as soon as we can because sometime the timeline is really really tight.

But here is something you need to know, if you are going to use the Save As to clone a Business Process Flow (BPF).

Before we start the demo, i suggest you to read this article so that you have better understanding about the new BPF structure in Dynamics 365.

DEMO

1. Now let's clone a BPF by clicking on "Save As" button.

2. This is the result you are going to see.

   

3. I will continue the configuration by adding some fields or remove fields from the stages and click on Save and Activate.  How about the BPF name? It is okay , we can change it later.

4. After BPF is activated and from the picture below, do you notice something weird?

   

•  Yes, the Display Name and Plural Name are grayed out. 
•  It seems that BPF entity is different than other entities.

Solution

1. Create a solution and Add the particular entity into solution.

2. Export the Translation within the solution.

3. Extract the zip file and open up the Translations.xml.

4. Change the Display Name to the name you wanted and save the file.

5. Zip the [Content_Types].xml and CrmTranslations.xml.

  

6. Import the file by clicking on "Import Translations".

7. Click on Publish All Customization.

8. Refresh the form.

9. The name has been changed into Correct Name.

How do we prevent it ?

1. After click on "Save As" button in BPF.

2. Once the cloned BPF is generated, you can change the name anytime but make sure you do it before you activate the BPF.

Explanation 

This is because before the first activation of BPF, actually the BPF entity is not created yet . 

The BPF entity will be created after you clicked on "Activate" button.

Result after you clicked on Activate button

Lesson Learned

- Always change the name after you cloned the BPF so you don't get into trouble later.

I hope this will help you understand the behavior and save some time. Happy CRM-ing.