Background
We had a client that asked us to add a feature to their Model Driven App: Cloning a custom entity record. The request was simple: a user would click on a record, click on a button on the toolbar, and the system would make an exact copy of that record, including any child record associated with it. For example, if they had an opportunity record with products, the cloning would create an exact copy of that opportunity with products attached to it as well.
A History of Cloning records
Cloning records has been a requirement for as long as I can remember. Many people have created solutions for it, mostly using JSCRIPT or plugins. It became such a need that Microsoft decided to included it as a feature in their Sales App to clone Products. But it is not widely available.
Several partners have taken advantage of this and have created add-ons that can do cloning. Click2Clone is one of them (if interested, let us know as we demo the product). But this product requires a license that could be costly for smaller businesses.
As stated in other posts, our preference has always been to use a low code approach, and use as much out-of-the-box features as possible. With Power Automate, we should be able to meet this requirement while minimizing cost and long term support issues.
The Requirement for this Tutorial
The main requirement is to have a solution that is cost effective, scalable, and works near real time, with no code.
Solution Approach
We created one Flow in Power Automate that basically copies the original record’s fields to the new one, and then creates the child records.
Why did we do this approach?
We really like Power Automate. I mean, why not do it this why without any code at all? It may take a bit to configure in the beginning, but once it is running, you don’t have to worry about it.
Enjoy the video below, and please subscribe to our channel. We will be posting Tutorials on a Regular basis!
