Debugging in Dynamics 365 CE – Part 4: Power Automate Flows & Integrations

We’ve covered:

• Part 1 – Debugging JavaScript
• Part 2 – Debugging Plugins in DEV
• Part 3 – Debugging in Sandbox & Production

Now it’s time to talk about Power Automate flows and integrations — an area where many of us spend countless hours scratching our heads.

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The Challenge with Flows

Unlike plugins, you can’t attach a debugger to a flow. Instead, you need to rely on:

• Run history (inputs/outputs at each step)
• Error handling (Configure run after, Try/Catch patterns)
• Connection references (yes, they break more often than we’d like!)
• Environment variables for dynamic values

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Debugging Techniques

1. Run History & Peek Code

• Always start by checking Run history.
• Use “Peek code” to inspect raw JSON inputs/outputs — it often reveals type mismatches, missing fields, or null values.

2. Scopes & Error Handling

• Wrap actions in Scope containers.
• On failure, capture error details.
• Use a parallel scope (success vs. failure path) to log exceptions gracefully.

Please refer to my LinkedIn post Power Automate: Stop Letting Your Flows Fail Silently! for details on how to set it up.

3. Connection References

• Broken flows after deployment?
• Check if the connection reference is valid in the target environment.
• Automate overrides during deployment (DevOps pipelines help here).

4. Logging & Notifications

• Create a simple Log entity/table in Dataverse to capture errors.
• Add Teams/email notifications with correlation IDs so you can trace the issue back.

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Debugging Integrations

When dealing with external systems (e.g., Azure Functions, Service Bus, FinOps):

• Always log request/response payloads (sanitized if sensitive).
• Use Retry policies and dead-letter queues for resiliency.
• Leverage Application Insights for distributed tracing.

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Example: Logging Flow Errors

Here’s a simple pattern using a failure scope:

{
  "status": "Failed",
  "error": "@{result('Update_Record')?['body/error/message']}",
  "correlationId": "@{workflow()?['run']['id']}"
}

This way you know what failed, why, and how to trace it back.

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Key Takeaways

• Flows are only as transparent as you make them.
• Run history + good error handling + structured logging = faster debugging.
• For integrations, think end-to-end: payloads, retries, monitoring.

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📖 Earlier posts in the series:

• Part 1 – Debugging JavaScript
• Part 2 – Debugging Plugins in DEV
• Part 3 – Debugging in Sandbox & Production

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