Process Automation vs Batch Jobs in D365 Finance & Operations

 

What Is Process Automation and How Can It Help You?

Automation isn’t new in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 FO). For years, batch jobs have been the backbone of background processing, posting invoices, recalculating inventory, cleaning up workflows, and performing countless repetitive tasks while users focus on daily operations.

However, as organizations have grown and processes have become more complex, managing all those batch recurrences scattered across different modules has become increasingly challenging. Different teams often schedule their own jobs, sometimes with overlapping times or missing dependencies making it harder to maintain visibility and control.

To address this, Microsoft introduced Process Automation a modern framework built on top of the existing batch engine but designed to deliver greater visibility, control, and user ownership.

Even today, many users and consultants still overlook this feature, assuming it’s just another way to create a batch job. In reality, it’s a smarter, centralized way to organize, schedule, and monitor recurring processes across your environment.

 

Understanding Process Automation

At its core, Process Automation centralizes how recurring system processes are scheduled and managed.

Instead of setting up multiple batch jobs separately in each module, you can define all of them from one workspace:

System administration → Setup → Process automation

 

What You See on the Process Automation Page
 

When you open the Process automation page in D365 FO (via System administration → Setup → Process automation), you’ll find everything you need to both configure and monitor recurring automations in one place.

At the top of the page are three main commands:

Create new process automation – Used to set up a new scheduled series. You choose from predefined automation types (such as Vendor payment proposal, Ledger settlements, or Automatic netting), define the recurrence, and save it.

Initialize process automations – This option registers available automation types that haven’t yet been initialized. After a system update or when new features are enabled, this ensures that all supported automation types are active and ready to use.

Options – Provides tools for personalisation, advanced filtering, and page diagnostics.

 

Below the command bar, the main view is divided into two tabs:

Scheduled – Displays automations that have been created, showing details such as the automation name, type, company, recurrence, and schedule time.

Background processes – Shows system-level automations that are running behind the scenes or awaiting execution.

On the right side, the summary panel gives a calendar-style breakdown of runs, including status updates like Completed, Failed, or in progress.

Under the hood, these automations still use the batch framework, but the interface and control are much more streamlined.

Think of Process Automation as a management layer for recurring processes, where business and IT teams can work together without losing technical flexibility.

 

Process Automation vs. Batch Jobs — The Key Differences

Both Batch Jobs and Process Automation in D365 FO execute background tasks, but they differ greatly in purpose, usability, and visibility.

 

Batch Jobs are the traditional backbone of automation in Dynamics.

They’re extremely powerful and flexible, ideal for technical or custom processes. You can even view all batch jobs across the system by navigating to System administration → Inquiries → Batch jobs.

However, this list is technical and log-oriented, showing job IDs, statuses, and execution details rather than a business-friendly view of what’s happening operationally.

 

Process Automation, on the other hand, is designed for clarity and control. It gives users a structured, high-level overview of automated business processes, what’s scheduled, what’s running, and what’s completed, all from a single, visual page. No need to sift through batch logs or filter by module.

 

Unlike the static list of batch jobs, Process Automation provides a more intuitive, centralized, and visual experience, with clear separation between Scheduled and Background processes, and a calendar-style summary of runs.

This makes it easier for both consultants and business users to understand system activity without technical deep dives.

Although process Automation builds on the same underlying batch framework, but focuses on ease of use, structure, and visibility. Instead of defining every job manually, users can choose from predefined automation types such as Vendor payment proposals, Ledger settlements, or Automatic netting set recurrence details and let the system handle scheduling automatically.

For example, you no longer need to manually create a batch job for every recurring cleanup or proposal. Instead, you can select a predefined automation type, such as: Vendor payment proposal generation or Collections process automation, and schedule it once. D365 FO handles the rest, automatically creating and managing the associated batch runs.

Where batch jobs feel “system-owned,” process automations feel business-owned.

They’re designed for functional users who want to maintain operational flow without diving into technical setup screens.

 

Example: Creating Process Automation

Let’s take an example. Suppose you want to automatically generate vendor payment proposals every Monday morning.

You would navigate to:

System administration → Setup → Process automation → Create new process automation

From there:

1. Choose Vendor payment proposal as your automation type.
2. Chose Legal Entity
3. Click Series

1. Enter name, description, scheduling duration or recurrence
2. Define the recurrence — say, every Monday at 8 AM.
3. If you desire Alerts, toggle on the alert to yes
4. Click Next and include the payment details for the desired vendor

For each task created with Process Automation, the related functionality page will display the task status in a calendar view:

 

In the scenario described above, I automatically generated a new Vendor Payment Proposal on the 1st of each month, starting from November 2025. The calculation should begin at 12:00 AM CEST, and the payment will be directed to a vendor in Nigeria (West Africa Time).

D365FO will handle this entirely through automated tasks based on the specified interval. There’s no need to manually create a recurring batch job or configure multiple schedules. This eliminates the need to start the payment process manually, as D365FO will execute it automatically according to the scheduled task.

 

Where Process Automation Lives in D365 FO

One of the strongest advantages of this feature is that it’s no longer hidden in the System Administration module.

You can now view and manage process automations directly within operational workspaces, making them accessible to business users.

For example:

• In the Vendor payment workspace, you can view or trigger automations that generate payment proposals automatically on schedule.

By placing automation within workspaces, Microsoft empowers finance and operations teams to own their processes.

 

Benefits of Using Process Automation

1️⃣ Centralized Oversight

Instead of jumping between modules, all recurring processes are visible in one place. You can quickly check whether everything ran successfully or spot any missed runs.

2️⃣ Consistency and Control

Because automations are standardized across environments, you reduce the risk of duplicated or conflicting batch schedules.

3️⃣ Improved Transparency

The calendar view gives a visual timeline of your automation runs something traditional batch jobs never offered. You can plan better and detect overlaps before they cause performance issues.

4️⃣ Functional Empowerment

Functional consultants and users can configure and monitor recurring processes without relying entirely on technical teams. It bridges the gap between system configuration and business ownership.

5️⃣ Extensible Framework

Developers can extend the Process Automation framework with custom types. This means your organization can add its own recurring tasks, such as Inventory reconciliation or Custom data export and manage them like standard automations.

 

When to Use Process Automation and When to Stick with Batch Jobs

If you’re managing operational, recurring processes like vendor payment proposals, ledger settlements, or data cleanup use Process Automation. It gives you structure, visibility, and control.

If you’re working with large-scale or chained processes (for example, multiple dependent jobs or complex data migrations), stick with traditional batch jobs. They offer more flexibility for developers and administrators handling heavy technical workloads.

By understanding these differences, organizations can select the right tool in D365 F&O to optimize their automation strategy. For further details, refer to Microsoft’s D365 F&O documentation or consult your system administrator.