Export workflows designed in Visio to Flow to quickly automate business processes

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Visio Blog articles.

Microsoft Visio helps companies like yours visualize business processes using rich workflow modelling capabilities. It gives you the tools to organize your most complex processes into highly visual, easily digestible workflows that optimize the way people work—a lot like Microsoft Flow does with process automation. We’ve spent months bringing these two solutions together and are excited to announce that Visio and Flow integrate to help you automate your processes in next to no time. Visio-Flow integration is currently only available for Office Insiders.

 

With this integration, you can create business process flows in Visio and quickly export them to Flow for automation—all in just a few clicks. Visio-Flow integration is only available for Visio Online Plan 2 subscribers.

 

Create flows from scratch

Using Visio and Flow together is easy: create your Visio workflow using built-in Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) stencils, click the “Prepare to Export” button in the ribbon, add all your Flow actions and triggers, resolve any validation errors, and tap “Export.“ That’s it! Your workflow is now available in Flow.

 

Build flows from existing Visio diagrams

You can also export existing business process diagrams created in Visio to Flow. Start by converting your diagram elements to BPMN shapes and marking each with the right flow action or trigger. Then follow the above export steps and Visio takes care of the rest.

 

Flow: the spiritual successor to SharePoint Designer

If you’re a long-time user of SharePoint Designer, you’ll love the new Visio-Flow integration. Flow is the spiritual successor to SharePoint Designer, and this integration allows you to design the logic of your site around business processes in Visio and execute them in Flow without writing a single line of code—just like you’d do in SharePoint Designer.

 

Why Visio and Flow together

Traditionally, IT has been responsible for building automated business process workflows. But using Visio and Flow, you can do this on your own, expediting the creation process and giving your IT team more time to focus on strategic initiatives. Plus, Visio’s built-in collaboration capabilities, like chat and comments, allow you to review your flows with colleagues to ensure everyone’s feedback is properly captured before the flow is executed. BPMN stencils for Flow also makes it easier for people to get started with this integration, reducing the time spent on training.

 

What should we develop next?

Releases like Flow integration happen because of you and the suggestions you submit to us on UserVoice—so keep it up! We often determine what to develop next based on these ideas. You can also engage with us here on Tech Community by leaving a comment below. And don’t forget to follow Visio on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest news.

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