BEGINNER’S GUIDE: CREATING YOUR FIRST EPICOR BPM SAFELY AND SUCCESSFULLY

Beginner’s Guide: Creating Your First Epicor BPM Safely and Successfully

Beginner’s Guide: Creating Your First Epicor BPM Safely and Successfully

Blog Article

Implementing business process automation inside Epicor ERP doesn’t have to be overwhelming — not even for beginners.

Epicor BPMs (Business Process Management workflows) provide a low-code, upgrade-safe, and highly flexible way to automate validations, enforce rules, and trigger processes without touching core system code.

At Epicforce Tech, we believe BPMs are the foundation of smart, scalable Epicor customizations.
In this guide, you'll learn step-by-step how to create your first Epicor BPM safely, ensuring it remains effective, maintainable, and upgrade-friendly.

What Is an Epicor BPM?

BPMs (Business Process Management workflows) allow you to define custom business logic at key transaction points in Epicor ERP — without core code modification.

✅ Typical BPM uses:

  • Data validation

  • Field auto-calculation

  • Business rule enforcement

  • Email alerts and escalations

  • Background data processing

✅ BPM types:

  • Method Directive: Tied to specific business object methods (e.g., “SalesOrder.Update”)

  • Data Directive: Tied to data table events (e.g., after inserting a new record)

Epicforce Tech Tip:
Always favor BPMs over full customizations wherever possible to ensure lower upgrade risk and faster deployment.

Why Start with BPMs Instead of Full Customization?

✅ No source code changes required
✅ Highly upgrade-tolerant
✅ Faster implementation time
✅ Easier to maintain and troubleshoot
✅ Ideal for non-developer power users and functional admins

Key Concepts You Must Understand Before Building a BPM

  • Pre-Processing BPM: Executes before a transaction is saved — ideal for validation or prevention.

  • Post-Processing BPM: Executes after a transaction is saved — ideal for notifications, escalations.

  • Condition Statements: Define when the BPM should trigger (e.g., “only if order total > $5000”).

  • Actions: Define what happens when the condition is met (e.g., send an email, block save).

Step-by-Step: How to Create Your First Epicor BPM Safely

Let’s build a real-world example:
Business Goal: Prevent users from saving a Sales Order if the Customer’s credit limit is exceeded.

1. Plan Before You Build

✅ Clearly define:

  • Trigger Event (e.g., SalesOrder.Update method)

  • Validation Condition (e.g., CustomerCreditLimit < OrderTotal)

  • Action (e.g., Show warning and block save)

Epicforce Tech Tip:
The clearer your requirements are, the simpler your BPM will be.

2. Open the Epicor BPM Designer

Navigation:
System Management → Business Process Management → Method Directives Maintenance

✅ Choose:

  • Type: Method Directive

  • Business Object: SalesOrder

  • Method: Update

✅ Create a New Directive.

3. Choose Pre-Processing or Post-Processing

✅ Since we want to prevent saving invalid orders, select:

  • Pre-Processing Directive

✅ Name your BPM clearly:

  • Example: SalesOrder_CreditCheck_Validation

✅ Add a description for documentation purposes.

4. Define Your Conditions

✅ Add a Condition Block:

  • “If calculated Order Total exceeds Customer Credit Limit”

✅ How:

  • Use Set Argument/Variable to calculate Order Total.

  • Use Query to retrieve Customer Credit Limit from the Customer table.

✅ Set logical conditions to trigger actions only if necessary.

5. Define Your Actions

✅ Add an Action Block:

  • Show an Error Message:
    "Customer Credit Limit Exceeded. Order cannot be saved."

✅ Optionally, you can also:

  • Send an email to Credit Control Department.

  • Log the event for future auditing.

6. Save, Validate, and Enable the BPM

✅ Save the BPM.
✅ Validate it using the built-in validation tool.
✅ Enable the BPM to make it active.

Epicforce Tech Tip:
Always disable your BPM during initial testing until you confirm stability.

7. Test in a Safe Environment

✅ Always test BPMs in:

  • Development or Test instance

  • With different user roles (to ensure no unwanted side effects)

✅ Test scenarios:

  • Credit limit within range (should save)

  • Credit limit exceeded (should block save)

✅ Capture screenshots of successful/failed tests for documentation.

8. Move to Production (With Caution)

✅ Deploy to production only after:

  • Full UAT (User Acceptance Testing)

  • Stakeholder approval

  • Documented rollback plan (if issues arise)

✅ Monitor live transactions closely for the first 48 hours.

Best Practices for Safe and Sustainable BPMs

✅ Keep BPMs as simple as possible.
✅ Always name directives clearly and consistently.
✅ Document conditions and actions inside the directive.
✅ Version control changes to BPMs.
✅ Tag all BPMs by module for easy searching (e.g., Sales, Finance, Inventory).
✅ Regularly review BPMs after Epicor upgrades.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Your First BPM

Mistake Impact Solution
Skipping Planning Phase Confusing logic, rework Define trigger/condition/action clearly
Overcomplicating Conditions Hard to troubleshoot Keep conditions modular
No Testing Before Go-Live High risk of production errors Always test in DEV/UAT first
Poor Documentation Future upgrades become risky Document every BPM’s purpose and logic
Forgetting Upgrade Validation BPMs might break silently Include BPMs in upgrade testing plans

Real-World Example: First BPM Success Story

Client Scenario:
A distribution company wanted to ensure that Purchase Orders without Vendor Terms set were flagged before saving.

Epicforce Tech Solution:

  • Created a Pre-Processing BPM on PO Header Save.

  • Checked if Vendor Payment Terms existed.

  • If missing, showed error message and prevented Save.

✅ Result:

  • 100% compliance with Vendor setup.

  • Improved AP processing speed by 15%.

Why Epicforce Tech Prioritizes BPM-First Solutions

At Epicforce Tech, our philosophy is simple:

✅ BPM-first for safer, faster, smarter ERP improvements.
✅ Minimal invasiveness to protect upgrade paths.
✅ Focus on solving business problems, not adding technical debt.

We help businesses start small, build smart, and scale sustainably with Epicor BPM strategies.

Conclusion: Build Smart, Scale Safely

Your first Epicor BPM doesn’t need to be intimidating.
By following structured steps and best practices, you can:

  • Enforce business rules

  • Improve data quality

  • Automate tasks

  • Reduce manual errors

✅ All without risky customizations.

At Epicforce Tech, we’re passionate about helping businesses like yours unlock the true power of Epicor ERP — one smart BPM at a time.

Ready to create upgrade-safe automations that transform your operations?
Let’s build your first Epicor BPM — and many more.

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