Workflow Automation with Microsoft Power Automate

Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Flow) is a workflow automation tool built into Microsoft 365 to help businesses and users to automate repetitive tasks or trigger business processes without user intervention.

If you are new to Microsoft Power Automate, this book will give you a comprehensive introduction to help you to get up to speed with automating business processes in no time. Complete with hands-on tutorials, projects, and self-assessment questions, this easy-to-follow guide will show you how to configure automation workflows for business processes between hundreds of Microsoft and third-party applications. Once you understand how to use connectors, triggers, and actions to automate business processes, you’ll get to grips with managing user inputs, documents, approvals, and database storage using efficient flow controls. This Power Automate book explains key concepts and takes you through creating your own flows step by step.

By the end of the book, you’ll have learned how to use Microsoft Power Automate to replace repetitive tasks with business workflow automation technology.

By the end of the course, you’ll have learned how to use Microsoft Power Automate to replace repetitive tasks with business workflow automation technology.

Section 1 - What is Power Automate?

Chapter 1: Introducing Power Automate

  • What is Power Automate?
  • Choosing what to automate
  • Reviewing general terminology
  • Business process
  • Workflow
  • REST
  • Learning Power Automate terminology
  • Flow
  • Connectors
  • Triggers
  • Actions
  • Branching
  • Conditions
  • Common Data Service
  • Gateways
  • Steps
  • Templates

 

Section 2 - Basic Flow Concepts

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Power Automate

  • Logging in to Power Automate
  • End user web portal interface
  • Mobile app interface
  • Admin interface
  • Creating your first flow
  • Understanding the flow components
  • Creating and executing the flow

Chapter 2: Working with Email

  • Learning about email connectors and actions
  • Working with email
  • Receiving email
  • Handling attachments
  • Creating the flow
  • Verifying completion
  •  Sending email

Chapter 3: Copying Files

  • Learning about file connectors and actions
  • Working with files
  • Copying files to SharePoint
  • Verifying the results with the test flow
  • Verifying the results manually
  • Publishing files to Dropbox
  • Verifying the results

Chapter 4: Creating Button Flows

  • Learning about button flows
  • Creating a button flow to email a manager
  • Executing a button flow

Chapter 5: Generating Push Notifications

  • Learning about push notifications
  • Configuring a notification for emails from your manager
  • Introducing conditions
  • Creating the flow
  • Reviewing a notification

Chapter 6: Working with Team Flows

  • Understanding team flows
  • Sharing a flow with your team
  • Sharing a flow with run-only permissions
  • Managing team flows

 

Section 3 - Intermediate Flow Concepts

Chapter 1: Working with Conditions

  • Understanding condition operators
  • Using expressions and multiple conditions
  • Adding multiple conditions
  • Adding condition groups

Chapter 2: Getting Started with Approvals

  • Understanding Common Data Service
  • Creating an approval flow
  • Creating a SharePoint site and list
  • Creating an approval
  • Adding calendar events and notifications
  • Starting the flow
  • Responding to approvals

Chapter 3: Working with Multiple Approvals

  • Working with sequential approvals
  • Working with parallel approvals
  • Working with advanced scenarios
  • Mixed approval types
  • Everyone must approve
  • Creating a basic sequential approval
  • Configuring prerequisites
  • Creating the flow
  • Creating the trigger
  • Creating the first-stage approval
  • Creating the second-stage approval
  • Completing the flow
  • Testing the flow
  • Exploring further options

Chapter 4: Posting Approvals to Teams

  • Understanding the flow
  • Configuring prerequisites
  • A SharePoint site
  • Flow user bot for Teams
  • Configuring an approval flow to use Teams
  • Getting the request's information
  • Creating the approval
  • Returning the response
  • Testing the flow
  • Requesting the approval
  • Approving the request
  • Reviewing the response

Chapter 5: Using a Database

  • Understanding database connectors, triggers, and actions
  • Triggers
  • Actions
  • Adding database content
  • Creating a server
  • Creating a database
  • Creating a database table
  • Creating a connection to a database
  • Adding content to a database
  • Creating the flow
  • Executing the flow
  • Verifying the flow
  • Reviewing the run history
  • Reviewing the SQL data

Chapter 6: Working with Microsoft Forms

  • Understanding the Forms connector triggers and actions
  • Triggers
  • Actions
  • Creating a basic form
  • Processing a form with Power Automate
  • Testing the flow
  • Verifying the result
  • Reviewing the run history
  • Reviewing the SQL data

Chapter 7: Accepting User Input

  • Understanding the user input options
  • Creating a flow that uses all input types
  • Configuring the prerequisites
  • Creating the flow
  • Executing the flow
  • Verifying the flow execution

 

Section 4 - Administering the Power Automate Environment

Chapter 1: Exporting, Importing, and Distributing Flows

  • Exporting a flow
  • Importing a flow
  • Distributing a flow
  • Sending a flow via Power Automate
  • Publishing a flow to the template gallery

Chapter 2: Monitoring and Troubleshooting Flows

  • Monitoring flows
  • Viewing a run history
  • Resubmitting a flow
  • Reviewing email error reports
  • Resolving authentication errors
  • Examining detailed errors with the flow checker
  • Understanding error codes
  • Finding additional resources