Getting Started with Microsoft Power Automate

How efficient you are can make all the difference when it comes to your product entering the market first or second. Tools and procedures have been developed and used to make daily tasks simpler to boost. And various solutions are adapted to boost an organization’s efficiency and productivity.

One of the most popular pieces of software in every sector, robotic process automation (RPA), aids businesses in bridging the digital technology divide. One of the leading RPA tools is called: Power Automate.

In this article, we will learn about Microsoft Power Automate, it’s capabilities, and how you can get started.

What is Microsoft Power Automate?

Power Automate is a low-code automation tool that reduces manual and repetitive activities and boosts business productivity across a variety of services.

For three years running, Power Automate has been named a Leader in Robotic Process Automation by Gartner and Forrester. This is mainly because how users can create various workflows between desired applications simply and intuitively.

Power Automate has three types of flows:

1. Cloud Flow

A cloud flow helps create workflows in a power automation flow. This flow can, however, be created in three different ways:

• Automated cloud flow which runs when an action is triggered.
• Instant Cloud Flow is a flow that runs when a manual action is seen.
• Scheduled cloud flows are types of flows that are triggered based on a defined schedule. They automatically run at the specific time set by the user. For example, every Monday by 8 am.

2. Business Process Flow

Business process flows help to ensure consistency in data entry by following a set of defined steps sequentially to give them the desired outcome. They are mostly used in Model-driven Power Apps. An example of a business process flow for an employee onboarding application where a sequence set of steps needs to be followed.

3. Desktop Flow

Lastly, desktop flows come with RPA capabilities. RPA allows you to automate processes that require interaction with your desktop or legacy applications, especially where APIs are not available. A simple example would be starting the export of data from a legacy database to an excel file.

How Does Microsoft Power Automate Work?

The beautiful thing about MS Power Automate is that anyone, regardless of background, can use it to build automated business workflows. CollabPoint can help you with your journey so you can create and activate automatic flows across platforms. The great part is that this just needs to be done once.

Power Automate uses connectors, triggers, and actions to build flows. Connectors fall under two categories:

• Standard connectors
• Premium connectors. 

Power Automate Connectors

Now, Power Automate has more than 700 connectors to assist you in connecting and automating a variety of data sources, platforms, and APIs (Application Programming Interface).

A connector is an API wrapper that allows users to use an underlying service. They also often come with their triggers and actions. A few of the available connectors are Microsoft Forms, SharePoint, Excel, and SQL Server.

Standard connectors are prebuilt connectors in Power Automate that are free to use and come with the license. For example, Microsoft Teams, and OneDrive for Business.

Premium connectors, on the other hand, are available for use only by users with the premium license plan, which comes at an added cost. With your premium connectors, you can connect to both Microsoft and third-party services using connectors like SQL Server Connector, Adobe PDF Services Connector, Microsoft Dataverse Connector, and DocuSign Connector.

Additionally, you can always add a custom connection or use an HTTP action card to make API requests if the service you’re looking for isn’t already listed. When working with APIs through an HTTP action card, custom connectors still use APIs but offer extra capabilities.

Let’s talk about triggers and actions and how they can help you.

Microsoft Power Automate Triggers and Actions

Triggers are what start flows, particularly cloud flows. They help connections, aid in obtaining the data you need from a connector and have an impact on the actions in a flow, such as when you are performing an action. Action refers to the task or work function that is executed after a trigger has been invoked or has occurred. 

Let’s look at an example: a manager must view the excel sales table at a specific time as an email attachment every day. To simplify the process for the manager, a scheduled cloud flow that runs on a specific day can be created. Every day at that time, an email will be sent to the manager with all the information she needs.

What can you do with Power Automate?

The possibilities are limitless, especially when combined with other services. Let’s look at some:

• Set reminders to keep track of your tasks.
• Send push notifications and sync files
• Set high-importance emails and never miss an update
• Easily transfer real-time business data on a schedule
• Automate manual tasks.

Key Benefits of Microsoft Power Automate

Power Automate can apply to every sector. Here are some benefits it offers its users:

• It helps in making data-driven decisions: through Power Automate, users can connect to a variety of data sources and build conditional logic that helps in deciding what actions to take in response to data output.
• Integration across platforms is seamless: because of the connectors, users can easily integrate with different data sources (Microsoft and other third-party services) to perform various operations without coding.
• The easy use of templates to automate a task: there are numerous pre-built templates to make the automation of repetitive tasks easier without having to start from nothing.
• Increases personal productivity: consider all the routine tasks you perform each day at work and how much more efficient your day would be if they were all automated.
• Accessible on any device: users can access their flows on any device, either on their web browser, mobile device, tablet, or laptop. Flows can also be tracked, accepted, or rejected.
• By Helping to Reduce Human Error: when working on a task, it’s impossible to avoid making mistakes. Power Automate can run that task and prevent any likely mistakes.
• Decision-making is easily achieved: by setting up an approval flow, it is possible to obtain decisions and approvals for a project without having to go through a drawn-out procedure to obtain validation from managers or stakeholders.

CollabPoint is Here to Help

With Microsoft Power Automate, you can streamline repetitive tasks by empowering everyone using a low code approach to build automated processes with pre-built connectors, flows, and triggers. So why not boost efficiency and maximize your organization’s potential today by getting in touch with our team of experts?

Focus on what matters and let CollabPoint manage the rest!