Working with Power Automate: What is Power Automate?

Power AutomateThis article is part of the Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

Microsoft Power Automate is a cloud-based service which allows users to automate repetitive tasks and streamline business processes; it was originally known as Microsoft Flow.

It is part of the Microsoft Power Platform suite of products, which includes Power Apps and Power BI amongst others.

With Power Automate, users can create automated workflows that integrate with hundreds of different applications and services, including Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and many more including non-Microsoft applications or services.

Power Automate provides a low-code environment that enables users to build custom workflows without, as Microsoft claims, requiring extensive programming knowledge. However, I think that the people with programming experience will find the logic patterns required to build flows easier to manage than someone with no development experience.

The platform also offers a huge range of pre-built templates and connectors that make it easy to get started with automation; the screenshot, below, shows just a small amount of the available connectors.

Image showing only the first few available connectors

Over the course of this series of articles, I am going to take a look at the basics of Power Automate before moving onto how to build flows and such like.

More information on Power Automate is available here from Microsoft themselves.

Working with Power Automate

Working with Power Automate
What is Power Automate?
What Type of Flow Are Available?
What Type of Cloud Flows Are Available?
Power Automate with Business Central
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Are Solutions?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What Types of Solution Are There?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: What is a Solution Publisher?
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution Publisher
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Create a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Publish a Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Version Numbering for Solutions
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing An Unmanaged Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Exporting A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Importing A Managed Solution
Working with Power Automate Solutions: Change the Managed Properties of a Solution Component
Create a Visio Diagram of a Flow
What Are Environment Variables and Why Should They be Used?
Create an Environment Variable
Create a New Cloud Flow From a Template
Managing Large Flows
What is a Scope?
Example of How to Use a Scope
Best Practice For Using Scopes
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: What are Child Flows?
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Create a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Change Run Only Users For Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Add a Child Flow To a Parent Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Test the Parent/Child Flow Examples
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered Saving a Flow Which Calls a Child Flow
Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow
Calculate 30 Days Ago