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Power Automate allows users to automate repetitive tasks and workflows across their business applications like Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure, and hundreds of other SaaS and on-premises apps. With Power Automate, you can build automated workflows and apps called flows to get work done without coding. These flows can monitor for changes, collect data, trigger responses - all without software development.
There are many powerful features in Power Automate that allow you to take automation to the next level. In this blog post, we will explore the top 10 Power Automate services features you need to know about. We'll explain what each feature does in simple terms and provide examples of how it can benefit your organization. By learning about these features, you'll be able to maximize the potential of Power Automate to save time, reduce errors, and boost productivity for your business or team.
Let's get started!
1. Pre-made Connectors
One of the best things about Power Automate is that it comes pre-packaged with hundreds of app connectors that allow you to easily connect to and extract data from popular business applications and web APIs. These pre-built connectors handle the complexities of authentication and data exchange so you don't have to deal with it.
Some of the most commonly used connectors include Office 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Salesforce, Slack, Twitter, and more. You can use these connectors to pull or push data, trigger actions, and have automated workflows span across different systems without moving data between them manually. This makes it very simple to incorporate various software and services into your automated processes.
For example, you could set up a flow that monitors a shared OneDrive folder for new files. When a new file is added, it can use the OneDrive connector to download the file, parse the data using other steps, and then upload updated records to your Dynamics 365 CRM using the Dynamics 365 connector. All without writing any code.
2. Logic Apps
Logic Apps allow you to put together sequences of steps, or logic, to orchestrate automated workflows and processes as visual diagrams. They act as the glue that holds together all the different actions and connectors within a flow.
With Logic Apps, you build out workflows using trigger conditions and action blocks. Triggers monitor for events or changes that kick off the flow. Actions are the individual steps or operations that execute, such as sending an email, making an API call, or updating a database record.
You can have sequential logic that runs steps one after another, parallel logic that runs multiple steps simultaneously, and conditional logic that branches different ways depending on if/else statements. This makes it very flexible to model complex real-world processes digitally.
For example, you could build a hiring logic app that has triggers for new applications submitted in your ATS. It would run applicant screening actions in parallel like reference checks, background checks, and skills assessments. Based on the results, it would conditionally notify internal teams to schedule interviews or send rejection letters automatically.
3. ApprovalLogic
Getting multiple approvals as part of a workflow process can introduce bottlenecks and inefficiencies if done manually. ApprovalLogic enables you to embed secure approval processes directly into your automated flows.
With ApprovalLogic, you designate approvers, specify the approval rules and conditions, assign approver groups, and manage the entire lifecycle of the approval process - all within Power Automate. Approvers can review and approve or reject requests through personalized approval emails without leaving their inbox. Detailed reporting and analytics are also available.
For example, you could require management approval whenever a vendor contract over $10,000 is signed. The flow would trigger an ApprovalLogic process that routes the contract to the relevant managers based on dollar amount. Once approved, it would automatically generate a purchase order in your ERP system to kick off procurement.
This saves time previously spent chasing down paperwork and allows fluid workflows that incorporate multi-level approvals seamlessly.
4. Recurrence Triggers
Recurrence triggers allow you to automatically rerun a flow at specific intervals, just like a scheduled task. This is useful for workflows that involve ongoing or repeated data synchronization, report generation, file backups, and other periodic processes.
You can schedule recurrence triggers to run flows hourly, daily, weekly, monthly on specific dates, or even custom recurrence patterns. All recurrence settings are configurable directly in the trigger properties.
For example, you may have a flow that runs every night to backup files from your project document library to a network folder. Another example is a monthly reporting flow that aggregates sales data from CRM and generates reports on the 1st of each month. Recurrence triggers ensure these automated periodic tasks keep running reliably without additional effort.
5. API Connections
API Connections allow Power Automate to connect to and integrate with external APIs, custom APIs, and backend services. This opens up a whole world of possibilities to incorporate third party tools, build integrations, and automate complex processes.
With API Connections, you specify the base URL, authentication, parameters, and data exchange format upfront. Then you can easily call APIs and work with their responses across multiple flows without having to handle the API details manually each time. Commonly used APIs like Twitter, Microsoft Graph, and Azure have pre-built templates as well.
For example, you could call an external vehicle tracking API after every sales order to trigger GPS tracking and shipment notifications. Or integrate an identity management API to provision and deprovision user accounts automatically based on HR requests. The opportunities are endless!
6. Loops
Loops allow you to repeat a set of steps multiple times based on a condition. This is useful when you need to iterate through records, process arrays/lists, poll for changes, or run steps until a condition is met.
Power Automate supports ForEach, Until, and While loop constructs that follow standard programming logic. You specify the loop condition, collection to iterate on, and steps to repeat inside brackets.
For example, a ForEach loop could process an array of new employee records from an API call. It would iterate through each record, assigning a unique ID, generating login credentials, and adding records to different systems one by one. An Until loop may repeatedly check a flag until a long-running task completes.
Loops prevent repetitive code and allows workflow automation involving multiple, similar operations on a collection of data.
7. Managed Identity
Managed identity provides elevated access to securely connect Power Automate directly to Azure resources and services without needing service principal credentials stored in the flow. This follows the principle of least privilege access for enhanced security.
With managed identity, Power Automate handles authentication behind the scenes using an automatically assigned identity from Azure AD. You only need to grant the flow access to necessary resources like key vaults, storage accounts, virtual machines and so on at design time.
This is extremely useful when automating processes that involve Azure services like starting/stopping VMs, accessing databases, reading/writing files in storage, and more without hardcoding creds. Managed identity makes the integrations much more secure and maintainable.
8. Complex Conditional Logic
Power Automate supports complex conditional logic that branches workflows using if/else, switch/case statements for non-sequential flows. You can check for multiple conditions, nest logic, operate on variables - all from the intuitive Logic Apps designer interface.
For example, a customer issue resolution flow may check the type of request, severity level, SLA, assignee skills and route to the appropriate queue/team. A data validation flow could have nested if statements to check for multiple error scenarios before proceeding.
Conditional logic allows complex real-world processes to be accurately modelled as automated flows. It gives flexibility to branch pathways, handle exception cases, and make smarter orchestrated decisions based on dynamic inputs.
9. Integration with Power Apps
Power Automate can easily integrate with Power Apps for comprehensive low-code application development. You can trigger apps, send and receive data, call web APIs, and reuse connectors from within your Power Apps.
For example, a sales flow may populate an input form Power App with lead details for reps. Submitted forms then trigger workflow automation. Or an inventory app fetches stock data from the ERP system using a flow. Users interact through a rich interface while Power Automate handles the backend processes seamlessly.
This enables rapid application development without code. Users get engaging interfaces built with Power Apps while processes leverage all capabilities of Power Automate behind the scenes for syncing data across systems. Integration between the two platforms creates powerful no-code solutions.
10. Flow Acceleration
Power Automate accelerates flows using dedicated resources in the cloud to optimize performance and scalability for high volume automated jobs. Accelerated flows can process thousands of records quickly in parallel without bottlenecks.
You can accelerate standard HTTP/HTTPs triggered and scheduled recurrence flows at the push of a button. Accelerated flows are automatically scaled up with additional resources during periods of high load. They also queue and process work concurrently for maximum throughput.
This comes in extremely handy for data-heavy ETL, migration processes, external API calls, and other compute-intensive automation. Accelerated flows ensure large volume workflows perform reliably under heavy demand without potential performance issues from regular flows.
Conclusion
Power Automate is an extremely useful tool for organizations looking to streamline operations and reduce manual work through process automation. However, successfully leveraging its full capabilities requires technical expertise and a solid understanding of workflow design. This is where Practical Solutions, Inc. can provide significant value.
As an IT consulting firm, Practical Solutions is committed to delivering practical custom automation solutions to help our clients succeed in a rapidly evolving digital world. We have certified Power Platform experts who can assess your specific needs, optimize your use of Power Automate features, and implement customized workflow automations that align with your business goals.
Whether you need help with an initial proof of concept or ongoing management of an automated environment, our team of process automation specialists is ready to transform how you work through the power of technology. Contact us today to learn how we can help your organization maximize operational efficiency.
