Microsoft Power Platform: A Comprehensive learning Guide | EmergenTeck | Part 2

This comprehensive guide covers all aspects of Microsoft Power Automate, from creating and
customizing flows to integrating with other Microsoft products. Learn how to automate repetitive
tasks, streamline workflows, and improve your productivity. Whether you're a beginner or an
experienced user, this guide has everything you need to get started with Power Automate.

Table of Contents

Power Automate: Getting Started

 Introduction to Power Automate

 Typical Flow Scenario

 How to Create Your First Flow

 Microsoft Flow License

 Exploring Power Automate Studio

Understanding Flow Triggers

 Different Ways of Flow Triggers

 Flow Functions

 Schedule Flow

 Automated Flow

 Manually Trigger Flow

 Calling Flow from Power Apps

Understanding Flow Actions

 Actions in Flow

 Adding List Item in Data Source

 Deleting Data from Data Source

 Updating Data in Data Source

 Querying Data from Data Source

 Calling Web API in Flow

Working with Variables

 Working with Flow Variables

 Data Conversion Using Expressions

 Understanding Arrays in Flow

Flow Actions

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  Working with Conditions

 Applying For Each

 Switch Controls

 Working with Branch, Scope, and Terminate

Working with Files

 Monitoring Files in SP Library

 Copying & Moving Files Inside SP Online

 Converting Files to PDF

 Premium Actions

 Report Creation Using Flow

 Connecting Flow with Dataverse

Power Automate Desktop

 Introduction to Power Automate Desktop

 Exploring Power Automate Desktop Tool

Power Automate: Getting Started

Introduction to Power Automate

Power Automate is a low-code automation platform that allows you to connect apps, services, and
data to automate repetitive tasks. It helps you streamline your workflows and increase productivity.

Typical Flow Scenario

A typical flow scenario involves:

 Trigger: An event that initiates the flow, such as a new email, a file added to a folder, or a
button click.

 Actions: A series of steps that are executed in response to the trigger. These actions can
involve calling APIs, sending emails, creating files, and more.

 Conditions: Conditional statements that allow you to branch your flow based on certain
conditions.

How to Create Your First Flow

1. Choose a template: Power Automate provides pre-built templates for common scenarios.
You can start with a template and customize it to your needs.

2. Add a trigger: Select the event that will initiate your flow.

3. Add actions: Choose the actions you want to perform.

4. Test your flow: Run the flow to ensure it works as expected.

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Microsoft Flow License

Power Automate is available in several licensing plans. The licensing plan you choose will determine
the number of flows you can create and the features you can access.

Exploring Power Automate Studio

Understanding Flow Triggers

Flow triggers are the events that initiate a Power Automate flow. They can be categorized into
several types:

Different Ways of Flow Triggers

 Manual Triggers: These are initiated by a user, such as clicking a button in a Power App or
selecting an option in a SharePoint list.

 Scheduled Triggers: These are triggered at a specific time or interval. You can schedule flows
to run daily, weekly, monthly, or at a custom frequency.

 Data-Driven Triggers: These are triggered when changes occur to data in a specific source,
such as a SharePoint list, SQL database, or Common Data Service entity.

 Event-Based Triggers: These are triggered by events that occur within other services, such as
new email messages, file uploads, or changes in Salesforce records.

Flow Functions

Flow functions are used to perform specific actions within your flows. They can be used to
manipulate data, send notifications, and integrate with other services.

Schedule Flow

To schedule a flow, you can use the "Schedule" trigger. This trigger allows you to specify the
frequency and time at which the flow should run.

Automated Flow
Automated flows are triggered by events that occur within your organization, such as new email
messages, file uploads, or changes in data sources.

Manually Trigger Flow

Manually triggered flows can be started by a user through a button, link, or other interface element.

Calling Flow from Power Apps

You can call a Power Automate flow from a Power App using a custom connector. This allows you to
create more complex and interactive applications.

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Understanding Flow Actions

Flow actions are the building blocks of your Power Automate flows. They perform specific tasks, such
as sending emails, creating files, and updating data.

Actions in Flow

There are many different types of actions available in Power Automate. Some common examples
include:

 Data operations: Actions for adding, updating, and deleting data in various data sources.

 Send notifications: Actions for sending emails, SMS messages, or push notifications.

 File operations: Actions for creating, updating, and deleting files.

 Logic operations: Actions for controlling the flow of your automation, such as conditions,
loops, and switches.

 API calls: Actions for calling APIs to interact with external services.

Adding List Item in Data Source

To add a list item to a data source, you can use actions like "Create item" (for SharePoint lists) or
"Create record" (for Common Data Service entities).

Deleting Data from Data Source

To delete data from a data source, you can use actions like "Delete item" (for SharePoint lists) or
"Delete record" (for Common Data Service entities).

Updating Data in Data Source

To update data in a data source, you can use actions like "Update item" (for SharePoint lists) or
"Update record" (for Common Data Service entities).

Querying Data from Data Source

To query data from a data source, you can use actions like "Get items" (for SharePoint lists) or "Get
records" (for Common Data Service entities).

Calling Web API in Flow

To call a web API in a Power Automate flow, you can use the "HTTP" connector. This connector allows
you to make HTTP requests to any web API. You can specify the HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT,
DELETE, etc.), the URL, and any required headers or body parameters.

Working with Variables in Power Automate

Working with Flow Variables

Variables are used to store data that can be used throughout your Power Automate flows. They can
be used to store values, lists of items, or objects.

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There are three types of variables in Power Automate:

 Global variables: These variables can be accessed from anywhere within your flow.

 Local variables: These variables are only accessible within a specific scope, such as a
condition or loop.

 Collection variables: These variables are used to store lists of items.

Data Conversion Using Expressions

Expressions are used to perform calculations and manipulate data in Power Automate. You can use
expressions to convert data from one type to another, such as converting a string to a number or a
number to a date.

For example, to convert a string to a number, you can use the int() function:

int(value)

To convert a number to a date, you can use the date() function:

date(value)

Understanding Arrays in Flow

Arrays are used to store lists of items in Power Automate. You can create arrays using the [] syntax:

myarray = ["item1", "item2", "item3"]

You can access individual items in an array using their index:

firstItem = myarray[0]

You can also use functions like length() to get the length of an array, and indexOf() to find the index
of a specific item.

Flow Actions: Building Blocks of Your Automations

Flow actions are the fundamental building blocks of your Power Automate flows. They perform
specific tasks within your automation, such as sending emails, creating files, updating data, and
more.

Working with Conditions

Conditions allow you to control the flow of your automation based on specific criteria. You can use
conditions to:

 Branch your flow: Decide which actions to execute based on a condition.

 Loop through a collection: Repeat actions for each item in a collection.

 Terminate a flow: Stop the flow execution under certain conditions.

Applying For Each

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The For Each action is used to iterate over a collection of items and perform a set of actions for each
item. This is helpful when you need to process multiple items in a loop.

Switch Controls

Switch controls allow you to choose between different actions based on the value of an expression.
This is similar to a conditional statement in programming.

Working with Branch, Scope, and Terminate

 Branch: The Branch action allows you to create multiple paths within your flow based on
conditions.

 Scope: The Scope action is used to define a specific area within your flow where variables or
actions can be used.

 Terminate: The Terminate action can be used to stop the execution of a flow at a specific
point.

By understanding and effectively using these flow actions, you can create powerful and efficient
automations that streamline your workflows and improve productivity.

Working with Files in Power Automate

Monitoring Files in SP Library

You can use Power Automate to monitor SharePoint libraries for changes in files. This allows you to
trigger flows based on events like file creation, modification, or deletion. For example, you could
create a flow that sends an email notification when a new document is added to a specific library.

Copying & Moving Files Inside SP Online

Power Automate provides actions that allow you to copy or move files within SharePoint Online. This
is useful for automating file organization and management tasks.

Converting Files to PDF

You can use the "Convert file" action in Power Automate to convert files to PDF format. This is helpful
for standardizing file formats and ensuring compatibility across different applications.

Premium Actions
Some actions in Power Automate require a premium license. These actions often provide more
advanced functionality, such as working with large datasets or integrating with third-party services.

Report Creation Using Flow

While Power Automate itself doesn't have direct report creation capabilities, you can use it to
automate the data collection and preparation for report generation. For example, you could create a
flow that extracts data from various sources, formats it into a desired structure, and then triggers a
Power BI report refresh.

Connecting Flow with Dataverse

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You can connect Power Automate flows to Dataverse, Microsoft's cloud-based data platform. This
allows you to automate tasks based on changes to Dataverse entities and leverage the rich data
capabilities of Dataverse.

Power Automate Desktop: A Desktop Automation Tool

Introduction to Power Automate Desktop

Power Automate Desktop is a tool designed for automating repetitive tasks on your desktop. It uses
robotic process automation (RPA) technology to simulate human interactions with applications and
websites. This can help you streamline your workflows and improve efficiency.

Exploring Power Automate Desktop Tool

Power Automate Desktop offers a user-friendly interface with various components and features to
help you build your automations. Some key features include:

 Recording actions: You can record your actions on your desktop to create automated
workflows.

 Editing actions: You can edit recorded actions to customize and refine your automations.

 Variables: Variables allow you to store data and use it in your automations.

 Conditions: Conditions allow you to control the flow of your automation based on specific
criteria.

 Loops: Loops allow you to repeat actions multiple times.

 Integration with Power Automate Cloud: You can integrate Power Automate Desktop with
Power Automate Cloud to create more complex and powerful automations.

By leveraging Power Automate Desktop, you can automate tasks that are time-consuming or error-
prone, freeing up your time to focus on more strategic work.

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