Create document approval workflows, eliminate the need for double data entry, set up easy alerts, and bring all your information into one place using Microsoft Power Automate. Power Automate, aka Flow, provides a user friendly, no code interface for automating repetitive administrative tasks. Free up time in your schedule so you can focus on design and innovation, and let Power Automate take care of the rest.

Flow is designed to interweave the various products in Office 365 as well as connect to other on-premises and web-based solutions. This course will give you the confidence to select the right actions and workflow logic for your business workflows.

This course is designed for users wanting to reduce time spent on administrative tasks and take control of their work tasks. Those who have been using Office 365 for some time and are now looking at ways to be more productive and get the various different apps to talk to each other will love this course.

No prior knowledge of Power Automate/Flow is required. It is helpful (though not required) if attendees have a basic working knowledge of:

• Excel tables
• SharePoint lists and/or document libraries
• Microsoft Teams

As we will be using Flow to connect all of the above and move information automatically from one platform to another.

We will get lots of hands on practice building various different flows to:

• Create a calendar appointment and notify the team when a staff member calls in sick
• Create a quick evaluation form to collect feedback and get instant notification of bad ratings
• Automate a document review process in SharePoint for policies that must be reviewed every six months
• Compare orders to your product database and get an instant notification when your sales team sell a product below cost

Each Flow we build will introduce you to new skills and concepts that you can transfer to any flow you build for your work. After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the key components of any flow (trigger, action(s), connectors)
• Describe three types of triggers available in Power Automate
• Understand the basic components of flow logic and how conditions, switches, apply to each and do until change the logic of a flow
• Initialize and use variables within a flow
• Edit, test and troubleshoot existing flows (and create new ones!)
• Share and manage flows within your organisation

Module 1: An Introduction to Flow

Let’s get started with an introduction to Microsoft Flow. Historically, automating business processes typically landed in the lap of a developer in the business, who has a good understanding of coding and the systems that they were connecting. However, more and more systems deployed to businesses are encouraging a bigger focus on end user design and management. With this culture change, end users are looking to further improve their business solutions. Flow brings workflow design to all audiences. It offers the building blocks for lightweight or business-critical processes. In this module, we cover an overview of the product and its application to Office 365 and third-party services.

Lessons

• What is Microsoft Flow?
• The benefits of automation
• How to get to Flow

Lab 1: Setup your tenant

• Setup Office 365
• Download Course Files
• Customise your App Launcher
• Create accounts for colleagues

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Know what Microsoft Flow is
• See benefits of using Flow to automate processes
• Understand how to access a flow

Module 2: Getting Started with Flow

We begin our discovery of Microsoft Flow by building our first business process. We will discuss how to use templates to get started with Flow or how to use a blank template to start with no defined actions. Once in the product, we will give you a tour of the editor, workflow management page and the home screen to help you navigate around the product. Next, we will start to add, edit and remove actions from our workflow template in order to customise the Flow for a specific business need. Once ready we will publish and trigger the workflow to test that it works as expected. We will finish this module by discussing how to turn a Flow on or off as well as deleting a Flow.

Lessons

• Using Flow templates
• Navigating in Flow
• Editing a Flow
• Publish and trigger a Flow
• Turn off or delete a Flow

Lab 1: Building processes in Office 365

• Create a Team with a channel
• Build an absence business process
• Testing the absence process
• Optional: Create Feedback Form
• Optional: Flow to Notify of Bad Ratings
• Optional: Test your Form and Flow

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Use Flow templates
• Navigate around Flow
• Edit Flows
• Publish and trigger Flows
• Turn off or delete Flows

Module 3: Flow Logic

Decision making during a business process is often a bottleneck. Waiting for decisions or information to steer the workflow towards its goal is dependent on how long the involved party spends on the task. This could be mitigated if the desired information is found declared elsewhere for example, as a document property or a form entry to name a few examples. Logic in a workflow allows existing information to push the workflow down multiple paths. This often speeds up workflow duration and minimizes human input. In this module, we will look at the core logic found in Flow and a practical application of each option.

Lessons

• Adding conditions
• Designing switches
• Using apply to each
• Configuring do until logic
• Adding a scope

Lab 1: Scheduling documentation reviews

• Setup a policy library in SharePoint
• Design a policy review schedule
• Testing the policy review process
• Optional: Notify if a file nears review

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Add conditions in a flow
• Design switches for a flow
• Use apply to each
• Configure do until logic
• Add a scope

Module 4: Integration

Businesses will often use a selection of productivity tools and services beyond Office 365. Marketing teams may use Facebook and Twitter whereas a sales team may use Salesforce to manage their customers. Flow provides connectors for popular services allowing your processes to extend beyond Office 365 to other web services. Connections can even be made to on-premises servers, allowing your business systems house at the office to take part in your processes.

Lessons

• Standard and premium connectors
• Connecting to web services
• Using Flow with on-premises data

Lab 1: Using Flow and SQL to Review Sales

• Create a new orders list
• Designing the price check process
• Testing the price check process
• Optional: Update with managers

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Use Standard and Premium connectors
• Connect to web services
• Use Flow with on-premises data

Module 5: The Mobile App

Flow has a corresponding mobile app that can be used to leverage many features of Flow. Firstly, it offers users the capability to build new Flows directly from their phone or tablet. Secondly, it can be used to manage existing flows including editing, viewing history, saving a copy, disabling and deleting Flows. You can access any approvals that have been sent to you by Flow and approve or reject decisions. The app also supports the push notifications that can be sent to your phone or tablet from a Flow. Additionally, you can even create buttons that appear in the app which allow you to trigger Flows. This valuable app will be detailed in this module.

Lessons

• Downloading the mobile app
• Signing in and account management
• Building and managing Flows
• Creating buttons
• Feeds and approvals

Lab 1: Optional: Using the flow mobile app

• Setting up the Flow mobile app
• Create a new flow in the mobile app
• Using flow buttons in the app
• Uninstall the flow mobile app

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Download the mobile app
• Sign into the mobile app
• Build and manage flows in the mobile app
• Create buttons in the mobile app
• Feed and use approvals in the mobile app

Module 6: Administration and Maintenance

In our last module for Microsoft Flow, we will be taking a look at how a business can manage their Flows once they have a good uptake of the product. We will begin by discussing managing individual Flows. This could be using history to discover the source of any issues and implement error handling as well as using the analytics to discover usage trends. We will discover how to share a Flow which is ideal for sharing the maintenance of a Flow with another colleague and how to import and export Flows. Finally, we will discuss how Office 365 administrators can shape the Flow experience with high-level settings that help ensure data segregation and security.

Lessons

• Maintaining a Flow
• View history and analytics
• Sharing a Flow
• Export and import Flows
• Office 365 administration for Flow
• Environments
• Data policies
• Data integration

Lab 1: Maintaining your Flows

• Share a flow with a colleague
• Disabling an active flow
• Deleting a flow

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Maintain a flow
• View history and analytics for a flow
• Share a flow
• Export and import flows
• Administrate a flow in Office 365
• Use data policies in a flow
• Use data integration in a flow