Power Automate - part 2

Power Automate Flows

• Compose: Creates an array that can be referenced later in the flow.
• Apply to each: A loop that processes each record in a set of data in turn.
• Condition: Used for if…then…else logic to control actions in a flow.
• Switch: Performs different actions based on a value in the flow.

Approvals and Flow Types

• Microsoft Teams: Has an Approvals app that displays approvals and their status.
• Power Automate portal: Displays approvals and their status under the Action Items menu.
• Business process flows: Used in model-driven apps to guide users through stages and steps of a business process, but do not show approvals.
• Canvas app: Can start an approval process using the Approvals connector, but cannot display approvals or monitor their status.
• Instant flows: Can be triggered by a button in the Power Automate mobile app, but do not have a specific schedule.
• Scheduled flows: Run at a particular day and time with a specific frequency, and can include actions that identify and update multiple records at a time.
• Automated flows: Run after a particular event happens in another system, or when a record is updated or created.

AI Builder and Connectors

• AI Builder: Includes a document processing model that can extract information from a document, and can be called from a Power Automate cloud flow.
• Connectors: Define the actions that can be performed in a service, and define how events in the service can trigger a Power Automate cloud flow.
• Postman collection: Can be used to create a custom connector, but does not define the components for an out-of-the-box connector.

Power Automate Capabilities

• Power Apps: Used to create graphical forms, but not required in this scenario.
• Power BI: Used for visualizing data and providing users with reports and dashboards, but not required in this scenario.
• Power Virtual Agents: Used for allowing users to interact with underlying data using natural language and chatbots, but not required in this scenario.
• Desktop flows: Used for robotic process automation (RPA), and perform actions on legacy applications that do not have an API.
• Cloud flows: Used to automate modern applications that include modern APIs, and cannot be used with applications that do not have an API.

Flow Triggers and Schedules

• Scheduled flows: Run on an interval, and can be set to run once a day.
• Instant flows: Usually triggered with manual action, but can be triggered daily.
• Automated flows: Triggered when a particular event takes place, and can be triggered at a designated time each day.### Power Automate Concepts
• Compose creates an array that can be referenced later in the flow.
• Apply to each is a loop that processes each record in a set of data in turn.
• Condition is used for if…then…else logic to control the actions taken in a flow.
• Switch action is used to perform different actions depending on a value in the flow.

Approvals

• Microsoft Teams has an Approvals app that displays approvals and their status.
• The Power Automate portal displays approvals and their status under the Action Items menu.
• Business process flows are used in model-driven apps to guide a user through the stages and steps of a business process, but do not show approvals.
• Canvas apps can start an approval process using the Approvals connector but cannot display approvals or monitor their status.
• The maker portal can build flows but does not contain the capability to display action items to monitor approvals.

Flow Types

• Instant flows can be triggered by a button in the Power Automate mobile app.
• Scheduled flows run at a particular day and time with a specific frequency.
• Automated flows run after a particular event happens in another system.

Flow Actions

• The Apply to each action allows looping through items in a collection.
• Do until allows looping through items until a specified condition is met.
• Switch allows taking an input parameter and performing different steps based on the input's value.
• Condition action allows setting up a conditional statement and then performing an action based on whether the condition is true or false.

Approvals and Email

• Emails sent by approvals contain the file attached.
• Approvals listed inside the Power Automate portal show the file attached.
• The Approvals app inside Microsoft Teams shows the file attached.
• Power Automate Desktop does not support approvals.
• Power Automate Mobile app does not show the file attached inside the approvals.

AI Builder and Power Automate

• AI Builder includes a document processing model that can extract information from a document.
• The AI Builder model can be called from a Power Automate cloud flow, which is triggered by the receipt of an email.
• The cloud flow uses AI Builder to extract the information from the document and process it with further cloud actions.

Connectors and Power Automate

• A connector defines the actions that can be performed in the service using the connector.
• A connector defines how events in the service can trigger a Power Automate cloud flow.
• The connector defines the operations that can be performed on the service the connector is defined for.
• When you add a connector to a flow, you supply the credentials required for the service.

Power Automate and Microsoft Services

• Power Automate can be used with Microsoft Exchange Online.
• SharePoint Online connector can be used to create an automatic trigger.
• Power Apps are used to create graphical forms.
• Power BI provides the ability to generate visual graphics to users representing underlying data.
• Power Virtual Agents are used for allowing users to interact with underlying data using natural language and chatbots.