Automate workflows between applications and services. Power Automate provides:
- Cloud flows: Automated, instant, and scheduled workflows with 1,000+ connectors
- Desktop flows: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for legacy systems
- Business process flows: Guided experiences within model-driven apps
- Process Mining: Process and task mining with optimization recommendations
Power Automate integration patterns
I implement sophisticated automation patterns for enterprise scenarios:
A cloud flow run, step by step
Estimated revenue: € 82,500Running
When a row is addedDataverse · Opportunities
Get manager (V2)Office 365 Users
ConditionEst. revenue > € 50,000
If yes
Start an approvalSales director
Post in Teams#deals
If no
Update a rowStatus = Approved
Illustrative example
Cloud flow patterns
Automated flows
Trigger-based flows that respond to events (new email, Dataverse record creation, file upload, etc.). Use cases include:
- Email notifications when records are created or updated
- Data synchronization between systems
- Approval workflows with parallel branching
- Document generation and distribution
Scheduled flows
Time-based flows for batch processing and periodic tasks:
- Daily/weekly/monthly report generation and distribution
- Data cleanup and archival processes
- System health checks and monitoring
- Batch data imports from external sources
Instant flows
User-triggered flows for on-demand automation:
- Manual approval processes
- Ad-hoc data exports and transformations
- Integration testing and troubleshooting
- Power Apps button triggers for complex operations
Desktop flows (RPA)
Automate legacy systems and desktop applications:
- UI automation: Record and playback interactions with desktop applications
- SAP automation: Specialized actions for SAP GUI automation
- Mainframe automation: Terminal emulation for legacy systems
- Image recognition: AI-based element detection for unstable UIs
- Attended & unattended: Run with user interaction or fully automated