automation

Latest Power Automate Features to Boost Productivity

Evelyn Dennis
  1. Application Insights Integration for Monitoring Power Automate Flows
    The integration of Power Automate with Application Insights allows users to monitor and analyse the performance of their automated workflows. By connecting Power Automate with Application Insights, you can track flow execution, view real-time telemetry data, and gain insights into failures, performance bottlenecks, and usage patterns. This integration helps improve workflow reliability, optimize performance, and enhance troubleshooting, making it easier to maintain and troubleshoot automation processes.
Latest Power Automate Features
The above image refers to the Overview panel in Application Insights, providing key metrics and data to monitor and troubleshoot workflows.
Failures panel in Application Insights, displaying information on workflow errors and issues for troubleshooting.

Availability: This feature is generally available from Aug 2024.
Reference: Overview of integration with Application Insights – Power Platform | Microsoft Learn
Video: Power Automate Telemetry Integration with Application Insights | TechTalk

  1. Simplify Flow Creation with Copilot in Power Automate
    Copilot Assistance for Streamlining Automation in Power Automate helps accelerate automation by using natural language instructions to suggest solutions. It guides you throughout the entire process, from creation to completion, making it easier to adopt automation and transform your workflows.

    Note: Copilot Assistance for Streamlining Automation in Power Automate is enabled by default in the UK, Australia, US, and India, and can be disabled at the tenant level via PowerShell.
Copilot Assistance for Streamlining Automation

Availability: This feature is generally available from September 2024.

Reference: Copilot in Power Automate – Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

Video: Building Flows with Copilot

  1. Effortless Expression Creation and Editing Using Copilot’s Natural Language Support
    With this feature, makers can easily create or edit complex expressions in Power Automate using natural language prompts. No need for complex coding—just submit your request to Copilot. To use this, Copilot must be enabled in your tenant.

type a natural language prompt

Availability: This feature is generally available from Mar 2025.

Reference: Create and edit expressions with Copilot | Microsoft Learn

4. Task Mining and Process Mining in Power Automate for Automation Opportunities

Task Mining and Process Mining in Power Automate help find tasks and processes that can be automated. Task Mining looks at repetitive tasks done by users, like clicks and typing, and suggests ways to automate them. Process Mining looks at entire workflows to find delays and problems. Together, they help businesses work faster and more efficiently.

Task Mining vs. Process Mining

Both tools aim to uncover automation opportunities, but they operate at different levels:

Task Mining and Process Mining

Availability: This feature is generally available from August 2023.

Reference:  Microsoft launches Power Automate Process Mining and next-generation AI – Microsoft Power Platform Blog

Video: Improve Efficiency with Power Automate Process Mining and RPA | BRK213H

  1. Integrate Visuals in Power BI with Power Automate for Interactive Dashboards
    Integrating Power Automate with Power BI allows you to automate workflows and visualize data seamlessly. By creating a flow in Power Automate, you can process and send data to Power BI for real-time reporting. In Power BI, build a report based on this data and embed a Power Automate button to trigger workflows directly from the dashboard. This integration streamlines tasks, improves efficiency, and offers a more interactive experience for users.

Settings:

  1. Select the Power Automate icon from the Visualizations pane.

2. In Power BI Desktop, you can also add the visual from the ribbon. On the Insert tab, select Power Automate in the Power Platform section.

3. Scroll, resize the visual, or select the Focus mode icon to see all the instructions.

Availability: This feature is generally available from November 2024.

Reference: Create a Power Automate visual for Power BI – Power BI | Microsoft Learn

  1. Cancel Active Flow Runs for Specific Flow Versions in Power Automate
    In Power Automate, you can cancel all active flow runs for a specific version of a flow. This is useful when you need to stop unnecessary or problematic runs without impacting the entire flow. By targeting a specific version, you maintain control while ensuring your flow processes run smoothly. This feature helps clean up unwanted executions and avoids conflicts or errors, making flow management more efficient and reliable.
The image above indicates that the flow is in the process of being cancelled.
The image above indicates that the flow is in the process of being cancelled.

Availability: This feature is generally available from Apr 2024.
Reference: Cancel all flow runs for a version of a flow | Microsoft Learn

  1. Cloud-Based Automation and Task Management with Hosted RPA and Work Queues in Power Automate

Hosted RPA in Power Automate allows automation to run on cloud-based virtual machines without human intervention, making it scalable and efficient. Work Queues manage tasks by placing them in an organized queue for automation, ensuring smooth and timely processing. Together, these features streamline workflows, improve productivity, and reduce manual effort, helping businesses automate complex processes more effectively.

Availability: This feature is generally available from November 2024.

Reference: Introduction to the Power Automate Hosted RPA – Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

Video:  Power Automate Hosted RPA – Efficiently scale RPA operations

  1. View and Compare Multiple Action Properties Panes Simultaneously in Power Automate
    This feature lets you pin an action properties pane and open another one side-by-side. It allows for easy comparison of properties, copying values between panes, and taking screenshots, improving workflow efficiency.

Availability: This feature is generally available from Aug 2024.
Reference: View two action properties panes simultaneously | Microsoft Learn

  1. Mark Input Parameters as Optional in Manual Triggers for On-Demand Flows

This feature allows you to mark input parameters in manual or Power Apps triggers as optional in Power Automate’s modern designer, a capability previously available only in the classic designer. This makes it easier to run flows on demand without requiring all input parameters.

The image shows that you can now mark any input parameter in a manual trigger as optional in the modern designer.

Availability: This feature is generally available from Mar 2024.
Reference: Mark input parameters in triggers as optional | Microsoft Learn

10. Enhanced Creation and Testing of Seamless Approval Workflows in Power Automate

Streamline approvals with Power Automate. Easily create and test workflows to manage document and process approvals across platforms like SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and Salesforce.

Example:

  • Trigger: The workflow starts when someone creates a vacation request in a SharePoint Online list.
  • Add to Approval Center: The request is added to the approval center and emailed to the approver.
  • Notify Requester: An email with the approver’s decision is sent to the person who requested the vacation.
  • Update List: The SharePoint Online list is updated with the approver’s decision and comments.

Availability: This feature is generally available from October 2024.

Reference: Create and test an approval workflow with Power Automate – Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

Moving to Microsoft Power Platform

HABY JOSEPH

What are the biggest apprehensions of moving to Microsoft Power Platform?

Moving to Microsoft Power Platform

  1.     It would compromise the security of the data.

The biggest fear that you will face from the outset will be data security and its dispersal preventing. The management of sensitive data is absolutely critical for any business. The risk increases when the data is too internally accessible, more specifically to staff who should not have access to this information. The initial reason for your IT team should refuse may be because of the fear that information will end up anywhere and that they will lose control of it. 

Solution here is: Regardless of the software you ‘re implementing, when granting access, it’s always important to establish good practices and sound regulations. The setting up of security profiles and requests for access may limit information flow. Implementing this task properly is crucial since doing otherwise could expose the company to great risks.   

  1.     We don’t have the financial resources.

Your IT department may also be concerned about the cost increases. The more your company is able to use and create applications for many employees, bigger the licensing costs. Depending on the budget set aside for each department, the addition of these new costs can quickly turn into a headache. 

Solution here is: Creation of new applications to solve problems will increase the organisation’s efficiency. Thus, the investment in licences will be recovered quickly through significant time savings. 

  1.     This will overload the IT team.

Your IT department may also worry that it will unduly increase its workload. In addition, there could be a craze around these applications. But this also means that requests for improvements and bugs will most likely emerge. Obviously, the IT department knows this process. However, for the IT team this work could be especially difficult. Developers are not uncommon to forget to maintain documentation or to do standard follow ups. The application management is then a lot more complex for the IT department.

Solution here is: There are two approaches to this; 

  • Build a Center Of Excellence as a long term strategy: Establishing a centre of excellence is the best way to prevent the IT department from being swamped with work. This is a team with a methodology and the tools needed to support, train, and grow new developers. This ensures that they are supported in their development initiatives, and everybody will collaborate in this context, which will divide the load among many. 
  • Empower all the business users in addition to IT: Once the Application Lifecycle Strategy & Security are defined. You could identify one or two volunteers from each department and get them to start building apps relevant for that team. This way it becomes a much more collaborative, rapid way of app development with maximum utilization of the Low Code/No Code strategy of the Microsoft Power Platform. 

  1.     The application data is imprecise.

The developer creating an application or dashboard often fills erroneous data. If the information used has not been validated, consulting with this platform may have serious implications for the business. In other words, your organisation, based on inaccurate information, could make wrong decisions. 

 Solution here is: So, the procedure hasn’t changed in the case of an application. The data used must still be ensured and their presentation validated.

  1.     This will increase Shadow IT

Shadow IT represents all the technological decisions that are made in your company without the knowledge of your IT department. From the IT department ‘s perspective, giving free rein to developers creating applications complicates the monitoring of the tools being used. 

Solution here is: Everything created and implemented is visible to the IT department by using Microsoft Power Platform tools. The IT shadowing collapse is precisely the strengths of this platform. More the IT department allows employees to use the power platform to solve the problems they face, the more they can keep an eye on the tools they use.

Also Read More about –  

Sysfore is a Microsoft Gold Partner with unique customer stories using the Microsoft Power Platform. Being a low code/no code platform, partner could help customer in quickly building apps for their key business challenges leveraging the various solution components. As requested sharing with you the solutions which Sysfore has already built on Power Apps platform for customers.

Watch this video?  to get a quick overview of how the CoE Starter Kit can help you adopt the Power Platform at scale!

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