What is Power Automate? Everything you need to know

So, how does Power Platform work?

Now, some non-technical people may wonder what wizardry supports Power Platform. There are just five core flows that keep Power Platform running seamlessly like a well-oiled machine. Here are all five of them explained.

1. Automated Flows

In automated flows, tasks are performed automatically after a set action or event is triggered. For example, a retail business can create a flow that would dispatch an email or a push notification on an app when someone buys a product using a specific discount code.

2. Button Flows

Button flows are seen as key time-savers in many organizations. These are flows that automate recurring tasks at a click or tap of a button depending on the hardware being used. For example, a department manager creates a button that automatically reminds the entire team to join a meeting or update their tasks. It may seem minuscule to some people, but it truly saves a lot of time in the long term.

3. Scheduled Flows

Scheduled flows, as the name suggests, are developed for pre-planned automated processes. For example, you need an hourly update on the sales figures across your multiple retail stores. You can create a scheduled flow here so one or more related tasks can execute automatically on regular basis to deliver timely reports into your inbox.

4. Business Process Flows

Business process flows are used in governance management or matters related to compliance. These automate human-centric processes and ensure teams have a defined set of steps that need to be followed so the desired outcome is reached.

5. UI Flows

These flows are extensively useful for applications that lack APIs for automation. UI flows bring RPA into workflows and aim to automate repetitive tasks by learning from user interface actions. It is done by recording and playing back actions carried out by users while they are working on a particular user interface. ‍