IW Mentor

Go beyond the basics of Power Automate. Ramp up your skills in this in-depth class, taught by Microsoft MVP, Laura Rogers.  This is not a beginner class. A basic knowledge of the Flow interface and concepts, is necessary.

This course has most recently been recorded in June, 2021. 

Module 1: Flow Editing Interface

In this first module, we will go into creating blank Flows and building them from scratch.  This includes an overview of the interface and options when building Flows, and concepts such as triggers, actions, conditions, and dynamic content.  Flow sharing and collaboration concepts will also be covered, as well as the mobile app.

Module 2: Flow Triggers

There are hundreds of available triggers in Microsoft Flow.  In this module, you will learn how to use them, and we will deep dive into some specific common and important triggers.  Learn about manual triggers and how initiation parameters work. This module also covers how to trigger a flow from a SharePoint list or library, how to create a flow trigger button on an item, and how to trigger a flow from Teams. Other triggers such as recurrences, Microsoft Forms, and Outlook will be demonstrated as well.

Module 3: Working with SharePoint Data

This module covers the plethora of actions and possibilities when working with SharePoint data in Microsoft Flow.  After covering the common concepts such as creating SharePoint list items, you will learn the difference between the Get Item action and Get Items, and how manipulate and update data across multiple lists.  You will learn how to work with SharePoint's content approval settings in Flow, how to query one or more SharePoint list items, and how to use actions that create folders and set permissions in SharePoint.

Module 4: Working with Files

In this module, it's all about working with files in Microsoft Flow.  There are many different places that files can come from, or be sent to.        They can be email attachments, documents in a library or OneDrive, attachments to a list item, and much more.  You will learn how to use Flow to work with file content and file names, and all of the gotchas involved in that process.  We will also cover content conversion, moving files, and converting to PDF.

Module 5: Approval Processes

In this module, you will learn about your options when it comes to building approval processes.  There is a Flow action called Approvals, that has a lot of built in functionality.  There are also other ways that you can go about it.  Send emails, assign tasks, assign planner tasks, send email with options.  These various ways will be discussed, compared, and demonstrated.  Learn about approval concepts such as dynamic multiple approvers, serial versus parallel, working with SharePoint content approval, and how to build a flow that sends overdue notifications.

Module 6: Testing & Troubleshooting

Microsoft Flow has very powerful inherent functionality when it comes to testing and troubleshooting your Flows.  In this module, you will learn what your options are, as well as the ways to test different types of Flows.  Flow history, errors, and troubleshooting will be demonstrated, as well as the details on how to catch a specific error in a flow.

Module 7: Conditions, Loops & More

This module is about conditions, loops, and some more common actions.  Conditions let you create IF THEN statements and various branches of a workflow.  Learn about the new interface for creating complex conditions, and other related concepts, such as switches and parallel branches.  With more complex workflows, it is also important to understand looping, and different types of loops, such as apply to each, and do until.  In this module, you will also learn about settings that can be configured on each action, and some useful actions such as date time, schedule, and actions that format numbers and dates.

Module 8: Variables & Expressions

When building Flows, it is important to understand how variables are used, and how to build expressions.  There are several different types of variables, and there are over twelve different actions relating to variables and other data operations.  In this module, we discuss and demonstrate these, as well as how to work with arrays (lists of things) in Flows.  The expression builder is covered, with examples of how it is used, and what the possibilities are.  You will learn how to parse JSON, work with HTML and CSV table actions, and you will see several advanced demonstrations of how to utilize all of these more complex concepts.

Printing concepts are taught in depth in this module as well.  Learn two different methods of creating a printable version of your data or form.  The first version involves composing HTML, and the second involves using a Word Template action. You'll also learn how repeating tables can be added to the printout, as well as images.

Module 9: Flow Administration

In this module, learn about Environments in the Power Platform, and how to do administration of Flows and Power Apps in your organization. Reporting and analytics are covered, as well as how to create flows and Power Apps inside of solutions.  You will also learn how to create a system account so that flows can be run as a different account other than the creator of the flow.

Power Apps with Power Automate

This last module exists in both the Power Apps and Power Automate advanced courses.  Since it covers the integration of the two, it is duplicated across them.  In this module, learn how to create a button in a Power App to trigger a flow, and how to create parameters in the flow that retrieve data from the Power App.  We also cover and demonstrate how to set the flow up to send data back to the Power App after the button is pushed.