Introduction to Microsoft Flow DANIEL STRAITIFF,

Introduction to Microsoft Flow DANIEL STRAITIFF, DSTRAITIFF@PRAGMATICWORKS /DANIELSTRAITIFF/ @SUPERPOWERBI SUPERPOWERMYBI.COM

Microsoft Flow Overview What is Microsoft Flow? What problems does it solve?

Flow is Workflow automation Routine and Repetitive tasks

Why Automation? Increase Productivity Eliminate Inconsistencies Focus on Business Critical Issues

Real World Use Cases Within Power Platform Power BI Power Apps Microsoft Flow

Business Problems, Flow Solutions Work Force Multiplication Nontechnical staff acts as citizen developers Leveraging drag and drop functionality, not code Systems Integration 225 Connectors Custom and template solutions Regulation Administration & compliance Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy

Flow’s Audience Flow focus: Business Users & Specialists (Office, Dynamics) Logic Apps Focus IT Pro / Developers (Visual Studio, Azure)

Extended Benefits IT/Developers Highly advanced and business critical Flows Logic Apps Any Flow can be converted to a Logic App

Triggers & Actions Triggers Sets the flow in motion An Event A Button Scheduled Actions What you want to happen when a trigger is invoked

Templates, Templates and Templates

At a Glance

DEMO Getting Started with Flow

Using Templates in Flow Flow Templates Connectors

Module 1 Flow Templates What is a Template? A pre-built flow that performs one or more tasks automatically after it is triggered by an event Can be modified to fit your specific needs Can be examined as a Learning Tool Can be uploaded to the Microsoft Flow Community for sharing

Module 1 Flow Templates Template Categories All Flows Sync Featured Mobile Approval Notifications Button Productivity Email Social Media Data Collection Events and Calendar Can also Search templates by service

Module 1 Connectors What are Connectors? Connections between services that can be used as triggers and actions in Flow Must have an account for and be signed into services to utilize them Some connectors are not available to free users (Premium)

Module 1 Connectors Data Explorer

DEMO Creating a Flow Using a Template

Testing and Troubleshooting Testing Flows Troubleshooting Flows Common Errors

Module 1 Testing Flows Testing Flows Test after creating or altering a flow or when issues are encountered Testing is done in the Flow Designer Can easily be monitored and tested any time on web or mobile Multiple ways to Test Flows Manual trigger action Using Data from previous runs Use Data from Connector Data Explorer

Module 1 Troubleshooting Flows When a Flow Fails Notifications appear when a Flow fails Inspect the flow within the Edit Pane Troubleshooting Resources Monitor Flow while running Use data from connector/previous runs Microsoft Flow Community forums Data Explorer

Module 1 Common Errors Common Errors & Codes Authentication Failure (401, 403) Action Configuration (400, 404) Temporary / Transient Failures (500, 502) Identifying Errors Error Details in the Flow’s Edit pane Flow Checker

DEMO Testing Flows

Building your first flow from scratch Connectors, Triggers, Actions Demo

Triggers Trigger Event that kicks off the flow Microsoft Flows start with a trigger Triggers can be run manually (Buttons) Run on a schedule (Recurrence Trigger) Run based on an event 225 Services Triggers and actions in more than 225 Services

Polling pattern Push Triggers Push triggers Notify Microsoft Flow when an event occurs Poll Triggers Wakes up at regular intervals and checks the service for activity. Connectors without triggers ServiceNow

Actions Actions One or more actions may exist inside a flow Types of Actions (Operation Types) Create Update Delete Assign Perform Action Actions can be reordered and Removed

Data Events When a data item is modified, created, or deleted

Flowing data Capturing Data Captured data can be used anywhere in the flow Actions – Generate Data Actions can modify and have outputs Outputs ‘flow’ from each step and is available in later steps Add Dynamic Content Use to select outputs from previous steps

Trigger Outputs: File name Size File content Action 1 A binary field would see: File name Size Outputs: File content Title Count Action 2 A string field would see: File name Size File content Count A number field would only see: Size Count Title Flowing data

DEMO Building flows from scratch

DEMO Building flows from scratch

Microsoft Flow Billing Understanding Flow Billing

Billing of Microsoft Flow Flow Free 750 runs per month Unlimited flow creation 15-minute checks Flow Plan 1 4,500 runs per month Unlimited flow creation 3-minute checks Premium Connectors Flow Plan 2 15,000 runs per month Unlimited flow creation 1-minute checks Premium Connectors Org Policy Settings Business Process Flows Which Office 365 plans include Microsoft Flow? Office 365 Business Essentials Office 365 Business Premium Office 365 Education Office 365 Education Plus Office 365 Enterprise E1 * Office 365 Enterprise E3 * Office 365 Enterprise E5 https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

Billing of Microsoft Flow Free Trial 90 Days Community Plan does not have 90 limit Flow Runs Flow runs are pooled across all users (aggregated) It is not 750 runs per person Purchase additional Flow runs 50,000 Runs / USD 40.00

Free Flow Flow for Office 365 Flow for Dynamics 365 Flow Plan 1 5 user/month Flow Plan 2 15 user/month 750 2000 4500 15,000 15 minutes 5 minutes 3 minutes 1 minute General Maximum number of runs per month (per user) Maximum flow frequency Create flows from thousands of templates available in the public gallery Use Business process flows for multi-stage processes Connectivity Connect to Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure SQL, and other Microsoft services One Unlimited Unlimited Connect to line of business services like Salesforce and Oracle using premium connectors Access on-premises data using one-premises data gateway Create custom connectors to connect to your own systems (per user) One Management Create environments to deploy your flows (per user) Invite others to share ownership and run flows Two View flow usage across your company Establish environment policies regarding the usage of different connections and flows

Monitoring Flow Runs

Quota Breakdown Runs Per License x Licenses 2000 x 7 14,000 pooled executions Where? Office 365 Admin Portal Flow Tenant Quotas

Introduction to Microsoft Flow MITCHELL PEARSON, MPEARSON@PRAGMATICWORKS /MITCHELLPEARSON1/ @MITCHELLSQL MITCHELLPEARSON.COM