A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Business Process Flows with Microsoft Power Automate

Microsoft Power Automate is a trusted low-code platform that is extensively used by businesses and organizations to automate critical business processes. In this article, we will quickly look at the process that you should follow when you want to create a business process flow with Microsoft Power Automate. 

A Word of Advice

Before you plan to create an automated workflow on Power Automate, make sure that your business has the right licenses and you, as a user, has the right permissions. It is recommended to get in touch with a Power Automate consultant during the planning and execution stage, so to avoid any errors and ensure maximum efficiency. 

The Process

Here are the steps that you need to follow to create business process flows with Microsoft Power Automate. 

STEP 1: Access Power Automate 

Visit the Power Automate website and sign in using your Microsoft work account credentials. 

STEP 2: Go to Business Process Flows 

It is recommended to create your business process flow inside a solution for better management. To do that, you need to click on ‘Solutions’ in the menu. You can create a new one or work with an existing solution. 

Next, you will need to click on ‘+New’ and select Business Process Flow. Give it a name and choose the table the process will be based on. Once you are done, click on ‘Create’ 

STEP 3: Define the Stages of the Process 

Next, you will have to open the visual canvas within the designer. To start things off, you will need to add stages. Each stage will be a phase of the process. To add a stage, click on ‘+Add Stage’. Give a name to the stage and choose a category. 

Now, within the stage, click on ‘+Add Step’ to add a data step. Set the data field as per your needs. You can also set it to be a required field. 

STEP 4: Configure the Branching Language 

In some cases, depending on the nature of the flow, you will need to set conditional logic to branch out the flow based on the value in the fields.  

To add a condition to a stage, select a stage and then click on ‘add condition’. Next, you need to simply define the rule. Add the different paths based on conditions, to guide the users of the flow, through alternate flows. 

STEP 5: Set the Order of Stages 

Next, you need to set the order of the stage. Since Power Automate is a low-code process automation tool, it comes with a simple, easy-to-use interface. You can use the drag-and-drop functionality to reorder the stages.  

STEP 6: Validate the Flow and Save It

Click the validate button on the toolbar to make sure that the flow is error-free. Once everything checks out, you can click on ‘Save’ and then ‘Activate’ to make the flow available to your users. 

STEP 7: Assign the Necessary Security Roles 

Although it is often overlooked, it is highly recommended that you assign security roles so that you control who can see and use the flow. 

STEP 8: Test the Flow

Next, you will test the flow thoroughly to ensure that it is free from errors. If you identify bugs, make sure that you rectify them before publishing it. 

STEP 9: Monitor and Improve 

After the flow is deployed, you can track user progress, bottlenecks or drop-off points. Make sure that you collect feedback from the users to tweak stages or optimize steps. 

Tips to Improve the Performance of Business Process Flow

Here are some of the things that you should try to do, to improve the performance your business process flow: 

• Name the stages based on user goals, and not on system steps. This will reduce confusion for everyone. 

• Minimize the required fields to avoid extra work for the flow and the users. 

• Align the flow with your actual real business processes and try to involve end-users as much as you can. 

• Use them together with Power Automate flows for any backend automation. 

These are the steps that you need to create business process flows in Power Automate. To learn more contact us today.