Item: Microsoft Power Automate
Rating: 9
Author: Matt Aldridge

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power Automate

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Power Automate fills a vital gap where teams can develop various workflows between systems that our technology team hasn't integrated, and we need automation. This is most useful with HR and L&D processes such as onboarding, induction, and employee exit. It helps us automate repetitive tasks, like updating a database of employee records, sending data to webhooks based on a set trigger, moving data from one system to another, and automating enrolment actions in our LEARN365, our LMS platform. Power Automate stands out for its ability to integrate with multiple systems, close gaps in our existing technology configuration, and give more flexibility to people's data.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Connecting to many Microsoft and third party systems.
Flexible automation workflows with many triggers.
Little to no coding knowledge required to get started.
Lots of templates and online support resources available.

Cons

Steep learning curve.
It can be slow to develop simple solutions compared to other automation platforms such as Smarsheet.
Troubleshooting and developing can be frustrating without proper access to edit the code directly.
Only able to edit through the GUI and with expressions.
Many ways to do the same thing can be frustrating when you need to rework your flow.

Most Important Features

Automated triggers.
Connects to Smartsheet and LMS365.
Webhooks (premium feature).
Connects to all Microsoft apps.
Basic plan included with most O365 licenses.

Return on Investment

Reduce manual admin tasks, reduce administration hours.
Automated notifications for timely HR action.
Automating inductions prevented the need for third party platform.

Implementation Rating

When I arrived at the organization, it had already been implemented. Moving between Power Automate Flows and Azure Logic Apps is very easy, this is a massive strength for the platform. There is also the ability to export and import flows easily, however, there are some challenges with moving flows between accounts - the connections all have to be reset, and we had some teething issues with getting a premium license on the correct account; flows created on a basic account had to be duplicated and edited to get them working correctly.

Alternatives Considered

Smartsheet, IFTTT, Power Apps, Oracle Siebel CRM, Salesforce Sales Cloud and Azure Logic Apps

Power Automate can do many things that most platforms can't do as a 'citizen-developer' with no access to coding tools and deployment. It allows you to develop and deploy low/no-cost automation flows quickly. The blocks in Powert Automate do the API work for you, where you only need to connect the key data points and actions taken.

Key Insights

Do you think Microsoft Power Automate delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Power Automate's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Power Automate live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Power Automate go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Microsoft Power Automate again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Smartsheet, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft SharePoint, LMS365, Workleap Officevibe, MYOB PayGlobal, Articulate 360, Microsoft Planner

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are in a team that needs to develop automated solutions but have no coding experience and no access to a developer, Power Automate is one of the best places to start. It is incredibly flexible and likely has triggers and actions that can connect with your platforms, especially if you use the Microsoft stack. Additionally, using webhooks, you can connect to many different endpoints to get systems working together.

Comments

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Steep learning curve for 'citizen-developers', but a must have automation platform!

Software Version

Modules Used