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Microsoft Power Automate, formerly known as Microsoft Flow, is a cloud-based automation tool designed to help users create and automate workflows and tasks across various applications and services without the need for developer intervention.
Automation of Workflows: Power Automate allows users to automate repetitive and mundane tasks by creating workflows, known as "flows," which can be triggered by specific events or actions. These flows can be managed on desktops, mobile devices, or through web portals.
Integration with Multiple Services: It integrates seamlessly with a wide range of Microsoft services and apps, including Power BI, PowerApps, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and other third-party services like Salesforce, Google Drive, Slack, and more. This is achieved through connectors, which are API proxies that enable these services to connect to Power Automate.
Low-Code and AI Capabilities: The platform is built with low-code and AI capabilities, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical users. It includes tools like AI Builder and Copilot, which help in creating and managing automations using natural language and AI recommendations.
Types of Automations: Power Automate supports various types of automations, including cloud flows that run in Microsoft datacenters and desktop flows that use robotic process automation (RPA) to automate tasks on local devices or virtual machines.
Connectors Available:
Cloud (SharePoint, Teams, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, many more)
FTP / SFTP
No access to internal servers (behind firewall) such as Oracle, MS SQL Server, or MCommunity
Access to custom APIs and several cloud providers is disabled by security policy
Front-end automation / RPA (Power Automate Desktop)
SSC Technology Management Team
m/a
Not Permitted
Protected Health Information (PHI/HIPAA)
Student Education Records (FERPA)
Social Security Numbers
UMIDs
Credit Card or Payment Card Industry Information (PCI)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
This product - is a part of Office 365 - but is NOT SUPPORTED by U-M ITS.
This product is only available for U-M - at a local level. It is not available to be shared in the cloud. What does this mean? It means that if you wanted to share a flow with your entire team - each team member would need to create the flow individually.
If you want to use Power Automate, make sure you join the MCommunity group and ITS will make a license available to you.
If you are using Windows 11 - the offering of Power Automate that is in the U-M Software Center - will NOT WORK.
If Power Automate has previously been installed on your desktop (on Windows 10 or previous) - you may need to update it.
If you get an error while updating, you may need to uninstall and reinstall. You may possibly need to reboot after uninstallation/reinstallation also.
If it hasn't been previously installed - go to the Start Menu, then go to All Apps and scroll to the "M" section or search for "Microsoft Store" in the Search Bar (see right)
Once in the Microsoft Store, search for the Power Automate application in the search bar at the top
When the Power Automate Application shows up in the Windows Store - click on the Install button
Login with your U-M account (you may need to Authenticate with Duo)