Power Automate Your Admin Routines

Most Microsoft 365 subscriptions include Power Automate, which uses AI to automate a lot of administrative tasks. It not only eliminates a lot of tedious copying-and-pasting routines, but it also lets you put many routines on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly schedule, taking the burden of remembering things off your shoulders.

Power Automate lets you create automated workflows between various applications and services, such as sending notifications, moving data between systems, and managing approvals. It also works seamlessly with Microsoft 365 tools like Excel, SharePoint, and Teams, as well as third-party applications in what Microsoft calls a “low-code environment” that lets users with little to no coding experience to create workflows easily. It has three types of workflows:

  • Cloud Flows that trigger automatically, instantly, or on a schedule
  • Desktop Flows that automate tasks on desktop applications and the web
  • Generative Actions that use AI features such as Copilot to determine the right actions based on user intent

Power Automate is suitable for any size user base, ranging from individuals to large corporations. Anyone with a work or school email address can sign up and register to access the platform through a web browser or the Power Automate desktop app available for Windows.

One of the ways I’m using it is to look for emailed reports that I get several times a day in Outlook. It takes the data in the reports and enters them into an Excel spreadsheet and color codes it to indicate which numbers have changed or remain the same. It also lets me know what numbers have not changed for two weeks. AI reads my invoices, and it scans data and puts it into a OneNote notebook that I can look at and decide what to keep.

I also use Power Automate to track my appointments and hours, and I now have a routine that sorts them all on the first of the month. Overall, I’d say all my routines saved me 17 hours of work in the last week.

While similar automation platforms are available, Power Automate integrates much better with Microsoft systems, including third-party apps that tie into Microsoft. To make it work effectively for you, keep these factors in mind.

  • There are limits to how many requests you can make in a 24-hour period.
  • You need to select the right triggers and actions to ensure your workflows are activated precisely when needed.
  • You need to clearly document your workflows thoroughly so that those who maintain the system and work team members understand the workflow logic.
  • You must test it comprehensively and thoroughly to ensure that your workflows function as intended and handle errors gracefully.

We can help you set up and optimize Power Automate routines focusing on adopting consistent naming conventions, implementing robust error handling, and avoiding unnecessary loops. We can also help with configuration management and flow performance monitoring for continued efficiency. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your needs and design a system for them.

Getting Oversubscribed and Fed up

Our love-hate relationship with Microsoft – and Apple and Google – is coming to a head. Our beef right now focuses on Microsoft and its hard push to get users to adopt the New Outlook. It’s the default for Microsoft 365 subscriptions, and it’s not as feature-rich as the Old Outlook, which Microsoft calls Classic Outlook. Subscription prices are another issue.

Let’s get one issue out of the way. We like subscriptions for application software, such Microsoft 365. They provide regular updates and bug fixes automatically, either periodically or as needed, to make sure you have the latest performance and security features. As we use the cloud more, these updates become a bigger benefit.

Our beef with Microsoft is with the New Outlook. In our opinion, Microsoft is pushing us into a new system that has fewer features than the one it replaced. We recently covered the differences between Old and New Outlook, and we invite you to revisit that article. Microsoft essentially forced us to go with New Outlook before it was ready for prime time. It may be faster, but Microsoft took away many features in the new version. It seems like they made the move for their own convenience, not for the betterment of its customers. They say they will restore some features, but we have to ask why they didn’t get in all the features before they rolled out the new version?

You can go back to the Old Outlook by clicking on the Help tab along the top of your screen and then clicking on Go to Classic. But it’s not a simple toggle-back-and-forth process. It takes some time, which you may not have when trying to get a lot of things done.

You really don’t have a lot of choices. Most organizations are locked into Microsoft 365 for email (Outlook), its suite of Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), and the collaboration enabled by OneDrive and Teams. Everyone knows how to use the apps, and businesses, non-profits and governments know how to support them, either through internal tech departments, IT consultants or both.

Microsoft knows they have a firm grip. If they maintain the best possible security measures for their customers, they can get away with fewer features to support while raising prices. They’ll add features (and support them) when enough customers kick and scream or when another software provider threatens a piece of their market.

We can help you on the economic side by analyzing all your Microsoft and other application subscriptions to see where we can eliminate duplications of licenses or scale back some to meet your needs more efficiently. There’s no need to be oversubscribed. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up an appointment.