Learning Microsoft Power Automate

Chapter 9. Business Process Flows

Cloud flows are used to automate business processes where there is a connector or API. Desktop flows can automate manual tasks done on a computer. But what if you have a business process that involves multiple people or groups of people completing different sets of tasks? This is when you use a business process flow (BPF). BPFs provide a visual checklist of the tasks that need to be completed to achieve a result. They can be used to track the progress of data collection and completion of individual or group tasks. This type of tracking helps coordinate the work of multiple people and groups and will increase the consistency and completeness of data entered as part of the process.

What Is a Business Process Flow?

BPFs coordinate groups of people who are completing a set of related tasks. For example, when onboarding a new employee, there are a number of tasks that need to be accomplished by different people in a particular order. The following list summarizes a typical set of onboarding tasks:

• Security needs to create a user account and assign appropriate levels of access.

• HR needs to enroll the new employee in the company health insurance and benefits program.

• A manager needs to request a work phone and computer for the new employee.

• A welcome message needs to be sent to the new employee with this information.

In this BPF, someone in the corporate security department would create a user account for the new employee and assign their ...