Microsoft Power Automate: A new opportunity to power up your Automation? – Webinar Q&A Part 3
Q&A Blog: Microsoft Power Platform: A new opportunity to power up your Automation?
Our Co-Founder Jukka Virkkunen and Microsoft’s Solution Specialist Janne Hirva recently hosted a webinar discussing the new automation opportunities enabled by Microsoft Power Platform. We received a ton of great questions during the live session and were not able to cover them all in the webinar. In this article, you can find our answers to audience questions about Power Automate use cases and other questions from business perspective. Check out also our Q&A articles covering technical questions, and pricing.
You can also watch the webinar recording here.
Key takeaways from the webinar include:
- What is Microsoft Power Automate?
- How does Power Automate fit the ever-growing automation toolbox?
- How can your business tap into opportunities enabled by the technology?
- How can the Power Platform be utilized to improve personal productivity and boost innovation?
- Practical use cases
Power Platform Q&A
Questions about use cases and business perspective
What happens in the IT administrative side if every end-user starts to create their processes? How can the IT department handle help requests?
Janne: Adopting Power Platform (as any new technology and pattern in the organization) requires governance.
It is up to each organization to plan and deploy internal processes such as application development practices, environment and user management policies and what kind of part internal support plays in the whole picture.
We have good documentation in place for good approaches and best practises that you can utilize:
Governance considerations
– https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/governance-considerations
Administering a low-code development platform – Power Apps and Power Automate Enterprise Deployment
– https://aka.ms/powerappsadminwhitepaper
Power Platform Adoption Framework (external – NOT MS)
– https://github.com/PowerPlatformAF/PowerPlatformAF/wiki
Center of Excellence Starter Kit
– https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/starter-kit
Jukka: We ensure our clients a clean and healthy production environment aligned with industry best practices (Our Roboshore platform includes PA and all other leading RPA technologies). Additionally, we provide training services and expert consulting in organizing effective automation management. For example, it might make sense to define criteria to initially identify high-potential citizen-developed solutions and systematically evaluate these for their potential in extended use across the organization. High-impact automations must be the priority for IT support – however, we also offer 24/7 maintenance service for automated processes (as part of Roboshore).
All processes transferred to our RPA Maintenance go through a quality acceptance procedure, which ensures that the solution is maintainable and performs with maximum efficiency in production. Maintenance is delivered according to a tailored service level agreement (SLA). If a process crashes or terminates, our team receives an alert, and rapidly resolves the issue. Also, any issues arising from system updates, etc are handled by our team. We monitor all your processes 24/7 from our Run Management RPA Maintenance service so that your IT has a peace of mind over the most critical automations.
About Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
About Run Management: https://digitalworkforce.com/intelligent-automation-services/rpa-maintenance/
Our Whitepaper about setting up world-class RPA Maintenance: https://digitalworkforce.com/guide-setting-up-world-class-rpa-maintenance-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/
Do you see a risk of “Citizen Developers” cutting corners when it comes to documenting and testing automation solutions they build?
Janne: The question is, do you want “Citizen Developers” to document and test their solutions, and for what purpose? After all, it is the organization’s own processes that need to be in place and managed to handle how people work.
With Power Platform governance, you can manage who can create solutions and in what environment and using what tools, data and connectors. You can decide what different developer roles are able to do and what is expected from each role/group and solutions built.
To answer your questions: No risk if you govern your platform and people.
Jukka: Quality control and managing the use of different tools have become a growing concern as automation becomes more commonplace.
Our services have been designed to maximize the automation toolbox’s usability and help our clients effectively collect business benefits produced by their digital workforce.
We ensure our clients a clean and healthy production environment aligned with industry best practices (Our Roboshore platform includes PA and all other leading RPA technologies). Additionally, we provide training services and expert consulting in organizing effective automation management. For example, it might make sense to define criteria to initially identify high-potential citizen-developed solutions and systematically evaluate these for their potential in extended use across the organization. High-impact automations must be the priority for IT support – however, we also offer 24/7 maintenance service for automated processes (as part of Roboshore). Processes transferred to our RPA Maintenance go through a quality acceptance procedure, which ensures that the solution is maintainable and performs with maximum efficiency in production.
About Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
About Run Management: https://digitalworkforce.com/intelligent-automation-services/rpa-maintenance/
Our Whitepaper about setting up world-class RPA Maintenance: https://digitalworkforce.com/guide-setting-up-world-class-rpa-maintenance-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/
Is Power Automate mainly for attended scenarios? Or is it also supporting Unattended?
Janne: Power Automate includes WinAutomate attended and also the unattended features Microsoft has acquired from Softomotive earlier.
We believe our offering is strong and compatibly priced – many new robots will be built using Power Automate. The RPA capabilities in PA complement the wider Power Platform and ensure citizen developers and professionals alike can automate as a wider range of business processes as possible regardless of the legacy systems involved.
Jukka: All the leading automation technologies have their strengths and weaknesses. At the moment, we see PA’s greatest strength in attended automation and involving people from all levels of the organization to innovate. But the technologies are evolving fast! What now works best with one technology may be different in a month. This is also why we believe it’s not in an organization’s best interest to commit to just one or a few automation technologies.
The challenge is to keep up with the information and have the required capacity of different technologies available for use at any given time. Solving these challenges sits at the core of our service.
Can Power Automate connect to a Python process to notify you in Teams that a task is complete? Getting away from email.
Janne: PA can connect to any system or service that has an API. If there is no ready-made connector available and, for example, the HTTP connector won’t suffice, then a custom connector can be created.
- Azure Functions support Python: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-reference-python
- Azure Functions can be exposed as a connector: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/custom-connectors/create-custom-connector-aad-protected-azure-functions
Of course, the Teams notification could also be part of the Power Automate flow utilizing ready-made Teams connector so the feature wouldn’t have to be hidden in the Python code. Remember that PA flows can also be invoked from code.
Can DWF give an example of how a customer can consume DWF services when (for example) they need Blue Prism Cloud attended & Microsoft unattended automation solutions?
Jukka: The example here is not the most likely one as its more fitting to use PA for attended automation and BP for unattended. Regardless, the point is probably to do with combining technologies in general.
We believe it’s not in an organization’s best interest to commit to just one or a few automation technologies. This is due to several reasons; the leading automation technologies have different strengths and weaknesses, and all of them are evolving fast in different cycles. In our view committing to one or just a few technologies pose a risk in itself. For this reason, we have developed in cooperation with our clients a new multi-technology platform service, Roboshore, which includes all leading RPA technologies.
The service also mitigates risks related to management, quality, and process maintenance. The service is the most cost-effective and user-friendly way to consume automation technologies on an industrial scale: one solution, one price based on consumption, not capacity.
Simply put, you can automate processes making use of any/all leading RPA technologies – connectors between technologies are built into the solution – have them qualified by our experts and transfer them to 24/7 process maintenance.
The solution also includes such features as SAP Automation Creator, which speeds up SAP automation development by a minimum of 50% (up to 90%). , and, soon, Document as a Service (DaaS) – an Intelligent Document Processing service that turns unstructured content into actionable information and transfers it to RPA for processing. Our intelligent DaaS engine feeds RPA robots with data from emails, PDFs, pictures, and other free forms, opening new opportunities for business-critical, end-to-end process automation.
Learn about SAP Automation Creator (in Finnish) in our recent webinar: https://digitalworkforce.com/fi/rpa-blogi/webinaari-kuinka-parannat-dramaattisesti-sapin-kaytettavyytta/
More about Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
What dangers do you see with no code/Low code RPA when a large group of employees at an organization has access to it? Perhaps employees with a low understanding of RPA.
Janne: Microsoft sees high potential for gaining efficiencies and automation by enabling employees to access low-code no-code tools and innovate. The tools are easy to learn, and training is readily available at, e.g., Microsoft Learn. We believe the security and control features available in Power Platform enable all organizations to configure security to match their needs.
You can read more, e.g., in PowerApps and Microsoft Flow Governance and Deployment Whitepaper available at https://aka.ms/powerappsadminwhitepaper
Jukka: As stated before, risks can be, for example, IT support getting overloaded, inconsistent quality, or low efficiency of developed solutions due to insufficient management and lack of training. Of course, the same challenges are present not just with PA but with automation in general as it becomes commonplace.
We address these challenges through our services. We ensure our clients a clean and healthy production environment aligned with industry best practices (Our Roboshore platform includes PA and all other leading RPA technologies). Additionally, we provide training services and expert consulting in organizing effective automation management. We also offer 24/7 maintenance service for automated processes (as part of Roboshore). Processes transferred to our RPA Maintenance go through a quality acceptance procedure, which ensures that the solution is maintainable and performs with maximum efficiency in production.
About Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
About Run Management: https://digitalworkforce.com/intelligent-automation-services/rpa-maintenance/
Our Whitepaper about setting up world-class RPA Maintenance: https://digitalworkforce.com/guide-setting-up-world-class-rpa-maintenance-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/
Is this helpful in Master Data Management? How different is this from Master Data Services offered by Microsoft?
Janne: Power Platform is very different from the MS SQL MDS.
There are a growing interest and early adopters who are using Common Data Service as a new way of setting up master data management for organizations.
For further information, please reach out to your Microsoft representative, partner or linkedin.com/in/jannehirva
How does Microsoft ensure Power Automate’s enterprise-strength and that customers don’t end up with hundreds of micro automations that are not shared amongst the business?
Janne: If the worry is that the flows build by an organization are not shared with each relevant user, it is up to the organization to make sure that they are. Power Platform (which PA is part of) is a PaaS (application platform as a service), meaning that Microsoft provides and manages the platform and tools, but the customers own the data and applications built by the platform. Platform enables you to be compliant and enterprise-grade as an organization.
Some documentation to help you along the way:
- Center of Excellence: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/starter-kit
- Governance Whitepaper: ms/powerappsadminwhitepaper
- Power Platform Adoption Framework:https://github.com/PowerPlatformAF/PowerPlatformAF/wiki
Jukka: This is one of the problems we solve. We specialize in providing intelligent automation services on an industrial scale. What you describe is a common challenge with adopting automation faster than your management structures are capable of handling.
We address these challenges through our services. We ensure our clients a clean and healthy production environment aligned with industry best practices (Our Roboshore platform includes PA and all other leading RPA technologies). Additionally, we provide training services and expert consulting in organizing effective automation management. We also offer 24/7 maintenance service for automated processes (as part of Roboshore). Processes transferred to our RPA Maintenance go through a quality acceptance procedure, which ensures that the solution is maintainable and performs with maximum efficiency in production.
About Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
About Run Management: https://digitalworkforce.com/intelligent-automation-services/rpa-maintenance/
Our Whitepaper about setting up world-class RPA Maintenance: https://digitalworkforce.com/guide-setting-up-world-class-rpa-maintenance-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/
From an audit specific point of view, how do Microsoft customers using Power Automate feel about their business users, using their accounts to run digital workers on their platform solutions?
Janne: Microsoft sees high potential for gaining efficiencies and automation by enabling employees to access low-code no-code tools and innovate. The tools are easy to learn, and training is readily available, e.g., on Microsoft Learn. We believe the security and control features available in Power Platform enable all organizations to configure security to match their needs.
You can read more, e.g., in PowerApps and Microsoft Flow Governance and Deployment Whitepaper available at https://aka.ms/powerappsadminwhitepaper
What about the ease of maintenance of this kind of automation? (e.g., when a person who created it leaves the company)
Janne: We believe you need to set up proper governance and processes to ensure your users and data stays safe. Setting up practice and policy around production automation has to cover and manage people’s changing roles and leaving the organization.
You can read more, e.g., in PowerApps and Microsoft Flow Governance and Deployment Whitepaper available at https://aka.ms/powerappsadminwhitepaper
Jukka: Quality control and managing the use of different tools have become a growing concern as automation becomes more commonplace.
Our services have been designed to maximize the automation toolbox’s usability and help our clients effectively collect business benefits produced by their digital workforce.
We ensure our clients a clean and healthy production environment aligned with industry best practices (Our Roboshore platform includes PA and all other leading RPA technologies). Additionally, we provide training services and expert consulting in organizing effective automation management. For example, it might make sense to define criteria to initially identify high-potential citizen-developed solutions and systematically evaluate these for their potential in extended use across the organization. High-impact automations must be the priority for IT support – however, we also offer 24/7 maintenance service for automated processes (as part of Roboshore). Processes transferred to our RPA Maintenance go through a quality acceptance procedure, which ensures that the solution is maintainable and performs with maximum efficiency in production.
About Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
About Run Management: https://digitalworkforce.com/intelligent-automation-services/rpa-maintenance/
Our Whitepaper about setting up world-class RPA Maintenance: https://digitalworkforce.com/guide-setting-up-world-class-rpa-maintenance-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/
What is an example of a case where PA may not be applicable?
Janne: Instead of approaching from a theoretical perspective, keep in mind that Power Platform consists of various tools that can be used to build your solution. If low-code tooling in Power Platform lacks certain functionality, our two other natively integrated clouds offer you a solution for sure that can be used to extend your Power Platform solution (Azure Services and Microsoft 365, for example). We call Power Platform a “no-cliffs” platform for a reason.
Jukka: All the leading automation technologies have their strengths and weaknesses. At the moment, we see PA’s greatest strength in attended automation. But the technologies are evolving fast! What now works best with one technology may be different in a month. This is also why we believe its not in an organization’s best interest to commit to just one or a few automation technologies.
The challenge is to keep up with the information and have the required capacity of different technologies available for use at any given time. Solving these challenges sits at the core of our service.
Can we use Power Automate to send an inquiry to an external user (customer), and obtain the answers? That would be a great tool to obtain data in a structured way?
Janne: Yes. Depending on the form of inquiry. Different approaches can be utilized on Power Platform.
A few examples:
- Use PA to send Approval workflows the receive “one-click” responses: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/modern-approvals
- Use PA to send forms and surveys: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/forms-pro/send-survey-flow
- Deploy a Power App portal that can be used as an external user self-service interface. User can be invited to the portal and portal can be used to offer forms and surveys: https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/portals/
When we are talking about citizen-led development with PA: How do you ensure topics like governance, code management (version control), central audit log …?
Janne: We see high potential for gaining efficiencies and automation by enabling employees to access low-code no-code tools and innovate. The tools are easy to learn, and training is readily available at, e.g., Microsoft Learn. We believe the security and control feature available in Power Platform enables all organizations to configure security to match their needs.
You can read more, e.g., in PowerApps and Microsoft Flow Governance and Deployment Whitepaper available at https://aka.ms/powerappsadminwhitepaper
Jukka: Power Automate can be delivered as part of our Roboshore multi-technology platform service. You pay by the minute, based on consumption, one price regardless of what technology is applied to your solution. The service complies with the ISO / IEC 20001:2011 structure and processes. We can demonstrate proven information security: the platform is used successfully by organizations with strict information security requirements, including hospitals, municipalities, and banks. We follow strict conformance with SLAs. The customer has complete visibility and control over process performance, orchestration, and process SLAs. Our clients access all the tools to monitor process performance through an intuitive dashboard and can modify the transactional priorities of different processes using RPA Supervisor.
We ensure a clean and healthy RPA production environment that is aligned with industry best practices. All processes added to our RPA Maintenance (also as part of Roboshore) service go through a quality acceptance procedure, which ensures that your solution maintainable and performs with maximum efficiency in production. Maintenance is delivered according to a tailored service level agreement (SLA) for all automated processes. If a process crashes or terminates, our team receives an alert, and we resolve the issue. We monitor all your processes 24/7 from our Run Management RPA Maintenance service.
About Roboshore: https://digitalworkforce.com/roboshore/
About Run Management: https://digitalworkforce.com/intelligent-automation-services/rpa-maintenance/
Our Whitepaper about setting up world-class RPA Maintenance: https://digitalworkforce.com/guide-setting-up-world-class-rpa-maintenance-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/
Check out also our Q&A articles covering technical questions, and pricing.