1. Microsoft Flow Approvals 101
January 12, 2019

2. About Melissa Melissa Hubbard @melihubb mhubbard@withum.com
Project Manager, Microsoft MVP
Author of Mastering Microsoft Teams. Specializes in simplifying and automating business processes using Flow and SharePoint Designer.
Experienced in managing projects throughout the entire lifecycle as well as developing and implementing SharePoint and Office 365 solutions.

3. 16 100+ 50+ 4 About Withum Digital Microsoft Cloud Deployments
(Office 365, Azure, Dynamics, Power BI) 16
Years as:
Microsoft Gold Partner
Microsoft MVPs
On Staff 4
50+
Consultants
(Project Managers, Business Analysts, Developers, Data Scientists, Engineers, Software Developers, User Experience Designers)

4. SPSVB Sponsors
Platinum
Gold
Silver

5. SharePint
ATC
Immediately following SPSVB Closing Some appetizers will be provided

6. Brief overview of What Microsoft Flow is and what it does
Agenda
Brief overview of What Microsoft Flow is and what it does
Flow Approvals
Demo
Q & A
My Goal: You Will Build a New Flow After This Session!

7. What Microsoft Flow is and What it Does

8. What Flow Is
Cloud based business process automation service, eventually replacing SharePoint Designer workflows!
Provides user friendly solutions to automate your personal AND organizational business processes and move content across services.
Use content from other platforms to build workflows.
A streamlined version of the Azure LogicApps meant for the everyday business user "Citizen Integrator".
Use Flow templates or start from scratch.
Mobile app that allows for users to track, manage, and create Flows.
BUTTONS!

9. Work less, do more
Microsoft Flow helps people and teams work smarter by automating processes across their apps and data

10. What It Does More visualizations and analytics coming
Flow plan 2 license

11. Where It Fits In More visualizations and analytics coming
Flow plan 2 license

12. Plan Features

13. On-Premises Data Gateway

14. Components of a Flow Connectors Triggers Conditions Actions
Connector- REST Service examples, Teams, Planner, and Forms. Also other services like gmail, twitter, mailchimp, service now, etc Over 170 custom connector any using REST endpoint
Triggers- event that kicks off the flow- Manually, On a schedule, an event in the cloud
Conditions-
Actions- What the Flow does, uses data from the trigger.

15. Connectors How you connect your services to Microsoft Flow
A proxy or a wrapper around an API that allows the underlying service to talk to Microsoft Flow.
Connect to on-premises systems via Data Gateway.
Create, connect, and share a custom API.

16. Flows Versus SPD Workflows
Automation of individual and enterprise business processes across a multitude of services
Ability to connect data between different SharePoint site collections
Flow use credentials of person who created the connector
Package up to export and import into different environments
Ability to run flows on a schedule
Free version but has limitations. (Cannot work on premises)
Limit on amount of flow runs based on subscription
Not just for SharePoint!
VS.
SPD Workflows
Automation of enterprise business processes in SharePoint
Ability to connect data only within the same site collection (without pain)
Workflows use credentials of the initiator in SharePoint (Besides impersonation steps)
Recreate options are limited
Can’t run on a schedule
Unlimited amount of workflows
Free
Only used with SharePoint
Multi choice fields.

17. Integration With Modern Lists and Libraries
Flows can be created directly from a modern list or library
Flows can be run based on trigger conditions or can run on demand on a selected item
Launch panel which allows you to prompt users for information at run time and run as the user starting the Flow
Update list fields and document properties
Request Sign-Off
Automate saving document into a SharePoint folder, copy files from one Drive into a specific folder.

18. Benefits Save time and effort through automation
Accelerate Requests, Content, and Document Review and Approval
Automate processes that tend to interrupt your daily workflow
Citizen Development
Personal Productivity
Integrates with the Microsoft Common Data Model enterprises improving efficiencies with a unified view of business data
Connects with SharePoint on premises allowing you to easily move data out of SharePoint and between site collections
Go mobile! Create and monitor flows from your mobile device

19. Limitations
Save time and effort on manual processes through automation
No state machines
250 actions per flow
Max of 5,000 iterations in Do until and For each actions(100,000 with plan 1)
Cannot change SharePoint item security OOTB
Flow duration is 30 days (can impact lengthy approval processes)
No way to see all flows associated with a SharePoint list or library
No way to see all approval history for a flow

20. Flow Approvals

21. Approvals
Manage the approval of documents or processes across several services
Can be customized: sequential, parallel
Configure whether all people assigned must approve, or anyone from the assigned list can approve

22. Ways to Approve Email The approval center Mobile app
Also can requestor, reassign, and copy link

23. Approval Templates Pre-made approval flows Very easy to configure
Make modifications if needed
No way to tailor the template gallery for your organization
Can request to have a flow added to the template gallery

24. Approval Center
View all of your received and sent requests in one location
View all of your approval history from the beginning of time

25. Flow Approvals Demo

26. Admin Center Environments Data Policies Geolocated, data locality.
Contains Users, manage permissions.
Separate and manage test and production environments.
Create a boundary for the data between teams or sub organizations.
Separate Dev, Test, Production Environments
Data Policies
Establish data loss prevention policies to all or only selected environments.
Admins to define which services specific business data can be shared with.
Categorize connectors (services) into two data groups, “Business Data Only” and “No Business Data Allowed”.
Users will be blocked from combining the “Business Data Only” and “No Business Data Allowed” connectors in a Flow.

27. How to Get Started Sign up for Microsoft Flow:
Review Flow Learning Materials
Join the Microsoft Flow Community Site
Join a Flow User Group!
Create your first Flow from a template
Create your first custom flow

28. DC Flow User Group, Next Meeting January 23rd

29. Next Steps Complimentary Business Process Assessment
Our experts will review your current business processes and help identify where automation would optimize your operations. 
Yes! Schedule My Free Assessment
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