Power Platforms Tidbits #3 – Power Automate flow types

There are five types of flows in Power Automate depending that you can build. Three of them are considered cloud flows.

• Cloud flows
  • Automated flows
  • Instant flows
  • Scheduled flows
• Desktop flows
• Business process flows

Cloud flows

Cloud flows can be either of the following.

• Automated flows – that are triggered when an event happens. For example when an account is updated.
• Instant flows – that are triggered manually by a user or even a Virtual Agent.
• Scheduled flows

Desktop flows

Desktop flows are run using Power Automate for desktop, which is replacing the two legacy options which we had before for Windows and web applications. Namely Windows recorder (V1) and Selenium IDE.

Business process flows

• Business process flows guide users, step by step to make sure everyone on the team is following the same steps and entering data consistently.
• You can have up to 10 concurrent business process flows per table that user can switch between and continue at any time.
• As a bonus you can even run workflows when a user enters or leaves a workflow.

Useful tips!

• There is an interesting tool called Process Advisor “that quickly captures detailed steps for each process in your organization to help you better understand places to streamline workflows. You can do this on your own or invite colleagues to contribute and collaborate”. Read more here: Overview of process advisor
• Keep in mind that Power Virtual Agents can call your Instant flows. It means you can have Virtual Agents that not only reply to and guide users but take initiatives!
• Try as much to standardize business processes in organizations as Business process flows. This approach will reduce human errors and makes it easier for every one to learn and work with the system.

References:

• Overview of the different types of flows
• Business process flows overview