20201010 - Collabdays 2020 - Sandro Pereira - Power Automates: best practices, tips and tricks

Power Automation: Best practices, tips and tricks
by Sandro Pereira

• Head of Integration @DevScope
• Microsoft Azure MVP
• sandro.pereira@devscope.net
• linkedin.com/in/sandropereira
• @sandro_asp
• https://blog.sandro-pereira.com/
• Public speaker
• Father
• Book author: “BizTalk Mapping Patterns
and Best Practices”
+351 223 751 350
www.devscope.net
Sandro Pereira

Dynamics 365
Office 365
Standalone Apps
Microsoft
Power Platform
Common Data Service for Apps
Data Connectors
fast development….
Azure

this is our fight #tech4covid19
CHVNGE

how are my flows?
are they reliable?
what may be wrong?

1 Power Automate
was rebrand…
Microsoft
Flow

Power
Automate


Power Automate
flow naming
convention…
2
Use descriptive names
 Improves readability
 Transfer knowledge
You can always rename your flows without
impacting what is running
You can use all types of characters

DVS ADM – Inventory – Change water bottle 4 Floor
DVS ADM – Inventory – Change water bottle 3 Floor
POC CLIENT_NAME – Check if user exists
DVS CSI – Survey Process
DVS TimeReport App – Create Time Report
DVS TimeReport App – Get Budgets by project
DVS TimeReport App – Get Project by name

3 actions naming
convention…
Use descriptive names
You can now rename actions that have
dependencies… directly
The name cannot contain any control characters or
any of the following symbols: '"<", ">", "%", "&", "",
"?", "/"'.

What do you see wrong?
What can we improve?

Most of the triggersdon’t allow you to
change the name
Outlook or Forms triggers allows

Never renameactionnames without
fixing all the connectors…
especially if they have a dependencyon
the action,you are renaming
You can alwaysrename the actions even
the ones that have dependenciesdirectly
withoutany impact.

4
Everyone can read the comments
Save yourself and teammates from future
frustration
Every expression should have a comment
add comments…

20201010 - Collabdays 2020 - Sandro Pereira - Power Automates: best practices, tips and tricks

5 copy to my
clipboard…
Easy way to Duplicate Actions or Scope
Avoid reproducing settings over and over again
Copy once, paste many times

The clipboardcontentis availableduring
the lifetimeof your browser session…
…you can even copy and paste into
different Power Automate flows.
If you refreshthe browser (F5) your
clipboardcontent will go away!

6
Managing individual actions introduces
complexity
 Scopes allow us to group actions together
 Manage actions as a single unit instead of
disparate items
using scopes…

scope… is a try-catch-finally

7 error handling…
configure run
after settings
Power Automate default response to errors from
connectors is pretty simple – exit the workflow
with failure right there - but it also allows you to
have the:
 The ability to set action(s) after a failure
 Or define retry policies

Specify interval in ISO 8601 format.
Examples:
• "PT20S"--parsesas"20seconds"
• "PT15M" --parsesas"15minutes"(whereaminuteis60seconds)
• "PT10H" --parsesas"10hours"(whereanhouris3600seconds)
• "P2D" --parsesas"2days"(whereadayis24hoursor86400seconds)
• "P2DT3H4M" --parsesas"2days,3hoursand4minutes"

8
You should analyze the run history from time to
time and learn from failures… or mistakes
 Flow failure is critical!
 If it is failing due to expected behavior, then
you must redesign your flow, so it doesn't
end up in a failure status
Learn from
failures…

C# developer’s implement
defensive code…

… with not in Power Automate?

first(body('Exec_SP_-_GetLastExecutionTime')?['resultsets']?['Table1'])?['LastRun']
empty(body('Exec_SP_-_GetLastExecutionTime')?['resultsets']?['Table1'])

9 expressions
nightmare…
Basic operations that you can use inside flow
actions or conditions
 Like getting the current time, adding
numbers together, manipulating strings or
Parsing XML
 They are part of the engine

body('Execute_SP_-_Get_BZT_lock_error_details')
Name of the actions with the
space replace by underscore

body('Execute_SP_-_Get_BZT_lock_error_details')?['ResultSets']?['Table1'][0]?['ErrorDescription’]
concat(div(sub(ticks(utcNow()), ticks(item()?['Created'])), 10000000), ' segundo(s)')
int(div(add(add(int(variables('ContentClear')), int(variables('GoodCommunicator'))) ,
add(int(variables('EnjoySession')), int(variables('MetExpectation')))),4))

int(
div(
add(
add(
int(variables('ContentClear')),
int(variables('GoodCommunicator’))
) ,
add(
int(variables('EnjoySession')),
int(variables('MetExpectation’))
)
)
,4
)
)

10
Flow Designer performs design-time checks
against your flow for design issues
 Prescriptive guidance on how to fix
 Errors put into focus to save your time and
frustration
flow checker…

11 send a copy…
Share a flow, without sharing a connection
 Avoid connection/data leakage
 Copy becomes disconnected from the
original
 Efficient and effective
You are sharing the flow template

12
Share a flow between your team or company
 Be aware of connection/data leakage
 Work as a team
You are sharing the flow process
Share with other
users or security
groups…

Thanks!
DevScope
+351 223 751 350
 support@devscope.net
 https://pt.linkedin.com/company/devscope
 @DevScope
 www.devscope.net
Sandro Pereira
 sandro.pereira@devscope.net
 linkedin.com/in/sandropereira
 @sandro_asp
 https://blog.sandro-pereira.com/

20201010 - Collabdays 2020 - Sandro Pereira - Power Automates: best practices, tips and tricks

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