This article is part of the Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.
In the previous article of this series, I wrote that there were three types of flow available with Power Automate, and it was the cloud flows which this series would be covering.
There are four types of cloud flow available:
| Flow type | Use case | Automation target |
|---|---|---|
| Approval flows | Create an automation that is triggered by a user requesting approval in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. | Approval of purchase or sales documents, or changes to master records such as accounts, vendors or items. |
| Automated flows | Create an automation that is triggered by an event such as a record being created or changed. | Connectors for cloud or on-premises services connect your accounts and enable them to talk to each other. |
| Instant flows | Start an automation with a click of a button. You can automate repetitive tasks such as sending an email to a salesperson or customer from a customer card or sales quote. | Wide range of tasks such as requesting an approval, an action in Teams or SharePoint. |
| Scheduled flows | Schedule an automation such as weekly run of invoice reminders to customers. | Tasks that need to be automated on a schedule. |
As most of my work is with Business Central, the above table includes the approval flows which are not generally listed in the standard documentation on Power Automate.