Tag: Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 6th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use Azure Key Vault credentials in flow connections.

Users can leverage credentials from Azure Key Vault to connect to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines. This feature supports rotating passwords without the need to update the connection

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Oct 31, 2023
Early Access: –
General Availability: Jun 2024

Feature Details

With this feature, users can have their desktop flows run on Windows machines logged in with credentials from Azure Key Vault. The Windows machine retrieves the latest credentials at runtime. This enables desktop flows to keep running successfully even when the administrator changes the password.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 4th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use CyberArk credentials in desktop flow connections.

You can now use credentials stored in CyberArk Central Credential Provider when connecting to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Jun 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: To be announced

Feature Details

Users can leverage credentials stored in Cyberark Central Credential Provider to connect to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines. Credentials are not stored in Power Automate but retrieved during runtime. This feature supports rotating passwords without the need to update the connection.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 5th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is create desktop flows using natural language with copilot.

Introducing copilot in Power Automate for desktop – the new natural language feature that simplifies automation creation. Say goodbye to complex coding and hello to effortless desktop flows. Boost productivity and efficiency with copilot today. By leveraging natural language, users can easily create desktop flows without the need for complex coding. This allows for increased productivity and efficiency, freeing up valuable time and resources for other important tasks.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: May 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

The copilot functionality in Power Automate for desktop offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the automation creation process. With natural language capabilities, makers can create desktop flows by providing instructions in plain English, eliminating the need for algorithmic or pseudocode knowledge. This feature is especially useful in scenarios where loops and conditionals are required, as it streamlines the process and reduces the need for complex coding. With copilot, users can generate automations with ease, saving valuable time and resources.

My Opinion

More enhancements to add Copilot to a new area. In theory, this could be quite good, but I’ve not had much luck with Copilot in other areas of Power Automate, in terms of getting it to create a flow which meets requirements.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 7th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is Use your own encryption key for encrypting data at-rest for existing environments.

This capability allows you to meet your data and privacy policy according to your company’s or industry’s privacy guidelines.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Sep 2024

Feature Details

Use your own encryption key from your Azure Key Vault to encrypt an environment that already has running Power Automate flows. Previously, only environments without prior Power Automate usage were supported for customer-managed encryption keys.

My Opinion

Improvements to security are always welcome.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 6th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is Push cloud flow execution data into Application Insights.

Administrators can leverage their existing Application Insights instances in Microsoft Azure to monitor automations within an environment.

Enabled for: Users by admins, makers, or analysts
Public Preview:  Aug 22, 2023
Early Access: –
General Availability: May 2024

Feature Details

With the first click stop of this integration (or milestone in the continuous range of reference points in this integration), admins can push cloud flow execution data into Application Insights. This push can then be used for advanced monitoring and alerting scenarios for automations running in an environment.

My Opinion

It will be interesting to see how this functions, but at the moment, visibility of flows is not great, so hopefully this is a big improvement.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 5th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is connect to other environments from the Microsoft Dataverse connector.

Users can create flows that combine data and perform operations across different Microsoft Dataverse databases.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview:  Nov 12, 2023
Early Access: –
General Availability: Apr 2024

Feature Details

Currently, you must use the Microsoft Dataverse (legacy) connector to connect to environments outside of the current environment. With this feature, you can connect to other environments from the Microsoft Dataverse connector’s actions and triggers

My Opinion

In order to judge this enhancement, I need to get more up to speed on the Dataverse and specifically how it interacts with Business Central, as most of my work is with that ERP and the flows I create interact with it in some way.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 4th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is monitor performance for cloud and desktop flow activities.

You can use a central consolidated view to monitor and understand the executions across cloud and desktop flows.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: May 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

With this feature, you have a single consolidated view to understand the automation performance across your cloud and desktop flows. This feature enables you to:

• Understand the top trends across all of your automation assets (for example, success and failure) across different time periods.
• Understand top errors and their trends.
• Understand top flows with specific errors.
• Seamlessly switch between cloud and desktop flows activity.

My Opinion

This looks to be a good enhancement to monitoring which will allow you to see if any flows are problematic.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 1st of the new functionality in the Process Mining section is ingest process data from customers’ data lake.

You no longer have to transform or port your data in specific sources for Process Mining. Instead, Power Automate Process Mining can connect directly to your existing data pipelines in your Azure data lake.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Apr 2024

Feature Details

You now have a choice to enable Power Automate Process Mining to connect directly to your Azure data lake with your existing data pipelines. This eliminates steps of data transformation or porting across sources, enabling easier data ingestion. Direct connection to your Azure data lake also enables scaling process data to hundreds of gigabytes.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 3rd of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use Power Platform connectors in Power Automate for desktop actions.

Using Power Platform connectors directly in Power Automate for desktop actions will reduce logical loops and minimize time to create flows.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Apr 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: Jun 2024

Feature Details

As a maker, you’re now able to use more than 1,000 cloud connectors, currently available in cloud flows, straight through desktop flows. This feature helps reduce logical loops and minimize flow creation time. It also helps ensure all actions capabilities are available through desktop flows for the Power Platform connectors.

My Opinion

I’ve been meaning to take more of a look at desktop flows for a while now, but haven’t had the time. I was aware that you could call cloud flows from a desktop flow, but this enhancement will allow you to use cloud connectors directly from the desktop flow, which seems like a useful enhancement.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 2nd of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is Power Fx integration with Power Automate for desktop.

You can now create automation flows through scripting using Power Fx. Power Fx enables the full spectrum of development from no-code makers without any programming knowledge to pro-code for the professional developers. It enables diverse teams to collaborate and save time and effort.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview:  Dec 18, 2023
Early Access: –
General Availability: Sep 2024

Feature Details

Power Fx is the low-code language for expressing logic across Microsoft Power Platform. It’s a general-purpose, strong-typed, declarative, and functional programming language. Power Fx is expressed in human-friendly text. It’s a low-code language that makers can work with directly in an Excel-like formula bar or Visual Studio Code text window. The “low” in low-code is due to the concise and simple nature of the language, making common programming tasks easy for both makers and developers.