Scope of the possible with Power Automate

skills
beginner
Power Automate
Published

February 24, 2026

Previous attendees have said…

  • 64 previous attendees have left feedback
  • 98% would recommend this session to a colleague
  • 97% said that this session was pitched correctly

NoteThree random comments from previous attendees
  • Great introductory session on a very confusing and glitchy software, looking forward to more in depth session to fully understand Power Automate to get the most out of it
  • I have heard of power automate, never seen it in action, but wanted to explore its potential use as part of my digital leadership programme so this was really helpful for me. Would like to attend the next session but unfortunately clashes with DLP training sessions.
  • Love it when there’s a session with examples of work I can use to reduce the repetition - and improve on accuracy.

Introduction

  • this session is 🌶 - for beginners
  • it’s designed as a demonstration session to show what Power Automate might be used to achieve, and how it works
  • it’s not designed as a practical follow-along session
    • you (probably) won’t have time to replicate all the steps here yourself during the session
    • we have practical training sessions available to cover all this material and more

Session outline

  • a warning
  • an introduction
  • scope of the possible
  • three example tasks
  • free play

A word of warning

WarningWarning

Do not use Power Automate for anything unless you’re absolutely sure that your organisational policies permit it

  • many boards and orgs have serious information governance and information security objections to Power Automate
    • automation tools are an excellent way to break your data
    • they’re also an excellent way to compromise its integrity/security
    • especially true if you’re thinking about automating processes with sensitive information
    • if in any doubt, speak to your IG/Caldicott/information security colleagues before setting to work

Quick introduction to Power Automate

Scope of the possible

  • Power Automate is an extremely useful tool for H&SC
  • but you should be aware of some complicating factors for people like us:
    • massive and confusing range of different templates and use-cases, often with a business-focus
    • a thick layer of promotional AI talk over everything at present (late 2024)
    • unexpected cost/IG barriers to using parts of the platform
    • glitchy, and often requiring more coding skills than you might expect
    • generally shockingly poor documentation

This session = honest, application-focused, introduction

  • we’ll build three example flows that will:
    1. take an Excel workbook, extract some parts of it, and save as a new Excel file
    2. turn a response to Microsoft Forms into a Teams post
    3. turn an Excel workbook into a simple mailing list

Subset an Excel file

  • you’ll need a sample data file - I used this open data about council assets from Falkirk
  • in Excel, I converted the data to a table, then saved the workbook to OneDrive
  • in Power Automate, then create a new flow via New flow > Instant cloud flow Instant cloud flow
  • then Manually trigger a flow Manually trigger a flow
  • Add a step Add a step
  • Excel online > List rows present in a table and populate List rows present in a table
  • there are several ways we could subset the data subset the data
  • we’ll demonstrate by taking the first 20 rows take the first 20 rows
  • Create csv table Create csv table
  • Create file Create file

Microsoft Forms to Teams

  • here’s an overview Overview (floverview?) of a Form-to-Teams flow
  • create a simple form (ours is at https://forms.office.com/e/8Zds2aTS5c) create a simple form
  • grab the form id grab the form id
  • create an Build an automated cloud flow - Build an automated cloud flow
  • Enter your form ID Enter your form ID(veDvEDCgykuAnLXmdF5Jmn79kl25VpJIq3eErXXCYKBUMU9LWURaUUhUT0xYOUtNQVY1UFpURTQ1Vi4u)
  • Get response details Get response details
  • Populate with the form and step details Populate with the form and step details
  • Post message in a chat or channel Post message in a chat or channel

Excel workbook to mailing list

  • here’s an overview overview
  • start with a simple .xlsx. Again, that will need to be on Sharepoint or Onedrive start with a simple .xlsx
  • List rows present in a table Add a List rows present in a table
  • Apply to each Apply to each
  • Send an email notification (V3) nested inside the Apply to each Nest your email notification inside an apply to each
  • add the expression items('For_each')?['email'] add the expression items('For_each')?['email']
  • enjoy the result Many emails result