Managing Approvals in Power Automate: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you're looking to streamline your workflow and get approvals faster, Power Automate is a great tool to help. It automates tasks and manages approvals with ease, making it simpler to keep projects on track. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to set up an approval process using Power Automate.

What is Power Automate?

Power Automate is a Microsoft tool that helps automate repetitive tasks between different apps and services. One of its powerful features is the Approval Process, which allows you to send documents or requests for approval and track the responses.

Why Use Power Automate for Approvals?

• Save Time: No more back-and-forth emails.
• Stay Organized: Keep all approvals in one place.
• Get Notified: Receive alerts when an approval is needed.
• Track Status: Know instantly if something is approved or rejected.

Now, let's dive into how to create an approval workflow in Power Automate.

Step 1: Sign in to Power Automate

First, head over to Power Automate and sign in using your Microsoft account. Once you're in, you’ll be greeted with a dashboard showing different flows (workflows) that you can create.

Step 2: Create a New Flow

To start an approval process, click on "Create" in the left-hand menu and select "Automated Flow". This allows you to set triggers that start the approval process automatically.

Step 3: Choose a Trigger

Triggers are events that start your flow. For approvals, a common trigger might be when someone submits a form or uploads a file. For this guide, let’s choose "When a new file is created in a SharePoint folder" as the trigger.

Step 4: Add an Approval Action

Once the trigger is set, it’s time to add the approval action. In the next step, click “New step”, search for "Approval", and choose "Start and wait for an approval".

You can now define the type of approval:

• Approve/Reject – First to respond: Sends the request to multiple people but moves forward as soon as the first person responds.
• Approve/Reject – Everyone must approve: Requires all approvers to agree.

Pick the one that fits your needs, and then enter details like the approval title, who needs to approve it, and any extra information.

Step 5: Customize Notifications

Power Automate will automatically send notifications, but you can customize these to make them more informative. You can add details like the project name, deadlines, or any notes. This keeps everyone in the loop.

Step 6: Test the Flow

After setting everything up, it’s time to test! Upload a file to the SharePoint folder (or whatever trigger you used) and watch the magic happen. The approver will get a notification and can approve or reject the request right from their email or the Power Automate app.

Step 7: Monitor and Improve

You can always check the progress of approvals from the Power Automate dashboard. If something doesn’t work as expected, edit the flow and tweak the steps until it runs smoothly.

Conclusion

Managing approvals in Power Automate is simple, yet it can save you tons of time and hassle. By automating approval workflows, you’ll be able to focus on more important tasks while keeping everything organized and moving smoothly. So, why wait? Start building your approval flow today and experience the benefits!

For more detailed guidance and in-depth training, visit our training here.