Microsoft Power Automate: 10 Business Workflows You Can Automate Today

Why Power Automate for Australian Businesses?

Power Automate is included in most Microsoft 365 Business subscriptions—meaning you may already have access without additional cost. It offers deep integration with Microsoft products, compliance with Australian data residency requirements, and a familiar interface for Microsoft users. For Sydney businesses already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, it's the logical choice for automation.

Power Automate License Options

• Included with Microsoft 365: Basic cloud flows with standard connectors (included in Business Basic, Standard, and Premium)
• Power Automate Premium ($22.50/user/month): Advanced features, premium connectors, AI Builder credits
• Power Automate Process ($225/bot/month): Unattended robotic process automation (RPA) for desktop applications
• Pay-as-you-go: Per-flow pricing for occasional use without subscription

10 Power Automate Workflows You Can Build Today

1. Automated Email Processing

Save attachments from specific senders automatically to SharePoint or OneDrive. Create rules like: "When I receive an email from my accountant with PDF attachment, save to Finance folder and notify me in Teams." This eliminates manual file management and ensures important documents are properly stored.

2. Approval Workflows

Route documents, requests, or purchases through approval chains. When a SharePoint form is submitted, automatically send to the appropriate manager for approval. Approvers can approve/reject from email or Teams mobile app. Approved items trigger follow-up actions; rejected items notify the requester with feedback.

3. Teams Notifications from Forms

When customers or employees submit Microsoft Forms, automatically post to a Teams channel. Include all form responses in the notification. Team members can respond without checking a separate system. Perfect for customer feedback, support requests, or internal suggestions.

4. Calendar and Scheduling Automation

Create automatic meeting prep: 24 hours before calendar events with specific keywords, compile relevant documents from SharePoint, email agenda to attendees, and post reminder in Teams channel. After meetings, automatically create follow-up tasks based on meeting notes.

5. Customer Response Auto-filing

When customers reply to specific mailboxes, automatically extract key information, log in SharePoint list or Dataverse, categorise by topic using AI Builder, and route to appropriate team member. Transforms chaotic inbox into organised customer database.

6. Social Media Monitoring

Monitor Twitter/X for mentions of your brand or competitors. Automatically save relevant tweets to SharePoint, notify your marketing team in Teams, and track sentiment over time. Stay on top of online conversations without constant manual monitoring.

7. Document Generation from Data

Generate contracts, proposals, or reports automatically from SharePoint data or form submissions. Use Word templates with placeholders that Power Automate fills in. Create PDFs and email directly to recipients. Reduces document creation from 30+ minutes to instant.

8. Invoice Processing Workflow

Email invoices to a shared mailbox. Power Automate extracts sender, amount, and due date (using AI Builder for advanced extraction). Creates approval request, logs in SharePoint, and after approval, creates entry in accounting system connector. Full audit trail maintained automatically.

9. Employee Onboarding Sequence

When HR adds new employee to SharePoint list, trigger automatic sequence: create Microsoft 365 account request, send welcome email series over first week, add to appropriate Teams channels, assign onboarding tasks in Planner, and schedule check-in meetings with manager.

10. Backup and Sync Between Systems

Keep data synchronized between Microsoft and third-party systems. When records update in Dynamics 365 or SharePoint, automatically sync to Salesforce, Xero, or other business systems. Eliminates manual data entry between platforms and ensures consistency.

Building Your First Power Automate Flow

1. Access Power Automate: Go to flow.microsoft.com or find it in the Microsoft 365 app launcher
2. Choose a trigger: What starts your workflow? (new email, form submission, scheduled time, etc.)
3. Add actions: What should happen? (send email, create file, post to Teams, etc.)
4. Configure conditions: Add logic like "only if amount > $500" or "only during business hours"
5. Test your flow: Use the test function with real data to verify it works
6. Turn on and monitor: Activate the flow and check run history for errors

Power Automate Best Practices

• Name flows clearly: "Sales-NewLeadNotification" is better than "Flow 1"
• Use comments: Document why each step exists for future maintenance
• Handle errors: Add "Configure run after" settings to handle failures gracefully
• Test edge cases: What happens with empty fields or unexpected data?
• Limit trigger frequency: Avoid infinite loops or excessive API calls
• Monitor run history: Check regularly for failures and optimisation opportunities
• Document externally: Keep a list of all active flows and their purpose

Common Power Automate Challenges

Challenge: Flow Runs Too Often

Add trigger conditions to filter before the flow runs, not after. For example, filter emails by subject containing specific keywords at the trigger level, rather than checking in an action step. This improves efficiency and avoids unnecessary runs.

Challenge: Flows Keep Failing

Most failures come from connection issues or changed permissions. Re-authenticate connections regularly. Check run history for specific error messages. Add error handling with parallel branches for retry logic or admin notifications.

Challenge: Complex Logic Needed

Use expressions for complex conditions. Compose actions can build complex strings or JSON. For very complex scenarios, consider calling Azure Functions or using Power Apps for the front-end with Power Automate for backend processes.

Getting Help with Power Automate

Microsoft provides extensive documentation and a community forum. For Sydney businesses needing implementation support, consider engaging a Microsoft Partner for initial setup of complex workflows. Once foundations are established, most SMBs can manage and extend their automations internally.