Automations with Power Automate

Agents are good at judgement and language. Flows are good at doing the same thing reliably every time. Most useful automation uses both.

Power Automate includes Microsoft Copilot, so you can describe a flow in plain English and refine it in conversation.

1. Spot a good candidate

Good first automations are frequent, rule-based and annoying:

• Save email attachments from a client to the right SharePoint folder.
• Post a Teams message when a SharePoint list item changes status.
• Send a reminder when a Microsoft Forms response needs review.
• Start an approval when a new supplier request is submitted.

2. Create a flow with Microsoft Copilot

1. Sign in to Power Automate with your work account.
2. On Home, select Create with Microsoft Copilot.
3. Describe the automation. Microsoft recommends the "When X happens, do Y" format and naming the connector.
4. Review the suggested trigger and actions. Refine with more detail if needed, then select Keep it and continue.
5. Check the connections (green tick means ready), then select Create flow.
6. Finish set-up in the designer with the Microsoft Copilot pane, Save, and test.

When a new email with an attachment arrives in Outlook from anyone at @clientdomain.co.uk, save the attachment to the Client Inbox folder in the Contoso Matters SharePoint site and post the email subject in the Client Updates Teams channel.

When a new response is submitted to the Supplier Request form in Microsoft Forms, start an approval for the finance manager. If approved, add a row to the Approved Suppliers SharePoint list. If rejected, email the requester with the reason.

3. Edit and troubleshoot with Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot works in the new designer. Ask it to change steps ("send a Teams message instead of an email") or explain the flow ("what does this flow do?"). When a run fails, use Troubleshoot in Microsoft Copilot to help identify the cause.

4. Add AI judgement to a flow

There are two Microsoft-supported routes:

• From Power Automate: call a Microsoft Copilot Studio agent with the Microsoft Copilot Studio connector, using Execute Agent and wait. This works for agents on the standard harness.
• From Copilot Studio: build a Copilot Studio workflow and add an agent node for steps that need reasoning.

5. Build it safely

• Test with dummy data first.
• Keep a human approval step before anything leaves the organisation.
• Use shared or service accounts for business-critical flows, as agreed with IT, so they do not stop when someone leaves.
• Record what each flow does and who owns it.