Microsoft Power Automate with M365 for Business Automation — Lesson 3: Approvals and Business Processes

Learning Objectives

• Create sequential, parallel, first-response, and custom approval patterns
• Handle reminders, escalation, reassignment, rejection, resubmission, and audit history
• Generate documents, update records, and notify stakeholders

Detailed Topics

• Create sequential: Create sequential, parallel, first-response, and custom approval patterns
• Handle reminders: Handle reminders, escalation, reassignment, rejection, resubmission, and audit history
• Generate documents: Generate documents, update records, and notify stakeholders

Guided Demonstration

1. Review the requirement, users, data, dependencies, permissions, risks, and expected result.
2. Demonstrate the relevant configuration, application, automation, analysis, or administration workflow step by step.
3. Capture settings, outputs, logs, screenshots, calculations, test results, and other useful evidence.
4. Compare the observed result with acceptance criteria and explain any corrective action.

Hands-On Activity

Automate a controlled approval and document process.

• Document assumptions, prerequisites, and the planned sequence before starting.
• Complete the activity and preserve evidence of normal, boundary, and failure behavior.
• Record issues, corrective actions, reusable notes, and the next improvement priority.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify the business or technical decision that must be made.
• Compare valid implementation approaches and their trade-offs.
• Consider security, privacy, accessibility, performance, support, and operational impact.

Troubleshooting Focus

• Separate symptoms from causes and collect evidence before applying a fix.
• Check configuration, data, permissions, dependencies, capacity, connectivity, and recent changes.
• Validate rollback, recovery, ownership, user impact, and business continuity.

Validation Checklist

• The requirement, scope, inputs, and expected outcome are clear.
• The selected design or configuration is documented and follows approved standards.
• Normal, boundary, failure, security, accessibility, and operational conditions are reviewed.
• The result is supported by evidence and the next improvement is prioritized.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can explain and apply Approvals and Business Processes in a realistic scenario and validate the result with documented evidence.