Three Helpful Automations Your Business Can Implement Right Now

Automations are the way of the future, and businesses are always looking for ways to speed up and improve their internal processes. Automations can have huge benefits for any organization including:

• Time and cost savings
• Increased productivity
• Improved accuracy and consistency
• Enhanced customer service
• Data management and analysis
• And more!

While some businesses may find the idea of implementing automations daunting, there are some easy ways to start including automations in your daily processes out-of-the-box in SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, and other Microsoft 365 products. Let’s take a look at three automations you can implement today to start saving time and improving your processes.

Receive a Notification When a File Is Added

Our first automation is easy as pie to implement! On a document library or SharePoint list in your environment, you can create automated alerts that email you when a file or item is added or removed, or a column or column value changes, depending on how you choose to configure the alert.

In our example, let’s create an alert for a new file being added to the document library. You can create this alert by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the document library that you wish the alert to be generated from.
2. Select Automate from the navigation at the top of the document library.
3. Select Rules, then Create a rule.
4. Select A new file is added.
5. Enter the email address you would like to receive the navigation and select Create.

Note, you can also select one of the recommended values from the dropdown that appears – Me, Modified By, or Created By.

And it’s as simple as that! Once the automation is configured, you’ll see it listed under Rules available with an option to turn the rule on or off.

This automation is great for lists and libraries that you manage, especially if they are related to a project or initiative that falls under your responsibility. If your clients have guest access to your Microsoft Teams or SharePoint Online environment, you can also be notified each time they upload documentation or resources for your review.

Send a Custom Email When a New File Is Added

If you wanted to take this automation a step further, you can create a custom email that is sent to a specified user each time a new file is added. This automation requires connecting Power Automate to your list or document library, so be sure to check out the licensing requirements for Power Automate before you implement.

In our example, we’ll send a custom email each time a new file is added to our document library. You can create this automation by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the document library that you wish the alert to be generated from.
2. Select Integrate from the navigation at the top of the document library.
3. Select Power Automate, then Create a flow.
4. From the pop out that appears on the right, select Send a customized email when a new file is created.
   Note that this is a Power Automate template. If you do not see the template listed in the pop out, click See your flows, then navigate to Templates from the left-hand navigation and search for the template as named above.

At this stage, we’re entering a new Microsoft 365 Product – Power Automate. Power Automate is a cloud-based service provided by Microsoft as part of its Power Platform suite of tools. It allows users to create automate workflows and business processes across various applications and services without the need for extensive coding or development skills. OK, let’s continue:

1. As this flow connects to SharePoint Online and Outlook, you will need to sign into each of these products to continue.
2. Click Edit in order to make changes to your customized email.
3. Click on Send an email – the last step in the automation process. Here, you can customize who the email will be sent to, what the subject line will include, and what the body of the email will detail. To include variables such as File name, select from the Dynamic content that appears when you click into each of the fields.
4. Once you have made changes to your flow, click Save in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
5. Your flow will now be turned on. You can turn it off by selecting it from the list of My flows and clicking Turn off.

This is a great automation if you need to inform another user when a file has been uploaded to a library, or if there are specific instructions for what needs to occur after the file has been uploaded that you would like to provide a reminder for in the body of the accompanying email.

Generate an Approval When a File Is Uploaded

Instead of a notification, what if you needed a file to be approved after it has been uploaded to a document library? Fortunately, Power Automate has another template that can help you connect your document library to approvals in Microsoft Teams! First, let’s spin up the automation by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the document library that you wish the alert to be generated from.
2. Select Integrate from the navigation at the top of the document library.
3. Select Power Automate, then Create a flow.
4. From the pop out that appears on the right, select Request approval in Microsoft Teams when a SharePoint item is created.
   Note that this is a Power Automate template. If you do not see the template listed in the pop out, click See your flows, then navigate to Templates from the left-hand navigation and search for the template as named above.
5. Ensure that you are signed into SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Users, and Approvals, then click Continue.

Next, let’s take a look at what each step of the automation is accomplishing:

1. When an item is created – This will automatically connect to the SharePoint Online site and document library or list where the automation was created from in the previous steps. You can change which site and document library or list this directs to using the dropdown lists provided.
2. Get item – This will pick up an item ID each time a list item or document is added.
3. Get my profile – This automatically connects the automation to your profile and is a requirement of the automation’s function.
4. Create an approval – This creates the actual approval that will be sent through Microsoft Teams. Select Approve/Reject – First to respond as the approval type, then enter an approval title and indicate who the approval should be sent to. You can either type into these fields or use the Dynamic content options that appear when you click into each field.
5. Apply to each – This sends the generated approval to Microsoft Teams.
6. Wait for an approval – This ensures the automation is checking to ensure the approval is addressed.
7. If yes – If the item is approved, it will generate an email to the individual that sent the approval (your account) to let you know that the item was approved.
8. If no – If the item is rejected, it will generate an email to the individual that sent the approval (your account) to let you know that the item was rejected.
   Note that you can adjust these emails to include specific instructions if you would like the approver to take action when the item is approved or rejected.

Conclusion

Microsoft has been continuing to put effort into its “low-code” and “no-code” options that enable the creation of applications and automations with no or minimal amounts of traditional coding. This approach aims to make automation development more accessible to users with various levels of technical expertise. SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, and Power Automate all enable users to implement automation using out-of-the-box features that generally improve business processes, communication, collaboration, and productivity.

If you’re looking for some help creating automations for your business processes or want to talk about using low-code and no-code options more frequently in your Microsoft 365 environment, get in touch using the form below!