Microsoft Flow is part of the new setup Microsoft has released to make Office365 more usable. Part of the PowerApps package, Flow can be used on its own as well.
Flow helps you set up automated workflows between different services and apps to collect data, manage notifications synchronize files and libraries and much more.
To day, Flow has connectivity to 135 different services, including Twitter, SharePoint, Outlook and Project.
The beauty of Flow is that it doesn’t require any programming skills. A lot of the focus have been put into making it user-friendly and easy to use. Flow has OOB templates that require no more than signing in to be up and running. There is also the option of creating one’s own workflows. But Microsoft haven’t stopped there. They have also built in programming options, for those of us who use less-than-know or privately developed programs.
Pros:
Easy-to-use
Doesn’t require programming skill
Out of the box templates
Easy to create new flows
Option to extend Flow with programming
Cons:
Not all functionality is developed, however Microsoft is constantly adding and updating Flow
Licensing
Flow is part of the Office365 and almost all Enterprise and Business licenses include Flow. This allows all users to use Flow workflow to run 750 times a month, create unlimited workflows and check for new items every 15 minutes. Flow also has Plan 1 and Plan 2 options, for using it cross organization or using premium services.
Conclusion
With Flow, Microsoft have outdone themselves and created a market for easy-to-use workflows between vastly different services. Once one gets used to being able of setting up workflows that cater to need we didn’t even know we had, Flow will be an integral part of the standard work day.
/Jemma Touma, Visuell Planering