This document summarizes a presentation about advanced tips, patterns, and best practices for using Microsoft Flow. It includes demos of creating automated timesheets, calling the Graph API, using custom connectors, implementing approval escalation workflows using the state machine pattern, managing errors and parallelism in flows, and integrating Flow with Power BI. It also covers topics like licensing requirements, throttling limits, and strategies for handling long-running processes and service accounts.

2. Microsoft Flow Advanced: tips,
pitfalls, patterns with Doctor
Flow
Doctor Flow

3. Office Apps & services MVP
Business Applications MVP
O365 Architect
@sergeluca
ShareQL Brussels
Office365
Flow
Dev
Architecture
Bullshit
Doctor Flow aka “Serge Luca”

4. https://myignite.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/66476

5. Microsoft
flow and
citizen
developers

6. What can block me ?
Do I need to use a third party tool ?
Is it robust enough for enterprise business processes ?
Flow is very easy to use and not expensive (Office 365 license)
Here is our experience after 3 years and 8 enterprise flow projects

7. Demo:
Automatic timesheet

8. Microsoft
flow and
developers

9. Create REST
Services
(like Azure
functions)
Create
Custom
Connectors
Call REST
APIs from
Flow
Integrate
Flow in their
Applications
Developers
Activities
Requires P1Requires P1

10. Demo:
Calling
the Graph API
Requires P1

11. Demo:
Custom Connector
Requires P1

12. Patterns
and
limitations

13. State machine pattern or Controller patternNo State Machine
No custom task
forms
Max 5,000 iterations in Do until –> Create
embedded loops
Max 5,000 iterations in For each (100,000 in
Plan 1)
Loops
Create nested flows or raise a ticket250 actions/flow
Flow Approval
duration : 30 days
Flow duration :
30 days
No guest access
Controller pattern
In the roadmap for Flow & PowerApps
ALM/devops
weak
I could tell you, but then I would have to kill
you…
Custom approval actions

14. Why State
Machine ?

15. State Machine and
> 30 days
« Flow Controller
Pattern »
Controller
Launcher flow
SecretaryAdvisor Boss
escalate
timeout
approved
rejected
in vacation
timeout
approved
rejected
redirect
in vacation
timeout
approved
rejected
escalate
Normal flow
Service flow

16. 3 Implementations Messages
(Service
Bus)
Database
(SQL Azure)
Http &
Request
(Requires
P1 license !)
Requires P1

17. Demo:
Approval escalation
Approval analytics
Controller pattern
Machine Learning

19. Started from
Excel
Started from SP
New Expense
from App
Trigger : Excel for a
selected row
Trigger :
SharePoint for a
selected row
Existing Expense
from App
Trigger :
SharePoint : when an item is
created
Proxy Flows
Service Flow

20. Requires P1

21. • the url might change, we want to use a stable vanity url like
https://flowdemo.azure-api.net
• you might need to protect it : authentication
• throttling
• restricting the callers to some specific network locations
• ….

22. Returns max
2048 records

23. Returns max
5000 records
or 100.000 if
P1 licence
$skiptoken=Page=TRUE%26p_ID=3000&top=5000

24. Demo:
Manage errors

25. Demo:
Manage parallelism

26. Adapt retry policy
Reduce flow concurrency
Use several connectors
Error HTTP 429 : « I’m too busy » come later (in 10 sec)
Flow throttled by the Service (like SharePoint) and by
the Connector (600 calls/min)

27. 202 ACCEPTED
The request has been accepted for
processing, but the processing has not been
completed.
Long Call Duration
Pattern
Requires P1

28. Demo:
Manage Long calls

29. Office 365
audit log
Webhook
1
2

30. Microsoft
flow and
PowerBI

31. FLOW
DATA ALERTS
DATA SOURCES
POWER B
I
SCHEDULED REFRESH
STREAMING DATA
LIVE
POWERQUERY
Requires P1
Data On premises
REFRESH DATASET (april 2019)

32. Conclusions

33. Keep your
forms Simple
Trigger
properties
Accounts Management Environments
Business
logic in Flow
In variables Owners :
ADD Groups
Connectors :
Services
Accounts
(except
personal
flows)
PowerShell
Flow
Management
connector
Use several
DLP

34. Flow can
complement
PowerShell
Be carefull with
P1
…Or run
Powershell via
Azure
Automation
runbooks/hybrid
You can avoid
it (split flows
and use service
accounts)
Integrate with
Azure DevOps
…I don’t want
to kill you
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/business-applications-release-
notes/April19/microsoft-flow/
And much
much more…
This is just the
beginning !