Power Automate Connector

• Microsoft Power Technologies Overview
• How to Use Power Automate 
• Example Use Cases for NetDocuments Connector
• Actions for Enhanced NetDocuments Power Automate Connector (May 2020 version)

Microsoft Power Technologies Overview

Microsoft Power Apps is a low code / no-code development environment which Microsoft describes as:

Power Apps enables a broad range of app scenarios to be created that infuse digital transformation into manual and outdated processes. Use both canvas and model-driven apps to build Power Apps that solve business problems for task and role-specific scenarios like inspections, field sales enablement, prospect to cash, and integrated marketing views.

NetDocuments provides a Connector for Microsoft Power Automate (previously Microsoft Flow), a  platform for developing workflows that can be used in conjunction with Power Apps or as a standalone tool. Microsoft summarizes Power Automate as a platform to:

• Boost productivity

Build time-saving workflows into everything from individual tasks to large-scale systems with seamless integration using hundreds of pre-built connectors.

• Quickly and securely automate—at scale

Enable everyone to build secure workflows with a no-code guided experience and cloud-based data loss prevention, identity, and access management services.

• Put intelligent workflows to work

Automate time-consuming manual tasks with built-in AI capabilities, giving you more time to focus on strategic, high-value opportunities.

Connectors can be used by Power Apps, Power Automate, and Azure Logic Apps to connect, interact, and integrate with O365 and third-party services.

You can download the NetDocuments Connector in the Connectors Library.

Note: NetDocuments does not provide support or advice on the use of Microsoft Power technologies.

The NetDocuments Power Automate Connector provides an easy way to access existing NetDocuments API calls. See NetDocuments API for more information.

For detailed information about Power Automate, including tutorials, see Getting Started with Power Automate.

How to Use Power Automate 

Power Automate is typically used in the following ways:

• Inside Power Apps, to connect different services and/or trigger alerts and data flows.
  • For example, when a Power App inserts a new record to a SharePoint list, that action triggers a flow to send an alert email (with the recipient(s) determined either statically or dynamically based on a specified rule). 
  • Another example: A new record is added to a persistence location and that triggers a flow to duplicate the same record (or a subset or superset of it) to a separate persistence location.
• An administrative flow (a flow run as a Service Account/admin user) that is triggered by an event, such as: inserting a new record, the receipt of an email (often to a shared email box), new tweets matching defined criteria are created, an identified RSS feed is updated, a form on company’s web site is submitted, etc. 
• Alternatively, the admin flow could be run on a schedule (for example, once per day) and queries for updates/new records in a specific system and then triggers a responsive action.

Typically, flows require a data persistence layer, either as the mechanism for triggering the flow and/or for the flow to insert a new record after it has been triggered. This requires the use of an O365 persistence service (SharePoint, etc.) or a persistence service that has a connector. 

NetDocuments can only provide document persistence but not data persistence, which may need to be provided by another system.

Example Use Cases for the NetDocuments Connector

The only role of NetDocuments in Power Apps or Power Automate flows is a connector that provides access to existing NetDocuments REST calls.

Suggested potential use cases:

• Create a workspace (add lookup table entry, and then get workspace information)
• Download your consolidated activity logs
• Trigger a flow when certain changes are made in a NetDocuments repository (a document is added or moved or updated)
• As NetDocuments is not event-driven, you will need to poll for these changes on a schedule
• This could include approvals
• Use a flow to save documents to a given NetDocuments location as part of a workflow which will likely be triggered based on event that occurs in another system
• Administrative features, triggered by an event in a third-party system or by running a query on a schedule:
• Update existing lookup records (for example, closing a matter)
• Manage users and groups
• Track users in repository, in particular external users, and changes to membership (new users added, old users removed)
• Obtain group membership for these users
• Automatically remove (external) users from the repository if they have not logged in for > __ days (and notify that user or some other internal user?)
• Create follows automatically on newly created folders

For more suggestions on how to use Power Automate with NetDocuments, contact your Sales or Customer Success team.

Actions for Enhanced NetDocuments Power Automate Connector (May 2020 version)

Key

* = Current action or trigger
Italics = Based on non-public REST call

Document Actions	Folder & Container Actions	Workspace Actions
*Create Document *Update Document *Create New Version of Document *Get Document Content *Get Document Profile *Delete Document *Check In Document *Check Out Document *Create Secured Link *Get Document History *Delete Document Get Document Versions Follow Document Lock Document Unlock Document Lock Document Version Rename Document	*Create Folder *File Document to Folder *Unfile Document from Folder *Follow Folder *Get Folder Items Delete Folder Get Container Contents (v2) Rename Folder	Create a Workspace (from a single attribute) Get a Workspace (from a single attribute) Create a Workspace (from parent-child attributes) Get a Workspace (from parent-child attributes) Get Workspace Information Refresh a Workspace Create CollabSpace
Repository Actions	Cabinet Actions	Group Actions
User Actions Add User to Repository Remove User from Repository Get Repository Users Repository Group Actions Create Repository Group Delete Repository Group Get Repository Groups Get Repository Information Get Repository Log Consolidated Activity Log Administrative Log	Cabinet Group Actions Add Group to Cabinet Remove Group from Cabinet Get Groups in Cabinet Get Unhidden Groups in Cabinet (and access rights) Create Cabinet External Group Get Cabinet Custom Attributes Get Cabinet Information Get Cabinet Settings	Group Member Actions Add Member to Group Remove Member from Group Get Group Membership Get Group Information
User Actions	Lookup Table Actions	Search
*Get Current User Info *Get Selected User Info Create User	Lookup Entry Actions (single-level) Create Lookup Entry Update Lookup Entry Get Lookup Entry Delete Lookup Entry Search Lookup Entries Child Lookup Entry Actions Create Child Lookup Entry Update Child Lookup Entry Get Child Lookup Entry Delete Child Lookup Entry Search for Child Lookup Entries	*Search Cabinets (trigger) Search a Cabinet and Modify ACLs

Issues to remember when working with the NetDocuments Power Automate Connector

When using NetDocuments in MSFT Power technologies, note:

• The updated NetDocuments connector does not include all public v1 and v2 REST calls
• REST calls for other NetDocuments applications – if they exist – are not implemented
• The main NetDocuments REST calls are NOT event-driven
• This limits how NetDocuments can be used in flows. For example, there is no way to automatically trigger a flow when a new document is saved to a given location. 
• The NetDocuments connector does not include a UI but relies on inputting IDs (DocIDs, WorkspaceID, FolderID, and UserIDs). 

Microsoft Power Automate Limitations

Microsoft imposes limits on the use of their software which must be taken into account when using the NetDocuments Connector for Power Automate:

• Connection limits - 500 requests per minute / per connection
• Number of API requests that can be made in a 24 hour period – 2,000 to 20,000 depending on the license

For further information, see:

Custom Connector Limits

Request Limits