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Power Apps enables a broad range of app scenarios to be created that infuse digital transformation into manual and outdated processes.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 |
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Repository Actions |
Cabinet Actions |
Group Actions |
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User Actions |
Lookup Table Actions |
Search |
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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: