Work does not always slow down because employees lack the right tools. Often, it slows down because routine processes depend on too many manual steps.
A request arrives through email. Someone copies the information into a spreadsheet. A manager needs to approve it. Another employee sends a reminder. A document is saved in a folder, and everyone waits for the next person to complete their part.
Each step may seem minor, but together they create delays, duplicate work, inconsistent results, and limited visibility.
In the Virtual IT webinar Building and Automating Workflows in Microsoft 365, we explore how organizations can turn everyday business processes into more efficient, automated workflows. The session focuses on practical ways to eliminate repetitive tasks, improve collaboration, increase visibility, streamline approvals, automate notifications, and improve document management across Microsoft 365.
What Is Microsoft 365 Workflow Automation?
Microsoft 365 workflow automation involves connecting applications, information, and people so that a business process can move forward automatically.
Microsoft Power Automate is one of the primary tools organizations can use to build these workflows. Its cloud flows connect applications and services, allowing a process to begin when an event occurs, when someone selects a button, or at a scheduled time.
Every basic workflow contains two important elements:
A trigger starts the workflow. This might be a new Microsoft Forms response, an email arriving in a shared mailbox, a document being added to SharePoint, or a scheduled date and time.
An action is what the workflow does next. It might send a notification, create an approval request, update a list, move a document, or post a message in Microsoft Teams.
Power Automate supports connectors for Microsoft applications such as Outlook and SharePoint, giving organizations prebuilt triggers and actions that can be combined into a business process.
Why Manual Workflows Create Business Problems
Manual processes are often built gradually. A team starts with a spreadsheet, adds an email template, creates a shared folder, and relies on employees to keep everything updated.
That approach may work when the organization is small or the process happens infrequently. As the volume of work increases, however, the weaknesses become more noticeable.
Requests can be overlooked because they are buried in an inbox. Employees may enter the same information into several systems. Managers may not know which requests are waiting for approval. Documents may be saved under inconsistent names or in the wrong locations. When someone is out of the office, the process may stop entirely.
Automation can create a more consistent path from the beginning of a process to its completion. Instead of relying on employees to remember every handoff, the workflow can move information, notify the appropriate people, and record what happened.
High-Impact Workflows to Automate in Microsoft 365
The best automation opportunities are not always large or complicated. Small, frequently repeated processes can deliver meaningful improvements because employees interact with them every day.
1. Approval Processes
Approvals are a natural starting point for automation.
Many organizations still manage purchase requests, expense reports, vacation requests, document reviews, and other approvals through long email chains. The employee submitting the request may not know who has it, whether it has been reviewed, or why it was rejected.
Power Automate can create approval workflows for documents and business processes across services such as SharePoint and OneDrive. Approval requests can be presented through Outlook, Microsoft Teams, or the Power Automate approval center, depending on the workflow and the user’s access.
An automated approval process could:
- Capture the original request.
- Route it to the appropriate decision-maker.
- Send reminders when no response is received.
- Record the approval or rejection.
- Notify the requester of the outcome.
- Move the process to its next stage.
This gives employees better visibility and creates a more consistent record of each decision.
2. Form-Based Requests
Microsoft Forms can provide a structured starting point for processes that currently begin through unstructured emails or verbal requests.
A business could create forms for IT support requests, employee onboarding, equipment purchases, marketing requests, customer feedback, or time-off requests. Once someone submits the form, Power Automate can retrieve the response and continue the process.
Microsoft documents several common Forms automation scenarios, including sending customized email notifications, submitting form details for approval, recording responses in Excel, and processing uploaded attachments.
The result is a more complete and consistent intake process. Instead of requesting missing details after the fact, the form can require the information needed to complete the work.
3. Document Management
Document-related processes often include several manual handoffs.
A document may need to be uploaded, reviewed, approved, renamed, moved to another folder, and shared with the right employees. Without automation, each step depends on someone remembering what to do next.
Power Automate can work with SharePoint files, libraries, lists, and approval processes. For example, a workflow can begin when a new document is added to a SharePoint library and then route that document through an approval process.
Depending on the organization’s requirements, the workflow could also:
- Update the document’s approval status.
- Notify the document owner.
- Move an approved file to a published location.
- Alert another department that the document is available.
- Create a record of the review decision.
- Send a reminder before the document expires.
For sensitive content, SharePoint content approval can help prevent pending documents from becoming visible to users before they are approved.
4. Microsoft Teams Notifications
Important updates frequently get lost when information is stored in one application while employees communicate in another.
Power Automate can post messages to a Microsoft Teams channel or group chat using the Teams connector. This allows automated updates to appear where employees are already communicating.
For example, a workflow could notify a Teams channel when:
- A new sales opportunity is submitted.
- A high-priority support request is received.
- A document is ready for review.
- A customer provides negative feedback.
- A project reaches a milestone.
- An approval request has been waiting too long.
Teams also includes a Workflows experience that allows users to create and manage flows from templates or build them from scratch.
The goal is not to create more notifications. It is to deliver the right information to the right people at the right moment.
5. Reminders and Recurring Processes
Not every workflow needs to begin with a new request. Some processes should run on a schedule.
Power Automate supports scheduled cloud flows that can run daily, weekly, monthly, or according to another recurring schedule.
Scheduled workflows can be useful for:
- Sending weekly project summaries.
- Reminding employees about approaching deadlines.
- Checking for overdue requests.
- Notifying document owners before expiration dates.
- Distributing recurring reports.
- Following up on incomplete onboarding tasks.
- Alerting account managers about upcoming renewals.
SharePoint lists and libraries can also use date-based reminder flows to send notifications before a tracked date.
What a Well-Designed Workflow Looks Like
A successful workflow needs more than a trigger and an email notification. It should reflect how the business process actually works.
A well-designed workflow typically includes five parts.
A Clear Starting Point
The trigger should be specific and predictable. The workflow might begin when a form is submitted, a file is uploaded, a particular type of email arrives, or a deadline approaches.
Defined Rules
The workflow should understand what to do under different conditions.
A purchase below a certain amount might go to one manager, while a larger purchase may require additional approval. A support request marked as urgent may need to notify a different team than a routine request.
The Right Actions
Every automated action should move the process closer to completion. Unnecessary emails, duplicate records, and excessive notifications can make a workflow more distracting than helpful.
Human Decision Points
Automation does not require removing people from the process. It can handle the repetitive steps while bringing employees into the workflow when judgment, authorization, or context is required.
Power Automate approvals are specifically designed to combine automated routing with human decision-making.
A Record of the Outcome
The workflow should capture what happened. That record might be stored in a SharePoint list, document library, approval history, or another business system.
Recording the outcome makes it easier to answer questions, identify delays, and improve the process over time.
An Example: Automating Employee Onboarding
Consider an employee onboarding process that currently depends on HR emailing several departments.
With a Microsoft 365 workflow, the process could begin when HR submits a new-hire form.
The workflow could then:
- Record the employee’s information in a SharePoint list.
- Notify the hiring manager that the onboarding process has started.
- Post an equipment request to the IT team.
- Send approval requests for nonstandard equipment.
- Create reminders based on the employee’s start date.
- Notify the appropriate team about system-access requirements.
- Send the manager a list of remaining onboarding tasks.
- Record when each part of the process is completed.
This does not eliminate the work performed by HR, IT, and the hiring manager. It eliminates the manual coordination required to keep everyone informed.
The same general structure can be applied to client onboarding, purchase requests, contract reviews, marketing requests, and many other repeatable processes.
How to Find Your Best Automation Opportunity
Organizations should avoid trying to automate every process at once.
Start by looking for a workflow that:
- Happens frequently.
- Follows repeatable rules.
- Involves several manual handoffs.
- Requires employees to re-enter information.
- Regularly experiences delays or missed follow-ups.
- Has a clear beginning and a clear outcome.
Before building anything, map the current process. Identify who starts it, what information is required, who makes decisions, where information is stored, and what exceptions may occur.
This helps prevent the organization from simply automating an inefficient process.
Start Small and Improve Over Time
The first version of a workflow does not need to solve every possible scenario.
A team might begin by automating the intake and notification steps. Once those are working reliably, it can add approvals, conditions, reminders, reporting, and additional integrations.
Power Automate provides templates that can be customized, as well as the option to build a flow from scratch. In supported environments, users may also be able to describe the desired automation in natural language with Copilot and then review the suggested flow.
Regardless of how the workflow is created, it should be tested with realistic information and several possible outcomes. Test what happens when information is missing, an approval is rejected, a connection fails, or a request remains unanswered.
Do Not Overlook Workflow Governance
As organizations create more automated workflows, ownership and governance become increasingly important.
Every important flow should have a documented purpose, an identifiable owner, and a plan for ongoing maintenance. Organizations should also understand which connections the workflow uses and what information moves between those connections.
For critical or long-running automations, Microsoft recommends carefully considering the ownership model. A workflow tied only to one employee’s account may become difficult to maintain if that person changes roles or leaves the organization. Microsoft supports user ownership, co-ownership, and service-principal ownership models for different scenarios.
Monitoring is equally important. Power Automate workflows are not “set it and forget it” tools. Run histories, errors, performance, security, and usage should be reviewed regularly so failures can be identified before they affect a larger business process.
A basic workflow governance plan should address:
- Naming and documentation standards.
- Owners and backup owners.
- User and connection permissions.
- Data-handling requirements.
- Testing and deployment procedures.
- Error notifications.
- Ongoing monitoring.
- Licensing requirements.
Governance allows teams to benefit from employee-created automation without losing visibility or control.
Build a More Efficient Microsoft 365 Environment
Microsoft 365 includes more than individual productivity applications. When its tools are connected through automation, they can support complete business processes.
Forms can collect information. SharePoint can organize it. Power Automate can route it. Teams and Outlook can keep employees informed. Approval tools can capture decisions. Scheduled workflows can make sure nothing is forgotten.
The result is not simply faster technology. It is a more consistent and visible way of working.
To see how these capabilities can be applied to everyday business processes, watch Virtual IT’s Building and Automating Workflows in Microsoft 365 webinar. The session provides practical ideas for reducing repetitive work, improving collaboration, and getting more value from the Microsoft 365 tools your organization may already use.
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