K2's Automation - Beyond The Basics With The Microsoft Power Platform

Absolutely not. Brian started as an auditor with no programming background and approaches Power Automate as a citizen developer solving his own problems. Throughout the session, he demonstrated low code, no code workflows—like setting up a multi-step form that automatically sends emails, creates SharePoint list entries, and triggers Teams approvals—all without writing a single line of code. You can use templates to get started, and as you learn, you can accomplish increasingly sophisticated tasks.

Yes. The course walks through a complete end-to-end example: a club membership application that starts with a Microsoft Form, automatically routes approvals through Teams, emails notifications, logs data to SharePoint, and generates booking links in Outlook—all without manual intervention. You'll see exactly how these pieces connect, how to use merge fields to populate dynamic data, and how to troubleshoot when things don't work perfectly. By the end, you'll understand how to apply these patterns to your own business problems.

Power Automate Desktop, the robotic process automation (RPA) tool included in many Microsoft 365 plans, handles exactly this scenario. It uses an action recorder to capture your clicks and keystrokes across legacy applications, spreadsheets, and web systems—much like Excel macros but capable of moving data between multiple applications. Brian emphasized that RPA is your last resort when native integrations aren't available, but it's a powerful safety net for best-in-breed software that doesn't talk to each other natively.

Setup time varies, but Brian showed that once you choose a template or describe what you want using Copilot, most of the heavy lifting is done. What takes time is connecting to the right accounts, mapping your data fields, and testing to make sure everything flows as expected. The key is starting small—Brian recommends you don't have to do IT's job, but you should tinker, experiment, and learn by doing rather than trying to build the perfect solution on the first try.

Power Automate is included with many Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans, so you likely already have access. Forms for business use does require a Microsoft 365 plan, and Power Apps pricing varies by user and app configuration. The course focuses primarily on Power Automate, which is the most accessible entry point for automating workflows without additional licensing in most corporate environments.