New Workflow Service in Preview

Microsoft Flow, a new Azure-hosted service that automates workflows across applications and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings, has entered public preview. While Flow could be of interest to organizations simplifying business processes between hosted services, the preview lacks some advanced features and administrative controls and could request excessive access permissions for the SaaS offerings accessed via Flow.

Graphical Workflow Automation

Microsoft Flow is a graphical workflow automation engine that runs in Microsoft Azure. Flow could be of benefit to power users who want to create lightweight workflows. It has similarities to If This Then That (IFTT), a third-party tool that also offers automation for consumer services.

Users can create processes that are automatically started based on specific events within a connected service or by a timer. For example, a Flow can be triggered when a file is added to a monitored OneDrive folder (such as a shared vendor quote folder), which then sends a notification e-mail to a specific e-mail address based on the file’s name, metadata, or contents. Creating a Flow is a process designed for nonprogrammers and is performed within a browser-based design canvas. Flows run automatically on a Microsoft-hosted server in Azure.