In the current time, technology has reached a point where it is trying to meet user expectations by getting updated day by day. One such technology, the Microsoft Poer Platform, enables users to build powerful and automated solutions without writing codes. Its important part is its huge library of connectors. These pre-built bridges help your Power Apps, Power Automate flows, and Power BI dashboards connect easily with many different data sources and services. They work with popular business applications like SharePoint and Salesforce, as well as more specialized platforms.
In this article, we have discussed how to use the Power Platform connector in your organization. So if you are looking to learn this, you may need to enroll in the Power Automate Course. This course is ideal for learning the fundamental concepts of Power Automate that can help you in the future as well. So let’s begin by discussing what What are Power Platform Connectors.
What are Power Platform Connectors?
These connectors are essentially APIS that come with a user-friendly package. They are like the intermediaries that let your power platform solutions interact with external services. They may not need to understand the technical details of API. Well, they are like translators that convert your requests into a language that the service understands and then interpret the service’s responses back into a format your Power Platform solution can use.
Types of Connectors:
Power Platform connectors can be grouped into three main types:
Standard Connectors:
These are pre-built connectors that Microsoft provides for popular services like SharePoint, OneDrive, SQL Server, and Twitter. They are easy to use and available right away in the Power Platform environment.
Premium Connectors:
These connectors give you access to specialized or enterprise-level services. You may need a premium license to use them. Examples include services like Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, and various financial platforms.
Custom Connectors:
If there isn’t a pre-built connector for a specific service you need, you can create your own custom connector. This requires you to define things like the API endpoints, authentication methods, and data structures for the service. While this requires more technical knowledge, it greatly expands what you can do with the platform.
How to Use Connectors in Power Automate :
Let’s walk through how to use connectors in Power Automate with an example. Well if you have gained Power Automate Certification then you can easily implement this process at your workplace. Imagine you want to save tweets that mention your company’s handle directly to a SharePoint list.
Creating a Flow:
Start by creating a new flow in Power Automate. Choose a trigger to begin the flow. For this example, the trigger would be “When a new tweet is posted” (using the Twitter connector).
Connecting to the Service:
You’ll need to connect your Twitter account to Power Automate by using the Twitter connector. This step usually involves authorizing Power Automate to access your Twitter data. It’s an important step because it securely links your flow to Twitter.
Configuring the Trigger:
After connecting, configure the trigger. For this case, you’ll set the search term as your company’s Twitter handle, so the flow starts when someone tweets about your company.
Adding an Action:
Now, add an action to your flow. For this example, you want to save the tweet to a SharePoint list. So, you’ll choose the “Create item” action from the SharePoint connector.
Connecting to SharePoint:
Just like with Twitter, you’ll need to connect to your SharePoint site. You’ll also specify which list you want the tweets to be saved in.
Mapping Data:
This is a key step! You need to map data from the Twitter trigger (like the tweet text, author, and timestamp) to the appropriate fields in your SharePoint list. This is where you match Twitter data to SharePoint columns.
Testing and Saving:
Once everything is set up, test the flow to make sure it works as expected. If everything looks good, save your flow. Now, every time someone tweets about your company, the flow will automatically add the tweet to your SharePoint list.
Apart from there is various other skill-enhancing courses are available in the market such as the Blue Prism course. Blue Prism is also a powerful automation tool that excels in Robotic Process Automation.
Conclusion:
Connectors are the key to unlocking the full potential of the Power Platform. By learning how to use them well, you can create powerful, automated solutions that link to many different services. This helps streamline business processes and boosts productivity. Whether you’re setting up a simple flow to save tweets to SharePoint or building a complex enterprise integration, mastering connectors is an essential skill for anyone developing on the Power Platform. So don’t think anymore and enroll in the course today to give your future new heights of success.