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How to build automated approval processes utilizing Power Automate with Microsoft Teams (Recording from MN365 Spring Workshop Day 2022)

Last month I participated in my very first Minnesota Microsoft 365 User Group Workshop Day and had a wonderful time. Thank you to the organizers for all their hard work, and to everyone who attended and engaged during my session. And for those who missed it, you can now find the description and recording below. 🥳

How to build automated approval processes utilizing Power Automate with Microsoft Teams

We’ve all seen approval processes in a single organization built and implemented in a variety of ways. Sometimes, it’s a signature on a paper form. Other times it’s an email, a thumbs-up on a message, a column change in SharePoint, etc. So how can we standardize these approval processes using Microsoft Teams?

In this session, we’ll do a deep exploration of Approvals powered by Power Automate and used with Forms, SharePoint, Outlook, and Microsoft Teams. You’ll see how to create custom, shared approval request forms your whole team can use, as well as email-only approval processes for those simpler needs. We’ll also cover some best practices for rolling out new processes, training users, and understanding approval history and management.

You can watch the recording here (90 mins) or embedded below:

Also be sure to connect with the Minnesota Microsoft 365 User Group socially:

And thanks to MN365 for the speaker gift! 🤩

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Intro to the ‘Visualize the list’ Power BI feature for SharePoint lists (Recording from Baltimore SharePoint User Group)

I had the honor of presenting one of my favorite Microsoft 365 features for the Baltimore SharePoint User Group’s regular meeting last week. You may have seen this particular feature on your lists (individual or in SharePoint): the ability to visualize a list or library’s data using the Power BI service.

Visualize the list menu option for lists and libraries | Click to enlarge

This newer feature of convenient Power BI integration for lists gives you an automatic report based on your list’s data. We explored how to create a report, customize it, and save it back to the list for future one-click access.

Automatically generated report | Click to enlarge

Even if you haven’t used Power BI (yet), this presentation was made for all experience levels and will provide a proper introduction. In this one-hour session, I specifically covered:

  • How to create an automatic report/dashboard from your list in just a few clicks
  • How to edit and publish the auto-generated report for others to use
  • Site lists vs my lists
  • Limitations of the feature
  • Licensing requirements

Watch the recording on YouTube, or embedded below.

Additional resources

Slides used in the presentationDownload
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Next generation OneNote: Two become one at Kansas City M365 user group (Recording)

I presented the following session for the Kansas City M365 User Group on Valentine’s Day (2/14), 2022.

Description

In today’s world and the current corporate situation numerous enterprises have rolled out OneNote went from a single app to two apps (OneNote and OneNote for Windows 10), but is now returning to a single app once again thanks to advances in Windows and Office. This session will share the latest OneNote news, help prepare you for the shift back to OneNote (formerly OneNote 2016), and highlight some of the best features OneNote has to offer for individuals and teams taking and sharing notes (and more!).

Recording

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My guest appearance on Cloud Conversations ep. 25: SharePoint beginnings, life and career, and Alanis (recording)

I’m excited and honored to have been asked to appear on my good friend Peter Rising‘s podcast Cloud Conversations he co-hosts with Kat Greenan and Ru Campbell. While Ru was on a well-deserved break, I got to catch up with Peter and Kat.

We chatted about how I got to where I am today, what I’ve been up to lately, and we shared some good entertainment and books with each other. Life doesn’t get much better than good times with good people and it’s hard to find better people than those behind Cloud Conversations.

You can check out the recording now:

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All you need to know about Microsoft Lists (Recording from Wisconsin SharePoint User Group)

My colleague Mickie Brewer and I recently had the privilege to co-present an introduction to Microsoft Lists at the Wisconsin SharePoint User Group. We highlighted and demonstrated all the main concepts of Microsoft Lists in an hour including:

  • List templates,
  • My Lists vs SharePoint,
  • Teams integration,
  • Columns and views,
  • Conditional formatting,
  • Connected web parts,
  • and much more

Alex Lorenzo also presented “Site templates and site scripts for site provisioning in modern SharePoint” after our segment (included in recording – check it out!).

Thank you to WISPUG co-organizer Anthony Escobedo for the original invite, co-organizer Jonathan Schultz for facilitating and sharing the recording, and co-organizers Drew Madelung and Matt Engibous for providing such an awesome opportunity for their group members and visitors to learn with and from one another on a regular basis.

Be sure to check out WISPUG’s upcoming events and recent tweets using their hashtag (#WISPUG).

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Getting Teams certified: My prep for the MS-700 and the exam guide that followed (Recording)

I was recently invited to speak at the SharePoint User Group of DC and shared some prep tips and exam prep book writing experience with attendees. Most of the session was advice, practice questions, and resources for the MS-700 Teams Administrator certification exam. The last 10 minutes or so, I discuss co-authoring the MS-700 exam prep book with my co-author and friend Peter Rising.

Scott Brewster, one of the group’s leaders, kindly recorded and posted the session to YouTube so you can watch the recording below.

Be sure to check out the SharePoint User Group of DC’s upcoming events here: SharePoint User Group of DC (Arlington, VA) | Meetup. You can also follow them on Twitter (@sug_dc).