As a Functional Consultant or a Power Platform user, understanding common connectors, triggers, and actions is crucial for efficient use of the platform in implementing various business needs. This article will serve as a descriptive aid for those preparing for the PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant exam.
1. Power Platform Connectors
Microsoft Power Platform offers over 400 pre-built connectors that allows you to communicate with multiple services ranging from Office 365 Outlook, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams to other services such as Salesforce, Google Services, and more. It enables us to integrate data from different sources within our Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI.
For example, using the Office 365 Outlook Connector, you can create, send, and manage mail, and even manage events, contacts, and more.
Remember, connectors can be categorized into two types:
- Standard Connectors (Office 365 Outlook, SharePoint, etc)
- Premium Connectors (Common Data Service, Salesforce, etc). These require premium licensing to be used.
2. Power Platform Triggers
Triggers in the Power Platform start an automative process based on a specific event. They are mainly used in Power Automate to initiate flows. They are events that kickstart the operation of a flow — like when a new row is added to a SharePoint list or when an email is received.
For example, a trigger could be “When a new email arrives” (using the Office 365 connector) that starts a flow which automatically saves attachments from the email to a SharePoint folder.
There are two types of triggers:
- Push Triggers: These triggers wait for specific events to occur and automatically triggers the flow.
- Polling Triggers: These triggers run at specified intervals and check for changes. If change is detected, the flow is activated.
3. Power Platform Actions
An action is what happens after a trigger event has occurred. It’s the response generated by the Power App or Flow post-trigger. Actions could be sending an email, creating a record, updating a record, etc. Each connector has a list of actions that can be performed.
Consider this example, ‘Send an email (V2)’ action from Office365 Outlook connector sends an email from your Office 365 account. Choose the action ‘Create item’ from the SharePoint connector to create new items in your SharePoint list.
To utilize the full capacity of Microsoft Power Platform, understanding the concepts of connectors, triggers, and actions is essential. These building blocks provide a solid foundation to create, automate, and analyze data processes.
Keep in mind that while this article provides a general overview of each category, each connector, trigger, and action works differently and may have unique properties or requirements. It’s crucial to explore Microsoft’s official documentation or resources for a deep dive into each involved connector, trigger, and action for an accurate usage in your works.
This knowledge will not only assist you in successfully passing the PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant exam but also provide wide-ranging agility in designing and implementing solutions using Microsoft Power Platform.
Practice Test
Single Select Question: Which connector is used to integrate data and apps within Microsoft Office 365 in Power Automate?
- A. SharePoint Connector
- B. Outlook 365 Connector
- C. Microsoft 365 Groups Connector
- D. Microsoft Office 365 Users Connector
Answer: A. SharePoint Connector
Explanation: SharePoint connector enables to manage lists, files and even more in SharePoint online.
True/False: Triggers initiate an action to process in any app or service in Power Automate.
Answer: True
Explanation: In Power automate, triggers are events which start up the operation of a cloud flow and lead to processing actions.
Single Select Question: What is the common use of HTTP connector in Power Automate?
- A. Making HTTP requests
- B. Retrieving data
- C. Both A and B
- D. None of the above
Answer: C. Both A and B
Explanation: HTTP Connector in Power Automate is used for making HTTP requests to retrieve the data.
True/False: There are more than 400 connectors available in Power Automate.
Answer: True
Explanation: There are indeed more than 400 connectors available in Power Automate to integrate data and applications.
Multiple Select Question: Which type(s) of triggers are available in Power Automate?
- A. Polling triggers
- B. Push triggers
- C. Pull triggers
- D. None of the above
Answer: A. Polling triggers, B. Push triggers
Explanation: Power Automate supports two types of triggers: Polling (periodically checks a service for new data) and Push (new data is pushed to the service).
True/False: Actions in Power Automate represent endpoints in the target app service.
Answer: True
Explanation: In Power Automate, actions represent endpoints in the target app or service that perform the task that follows the trigger.
Single Select Question: What is a purpose of the Common Data Service connector in Power Automate?
- A. To integrate Common Data Service
- B. To update records
- C. Both A and B
- D. None of the above
Answer: C. Both A and B
Explanation: Common Data Service connector is used to integrate the Common Data Service and manage (create, read, update, delete) the records.
True/False: In Power Automate, only one action can follow a trigger.
Answer: False
Explanation: In Power Automate, multiple actions can follow a single trigger.
Single Select Question: Which connector allows you to post messages to Microsoft Teams in Power Automate?
- A. Office 365 Outlook Connecter
- B. SharePoint Connector
- C. Teams Connector
- D. Excel Connector
Answer: C. Teams Connector
Explanation: Teams connector in Power Automate allows you to post messages to a Team Channel.
True/False: Each trigger or action corresponds to an API operation.
Answer: True
Explanation: In Power Automate, each trigger or action corresponds to an operation in the API of the provider service.
Interview Questions
What are common connectors in the context of Microsoft Power Platform?
Common connectors in Microsoft Power Platform are pre-built interfaces that enable the interaction of Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI with various services, systems, and resources.
Can you give some examples of such common connectors?
Examples of these connectors include SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Twitter, Dropbox, and MailChimp. Each of these has different triggers and actions available for automation and data integration.
How are triggers used in Microsoft Power Platform?
Triggers are used to start a flow in Power Automate. They can respond to events such as creating a new record in Dynamics 365, receiving an email, surpassing a data limit, or a specific date or time.
Can you describe what an action is in Microsoft Power Platform?
An action in Microsoft Power Platform is an operation that Power Automate runs after a trigger fires. This operation could be sending an email, updating a record, starting a workflow, or many other tasks.
Can connectors only be used with Microsoft services?
No, connectors can interact with a very wide range of services, not just Microsoft ones. These include both cloud services and on-premises systems.
Is it possible to build custom connectors in Power Platform?
Yes, if a prebuilt connector is not available for a desired service, a custom one can be built using OpenAPI definition or Postman collection.
Can you define what a Postman collection is?
A Postman collection is a group of saved API requests, which can be run together as a series. They can be considered as the API equivalent of a test suite.
What is an OpenAPI definition?
An OpenAPI definition, or an OpenAPI Specification (OAS), is a specification for describing, producing, consuming, and visualizing RESTful web services.
Describe more about what a Power Apps connector is?
A Power Apps connector is a proxy or a wrapper around an API that allows the underlying service to communicate with Power Apps.
What exactly happens when a trigger event occurs in Power Automate?
When a trigger event occurs, the information about the event is sent to Power Automate, and the corresponding flow is kicked off.
Can a flow consist of only one action in Power Automate?
No, a flow can have multiple actions that are executed sequentially after the trigger.
Is it necessary to use a trigger in every flow in Power Automate?
Yes, every flow in Power Automate must begin with a trigger, which sets off the subsequent chain of actions.
Do all connectors come with both triggers and actions?
No, not all connectors come with both. Some connectors provide just triggers, just actions, or both.
How are actions defined in Power Automate?
Actions are defined by specifying the information required to complete the action, such as an email address for a “send email” action, or a file path for a “delete file” action.
Can you tell about webhook triggers in Power Automate?
Webhook triggers allow you to start a flow by sending a HTTP POST request to its endpoint from whatever service you like. This provides a highly flexible way to trigger flows.
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