Does your organisation still rely on manual approvals for processes like data changes, compliance related actions or sales authorisations? Often these workflows are time consuming, involving multiple people and can be subject to delays if someone in the chain is unavailable.
Microsoft Power Automate has approval functionality that can streamline these processes. It provides structured governance, greater efficiency and a complete audit trail.
Power Automate allows organisations to define a trigger, configure an approval process and automate the actions that follow. Once a request is submitted, approvals can be sent to individuals or approval groups, allowing users to approve or reject requests directly from Teams or Outlook.
Where can Power Automate approval functionality add value?
This approach is particularly valuable where:
- Multiple approval levels exist
- Regulatory or compliance requirements demand documented authorisation
- Sensitive data changes require oversight
- Manual processes create delays or inconsistency
- Organisations need a clear audit trail of decisions
Approvals can be managed directly within tools such as Microsoft Teams and Outlook, enabling decision-makers to review and respond without disrupting their normal working day.
Practical applications across training and compliance management
For training providers and organisations managing regulated processes, there are numerous opportunities to introduce approval-driven workflows.
These include:
- Authorising amendments to sensitive learner or organisational data
- Approving high-value discounts before they are applied
- Signing off certificates, qualifications, or apprenticeship discretionaries
- Reviewing and approving outbound correspondence
- Managing compliance exceptions that require management approval
One of the key benefits is that every approval outcome is recorded automatically. This creates a reliable audit trail that can be referenced later, helping organisations demonstrate governance, accountability, and procedural compliance.
Customer example: Paperless course registers
We recently helped a customer implement a new Power Automate process which shows how approvals can be embedded into an end-to-end process using Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Automate.
The objective of the project was to remove manual administrative effort from the creation and distribution of course registers while ensuring an appropriate review step remains in place.
How the Process Works
1. A user initiates the process from within a Dynamics record.
2. Power Automate generates a course register using a Word template stored in CRM.
3. Delegate information, course details, dates, and times are automatically populated.
4. The completed document is sent to the user for review and approval via Teams or Outlook.
5. The user approves or rejects the request.
Upon approval:
- An email is automatically sent to the course trainer
- The course register is attached automatically
- The email is stored in the user’s Sent Items
- The email activity is tracked within Dynamics
- A custom note is added to the timeline
- The document can be stored in SharePoint
The process is highly configurable, allowing organisations to customise emails including recipients, CC and BCC lists, subject lines, content and document templates. Using Dynamic Content within Power Automate means that any relevant data stored in Dynamics can be inserted automatically into documents and emails.
From an end-user perspective, the experience is remarkably simple – click the process, review the generated document, and approve or reject. A task that previously required multiple manual steps becomes a process completed in just a few clicks.
Beyond automation: Maintaining quality control
While automation delivers significant efficiency gains, the approval stage adds an important quality assurance layer.
Rather than removing human oversight entirely, Power Automate ensures that the right people remain involved at critical decision points while eliminating the repetitive administrative work surrounding those decisions.
Customer example: Fire and Rescue Services
The same approach has also been applied within Fire sector processes. Following site visits, Power Automate can generate documents such as Enforcement Notices, route them for review and approval and then distribute them automatically once authorised.
The result is a streamlined process that maintains governance requirements while reducing administrative effort and providing a documented record of approval decisions.
Work with Active Informatics
The opportunity doesn’t stop at document generation and approval. Future developments could see returned documents automatically processed to update Dynamics records, further reducing manual intervention and creating even more seamless end-to-end workflows.
If you see opportunities to improve manual processes within your organisation, we’d love to work with you. If you have a project in mind or would like digital transformation ideas, contact our team for a no-obligation conversation.