Workflow automation

When working with data applications in a collaborative environment, it is often necessary to notify team members and stakeholders about changes to the data. Additionally, it is important to propagate these updates to related and dependent tables to maintain data consistency and integrity.

These repetitive workflows can be automated by integrating with the relevant applications, which significantly reduces manual effort, increases efficiency, and ensures data consistency.

PowerTable allows you to set up automated workflows that can perform one or more predefined actions based on specific triggers.

1. Understanding workflows

A workflow consists of a trigger and one or more actions that follow it.

Sample workflow

Triggers can be any event, such as data updates, row insertion or deletion, or based on a time schedule.

Trigger

The actions that you can define can include:

• Sending real-time notifications to the stakeholders about the data changes across different channels (email, Microsoft Teams message, webhooks) to keep them informed.

• Propagating or cascading the data changes across all related and dependent tables consistently.

Actions

PowerTable can automate such repetitive workflows by executing these predefined actions based on triggers (events or data changes)—all without the need for coding.

2. Setting up a Workflow

Setting up an automation workflow involves the following steps:

1. Create an Automation Workflow: Create a new automation workflow to configure the trigger and action(s).

2. Define the Trigger: Configure the events or data changes that will trigger your workflow. E.g., a new record is created in the table, an existing record is updated or deleted, etc. You can also add one or more conditions to the trigger event to make it more specific.

3. Choose Actions: Select the actions you want to perform in response to the event. E.g., create a new row in another table, send an email or Microsoft Teams notification, post the update through webhooks, etc.

When an event occurs, PowerTable can automatically:

• Send Notifications: Trigger email or MS Teams notifications to keep stakeholders informed.

• Trigger Webhooks: Integrate with external systems by sending real-time data updates.

• Perform Cascaded Updates: Apply changes across related records to maintain data consistency.

The upcoming sections in the guide provide an overview of how to configure and manage automated workflows in your environment.