In today’s automated world, businesses depend on secure, streamlined connections between systems to improve efficiency. Power Automate, a robust tool for building workflows between various services, allows seamless integration of applications and APIs. However, when working with third-party services, ensuring that data access is secure and well-managed is critical. This is where OAuth 2.0, a secure and standard protocol for authorization, comes into play. Are you struggling to configure OAuth 2.0 authentication in your Power Automate flows? If you are considering automating workflows that interact with secured APIs, this article is for you. I will walk you through configuring OAuth 2.0 in Power Automate, so you can ensure the safety of your automation while keeping your services accessible. Why OAuth 2.0? OAuth 2.0 is the industry-standard protocol for authorization. It allows users to grant third-party applications limited access to their resources without exposing passwords. By using OAuth 2.0 in Power Automate, you ensure that the services and APIs you connect to are secure, and that tokens are used to access data on behalf of the user. How OAuth 2.0 Enhances Security OAuth 2.0 significantly improves security by eliminating the need to share sensitive credentials. Instead, access is granted through tokens, which are time-limited and easily revocable. OAuth 2.0 is widely used by many companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce, to integrate applications securely. Step-by-Step Guide to Configuring OAuth 2.0 in Power Automate 1. Set Up OAuth 2.0 Credentials Before configuring OAuth 2.0 in Power Automate, you need to set up OAuth 2.0 credentials in the platform you’re working with. For example, if you’re using Microsoft Graph API or any third-party service, follow these steps: 2. Initialize OAuth 2.0 Variables in Power Automate Now that you have your client ID and client secret, it’s time to configure them in Power Automate. Set up the variables: 3. Configuring the OAuth 2.0 Connection in Power Automate With the client credentials set, it’s time to establish the connection to the service using OAuth 2.0. 4. Use OAuth Token to Access Secure Data Now that you have the OAuth token, you can use it to authenticate your requests to third-party APIs. 5. Best Practices for OAuth 2.0 in Power Automate To conclude, OAuth 2.0 authentication provides a secure and effective way to authorize third-party applications in Power Automate. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can set up OAuth 2.0 authentication, ensure data security, and integrate third-party services into your automation workflows with ease. If you’re ready to secure your Power Automate workflows with OAuth 2.0, follow the steps outlined in this post and start integrating APIs in a secure manner today. For more tips and detailed guides, check out our other blog posts on Power Automate and API integration. Need help with the OAuth 2.0 integration? Feel free to reach out for assistance! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Teams is one of the best forms of notifying users about a form submission, in this blog let’s see how we can post new Microsoft Form responses into a team’s channel.  Step 1: Go to https://make.powerautomate.com/  -> Click on Environments on the top left and select the environment you want to create your flow in if you don’t have any environments you can select the default environment.  Step 2: Click on My flows -> New flow and select Automated cloud flow.  Step 3: Name your flow and search for “When a new response is submitted trigger”  Step: 4 Select the form for which you want to send the notification  Step 5: click on new step and search for Forms -> under Actions select “Get response details”  Step 6: Reselect the same Form in the first column of the Get response details action and in the second column you need to add the Response Id which is coming from the first step, you will get through the dynamics content just by clicking on the column.  Step 7: Now add a new step and search for Send Email V2 action. (We are using this action so that we can make our post content in Rich Text Format)  Step 8: You will get all the form files which are coming from the Get response details step, you can add them using the dynamics contents.  Step 9: In the Send Email V2 action you can create your message style it using the Rich text editor, once you are done styling your message click on code view button as shown in the below image.  Step 10: In the code view you will get the rich text message in HTML, copy this code and Delete the Send an email (V2) step.  Step 11: Click on new step and search for compose   Step 12: Rename this compose to Message body and paste the HTLM code of the message body from step 10  Step 13: Now click new step and search for Post message in a chat or channel action.  Step 14:  Fill in the details as shown below, you can post this as user or a flow bot select the teams and the teams channel and paste the output of compose in the message.  Output  Hope this helps 😊!  We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com.

Are you tired of manually writing complex DAX queries for your Power Automate flows? What if Power BI has been secretly recording every optimized query for you all along? The Challenge Every Power BI Developer Faces For growing businesses, as much as their dashboards and reports are important, automating data workflows becomes equally crucial. As organizations scale, the need to extract Power BI insights programmatically increases, making efficient query extraction essential to maintaining operational flow and development productivity. If you’re considering streamlining your Power BI to Power Automate integration process, this article is for you. I’m confident this article will guide you in mastering a Power BI technique that helps you achieve these impressive productivity gains. Key Takeaways What Exactly is Performance Analyzer? Performance Analyzer is Power BI’s built-in diagnostic tool that captures every single operation happening behind the scenes when you interact with your reports. Think of it as a detailed activity log that records not just what happened, but exactly how Power BI executed each query. Most developers use it for performance troubleshooting, but here’s the secret: it’s actually your gateway to extracting production-ready DAX queries for automation. Step 1: Unleashing the Performance Analyzer Accessing Your Hidden Toolkit The Performance Analyzer isn’t hidden in some obscure menu – it’s right there in your Power BI Desktop ribbon, waiting to revolutionize your workflow. To activate Performance Analyzer: Starting Your Query Capture Session Think of this as putting Power BI under a microscope. Every interaction you make will be recorded and analyzed. The capture process: Step 2: Extracting the Golden DAX Queries Decoding the Performance Data When you expand any visual event in the Performance Analyzer, you’ll see several components: Here’s where it gets exciting: Click on “Copy query” next to the DAX Query section. Real-World Example: Sales Dashboard Automation Let’s say you have a sales dashboard with a card showing total revenue. After recording and expanding the performance data, you might extract a DAX query like this: This is pure gold – it’s the exact query Power BI uses internally, optimized and ready for reuse! The DAX queries can be used in the following areas: To conclude, I encourage you to take a close look at your current Power BI automation processes. Identify one manual reporting task that you perform weekly – perhaps a sales summary, performance dashboard update, or data quality check. Start with this simple action today: Open one of your existing Power BI reports, activate Performance Analyzer, and extract just one DAX query. Then build a basic Power Automate flow using that query. This single step will demonstrate the power of this technique and likely save you hours in your next automation project. Need practical guidance on implementing this in your organization? Feel free to connect at transform@cloudfronts.com for specific solutions that can help you develop more effective Power BI automation workflows. Taking action now will lead to significant time savings and more robust automated reporting for your business.

In Dynamics 365 CRM implementations, subgrids are used extensively to show related records within the main form. But what if you want Subgrid B to automatically refresh whenever a new record is added to Subgrid A, especially when that record triggers some automation like a Power Automate flow or a plugin that creates or updates related data? In this blog, I’ll walk you through how to make one subgrid refresh when another subgrid is updated — a common real-world scenario that enhances user experience without needing a full form refresh. Let’s say you have two subgrids on your form: Whenever a new record is added in the Chargeable Categories subgrid, a Power Automate flow or backend logic creates corresponding records in Order Line Categories. However, these new records are not immediately visible in the second subgrid unless the user manually refreshes the entire form or clicks on the refresh icon. This can be confusing or frustrating for end-users. Solution Overview To solve this, we’ll use JavaScript to listen for changes in Subgrid A and automatically refresh Subgrid B once something is added. Here’s the high-level approach: Implementation Steps 1. Create the JavaScript Web Resource Create a new JS web resource and add the following code: How It Works To conclude, this simple yet effective approach ensures a smoother user experience by reflecting backend changes instantly without needing to manually refresh the entire form. It’s particularly helpful when automations or plugins create or update related records that must appear in real-time. By combining JavaScript with Dynamics’ form controls, you can add polish and usability to your applications without heavy customization. I hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com.

Imagine this: you update a product’s purchase date in a registration record and—boom—a related case automatically gets refreshed with the accurate “Purchased From” lookup. Saves time, reduces errors, and keeps everything in sync without you lifting a finger. Let’s walk through how to make that happen using Power Automate. The goal: When a Product Registration’s cri_purchasedat field is changed, the system will retrieve the related “Purchased From” record and update any linked Case(s) with the appropriate lookup reference. Let’s break down the step-by-step process of how this is done in Power Automate. Step 1: Trigger the Flow When Purchase Date Changes Flow trigger: When a row is added, modified, or deleted (Dataverse) This setup ensures that our flow only fires when that specific date field is modified. Step 2: Pull in the “Purchased From” Record Next, use List rows on the “Purchased From” table with a FetchXML query. We’re searching for a record whose name matches the updated cri_purchasedat. Set Row Count to 1, since we expect only one match. 3. Identify Any Linked Case Records Add another List rows action, this time on the Cases table. We look for records where cri_productregistrationid equals the current product registration’s ID:We now use the List Rows action to fetch all related Case records tied to the updated Product Registration. This time we’re targeting the Cases table (which is internally incident in Dataverse) and using a FetchXML query to match records where cri_productregistrationid equals the current record being modified. This step is critical because it gives us the list of Case records we need to update, based on the link with the modified product registration. <fetch> <entity name=”incident”>     <attribute name=”incidentid” />     <attribute name=”title” />     <attribute name=”cf_actualpurchasedfrom” />     <filter>       <condition attribute=”cri_productregistrationid” operator=”eq” value=”@{triggerOutputs()?[‘body/cri_productregistrationid’]}” />     </filter>  </entity></fetch> 5. Before updating anything, we add a Condition control to ensure that our previously fetched Purchased From record exists and is unique. Why? Because if there’s no match (or multiple matches), we don’t want to update the Cases blindly. We check if this length equals 1. If true → move forward with updates.If false → stop or handle the exception accordingly. To conclude, this kind of validation builds guardrails into your automation, making it more robust and preventing incorrect data from being applied across multiple records. After confirming a valid match, the flow loops through each related Case and updates the “Actual Purchased From” field with the correct value from the matched record, ensuring accurate linkage based on the latest update. Once this step runs, your staging automation is complete—with Cases now intelligently updated in real-time based on Product Registration changes. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Refreshing large datasets in Power BI can become time-consuming and resource-intensive as data volume grows. If your reports are based on millions of rows of historical data, refreshing everything daily is neither efficient nor necessary. This is where Incremental Refresh comes in. It allows Power BI to only refresh new or changed data, drastically improving performance and reducing load on your data source. In this blog, you’ll learn how to set up incremental refresh step-by-step—so your Power BI reports stay fast and efficient even with big data. What Is Incremental Refresh in Power BI? Incremental Refresh enables Power BI to load data in partitions, refreshing only the latest ones (e.g., the past 7 days) while keeping the older data static. Why use it? Step 1: Define Parameters in Power Query ·  Open your report in Power BI Desktop (Pro or Premium workspace) ·  Go to Transform Data (Power Query Editor) ·  Create two parameters: ·  Set default values (e.g., RangeStart = 01/01/2020, RangeEnd = 01/01/2021) Step 2: Filter Your Data with These Parameters This tells Power BI what time range to load and eventually refresh incrementally. Step 3: Enable Incremental Refresh in Data Model 📝 Example: This configuration refreshes only the recent week of data each time, while keeping the rest intact. Step 4: Publish to Power BI Service ✅ Done! You’ve now implemented incremental refresh. Best Practices To conclude, Incremental Refresh is a game-changer when it comes to handling large datasets in Power BI. It not only saves refresh time but also optimizes resource usage. By learning how to configure it properly, you can scale your reports with confidence and efficiency Got a large dataset slowing down your Power BI refresh? Implement Incremental Refresh today and see the difference. Explore more Power BI performance tips in our blog series—or reach out for help setting up enterprise-grade models. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com

Generating SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) reports from within Power Pages becomes more complex in environments secured by Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Traditional approaches that work in basic environments tend to fail silently or inconsistently when MFA, session tokens, or cookie-based auth are involved. In this blog, I’ll share a real-world solution where a Project-based SSRS report was generated securely, sent via email, and optionally downloaded — all within the constraints of a Power Pages + Power Automate architecture in a Dynamics 365 MFA-protected environment. Step 1: Pre-Outline Brief Pain Points Solved: Step 2: Core Content Scenario Overview Problem Statement Standard HTTP-based retrieval of SSRS reports using the Reserved.ReportViewerWebControl.axd endpoint fails in MFA-protected environments due to missing browser session cookies. This often results in 302 redirects or HTML-based error messages that cannot be processed by Power Automate. Initial Approach and Issue A flow was constructed to: The Project ID is captured from Power Pages and passed to a Power Automate flow using an HTTP trigger, which is initiated when a user clicks a button on the portal—triggered via embedded JavaScript. Build the SSRS report URL dynamically. Compose -> PDF Download Start – Index -> Compose -> PDF Download String Length -> Compose -> PDF Download URL -> (Replaced the PrintOnOpen=true parameter with PrintOnOpen=false in the report export URL to prevent the print dialog from automatically appearing when the PDF is opened) Perform an HTTP GET request to download the report. This failed consistently on the first try due to the report session page not being fully ready or authenticated, especially in an MFA environment. Working Solution: Retry with Delay in Power Automate To overcome the session-based delay, we implemented a retry pattern inside Power Automate: Outcome: The flow fails the first time (as expected), but succeeds on the second or third retry as the session becomes valid and the SSRS report is available. Power Automate Configuration Highlights: Added a Scope block after the first HTTP request and set the Configure run after to Skipped and Failed If needed, you can add the third delay if the second one fails. Benefits of This Approach: To conclude, sometimes, achieving reliability in secure environments isn’t about complex code—it’s about using the right orchestration patterns. By strategically delaying and retrying the HTTP request to SSRS within Power Automate, we achieved consistent, secure report generation that works even under MFA constraints. 🔗 Need help implementing this retry-based flow in your environment?Reach out to CloudFronts—we help businesses implement scalable, reliable solutions every day. You can contact us directly at transform@cloudfronts.com.

When building a Power Pages site to fetch SharePoint files, I initially relied on the official Power Pages flow trigger—“When Power Pages calls a flow.” However, the flow didn’t trigger reliably when initiated from the site. Despite proper configurations, the trigger wouldn’t execute consistently, leading to broken file fetch operations. To overcome this, I replaced the unreliable trigger with a Power Automate flow using an HTTP request trigger. This method allowed me to invoke the flow through a JavaScript function executed on page load, passing the required record ID dynamically. The HTTP approach not only worked reliably but also gave me more control over the request and response. This blog post outlines that workaround, from setting up the HTTP-triggered flow to integrating it seamlessly with Power Pages. Background and the Problem Power Pages provides a native trigger to call Power Automate flows. While ideal in theory, this approach often fails in practice due to: After spending time investigating these issues without consistent results, I decided to switch to a more controlled and universally reliable method using a HTTP trigger. My Workaround – HTTP Trigger Flow Power Automate Flow Setup: Trigger:Start with the “When an HTTP request is received” trigger. Define the request schema to accept a recordId— in this case, an orderId. Compose (Request Variables):Add a Compose action to extract the incoming ID. List Rows – Document Locations:Use Dataverse → List rows to retrieve the SharePoint Document Location related to the Order (based on the passed orderId). This assumes your files are stored in folders linked to Dataverse records. Condition – Check If Folder Exists:Use a Condition to check if any document location was found: If record exists → proceed, If no records found → terminate the flow (folder doesn’t exist). Compose – Relative URL: Compose – Folder Path:Combine the folder path: Get Files (SharePoint):Use the SharePoint Get files (properties only) action with the dynamic path set to the DocumentPath variable. Return Response:Format the SharePoint file metadata (Name, Link, Type) and send it back using the Response action. JavaScript (Executed on Page Load) Why This Works: Pros: Cons: To conclude, if you’ve faced reliability issues with native Power Pages flow triggers, the HTTP request method can be a game-changer. It enabled me to deliver a seamless experience for retrieving SharePoint files, and it can do the same for your project. In future iterations, I plan to enhance this by adding bearer token authentication and caching metadata for even faster performance. Want to integrate Power Automate flows reliably with Power Pages? Reach out to CloudFronts—we help businesses implement scalable, reliable Power Platform solutions every day. You can contact us directly at transform@cloudfronts.com.

In today’s competitive landscape, the ability to prepare quickly and deliver relevant, high-impact sales conversations is more critical than ever. Sales teams often spend valuable time gathering case studies, reviewing past opportunities, and preparing client-specific messaging — time that could be better spent engaging prospects.  To address this, we developed “Smart Pitch” — a Microsoft Teams-integrated AI Copilot designed to equip our sales professionals with instant, contextual access to case studies, opportunity data, and procedural documentation.  Challenge  Sales professionals routinely face challenges such as:  These hurdles not only slow down the sales cycle but also affect the consistency and quality of conversations with prospects.  How It Works  Platform  Data Sources  CloudFronts SmartPitch pulls information from the following knowledge sources:  AI Integration  Key Features  MQL – SQL Summary Generator  Users can request MQL – SQL document which contains   The copilot prompts the user to provide the prospect name, contact person name, and client requirement. This is achieved via an adaptive card for better UX.  HTTP Request to Logic App  At Logic App we used ChatGPT API to fetch company and client information  Extract the company location from the company information, and similarly, extract the industry as well.  Render it to custom copilot via request to the Logic App.   Use Generative answers node to display the results as required with proper formatting via prompt/Agent Instructions.  Generative AI can also be instructed to directly create a formatted json based on parsed values.     This formatted JSON can be passed to converted to an actual JSON and is used to populate a liquid template for the MQL-SQL file to dynamically create MQL-SQL for every searched company and contact person.   This returns an HTML File with dynamically populated company and contact details as well as similar case studies, and work with client in similar region and industry.   This triggers an auto download of the MQL-SQL created as a PDF file on your system.    Content Search  Users can ask questions related to –  1. Case Study FAQ: Helps users ask questions about client success stories and project case studies, retrieves relevant information from a knowledge source, and offers follow-up FAQs before ending the conversation. Cloudfronts official website is used for fetching Case Studies information.  2. Opportunities: Helps users inquire about past projects or opportunities, detailing client names, roles, estimated revenue and outcomes.  3. SOPs: Provides quick answers and summaries for frequently asked questions related to organizational processes and SOPs.  Users can ask questions like   “Smart Pitch” searches SharePoint documents, public case studies, and the opportunity table to return relevant results — structured and easy to consume.  Security & Governance  Integrated in Microsoft Teams, so the same authentication as Teams. Access to Dataverse and SharePoint is read-only and scoped to organizational permissions.  To conclude, Smart Pitch reflects our commitment to leveraging AI to drive business outcomes. By combining Microsoft’s AI ecosystem with our internal data strategy, we’ve created a practical and impactful sales assistant that improves productivity, accelerates deal cycles, and enhances client engagement. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com 

Modern applications demand seamless, real-time data access. Microsoft Dataverse—the data backbone of the Power Platform—makes it easier to build and scale low-code apps, but often your enterprise data resides in legacy databases.  Connecting a database to Dataverse enables automation, reporting, and app-building capabilities using the Power Platform’s ecosystem. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to connect a traditional SQL database (Azure SQL or On-Premises) to Microsoft Dataverse.  What is Dataverse?  Dataverse is Microsoft’s cloud-based data platform, designed to securely store and manage data used by business applications. It’s highly integrated with Power Apps, Power Automate, and Dynamics 365.  Key Features:  Why Connect Your Database to Dataverse?  Step-by-Step Guide: Connecting a Database to Dataverse  Step 1: Open the Power Apps and select the proper Environment  Step 2: Open Dataflow in Power Apps and create a new Dataflow  Step 3: Connect to the Database using SQL Server Database.  Step 4: Add the required credentials to make the connection between the database and Dataverse.  Step 5: Add proper mapping of the column and find the unique ID of the table   Step 6: Set the schedule refresh and publish the Dataflow.  Step 7: Once Dataflow is published, we can see the table in the Power apps  To conclude, connecting your database to Dataverse amplifies the power of your data, enabling app development, automation, and reporting within a unified ecosystem. Whether you need real-time access or periodic data sync, Microsoft offers flexible and secure methods to integrate databases with Dataverse.  Start exploring virtual tables or dataflows today to bridge the gap between your existing databases and the Power Platform. Want to learn more? Check out our related guides on Dataverse best practices and virtual table optimization. We hope you found this blog useful. If you would like to discuss anything further, please reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.