Configure filter conditions and concurrency in cloud flows

Filter conditions allow you to specify criteria that determine whether an action or step should be executed within a flow. By applying these conditions, you can create more targeted and selective automation processes. Let’s take a look at an example:

1. Create a new flow and add a SharePoint trigger.
2. Select your SharePoint site and list, and choose “When an item is created or modified” as the trigger.
3. To set up the filter condition, choose “Add an action” within the trigger step.
4. Search for and select the “Condition” action.
5. In the condition, specify the condition expression such as @{triggerBody()?['OrderTotal']} is greater than 1000.

By configuring this filter condition, the flow will only be triggered when an item is created or modified if the order total exceeds $1000. You can customize filter conditions based on various properties such as text, numbers, dates, or even complex expressions using logical operators.

Manage Concurrency:

Concurrency management allows you to control the execution and parallelism of actions within a flow. It enables you to control how many instances of a flow can be executed concurrently and how overlapping instances are handled. This is particularly useful when dealing with resources that could be overwhelmed or external systems with limited capacity.

Let’s consider an example where you have a flow that involves making API calls to an external service. To ensure that you don’t exceed the rate limits of the service, you can manage concurrency by limiting the number of parallel executions.

1. Within your flow, add an action that makes an API call to the external service.
2. To manage the concurrency, add a “Control” action before the API call action.
3. Inside the “Control” action, select “Concurrency Control”.
4. Specify the maximum number of concurrent executions desired, e.g., 5.

By limiting the concurrency to 5 in this example, you ensure that only five instances of the flow can be executing the API call at any given time. If additional instances are triggered concurrently, they will be queued and executed once the previous instances have completed.

It is important to note that managing concurrency might introduce delays in the overall execution of your flow, especially during peak periods. Factors such as the number of instances waiting in the queue and the duration of each execution can impact the overall performance.

Conclusion:

Configuring filter conditions and managing concurrency are powerful techniques to optimize your cloud flows built with Microsoft Power Automate. By utilizing filter conditions, you can selectively trigger actions based on specific criteria, making your automation processes more targeted. Concurrently, managing concurrency ensures efficient execution by controlling the number of parallel instances, reducing the strain on resources and external services.

These features provide greater control and flexibility, allowing you to build robust and scalable automation solutions. Experiment with filter conditions and concurrency management in your cloud flows to create workflows that meet your specific requirements.