Build a Leave Request Process in 4 Steps with Forms, Power Automate, and Power BI

Providing employee self-service is a difficult to achieve goal for many organizations. It is still common to see downloadable PDF forms for many business processes. While there are many approaches and technologies available, Microsoft Forms is one of the simplest to implement, where it fulfills the business requirements.

In this session we will go over the full solution end to end:

  • Simple leave request form implemented in Microsoft Forms that staff can fill out with a few simple fields
  • On submission the form triggers a Power Automate Flow
  • This uses the Azure AD Manager property to send the request to the manager for approval
  • The manager can approve or reject, either through the Teams approval app or through email
  • Submissions and approvals are tracked in a SharePoint list, and approved items can be shared in a general vacation calendar
  • Power BI dashboard provides visibility to pending and approved requests and remaining and accrued allocations
  • Row level security on the Power BI dashboard allows staff to see their own requests and allocation, and managers to see their entire team

There's obviously a lot to cover in the above. This session can either be delivered as a 45 minute to 1:15 breakout session in lecture style, or as a much deeper three-hour workshop format with opportunity for hands-on exercises and tools.