SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans

I am a Project Server and SharePoint consultant but my main focus currently is around Project Server. I have been working with Project Server for nearly five years since 2007 for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in the UK, I have also been awared with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011. I am also a certified Prince2 Practitioner. This article has been cross posted from pwmather.wordpress.com (original article)

At the end of April Microsoft’s Flow was made available as preview. Microsoft Flow is an If This Then That (IFTTT) service with many built in web hooks or connections to different services. You can connect to services like SharePoint Online, CRM or Twitter to name a few. A blog post from Microsoft can be found here.

In this post we will see an example of using Microsoft’s Flow service with Project Online – Microsoft’s Office 365 PPM application. When a project is created we will post a message in Yammer. Once signed in, click on My Flows from the top navigation bar:

From here you can view preconfigured templates or create from blank. Currently there aren’t any templates for Project Online so click create from blank. On this page you will see all of the services you can work with currently in the preview version:

Either start typing Project or scroll down the list to Project:

For this example I will choose “Project Online – When a new project is created”. You then need to sign into the Project Online PWA site:

Enter your credentials for the target Office 365 tenant when requested. Then enter the URL of the PWA site:

Now click the + button to either add an action or add a condition:

For this example we will just add an action without any conditions. You can add conditions in if needed though like below, if the project name contains “delivery” do something:

Also notice the advance mode where you can type the query condition:

For this demo we don’t need any conditions so I will remove that and just add an action and search Yammer:

Then select “Yammer – Post message” and click the sign in link then follow the steps to allow the access:

It’s your call to allow the access or not for services for this demo I have but only do this if you accept the terms of service. Then you can complete the details for the Yammer post:

This is what I have done:

Then give the Flow a name:

Click Create Flow and after a few seconds you will see the message stating this was created:

Click Done and the wizard is complete:

You can edit / delete the Flow from the My Flows page:

Now if I create a Project in that Project Online instance a new post will be created in the Yammer group. There maybe a minute or so delay before you see the post in the Yammer group once you create the project but here it is:

The project – “Paul Mathers test project”:

In Yammer, the post including the project name:

Notice the post if from Microsoft PowerApps.

You can check the Flow runs from the My Flow pages, click the i button at the end:

You will then see the following:

This is just a simple example – there is so much you can do even in the preview version of Flow – I’m sure more and more web hooks and functionality will be added before this is GA. Take a look today, it is very easy to use as you can see.