Step by step procedure to create an environment for Power Automate

In this article, you will be provided with step-by-step instructions on how to create environments for Power Automate, along with guidance on managing environment creation through the admin center.    

Environments

Environment / Power Platform environment is a dedicated space that allows organizations to store, manage, and share their business data, apps, chatbots, and flows. It serves as a container to separate apps with different roles, security requirements, or target audiences.

For example, at the enterprise-level application development, it is essential to follow a robust application lifecycle management process. This involves starting the development in the development environment, moving everything to the staging environment for testing and quality assurance, and finally moving everything to the production environment.

Overall, the use of Power Platform environments provides organizations with a flexible and customizable approach to building and managing their apps. It allows them to tailor their approach to their specific needs and requirements, providing greater control and flexibility over their apps and data.

Advantages of using environments

There are several advantages of using environments in Power Automate, including:

1. Better organization and management: Power Automate environments allow organizations to separate and manage their apps, flows, and data in a more organized and efficient way. This can help to improve productivity and reduce errors or confusion.
2. Improved security: By separating apps and data into different environments, organizations can implement more granular security controls and reduce the risk of data breaches or other security incidents.
3. Simplified testing and deployment: Power Automate environments make it easier to test and deploy apps and flows across different environments, such as development, staging, and production. This can help to streamline the development process and reduce errors or downtime.
4. Customization and flexibility: Environments in Power Automate can be customized and tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization, such as by creating environments for specific teams or departments. This can help to improve collaboration and streamline workflows.
5. Integration with other Power Platform tools: Power Automate environments are closely integrated with other Power Platform tools, such as Power Apps and Power BI. This allows organizations to build more complex and sophisticated solutions that leverage the capabilities of multiple tools within the platform.

Steps to create a new environment

1. If you are already logged in with the admin access in power automate platform, then click on the Settings button as shown in the image bellow and Select “Admin Center”. Or you can Sign in to the Power Platform admin center at as an admin.
2. If you’re logged in to Power Automate with admin access, you can access the Power Platform admin center by clicking on the Settings button (shown in the image below) and selecting “Admin Center”. Alternatively, you can sign in directly to the Power Platform admin center at https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com as an admin.

   

3. Now the Admin center will be open to you as shown in the figure2. In the left navigation bar, there are couple of feature option, from which select the “Environments”.
   

   

4. After selecting the “Environments” option, environments window will be open where all the environments of this tenant will be shown with other important information.
5. We can edit or delete any existing environment from here.
6. To create a new environment, click the “New” button from the left upper corner as shown in the figure 3.
   

   

7. A modal for new environment will be open as shown in the figure 4. Here we can create the new environment with providing the necessary information.
8. Provide the name of the environment in the position 1 and can select the required region from the given list in position 2. This region should be selected based on the data access localization which will make it quicker for the user to access data.
   

   

9. Select a type of environment as per your requirement from position 3. Basically there are 4 types of environment which you can create and default environment which would be given to all the users who have access in power automate. Here are the types of environments given bellow-
   1. Default Environment
   2. Develop Environment
   3. Production Environment
   4. Sandbox Environment
   5. Trial Environment
10. In position 4, the field purpose is not a mandatory one, but it will help to describe the environment’s purpose.
11. If you want to create a database for your environment, you have to toggle the button to “Yes” in position 5. The database can be created later if we have a environment without database. An environment with a database is only necessary if you intend to use the Dataverse database, which allows you to create canvas apps and model-driven apps. Additionally, the Dataverse provides the foundation for portal apps, and enables you to add Dynamic 365 apps. It is important to note that if you do not select the “Enable Dynamics 365 apps” option during the database provisioning process, you will not be able to make this change at a later time. Conversely, in an environment without a database, you cannot build model-driven or portal apps. However, it is possible to add a database instance to an environment without a database.
    

    

12. As selecting Yes, for database creation, the window “Add Database” as shown in figure 5 will be opened.
    1. In this window, you need to select the default language for user interface for this environment from position 1.
    2. In position 2, you can provide a unique domain name for all the applications’ URL of this new environment.
    3. Select a preferable currency in position 3 which will be used to shown in the report of the cost.
    4. In position 4, there is the option to select Yes/No to enabling the feature of Dynamics 365 apps. If you select position 4 on, then option at position 5 won’t be available to select.
    5. In position 6, select the security group who can access the environment.
13. In position 6, you can select the option “Yes” or “No” for Pay as you go with Azure.
14. After inputting all the required values, click save button in position 7. Your environment will be prepared in a few seconds by clicking on the Save button.

Conclusion

There are different environment types that you can create from the admin center and default environment or what we can call personal environment will be specified with every user. By default, the environment creation is for everyone unless the admin restricts the environment creation for only specific admins. To create environments with various features, users must possess a valid license. However, this requirement is waived for Global admins and Power Platform admins, except for trial (standard) environments.

This article is also posted in C# Corner.