Stop Approving Vendors Over Email: A Power Automate Flow That Does the Paperwork
TL;DR
- A single Power Automate flow can take a vendor request from a Microsoft Form through multi-stage Teams approval into a SharePoint-hosted inventory, then notify procurement and open an IT ticket.
- The build needs a defined approval process first: map who signs off, CFO, procurement, or legal, before touching the flow designer.
- Run all automation from a dedicated service account, such as automations@domain.com, with access to the shared mailboxes that send notifications.
- Sequential approvals return a combined outcome, so the approval condition checks for 'approved, approved' rather than a single approved value.
- Denied requests still get logged: write a denial row to the inventory so the audit trail covers every request, not just the wins.
A department head finds a tool, swipes a card, and IT learns about the new vendor at renewal time, or worse, during an incident. The fix is not another policy memo. It is making the approved path easier than the shadow path: a form that takes two minutes, approvals that land in Teams where the approvers already live, and the bookkeeping done by a flow instead of a person.
This post walks through that build end to end in Power Automate: users submit vendor onboarding requests, the requests route through approval in Microsoft Teams, and approved software gets added to a central inventory while procurement gets notified and a ticket opens with IT. It is the automation layer for the approved software inventory we built previously.
What does the finished flow do?
Four stages, no manual handoffs:
- A Microsoft Form collects vendor details.
- Requests route to multiple approvers via Teams.
- Upon approval, the software is logged in a SharePoint-based software inventory.
- Procurement is notified, and a support ticket is created automatically.
The payoff:
- Automated central inventory tracking
- Streamlined approvals in Teams
- Notification to IT or your MSP of new application onboarding
- Notification to procurement of new application onboarding
What do you need before opening the flow designer?
- A defined onboarding process. Map out the approval chain before automating it: who approves what? CFO? Procurement? Legal? Sketch it on a whiteboard first.
- A dedicated service account for the automation, named something like automations@domain.com.
- A Microsoft Form. Head to forms.microsoft.com (opens in new tab) and create a form with fields for vendor name, website, estimated cost, department owner, and IT requirements.
See the full form template (opens in new tab)
- A software inventory. This build uses an Excel file hosted on SharePoint with predefined columns matching the form responses.
Get the inventory template (opens in new tab)
- Shared mailboxes. Notification emails should come from a shared address like support@yourdomain.com, and the automation service account needs access to it.
Building the flow, trigger to ticket
A prebuilt version of this entire flow is available as a free importable template: vendor onboarding automation template (opens in new tab). Import it at make.powerautomate.com under My Flows > Import > Import ZIP, or build it from scratch by starting an automated cloud flow with the trigger When a new response is submitted (Microsoft Forms).
Capture the form response
- Select your form (Vendor Onboarding Request).
- Add the action Get response details.
Route the approvals
- Add Start and wait for an approval, using the Sequential approval type.
- Populate the title dynamically with the vendor name.
- Assign approvers (CFO, legal, security, and so on). These can be hardcoded or dynamic.
- Customize the message content for each approver if needed.
Branch on the outcome
- Add a Condition checking whether the outcome equals "approved, approved", which is how multi-stage approvals report.
- If approved:
- Add a row to the Excel software inventory with the form responses, approval details, and timestamps.
- Use Power Automate expressions, or Copilot, to format the dates.
- If denied:
- Add a row marking the request as denied, so the audit trail stays complete.
Send the notifications
- Confirmation email to the requester.
- Procurement notification with the relevant request details.
- Support ticket, opened by sending an email to your IT support address.
Three habits that keep the flow clean
- Gate access to the form so only managers or directors can submit.
- Embed the form on your SharePoint site for easy access.
- Use shared mailboxes and service accounts for all automation, never personal accounts.
Once this runs, the inventory updates itself, procurement stops being surprised, and the approved path is genuinely faster than the credit-card path. That is what makes governance stick.
Frequently asked questions
Why use a service account instead of a personal account for the flow?
Flows owned by a personal account break the day that person leaves or changes roles. A dedicated account like automations@domain.com keeps ownership stable, and granting it access to shared mailboxes means notifications come from addresses like support@yourdomain.com instead of an individual.
Can the approvers change per request?
Yes. Approvers in the Start and wait for an approval action can be hardcoded for a fixed chain like CFO, legal, and security, or assigned dynamically from form responses, and the message content can be customized per approver.
How do you keep random employees from submitting vendor requests?
Gate access to the form so only managers or directors can submit, and embed it on your SharePoint intranet so the people who should use it can find it.
The same idea, applied to security assessments
If automating intake feels good, automating the security review feels better. CloudCapsule runs a Microsoft 365 assessment in under 90 seconds and maps the findings to frameworks like the CIS Controls.
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Written by
Nick Ross
CEO · Microsoft MVP · Founder, T-Minus 365
Nick is not just a CEO, he's a respected thought leader and influencer in the MSP space. Tens of thousands of MSPs learn through his YouTube channel, T-Minus365. Nick has been honored as a three-time Microsoft MVP for his educational content; his expertise and influence are the backbone of our mission, ensuring that you are in the best hands when it comes to security.
Nick joined Pax8 in 2017, where he would ultimately oversee product management for PSA and Microsoft integrations. Following his tenure at Pax8, Nick has continued to demonstrate his leadership prowess as an executive at various MSPs, culminating in his most recent role at Sourcepass.
Nick holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Florida State University, as well as a Minor Degree in Entrepreneurship. In his free time, Nick is an avid hiker, reader, and fitness-junkie.
