Cut Approval Delays by Automating Requests with Microsoft Forms and Power Automate

Table of Contents

😫 A simple purchase or leave request gets buried in emails, approvals take days, and no one knows who is holding things up.

🗂️ Category: IT Application Examples Leading to Business Improvement (Real‑world Use Case)

⭐ Difficulty: ★★★★☆

📝 Content

Many business delays are caused not by complex systems—but by manual approval workflows.

By combining Microsoft Forms and Power Automate, you can turn email-based approvals into a trackable, automated process with reminders, visibility, and audit history.

This approach requires no custom development and works seamlessly inside Microsoft 365.

✅ Benefits

• Reduces approval turnaround time by 40–70%
• Eliminates lost or forgotten email requests
• Provides clear visibility into approval status
• Creates an automatic audit trail for compliance

🛠️ Procedure

1. Create a Microsoft Form to capture the request

• Example fields: Request type, justification, cost, requester

2. In Power Automate, create a flow:

• Trigger: When a new Form response is submitted
• Action: Start and wait for an approval

3. Configure approval logic

• Assign approvers dynamically (manager, finance, IT)
• Set escalation or reminder rules if no response

4. Send automatic outcomes

• Approved → notify requester + log to SharePoint
• Rejected → send reason and next steps

📎 Notes

For advanced scenarios, store all requests in a SharePoint list for reporting and Power BI dashboards.

Use adaptive cards in Teams so managers can approve directly without opening emails.

This pattern works well for leave requests, access approvals, purchases, and change requests.

💡 Business Impact Example: One operations team replaced email approvals with this setup and reduced average approval time from 3 days to under 6 hours, while gaining full visibility for management.

👉 Key takeaway: Automation isn’t about complexity—it’s about removing friction from everyday business decisions.