Integrating Power Automate approvals with Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams has become the collaboration hub for countless organizations. Integrating Power Automate approvals directly into Teams streamlines your Tallyfy-related approval processes and cuts down on the constant app-switching that slows everyone down. Decision-making speeds up too.
Tallyfy already has excellent built-in approval features, but if your team lives in Teams all day, this integration makes sense.
Why integrate Power Automate approvals with Teams for Tallyfy?
Here’s what you gain when you bring Power Automate approvals into Teams for Tallyfy-related decisions:
Centralized notifications in Teams: Approvers get notified and respond to requests without leaving Teams. Everything stays in one place.
Reduced context switching: If you’re already working in Teams, you don’t have to constantly check email for Tallyfy-related approvals through Power Automate.
Faster responses: When approvals pop up right in Teams, people respond in minutes instead of hours. Your Tallyfy processes and tasks keep moving.
Enhanced visibility: Want the whole team to see approval requests for Tallyfy items? Post them to a Teams channel.
Microsoft Teams with Power Automate app: Users involved in the approval process for Tallyfy items should have Microsoft Teams and the Power Automate app (sometimes referred to as the “Flow bot”, see understanding Power Automate basics) installed.
Posting approval requests to Teams for Tallyfy items
You’ll use Microsoft Teams connector actions in Power Automate to send approval requests straight to users or channels. Adaptive Cards are your best bet here.
Adaptive Cards: Think of these as interactive widgets that appear in Teams. For Tallyfy approvals, an Adaptive Card displays the important details and gives you “Approve” and “Reject” buttons right there - no extra clicks needed.
Post a choice of options as the Flow bot to a user (works for simpler scenarios)
Flow modification example (building on a Tallyfy budget approval scenario):
Let’s walk through a real example. You’ve got a Power Automate flow using “Start and wait for an approval” for a Tallyfy-triggered budget request (covered in the building approval workflows article). Want to add Teams integration? Here’s how:
Locate your existing approval action.
Find the “Start and wait for an approval” action in your flow that handles the Tallyfy item.
Add the Teams action after creating the approval.
Immediately after the “Start and wait for an approval” action, add a new step.
Search for Microsoft Teams and select the action Post adaptive card in a chat or channel.
Configure the “Post adaptive card” action:
Post as: Select Flow bot.
Post in:
Choose Chat with Flow bot to send the approval card as a direct message to the approver.
Alternatively, choose Channel to post it to a specific Teams channel (useful for group visibility or if multiple people can approve from a channel).
Recipient (if Chat with Flow bot): Use dynamic content to select the approver’s email address (e.g., the Mail output from a “Get manager (V2)” step or the Assigned to email from your approval setup).
Team and Channel (if Channel): Select the appropriate Team and Channel.
Adaptive Card: This is key for displaying Tallyfy approval information.
The “Start and wait for an approval” action provides the Adaptive Card JSON as an output. In the dynamic content pane, search for Teams Adaptive Card (from your “Start and wait for an approval” action for the Tallyfy item) and select it.
This populates the field with JSON to render the approval card for the Tallyfy item in Teams.
Save your flow.
That’s it. When your flow runs, the approver gets an Adaptive Card right in Teams. They can approve or reject the Tallyfy item instantly - no app switching required.
Approval flow visualization
This diagram shows how an approval request flows through Tallyfy, Power Automate, and Microsoft Teams.
What to notice:
The flow pauses at step 5 while waiting for the approver’s response - this is the asynchronous “wait” that makes the integration powerful
The Adaptive Card posted to Teams (step 3) contains all the approval details and action buttons, eliminating the need to switch apps
The entire round-trip from Tallyfy trigger to final update happens without the approver leaving Microsoft Teams
Handling responses from Teams approvals for Tallyfy
Using “Start and wait for an approval”: This is the easy path. You use the Teams Adaptive Card output from a “Start and wait for an approval” action linked to your Tallyfy item, and Power Automate does the heavy lifting. The flow pauses and waits. User clicks a button in Teams? The response comes back automatically. Your flow continues, and you can grab the Outcome and Comments to update the Tallyfy task or process.
Custom Adaptive Cards with Action.Submit: Built a custom Adaptive Card for your Tallyfy approval? Things get trickier. You’ll need another flow or some clever logic to match the response back to the original Tallyfy item.
Honestly? For most Tallyfy scenarios, stick with the standard “Start and wait for an approval” action and its Teams Adaptive Card output. It just works.
Notifying users in Teams about Tallyfy events
Approvals are just the beginning. The Microsoft Teams connector can handle all sorts of Tallyfy notifications:
Tallyfy task overdue: Set up a flow that triggers when a Tallyfy task passes its deadline (you’ll need a scheduled flow checking task statuses through Tallyfy’s API or a webhook if there’s one for due dates). Post to a Teams channel and tag whoever dropped the ball.
Tallyfy process completion: Did someone just finish the “New Client Onboarding” process? Have the Tallyfy connector trigger a celebration message in your project channel.
New Tallyfy task assignment: High-priority task just landed? Send the assignee a Teams DM with all the Tallyfy task details and a direct link. They can’t miss it.
Best practices for Teams and Tallyfy integration
Clarity in cards: Your Adaptive Cards for Tallyfy approvals need to be crystal clear. Strip out the fluff - just the essentials. Always include links back to the Tallyfy task or process for context.
Flow bot adoption: Make sure everyone who needs Tallyfy approvals or notifications in Teams actually has the Power Automate app installed. (Check this before you go live!)
Thorough testing: Run through the entire Tallyfy-to-Teams flow before unleashing it on your team. Trust me on this one.
Targeted notifications: Individual Tallyfy approvals? Send DMs. Team-wide updates about Tallyfy processes? Post to channels. Match the message to the audience.
Complement, don’t overwhelm: Here’s the thing - Tallyfy already has solid notifications. Only add Teams notifications where they genuinely speed things up. Nobody wants duplicate alerts for every single Tallyfy process update.
This guide explains how to use Power Automate’s approval features to handle formal sign-offs that extend beyond Tallyfy’s built-in task assignments by creating automated workflows that request approvals and update Tallyfy processes based on the outcomes.
Microsoft Power Automate serves as an integration bridge that connects Tallyfy’s human-centric process management platform with Microsoft ecosystem applications and other business systems to automate data flows and system-to-system tasks while Tallyfy handles workflow management and process tracking.
Microsoft Power Automate enables workflow automation by connecting Tallyfy with various business applications through triggers and actions while Tallyfy manages human-centric processes and Power Automate handles system integrations and repetitive micro-tasks.
