power-automate-governance

Power Automate Governance with FlowStudio MCP

Classify, tag, and govern Power Automate flows at scale through the FlowStudio MCP cached store — without Dataverse, without the CoE Starter Kit, and without the Power Automate portal.

This skill uses the same store_* tool family as power-automate-monitoring, but with a different intent: governance writes metadata (update_store_flow) and reads for audit and classification outcomes. Monitoring reads the same tools for operational health outcomes. Don't try to memorize which skill "owns" which tool — pick by what the user is doing. For health checks and failure-rate dashboards, load power-automate-monitoring instead.

⚠️ Pro+ subscription required. This skill calls store_* tools that only work for FlowStudio for Teams or MCP Pro+ subscribers.

If the user does not have Pro+ access: the first store_* tool call will return a 403/404 error. When that happens:

1. STOP calling store tools
2. Tell the user governance features require a Pro+ subscription
3. Link them to https://mcp.flowstudio.app/pricing

Discovery: load tool schemas via the meta-tools rather than tools/list — call tool_search with query: "skill:governance" for the canonical bundle, or query: "select:update_store_flow" for a single tool. This skill covers workflow patterns and field semantics — things tool_search cannot tell you. If this document disagrees with a real API response, the API wins.

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Critical: How to Extract Flow IDs

list_store_flows returns id in format <environmentId>.<flowId>. You must split on the first . to get environmentName and flowName for all other tools:

id = "Default-<envGuid>.<flowGuid>"
environmentName = "Default-<envGuid>"    (everything before first ".")
flowName = "<flowGuid>"                  (everything after first ".")

Also: skip entries that have no displayName or have state=Deleted — these are sparse records or flows that no longer exist in Power Automate. If a deleted flow has monitor=true, suggest disabling monitoring (update_store_flow with monitor=false) to free up a monitoring slot (standard plan includes 20).

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The Write Tool: update_store_flow

update_store_flow writes governance metadata to the Flow Studio cache only — it does NOT modify the flow in Power Automate. These fields are not visible via get_live_flow or the PA portal. They exist only in the Flow Studio store and are used by Flow Studio's scanning pipeline and notification rules.

This means:

• ownerTeam / supportEmail — sets who Flow Studio considers the governance contact. Does NOT change the actual PA flow owner.
• rule_notify_email — sets who receives Flow Studio failure/missing-run notifications. Does NOT change Microsoft's built-in flow failure alerts.
• monitor / critical / businessImpact — Flow Studio classification only. Power Automate has no equivalent fields.

Merge semantics — only fields you provide are updated. Returns the full updated record (same shape as get_store_flow).

Required parameters: environmentName, flowName. All other fields optional.

Settable Fields

Field	Type	Purpose
monitor	bool	Enable run-level scanning (standard plan: 20 flows included)
rule_notify_onfail	bool	Send email notification on any failed run
rule_notify_onmissingdays	number	Send notification when flow hasn't run in N days (0 = disabled)
rule_notify_email	string	Comma-separated notification recipients
description	string	What the flow does
tags	string	Classification tags (also auto-extracted from description #hashtags)
businessImpact	string	Low / Medium / High / Critical
businessJustification	string	Why the flow exists, what process it automates
businessValue	string	Business value statement
ownerTeam	string	Accountable team
ownerBusinessUnit	string	Business unit
supportGroup	string	Support escalation group
supportEmail	string	Support contact email
critical	bool	Designate as business-critical
tier	string	Standard or Premium
security	string	Security classification or notes

Caution with security: The security field on get_store_flow contains structured JSON (e.g. {"triggerRequestAuthenticationType":"All"}). Writing a plain string like "reviewed" will overwrite this. To mark a flow as security-reviewed, use tags instead.

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Governance Workflows

1. Compliance Detail Review

Identify flows missing required governance metadata.

1. Ask the user which compliance fields they require
2. list_store_flows
3. For each active flow: split id, call get_store_flow, check required fields
4. Report non-compliant flows with missing fields listed
5. For updates: ask for values, then update_store_flow(...provided fields)

Common compliance fields: description, businessImpact, businessJustification, ownerTeam, supportEmail, monitor, rule_notify_onfail, critical. Ask for the user's policy before flagging.

2. Orphaned Resource Detection

Find flows owned by deleted or disabled Azure AD accounts.

1. list_store_makers
2. Filter where deleted=true AND ownerFlowCount > 0
3. list_store_flows → collect all flows
4. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow, parse owners JSON
5. Match owner principalId against orphaned maker id
6. Reassign governance contact or stop/tag for decommission

update_store_flow does not transfer actual PA ownership; use the admin center or PowerShell for that. Some orphaned-looking flows are system-generated; tag them instead of reassigning when appropriate. Store coverage is only as fresh as the latest scan.

3. Archive Score Calculation

Compute an inactivity score (0-7) per flow to identify cleanup candidates.

1. list_store_flows
2. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow
3. Add 1 point each: created≈modified, test/demo/temp/copy name, age >12mo,
   stopped/suspended, no owners, no recent runs, complexity.actions < 5
4. Score 5-7: recommend archive; 3-4: tag #archive-review; 0-2: active
5. For confirmed archive: set_live_flow_state(..., "Stopped") and append #archived

Archive via MCP means stop the flow and tag it. Deletion requires the portal or admin PowerShell.

4. Connector Audit

Audit which connectors are in use across monitored flows. Useful for DLP impact analysis and premium license planning.

1. list_store_flows(monitor=true)
2. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow, parse connections JSON
3. Group by apiName; flag Premium tier, HTTP connectors, custom connectors
4. Report inventory to user

Scope to monitored flows where possible; each get_store_flow call costs time. list_store_connections lists connection instances, not connector usage per flow. DLP policies are not exposed; ask the user for connector classifications.

5. Notification Rule Management

Configure monitoring and alerting for flows at scale.

Enable failure alerts on all critical flows:
1. list_store_flows(monitor=true)
2. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow
3. If critical=true and rule_notify_onfail is false, update_store_flow(...,
   rule_notify_onfail=true, rule_notify_email="[email protected]")

Enable missing-run detection for scheduled flows:
1. list_store_flows(monitor=true)
2. For active Recurrence flows: get_store_flow
3. If rule_notify_onmissingdays is 0/missing, update_store_flow(...,
   rule_notify_onmissingdays=2)

Check monitoring limits before bulk-enabling monitor=true. If no flows have critical=true, report that as a governance gap before configuring alerts.

6. Classification and Tagging

Bulk-classify flows by connector type, business function, or risk level.

Auto-tag by connector:
1. list_store_flows
2. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow, parse connections JSON
3. Map apiName values to tags (#sharepoint, #teams, #email, #custom-connector)
4. Read existing store tags, append new tags, update_store_flow(tags=...)

Store tags and description hashtags are separate systems. tags= overwrites store tags, so read/append/write. Avoid overriding computed tier unless asked.

7. Maker Offboarding

When an employee leaves, identify their flows and apps, and reassign Flow Studio governance contacts and notification recipients.

1. get_store_maker(makerKey="<departing-user-aad-oid>")
   → check ownerFlowCount, ownerAppCount, deleted status
2. list_store_flows → collect all flows
3. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow, parse owners JSON
4. Flag flows whose owner principalId matches the departing user's OID
5. list_store_power_apps → filter ownerId
6. For kept flows: update ownerTeam/supportEmail/rule_notify_email; consider
   add_live_flow_to_solution before account deletion
7. For retired flows: set_live_flow_state(..., "Stopped") and tag #decommissioned
8. Report: flows reassigned, flows migrated to solutions, flows stopped,
   apps needing manual reassignment

This changes Flow Studio governance contacts, not actual PA ownership. Power Apps ownership changes are manual/admin-center work.

8. Security Review

Review flows for potential security concerns using cached store data.

1. list_store_flows(monitor=true)
2. For each active flow: split id, get_store_flow
3. Parse security/connections/referencedResources JSON; read sharingType top-level
4. Report findings; for reviewed flows append #security-reviewed tag

Security signals: security.triggerRequestAuthenticationType, sharingType, connections, referencedResources, tier. Never overwrite the structured security field; tag reviewed flows instead.

9. Environment Governance

Audit environments for compliance and sprawl.

1. list_store_environments
   Skip entries without displayName (tenant-level metadata rows)
2. Flag:
   - Developer environments
   - Non-managed environments
   - Environments where service account lacks admin access (isAdmin=false)
3. list_store_flows → group by environmentName
4. list_store_connections → group by environmentName

10. Governance Dashboard

Generate a tenant-wide governance summary.

Efficient metrics (list calls only):
1. total_flows = len(list_store_flows())
2. monitored = len(list_store_flows(monitor=true))
3. with_onfail = len(list_store_flows(rule_notify_onfail=true))
4. makers/apps/envs/conns = list_store_makers/list_store_power_apps/list_store_environments/list_store_connections
5. Compute monitoring %, notification %, orphan count, high-failure count

Detailed metrics (require get_store_flow per flow — expensive for large tenants):
- Compliance %: flows with businessImpact set / total active flows
- Undocumented count: flows without description
- Tier breakdown: group by tier field

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Field Reference: get_store_flow Fields Used in Governance

All fields below are confirmed present on the get_store_flow response. Fields marked with * are also available on list_store_flows (cheaper).

Field	Type	Governance use
displayName *	string	Archive score (test/demo name detection)
state *	string	Archive score, lifecycle management
tier	string	License audit (Standard vs Premium)
monitor *	bool	Is this flow being actively monitored?
critical	bool	Business-critical designation (settable via update_store_flow)
businessImpact	string	Compliance classification
businessJustification	string	Compliance attestation
ownerTeam	string	Ownership accountability
supportEmail	string	Escalation contact
rule_notify_onfail	bool	Failure alerting configured?
rule_notify_onmissingdays	number	SLA monitoring configured?
rule_notify_email	string	Alert recipients
description	string	Documentation completeness
tags	string	Classification — list_store_flows shows description-extracted hashtags only; store tags written by update_store_flow require get_store_flow to read back
runPeriodTotal *	number	Activity level
runPeriodFailRate *	number	Health status
runLast	ISO string	Last run timestamp
scanned	ISO string	Data freshness
deleted	bool	Lifecycle tracking
createdTime *	ISO string	Archive score (age)
lastModifiedTime *	ISO string	Archive score (staleness)
owners	JSON string	Orphan detection, ownership audit — parse with json.loads()
connections	JSON string	Connector audit, tier — parse with json.loads()
complexity	JSON string	Archive score (simplicity) — parse with json.loads()
security	JSON string	Auth type audit — parse with json.loads(), contains triggerRequestAuthenticationType
sharingType	string	Oversharing detection (top-level, NOT inside security)
referencedResources	JSON string	URL audit — parse with json.loads()

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Related Skills

• power-automate-monitoring — Health checks, failure rates, inventory (read-only)
• power-automate-mcp — Foundation skill: connection setup, MCP helper, tool discovery
• power-automate-debug — Deep diagnosis with action-level inputs/outputs
• power-automate-build — Build and deploy flow definitions