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Power Automate · SharePoint Migration

Modernizing Legacy Workflows SharePoint Designer
→ Power Automate

30+ business-critical workflows migrated to Microsoft Power Automate with 100% functional parity — zero user disruption, full audit trail, and future-proof platform support for a leading commercial real estate company.

Leading Life Science Real Estate Company Commercial Real Estate
30+ Workflows Migrated
100% Functional Parity
0 User Disruptions
4 Apps Upgraded
The Challenge

Why This Migration Was Complex

Replacing a deprecated workflow engine across four enterprise business applications — without changing a single approval behavior, email, or routing rule — demanded extreme precision.

Deprecated Platform Risk

Microsoft deprecated SharePoint Designer workflows, leaving 30+ business-critical flows without a supported future path.

Complex Routing Logic

Regional branching across West, East, and Foreign entities with dynamic approver assignment from multiple SharePoint lists.

Strict Functional Parity

Zero tolerance for behavioral differences — every email, due date, reminder interval, and approval sequence had to match exactly.

Power Automate 29-Day Limit

PA tasks cannot remain open beyond 29 days — requiring a purpose-built expiration tracking and re-initiation system.

Workflow History Gap

Power Automate lacks SharePoint Designer's native history view — requiring a fully custom history UI for all four applications.

Mixed Approval Patterns

CAM Estimates required both sequential and parallel approval tracks with optional approvers that must be skipped automatically.

Before vs. After

What Changed — And What Didn't

Every workflow behavior, email, and approval sequence stayed exactly the same. Only the engine changed.

SharePoint Designer
Power Automate
Platform Support
Deprecated — no Microsoft support roadmap
Fully supported Power Automate cloud engine
Task Monitoring
Limited SPD history, no real-time visibility
Custom history UI with full audit trail per workflow
Maintainability
XML-based SPD definitions, hard to modify
Visual flow designer, easy configuration changes
Expiration Handling
No expiration management — stuck workflows
Automated reminders at 7, 3, and 1 day; auto-restart on expiry
Approver Routing
Hardcoded in SPD — risky to change
Driven by SharePoint lists — editable without redeployment
Compliance Audit
Manual reconstruction of approval history
Automated history logging, queryable per workflow run
Migration at a Glance

The Numbers Behind the Project

0
Workflows Migrated
Across BPA, Manual Billings, CAM Estimates & Reconciliations
0
Functional Parity
Every email, routing rule, and approval sequence exactly preserved
0
Expiry Limit Solved
Auto-restart system prevents any task from silently expiring
0
Applications Upgraded
BPA, Manual Billings, CAM Estimates, CAM Reconciliations
0
Audit Trail Coverage
Custom Workflow History UI logs every action and comment
0
Delivery Timeline
End-to-end: discovery through UAT sign-off and go-live
Our Approach

Four Pillars of the Migration

A structured methodology that guaranteed every workflow, email, approval, and audit trail was preserved — down to the last reminder email interval.

01

Exact Workflow Documentation

Before writing a single Power Automate action, we shadowed every existing SPD workflow, mapping routing logic, approver lists, email content, due-date rules, and SharePoint list dependencies into detailed flow diagrams.

  • Documented 30+ workflow paths end-to-end
  • Captured all branching conditions and edge cases
  • Mapped all SharePoint list relationships and approver sources
02

Power Automate Parity Build

Each flow was built in Power Automate to exactly match its SPD counterpart — same conditions, same assignees, same email bodies, same task due dates. No optimization, no enhancement, no new logic introduced.

  • Regional routing driven by SharePoint lists (no hardcoding)
  • All email templates replicated content and formatting exactly
  • Task forms replaced SPD native forms with custom PA equivalents
03

29-Day Expiration System

Power Automate cannot keep tasks open beyond 29 days. We built a purpose-built expiration management layer that monitors approaching deadlines and handles expiry with zero data loss or workflow interruption.

  • Reminder emails at 7, 3, and 1 day before expiry
  • Auto-logs expired workflows with all original data
  • Re-initiates flow automatically — workflow never stalls
04

Custom Workflow History UI

Power Automate lacks the workflow history experience that SPD provided natively. We built a unified, embeddable Workflow History UI deployed across all four applications.

  • Shows start/end dates, current approver, and status
  • Full task history: assignee, action, timestamp, comments
  • Legacy SPD history still accessible for pre-migration workflows
Applications Migrated

Four Workflows. One Engine. Zero Disruption.

Each application had its own unique approval patterns, role requirements, and edge cases — all preserved identically in Power Automate.

BPA

Business Plan Approvals

Multi-department approval with regional routing across Operations, Facilities, and Development divisions.

  • Ops, Facilities & Dev departments
  • West / East / Foreign regional branching
  • Dynamic approver assignment from SharePoint lists
  • Three-day task due dates with daily reminders
  • Workflow Admin group for escalations
Power Automate — Business Plan Approvals
Trigger: SharePoint Item Created
Get Approver from SharePoint List
Start Approval Task
Log to Workflow History
MB

Manual Billings

Role-based approval routing determined by entity, submitter role, income code rules, and AR Clerk group membership.

  • Entity-based approver determination
  • AR Clerk group membership gating
  • Standard, reassignment, and Q&A states
  • Seven-day task due dates
  • Question/change-request workflow branches
Power Automate — Manual Billings
Trigger: SharePoint Item Created
Get Approver from SharePoint List
Start Approval Task
Log to Workflow History
CAM-E

CAM Estimates

Mixed sequential and parallel approvals with optional approvers auto-skipped when fields are left blank at submission.

  • Sequential + parallel approval mix
  • Optional approvers auto-skipped on blank
  • Assistant Controller, PM, Asset Mgr, Regional Dir
  • 29-day task maximum with expiry handling
  • Rejection requires mandatory comment
Power Automate — CAM Estimates
Trigger: SharePoint Item Created
Get Approver from SharePoint List
Start Approval Task
Log to Workflow History
CAM-R

CAM Reconciliations

Strictly sequential workflow with optional roles automatically skipped — full approver chain preserved in custom history UI.

  • Strictly sequential approval chain
  • Optional roles skipped when not provided
  • 29-day task window with expiry re-initiation
  • Full email parity — submitter + assignee notifications
  • Dual history: SPD legacy + new PA history
Power Automate — CAM Reconciliations
Trigger: SharePoint Item Created
Get Approver from SharePoint List
Start Approval Task
Log to Workflow History
Who It Serves

Roles Across All Four Applications

Every role's experience was preserved identically — from submission through approval, reassignment, and history review.

Submitters

Submit BPAs, billings, and CAM forms exactly as before — no interface changes, same forms, same SharePoint lists.

BPAMBCAM-ECAM-R

Approvers

Receive task assignment emails with the same content, click through to the new PA task form, and approve/reject/reassign with identical behavior.

BPAMBCAM-ECAM-R

Workflow Admins

SharePoint Workflow Admin group members handle escalations and reassignments — same permissions, same escalation paths, new task form UI.

BPA

AR Clerks

AR Clerk SharePoint group membership gates specific Manual Billing approval paths — group structure and permissions unchanged.

MB

Regional VPs

West, East, and Foreign regional routing assigns the correct VP automatically from the Regional VP SharePoint list — same branching, new engine.

BPA

Finance Team

CAM Estimates and Reconciliations are reviewed with the same sequential approval chain — optional approvers auto-skipped when not assigned.

CAM-ECAM-R
Results & Impact

Measurable Migration Success

Every success metric measured against the project's primary goal: zero behavioral difference, zero downtime, full platform modernization.

30+
SPD workflows migrated
All BPA, Manual Billing, CAM Estimate, and Reconciliation workflows fully operational in Power Automate.
100%
Functional parity achieved
Every approval sequence, email template, due date, and routing rule recreated identically — zero behavioral differences.
Zero
User disruptions at cutover
Phased migration with parallel-run windows ensured business continuity throughout the entire transition.
4
Applications upgraded
BPA, Manual Billings, CAM Estimates, and CAM Reconciliations — all four enterprise applications running on Power Automate.
29d
Expiry risk eliminated
Custom expiration system auto-restarts tasks beyond the 29-day limit — no workflow can silently expire.
100%
Audit trail coverage
Custom Workflow History UI logs every action, assignee, timestamp, and comment across all four applications.
ARC's approach was methodical and reassuring. They understood that our users could not notice any change — and they delivered exactly that. Every approval, every email, every routing rule worked identically on Day 1 of the new system. The migration exceeded our expectations.
IT Director
Leading Life Science Real Estate Company
Delivery Journey

22-Week Phased Migration

A carefully sequenced migration where each application was fully tested before go-live, with the 29-day expiry system and custom history UI built in parallel.

Shadowed each workflow in SPD, documented routing diagrams, email templates, approver lists, due-date rules, and SharePoint list dependencies across all four applications.

  • Workflow inventory
  • Routing diagrams
  • Data dependency map

Provisioned Power Automate connections, created task lists mirroring SPD task list schemas, configured Power Automate premium connectors, and established the custom approval form scaffolding.

  • PA environment ready
  • Task list created
  • Connection auth configured

Recreated all BPA workflows for Operations, Facilities, and Development with full regional branching logic, Workflow Admin escalations, and task form integration replacing SPD forms.

  • BPA flows live
  • Regional routing validated
  • Email templates verified

Migrated Manual Billing workflows with entity-based routing, AR Clerk gating, and Q&A branch logic. Built custom task UI for approvals, reassignment, and comment capture.

  • MB flows live
  • AR Clerk routing tested
  • Custom task form deployed

Implemented mixed sequential/parallel CAM Estimate flows and strictly sequential CAM Reconciliation flows. Built the expiration management system with 7/3/1-day reminders and auto-restart on expiry.

  • CAM flows live
  • Expiry system tested
  • Optional approver skipping verified

Developed the unified Workflow History interface embedded across all four applications — showing status, current approver, full task history table, and access to legacy SPD history for pre-migration workflows.

  • History UI deployed
  • Legacy SPD history accessible
  • Integration tested in all 4 apps

User acceptance testing with department leads across all four applications. Parallel-run window with both SPD and PA active. Phased cutover with immediate rollback capability.

  • UAT sign-off
  • Zero-downtime cutover
  • Post-launch monitoring active
Technology Stack

Built on Microsoft — Staying on Microsoft

The migration required no new vendors or external platforms. Every component was Microsoft-native, preserving the existing security, authentication, and compliance posture.

Tier 1
Power Automate
Workflow Engine
Tier 1
SharePoint On-Prem
Data & Forms
Tier 1
Microsoft Entra ID
Identity & Auth
Tier 2
Power Apps
Custom Task Forms
Tier 2
SharePoint Lists
Approver Data
Tier 2
Power Automate Approvals
Task Engine
Tier 3
SharePoint REST API
Integration
Tier 3
Custom History UI
React/SPFx
FAQ

Common Questions

Why migrate from SharePoint Designer workflows?
Microsoft has deprecated SharePoint Designer 2013 workflows. They will no longer be supported on new SharePoint environments, creating a long-term risk for any organization still relying on them. Power Automate provides a supported, cloud-native replacement with better maintainability, improved monitoring, and Microsoft's full backing.
Was there any disruption to users during the migration?
No. The migration was designed for zero disruption. All applications — BPA, Manual Billings, CAM Estimates, and CAM Reconciliations — continued running normally throughout. Each workflow was migrated, tested, and deployed in phases with a parallel-run window before cutover.
Did any business logic change during migration?
No. The explicit requirement was functional parity — every approval sequence, routing rule, email template, due date, and reminder interval was recreated exactly. No new features, business logic, or UI changes were introduced. The only change was the underlying workflow engine.
How did you handle Power Automate's 29-day task expiration limit?
We built a custom expiration management system. Reminder emails are sent 7 days, 3 days, and 1 day before expiration. If a task expires, it is automatically logged to an Expired Workflows list and re-initiated in Power Automate with all original data preserved — maintaining workflow continuity without manual intervention.
How does the custom Workflow History UI work?
Because Power Automate does not replicate SharePoint Designer's native workflow history experience, we built a custom UI embedded in each application. It displays workflow start/end dates, current status, current approver, and a full task history table with assignee, action taken, timestamp, due date, and comments. Legacy SPD history for pre-migration workflows remains accessible alongside the new UI.
What happens to workflows that were in-flight during migration?
In-flight SPD workflows were allowed to complete naturally. Only newly initiated workflows trigger the Power Automate flows. The custom Workflow History UI supports both — showing SPD history for older workflows and the new custom history for Power Automate-initiated workflows.
Let's Build Something Great

Need to Migrate Your SharePoint Designer Workflows?

Microsoft has deprecated SPD workflows. Don't wait for them to break in production. ARC can migrate your workflows to Power Automate with zero disruption and full functional parity.

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