MS Forms to Planner Tasks - Part 1 

I hear ya. Planner is one of those tools that does a lot of things right when it's used right. Unfortunately, it's very easy to use it "wrong" which leads to frustration and confusion. The big problem I've found talking to our users is that it's easy to create tasks without enough actionable information, which is what I'm aiming to alleviate with this method.

You need to use a numeric value to set the priority using the "Create a task (preview)" action. For the specific number ranges and how they map to priority levels, please see the documentation: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/planner/#create-a-task-(preview) Also, see this "bonus" video in my Forms > Planner playlist that shows how to use a choice question, which is probably a more natural way for people to think when filling out a form: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RxrVzuOhKYw.html Yes, you can use a rating or net promoter score question since both of those return a numeric value, but do you really want to make the person filling out the form think about what number equates to a "Low" priority task vs. a "High" priority? It makes much more sense to use a choice question with Low, Medium, Important or Urgent.

Mr. Kealey. I discovered where my error was. Your videos are helping me a lot, I've been watching them since the morning. I'm automating a company Planner and I had no experience with Power Automate, its content is self-explanatory and very easy to follow the steps. Thank you immensely for this contribution to the IT community, greetings from Brazil!

Actually, that's a question I have NOT gotten before. I hadn't actually considered that requirement, but it kind of makes sense. The catch is being able to match up the task with the original requestor (person who filled out the form). Planner doesn't have a field to store that data, so you'd need something else. Personally, I would create a SharePoint list where the title column is the task title and add other columns for the task ID (which is output when you create the task, so you would have to create the SP list item *after* the task) and the email address of the form submitter. Then, create a flow that runs when a task is completed, have it retrieve the corresponding list item (using the task ID as a unique identifier) and then send the email.

I hadn't planned on that, but it was pretty easy to put together: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wFl_4H7G5co.html NOTE: I rarely have time to respond to video requests this quickly!

I'm working on that video...should have it uploaded by tomorrow morning (if not later today)

Got to it sooner than expected: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wg5xzN2TEok.html

@@cvkealey Is there a way for the PDF file of the MS Form to be saved and added to the task as an attachment?

@@natalyflorez-gonzalez1754 sure...this video shows the quickest/easiest way to save the form data in a PDF: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D_VD1MJemmM.html. Save that PDF to the SharePoint site of the group that owns the plan, then add it as a resource.

@@natalyflorez-gonzalez1754 and as general note, there is almost always a way to do something in Power Automate...it's just not always easy, convenient, or worthwhile. 🙃

It sounds like you're starting with a template. Most of the Power Automate templates that use the forms trigger use an old version of it which can return multiple responses. See this video for info on how to update it with the current/new trigger ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6GopBPzyS_k.html

There's one other possibility (which I just learned about last night). If you created the flow recently, using the new editor interface, go into the Settings for the trigger action. You may find under General that "Split On" is set to "Off". Toggle that to "On" and set "Array" to "@triggerOutputs()['body/value']" (just select it in the drop-down). After that, you'll see "Response ID" in the dynamic content.

@@cvkealey Thank you so much for the response and quickly too. I think that is it. I actually figured our that you just have to enter the create a task in the same bucket under "apply to each" rather than outside. Thanks for such an informative video!

Sure! You can initialize a string variable (example: varNotes) and then append the appropriate data to it. I would add conditions to check if the question has a response or not, then append as needed. Plug that variable into the Description field when creating or updating the task.

See learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/power-platform/power-automate/converting-time-zone-power-automate

Could you create a task assigned to a user that has a link to the form? Sure! Could you "complete" the task when they submit the form? Maybe? It would require some creativity...let me think it over and get back to you...

Also, something else you might consider: recurring tasks are coming "soon" to Planner. So, when those roll out, you could simply create a daily or weekly task which includes the link to that form. I thought there was also a feature on the roadmap that involved "assigning" a form to a user, but I was mistaken...sort of. There is a feature coming to Bookings where you can link a form to a booking so that the "customer" gets an email with the link to the form after the booking (e.g.: a follow-up survey).

@@cvkealey It would pass between multiple people, it couldn't be assigned. We would want multiple people to be able to enter information into the form. The reason we want the form is to ensure all of the needed information is entered into the task. Then as each area is completed. it's received in, quality approved and then put away we'd want to move it from bin to bin.

@@skierrage Ah, ok...in that case, a Microsoft Forms form wouldn't work. They're basically one-and-done. You can't have multiple people contribute to the same response. You could do this with a form in Power Apps, though, and have the last person click some button in the app to generate the task.

The process would be a crisis order is due to be received in. It could be from a multitude of individuals. They create the task in Teams. This will cue the receiving department to look for the package. When they received the package all they'd have to do is move to the next bin quality. After it's cleared it would be closed. The nice thing with teams it would be very visible and easy to follow. Everyone could see it. We wanted a form so the individuals entering information would enter the correct information. We'd want something that would be easy yet transparent.

I don't provide one on one support, but you can post a message in the Power Automate community (powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/bd-p/BuildingFlows) with a description of the error you're getting and screenshots of your flow. You can tag me there using @ChadVKealey

@@cvkealey thank you

You would need to convert that to an appropriate number in the flow. There are several ways to do that, but an array variable with the choice values and corresponding number would be the cleanest.

Here are two ways to do it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RxrVzuOhKYw.html

@@cvkealey Thank you so mouch for the response. The thing is taht it says that the video is private and cannot watch it.

@@mike-chanic try again, I updated it to be public

You'll see your *personal* forms listed there, but not *group* forms. You need to get the form ID (from the URL used to access the form) and paste it in as a custom value. See the video for more details: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Od3y5mfQ8QA.html

@@cvkealey Thank you Chad! I have managed to make everything to work correctly. The buckets allocation, importance, the works. My only problem now is that although every time I submit a form it works a treat, when a colleague of mine does the flow does not populate the planner. I can see their submission on the excel SharePoint list but not on planner or teams. Is this a glitch or I have messed up? Any help will be awesome!

Both submissions did not have an attachment and the flow failed at the "Scope -handle attachments". It came back with the Error Details [ Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Parse_JSON_of_file_upload' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'Required property 'content' expects a value but got null. Path ''.'.] I hope you can help!

@@vastsamis3206 ah, OK...if the file upload question is not required, you need to account for that in the flow. This is how I do it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jBTmX0cm6NU.html

Yes and no. As in yes, there are now "plans" not connected to groups, but they're connected to other things, like Loop pages/spaces or Loop task list components. You control access to those "plans" by sharing the page/space/component or simply assigning a task to someone. I was hoping for a more transparent experience (like being able to just add members to the plan), but it's not that simple.