Comparing two tables - Sharepoint

[jcastr02]

I have two sharepoint tables

1. All Employee info including employee ID

2. A table where all coaching is entered and there is an employee ID column

I'd like to create automation to look up in table 1 and get items that are Not in table 2.   (Seeking for employees that have NOT had coaching yet documented).  any help is appreciated. 

[mahoneypat]

Do you need to do this in Power Automate?  Much easier in Power BI.

Pat

[jcastr02]

Hi @mahoneypat  yes lreferred please.  I am trying to send automated notifications to those employees leaders that have not coached yet.  U less there is a way within BI

[mahoneypat]

Here is one way to do it.  I made two array variables (vEmployees with an ID column and vCoaches with an EmployeeID column).  Use a Select to extract just the values of the EmployeeID field.  Then in the Filter check for those IDs in the Employees array that do not exist in the Select array of values.

Pat

[jcastr02]

Thanks @mahoneypat 

Would you be able to send me a screen shot of the two array variables - with the boxes open (sorry I'm just learning all of this)  Did you pick increment variable, set variable, decrement variable, initialize variable, append to string, or append to array?

[mahoneypat]

Those are just two array variables I created to simulate your scenario.  I entered data in Power BI and converted it to JSON there, and pasted it into the Initialize Variable action.  You should just use the two arrays coming from your flow for Employees and Coaches.

If this worked for you, please mark it as the solution.  Kudos appreciated too.

Pat

[jcastr02]

Hi @mahoneypat ,

I did two get items from the two tables, but when I try to do an initialize variable, it throws it into an apply to each.  Any thoughts?

[mahoneypat]

You don't need to initialize any variables.  I did that just to create two arrays to compare.  The pic shows the expression needed in the Select and Filter steps.  In my case the array with Coaches data had a column called EmployeeID.  You need to use item()?['NameOfYourColumn'] in the Select and item()?['NameOfIDColumnInEmployeeArray'] in the Filter.

After your two SharePoint Get Items actions, just add a Select and a Filter step (you can then add what you need to do with the Filtered array.  Use the value from your Coaches array in the Select and the value from the Employees array in your Filter.

Pat

[jcastr02]

Hi @mahoneypat even trying that, still throws it into an apply to each?

[mahoneypat]

You need to put the value in the From, not the Employee ID field.

Pat

[SandraSoniec]

@mahoneypat Hi Pat, this is a good solution for my use case. In particular without an apply to each loop as I am working with larger datasets. Thanks for sharing.

[ND3]

Hello

thanks for these great examples. I think i need a similar sollution to my problem:

I'm trying to populate a table2 with data from another table1:

The main text from table1 needs to be applied to rows from table 2 where the (see A) week = (A') w1-4 AND (B) dag = (B')DAG. Table 2 is a calendar for the whole year, table 1 is a 4 week recurring schedule.

so far i'v created an array with 'days of the week' 1-5

and then i get lists from table the 2 tables with OData filter dag eq current item (ie 1-5)

but here i'm stuck: how to get to populate the cells with the correct data?

I have been trying different flows with apply to each, and it populates the correct cells over and over again with the all the data sequentially.

It's safe to say i'm a bit lost 🙂

thanks for any assistance, Neil

[ND3]

Good morning

in the meantime, i was able to fix the problems:

In the two files i've added a row, combining week and number of the day eg '11' '12' '13' '14' etc.

In the flow i start with a manually made array with these values.

For each of these values i run the rest of the flow:

- get row from file 1 for this value

- list rows in the second file, with ODATA filter for current item (ie 11, 12,...), only obtaining the day of the Year of the corresponding row.

- creating a new array with all the values for day of the Year

- a new for each loop for all these values (day of the Year):

update a row, populating the corresponding values from file 1 in file 2.

I've added some complexions, with a for each loop on a higher level, where all the different files (for different people) are indicated. Also choosing a date from which the second file needs to be updated (transforming this date to day of the Year and filtering my array, values higher than of equal to this value)

cheers!

[TechIY]

Thank you @mahoneypat this really helped me