Pullind data from a web site i.e., brokerage firm

[PaBi]

Hello,

I am new to power automate and am creating a dashboard where I need to pull data from 2 or more brokerage sites i.e., fidelity, vanguard. 

Is power automate a good way to go or should i use an api for the web sites?

Please share key steps to do this.

Many thanks!

Pav

[Anchov]

Hi @PaBi,

If your goal is to web scrape a webpage and send the data to a data source (for further analysis, dashboards, etc.) , you can leverage Power Automate for Desktop (RPA). Integration with Power Automate Cloud flows allows you to connect with other Power Platform services, schedule tasks, or trigger actions based on web-based events. It's essential to note that the license levels and costs vary, depending on whether you opt for attended or unattended desktop flows.

For a brief overview of using Power Automate Desktop for web scraping, you can check out this video: Web Scraping with Power Automate Desktop.

If the websites you're dealing with have an available REST API, using Power Automate - Cloud flows might be a simpler option. This approach doesn't require additional licensing, apart from Power Automate Premium and doesn't require as much orchestration (as all components are cloud-based).

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Rick Hurt

[PaBi]

Thanks Anchov.

I was not clear.

Need to log into the website of fidelity and vanguard and pull info on securities owned, quantity, price, etc.

And do analysis on that in Power BI dashboard.

I will appreciate  a solution for that.

Thanks,

Pav

[Anchov]

Hi PaBi,

Yes, I understand your requirement. The only way to achieve this using Microsoft's Power Platform is to leverage Power Automate for Desktop (RPA). The solution would involve multiple steps and be relatively complex. There are numerous tutorials available on YouTube, including the one I mentioned in my initial post.