Licencing for a flow in a solution / environment with PowerApps licences

[HFG]

Hi all, 

I have a licencing question. Here is my situation : 

• Solution in an environment with a Dataverse DB (actually 3 environments DEV/TEST/PROD)
• PowerApp application which writes to Dataverse tables 
• Environment has 200+ per app licences for the users
• Sharepoint list which is accessed by external users and triggers a flow on the creation of a line to write to the Dataverse table

Currently we have no Power Automate licence for this flow. I have associated the flow to the application as it is all part of the same solution. The flow is working fine, but I am worried that at some point it may stop working as it isn't licenced. What do you think ? Should I purchase a Power Automate licence to cover this flow ? 

Thanks for any help you can give. 

[cdy]

Hi @HFG,

It is completely normal to use flow within Power App context. But please be aware of request limit(source), and you can't use premium features (source).

Best regards,
-cdy

[HFG]

Hi @cdy , 

Thanks for your reply. As mentioned in my post, I am using premium connectors (Dataverse), the documentation you have shared would suggest I should get a Power Automate licence to cover this flow. Do you agree ?

I understood "within a PowerApps context" to mean when a flow is triggered from PowerApps. However, here it seems to say they just need to use the same data source : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/powerapps-flow-licensing-faq#are-full-power-a...

This flow is not triggered from PowerApps, but feeds the tables in a solution used by an application.  I have managed to associate the app and flow, does that make it a PowerApp context flow ? 

Thanks

[cdy]

Hi @HFG,

You don't need to get Power Automate license to use Dataverse connector because your Power Apps Per App license already include premium connector feature already. 

From my understanding of "Power App context" is pretty much your trigger has to be 'Power App' trigger. Also, I would be appreciated if you could elaborate on "This flow is not triggered from PowerApps" because I don't seem to get what you mean by it.

Best regards,

-cdy

[HFG]

Hi @cdy ,

Thanks again for your reply. The flow is triggered from SharePoint. I actually think I have found my answer in the licencing guide : 

The Power Apps Premium, Power Apps per app and Power Apps pay-as-you-go licenses include Power Automate use rights for the purpose of automating workflows associated with Power Apps applications. Power Automate use within Power Apps is limited to the context of the Power Apps application. What this means is that for both triggers and actions, a flow included within a Power Apps application connect to:
• Any data source within the use rights of the Power Apps application.
• Directly with the Power Apps application (via built in trigger/action).
If the flow is isolated and has nothing to do with the Power Apps application, then a full Power Automate license will need to be purchased.

In my case, the flow is in the same solution as the application and is writing to the same tables used by the application so I believe this would fall under "data source within the use rights of the Power Apps application". Is there any one as Microsoft who can confirm this ? 

[bonato-approach]

Hi @HFG and @cdy ,
Look at the end of second source from @cdy 
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/about-powerapps-perapp#power-automate-capabil...

It states:
"This doesn't apply for flows associated to an app."

This means that you can use premium features as long you flow is associated with an Power App  (Canvas or Model Driven). Doesn't matter when or where is triggered.

When looking at

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pay-as-you-go-meters?tabs=image#flows-running...
It references another powershell article:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/powerapps-powershell#associate-in-context-flo...

But actually I guess that this association can be made on Flow Designer UI.

Anyway, after running this association via UI and/or Powershell, the admin UI still displaying my flows as "not in context of an app". Double checked on
https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/billing/licenses

Right now, I issued Microsoft with case where after a flow ran into a loop condition for +- 2 hours, I've a 1370x flow runs inside my billing (Environment 100% PayAsYouGo) 

Despite of loop condition of my flow, running Power Automate via PAYG (even in PREVIEW) seems an non-pratical price (U$ 0,60 per run)