[CoE Starter Kit - BUG] Reminder to Backup Inactive Flow Marked for Deletion is Creating Confusion

[JohnSnow2004]

Does this bug already exist in our backlog?

• I have checked and confirm this is a new bug.

Describe the issue

When sending Back Up Reminders, the text "however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually" is appended also to Flows that are not part of a Solution;

Inside the Flow "Admin | Inactivity notifications v2 (Start Approval for Flows)", there is a step called "Backup reminder 2", where Users are reminded to backup their Flows marked for deletion.

Within this action, there is an expression which checks whether the Flow is part of a solution, and if so, appends the text ", however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually."

The expression is the following:

@{if(equals(outputs('Reset_value_Flow_Archive_Request_Ignored_Since_4')?['body/admin_workflowentityid'], null), '.', ', however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually.')}

If I understand correctly, the check if a Flow is part of a solution, is done by looking at the "workflowentityid" parameter. However, if I check the same parameter in the Flow table, I see the description: "GUID used by PVA", which doesn't seem to be related to the fact that a Flow is or isn't part of a solution.

This leads to the fact that the text is appended to flows which are not part of a solution.

Wouldn't it be better to check if Flow is part of a Solution, using the "admin_issolutionflow" parameter ?

Expected Behavior

When sending backup reminders, the text "however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually" should only be included if the Flow is indeed part of a Solution.

What solution are you experiencing the issue with?

Governance Components

What solution version are you using?

4.50.3

What app or flow are you having the issue with?

Admin | Inactivity notifications v2 (Start Approval for Flows)

What method are you using to get inventory and telemetry?

Cloud flows

Steps To Reproduce

Run the Flow "Admin | Inactivity notifications v2 (Start Approval for Flows)" assuming there are inactive Flows that are not part of a Solution. The text "however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually" is then appended, even if the Flow is not part of a solution.

Anything else?

No response

[mohamrizwa]

Hi @JohnSnow2004,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

We are unable to locate the flow "Admin | Inactivity notifications v2 (Start Approval for Flows)" in the solution and version mentioned above. However, this flow is available in the "Governance Components" solution.

That said, the action "Backup reminder 2" is not present in the flow.

[JohnSnow2004]

Hi @mohamrizwa , thank you for reaching out so quickly.

The CoE StarterKit version is 4.50.3 as you can see here:

Indeed, the solution is "Center of Excellence - Governance Components" (I made a mistake initially when I wrote "Core"), which contains the Flow "Admin | Inactivity notifications v2 (Start Approval for Flows)" :

The same is confirmed in the following official article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/governance-components#inactivity-processes

Within the flow "Admin | Inactivity notifications v2 (Start Approval for Flows)", the action is called "Backup Reminder" (I was looking at un unmanaged layer previously):

This includes the expression:

@{if(equals(outputs('Reset_value_Flow_Archive_Request_Ignored_Since')?['body/admin_workflowentityid'], null), '.', ', however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually.')}

This expression references the parameter "admin_workflowentityid" to check if a Flow is part of a solution, but I am not sure this is the right parameter, as I think "admin_issolutionflow" would be more appropriate.

Can you please double check ?

[JohnSnow2004]

I did a bit more research and found the following GitHub issues which explain what the "admin_workflowentityid" parameter actually does:

#9324

#2145

If I understand correctly, the Flow has a 2nd (different) ID if it is located inside a solution, which is the "admin_workflowentityid". If the Flow is not part of a Solution, then the field "admin_workflowentityid" would be empty. I can also see that this parameter correlates well with the "admin_issolutionflow" parameter, so no need to change the expression.

However, what confused me is that for multiple flows, the "admin_workflowentityid" is populated and "admin_issolutionflow" is set to "yes", but looking at the details of the Flow, I cannot see that the flow is part of a solution.

Here is an example:

As you can see, under "Solutions" there is the message:

There aren't any custom solutions referencing this flow, but any solution flow can be found in the default solution.

The only explanation I can think of, is that the Flow above is stored in the Default Solution, hence why it appears in the Flow table as part of a solution.

Not sure if this is the intended behavior, because in this case, all flows would be part of the Default Solution, making the parameters "admin_workflowentityid" or "admin_issolutionflow" redundant.

Perhaps you can shed some light over this :)

[mohamrizwa]

Hi @JohnSnow2004,
Sorry for the delayed response.
We will look into the issue and get back to you as soon as possible.

[mohamrizwa]

Hi @JohnSnow2004,
Apologies for the delayed response.

Kindly proceed with the following modifications to the flow configuration:

1. Update the Action: List_flows_not_marked_modified_since_Past_Time
   • Add the attribute admin_issolutionflow as shown in the provided screenshot.

2. Modify the Expression in the “Backup reminder” Action

Before:

if(equals(outputs('Reset_value_Flow_Archive_Request_Ignored_Since')?['body/admin_workflowentityid'], null), '.', ', however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually.') 

After: 

if(equals(items('Create_Archival_Request_for_Each')?['admin_issolutionflow'], true), ', however, since this flow is part of a solution, automatic deletion is not possible. You will need to delete the flow or the entire solution manually', '.') Update the action "Backup remider" 

Please ensure this update is applied specifically within the “Backup reminder” action.
Once these changes have been implemented, kindly run the flow again and verify that it is functioning as expected.
Please let me know if you encounter any issues or require further clarification.

[JohnSnow2004]

Hello @mohamrizwa , thank you for your answer. I can try that, however I don't think it will help, since the parameter "admin_issolutionflow" was wrongly populated to "true" for the example above. I think that it has to do with the way the inventory is created, e.g. how the field "admin_issolutionflow" is populated. What do you think ?
Kind regards.