Your Power Automate Approval Flow Isn’t Audit-Proof cover art

Your Power Automate Approval Flow Isn’t Audit-Proof

Your Power Automate Approval Flow Isn’t Audit-Proof

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 Here’s the catch Microsoft doesn’t highlight: Power Automate’s run history is time‑limited by default. Retention depends on your plan and license, and it’s not forever. Once it rolls off, it’s gone—like it never ran. Great for Microsoft’s servers. Terrible for your audit trail. Designing without logging is like deleting your CCTV before the cops arrive. You might think you’re fine until someone actually needs the footage. Today we’ll show you how to log approvals permanently, restart flows from a stage, use dynamic approvers, and build sane escalations and reminders. Subscribe to the newsletter at m365 dot show if you want blunt fixes, not marketing decks. Because here’s the question you need to face—think your workflow trail is permanent? Spoiler: it disappears faster than free donuts in the break room.Why Your Flow History VanishesSo let’s get into why your flow history quietly disappears in the first place. You hit save on a flow, you check the run history tab, and you think, “Perfect. There’s my record. Problem solved.” Except that little log isn’t built to last. It’s more like a Post-it note on the office fridge—looks useful for a while, but it eventually drops into the recycling bin. Here’s the truth: Power Automate isn’t giving you a permanent archive. It’s giving you temporary storage designed with Microsoft’s servers in mind—not your compliance officer. How long your runs stay visible varies by plan and license. If you want the specifics, check your tenant settings or Microsoft’s own documentation. I’ll link the official retention guidance in the notes—verify your setup, because what you see depends entirely on your license. Most IT teams assume “cloud equals forever.” Microsoft assumes “forever equals a storage nightmare.” So they quietly clean house. That’s the built-in expectation: logs expire, data rolls off, and your history evaporates. They’re doing housekeeping. You’re the one left without receipts when auditors come calling. Let’s bring it into real life. Imagine HR asks for proof of a promotion approval from last year. Fourteen months ago, your director clicked Approve, everyone celebrated, and the process moved on. Fast forward, compliance wants records. You open Power Automate, dig into runs... and there’s nothing left. That tidy approval trail you trusted has already been vacuumed away. That’s not Microsoft failing to tell you. It’s right there in the docs—you just don’t see it unless you squint through the licensing fine print. They’re clear they’re not your compliance archive. That’s your job. And if you walk into an audit with holes in your data, the meeting isn’t going to be pleasant. Now picture this: it’s like Netflix wiping your watch history every Monday. One week you know exactly where you paused mid-season. Next week? Gone. The system pretends you never binged a single show. That’s how absurd it looks when an auditor asks for approval records and your run history tab is empty. The kicker is the consequences. Missing records isn’t just a mild inconvenience. Failing to show documentation can trigger compliance reviews and consequences that vary by regulation—and if you’re in a regulated industry, that can get expensive very quickly. And even if regulators aren’t involved, leadership will notice. You were trusted to automate approvals. If you can’t prove past approvals existed, congratulations—you’re now the weak link in the chain. And no, screenshots don’t save you. Screenshots are like photos of your dinner—you can show something happened, but you can’t prove it wasn’t staged. Auditors want structured data: dates, times, names, decisions. All the detail that screenshots can’t provide. And that doesn’t live in the temporary run history. Here’s a quick reality check you can do right now. Pause this video, go into Power Automate, click “My flows,” open run history on one of your flows, and look for the oldest available run. That’s your retention window. If it’s missing approvals you thought were permanent, you’ve already felt the problem firsthand. Want to know the one-click way to confirm exactly what your tenant holds? Stick around—I’ll show you in the checklist. So where does this leave you? Simple: if you don’t build logging into your workflows, you don’t have approval history at all. Pretending defaults are enough is like trusting a teenager when they say they cleaned their room—by Monday the mess will resurface, and nothing important will have survived. The key takeaway: Power Automate run history is a debugging aid, not a record keeper. It’s disposable by design, not permanent or audit-ready. If you want usable records, you have to create your own structured logs outside that temporary buffer. And this isn’t just about saving history. Weak logging means fragile workflows, and fragile workflows collapse the first time you push ...
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