delay on flow being triggered

[JoePike]

I have been asked to create an approval system using powerapps and sharepoint lists

I have broken the flows down into functions i.e send group email and group A approval and group A reject etc

I first came into issues that turned out to be form submissions overwriting required fields, this has since been resolved. But during testing, I noticed that certain flows were not triggering straight away and were subject to random delays.

upon further testing I came to a conclusion that there might be a maximum number of runs in a given period of time. so I turned all the flows off apart from a single one that updates the title field, from powerapps I created 28 items in 20 minutes before the flows stopped triggering and then after about 5 minutes the other 5 runs triggered all at once. I then went on to add more to try and trip it again, only to find that I was unable to trigger the flow for another 3 minutes or so. I then went on the add another load of items and this time the trigger stopped at 25 items in 20 minutes.

As I was working in my spare time and I thought I had seen a pattern I left it until this morning. Only today I tried tripping it with the SharePoint list directly. This allowed me to create more items quickly, I got to 17 items in 10 minutes before the triggers stopped, and then after a 5 minute period from the last triggered runs then next 4 or so when through at the same time. I then waited 5 minutes just to be sure and low and behold bang on 17 items the flow stopped triggering.

I really thought I was on to something here until I switched on another two flows went back to powerapps to try it again and I managed to get 35 items created in 20 minutes before it would stop triggering the first flow. thought this was rather strange as I was expecting the number to decrease drastically as the two flows i turned on would run twice each for every run of the first flow.

I can't seem to notice a pattern, and the delay in flows running is causing skepticism from my Boss. and understandably I am losing faith in the product as I can't reliably predict how it is going to act.

To clarify I am using the when an item is created trigger, and for the other two flows that I switched on were when an item is created or modified. I believe I am on the O365 plan as when I click peek code it has the interval set to 5 minutes. this however is definitely not the case as i have had a flow trigger 7+ times in 5 minutes i.e triggered then 40 seconds pass it is triggered again another 40 seconds pass etc.

I would say it is practically instant from item being modified to triggering the flow.

unless I am completely misunderstanding the interval time.

[JoePike]

Are there any tools out there I can use to help diagnose my issue? or anything that will help me look at the details of each request to see if there is anything happening in the background that would otherwise go un-noticed

[ChristianAbata]

hi @JoePike  wha kind of licence do you have?

[abm · Accepted solution]

Hi @JoePike 

Majority of the flow connectors runs as async process, so sometimes it may take long time to process.  From my experience I have seen some delays occurred for few minutes and some runs straight away. If you looking to run instantly then you need to look into HTTP Request where the process will invoke straight away.

Thanks

[JoePike]

Hi @abm, my boss arranged a conference call with some external consultants and they echoed what you had said about those triggers not being reliably timely. They also pointed me in the direction of patching directly within powerapps which seems like a much simpler option for my needs.

Cheers for the advice

[abm]

Hi @JoePike 

Thanks for accepting the solution. Yes patching is the best option here. 

If you have anymore questions please let me know.