Rob Nguyen

Events Finance workflow

An end-to-end event-payment system on Power Automate and SharePoint: quote in, tiered approval, event, invoice, review, final approval and payment authorization, with Power BI reporting.

In use Before Sept 2026 Built and maintained it

Resolve once, where it is reliable.

Result

  • 6flows built, with a seventh planned
  • 4main flows passed end-to-end testing
  • 1payment authorization passed too

As of Sept 23, 2026, the four main flows and one payment authorization passed end-to-end testing, and the capture flow was next to build.

The problem

Every event has quotes, approvals, invoices and payments, often from several vendors. Each step needs the right sign-off, and every invoice has to stay with the right event all the way to payment.

What I built

An end-to-end payment system on Power Automate and SharePoint: one list item per invoice, approvals tiered by amount and event type through Teams and Outlook cards, and Power BI reporting.

Calls I made

  • Resolve once, where it is reliable. Store an invoice's file ID once instead of re-finding it by filename.
  • Several invoices per event. One list item per invoice, linked by a naming convention.
Full detailsHow it works, the full feature list, decisions, numbers and next steps

Tools

  • Power Automate
  • SharePoint lists
  • Teams and Outlook approval cards
  • Power BI

That failed silently when a name was slightly off.

Why re-finding invoices by filename had to go.
  • Quote
  • Approval
  • Invoice
  • Payment
Each step needs the right sign-off.

The problem

Every event has quotes, approvals, invoices and payments, often from several vendors at once. Each step needs the right person's sign-off, and every invoice has to stay attached to the right event all the way to payment.

What I built

  • Scale: six flows built, with a seventh planned.
  • Data model: one list item per invoice, with several allowed per event. A file-naming convention links them.
  • Approvals: tiers routed by amount and event type, using Teams and Outlook approval cards.
  • Reporting: Power BI.
  • Supporting material: a "hard-won fixes" table and a system diagram.

How it works

Events Finance workflow (sanitized), step by step:

  1. Quote in: Intake and quote uploaded
  2. Tiered approval: Routed by amount and event type, in Teams
  3. Event runs
  4. Invoice captured: File ID stored once: "resolve once"
  5. Business Officer review
  6. Final approval
  7. Payment authorization: Sent to Finance; Power BI reporting
The event-payment flow, sanitized: no site names, paths, mailboxes or approval thresholds. A capture step stores each invoice's file ID once, so later steps never have to search for it.

The diagram is a sanitized redraw: it leaves out site names, paths, mailboxes, approval thresholds and internal expressions.

Key decisions

Root-cause debugging: resolve once, where it's reliable

Every flow used to re-find invoices by filename pattern. That failed silently when a name was slightly off, and it picked the wrong vendor's file when an event had several. The fix was a capture flow that stores the invoice's file ID once, so later flows reference it directly.

The principle I took from it: "resolve once, where it is reliable."

Results and status

As of Sept 23, 2026, the four main flows and one payment authorization passed end-to-end testing, and the capture flow was next to build.

What I'd do next

  • Build the capture flow, so every later step uses the stored file ID.
  • Finish the seventh flow.

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