After creating a runbook to process Microsoft 365 data, registering the runbook with an automation schedule means that the runbook will execute on a reliable basis. This article discusses how to publish and register a runbook so that an automation schedule takes over the burden of running the job. In addition to describing the necessary steps in the Azure portal, we also give you the PowerShell commands.
The second part of the Azure Automation runbook primer brings us to output, specifically how to create items generated by a runbook in a SharePoint Online list. Once in the lists, items can be processed using Power Automate, Power Apps, or Power BI or exported to Excel. It’s a great way of capturing information generated by background jobs.
A reader asked why it seems so difficult to use Azure Automation runbooks to process Microsoft 365 data. In fact, it’s not so hard, and here’s a primer to help you understand how to create the necessary Azure Automation environment to develop and execute runbooks. Once modules and permissions are in place, everything falls into place.
A previous article explains how to use an Azure Automation runbook to write information to a SharePoint Online site and Teams channel. At the time, I used a stored credential to authenticate and access SharePoint and Teams. Azure Key Vault offers another way to store secrets (bits of information) securely. This article explores how to store secrets in Azure Key Vault and retrieve and use the secrets in a runbook script and interactive PowerShell.
Sharing information generated by a PowerShell script running in Azure Automation can be a challenge. Some time ago, I wrote about creating an output file in a SharePoint Online document library. Here I explore how to do the job by posting to a Teams channel using two different methods.
