FI Dashboard (Metrics)(Workflow Comparison)
Power Automate vs N8N Comparison (PDF parsing)
Power Automate Summary Key Takeaways:
the 5 key takeaways if you go with Power Automate Premium for PDF parsing and Excel dashboards:
Seamless PDF Parsing 📝
Premium unlocks AI Builder and advanced connectors that can extract structured data (tables, fields, values) directly from PDFs like your FI Dashboard snapshots.
Direct Excel Integration 📊
You can read and write across multiple tabs and tables in Excel Online, making it easy to push parsed data into your dashboards without manual copy/paste.
Automated Data Flows ⚡
Build flows that trigger when a file is added or updated in OneDrive/SharePoint, automatically updating your dashboards with fresh metrics.
Customizable & Modular 🔧
Flows can be tailored to your scenario toggling: parse → transform → update → version. Perfect for your modular dashboard design and audit-grade clarity.
Optional Notifications 📬
While the core automation updates dashboards directly, you can add email or Teams alerts for version tracking, giving you visibility without extra manual steps.
👉 In short: Premium makes parsing PDFs and updating Excel dashboards a streamlined, automated process inside your Microsoft ecosystem — no bots required unless you want unattended runs.
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Manual Workflow (Excel + Human Prompting)
🔁 Workflow Steps
Open Excel dashboard
Manually input or paste updated metrics (e.g., NOV25 CP, OCT25 CP, etc.)
Apply formulas or toggles for scenario analysis
Save and version the file (e.g., NOV25–OCT25 snapshot)
Repeat for each fund or time period
✅ Pros
Full control over logic and formatting
Easy to test edge cases and tweak scenarios
No subscription or setup required
❌ Cons
Time-consuming for multiple funds or snapshots
Risk of manual errors or versioning issues
Doesn’t scale well if you expand to multiple dashboards
Bot Workflow (Unattended Automation via Power Automate or n8n)
🔁 Workflow Steps
Bot monitors OneDrive folder for new files (e.g., updated PDFs or Excel sheets)
Bot extracts metrics from each file (PDF parsing or Excel cell targeting)
Bot pushes data into structured Excel dashboard or modular table
Bot saves versioned output (e.g., NOV25–OCT25) and optionally triggers alerts or updates
✅ Pros
Fully automated updates across multiple dashboards
Scales easily across funds, time periods, and scenarios
Reduces manual errors and ensures consistency
Can integrate with other tools (e.g., email alerts, dashboard refreshes)
❌ Cons
Requires setup (Power Automate Premium or n8n + PDF parser)
Initial logic must be modular and well-defined
May need occasional human review for edge cases
Decision Guide
ScenarioManualBotOne dashboard, occasional updates✅❌
Multiple dashboards, frequent updates❌✅
Need for version control and audit trail⚠️✅
Want to scale across funds and timeframes❌✅
Prefer full control and flexibility✅⚠️
Suggested Hybrid Setup for You
Since you’re already building modular dashboards and toggling scenarios:
Use manual updates for early iterations and logic testing
Transition to bot automation once your table structure is stable
Let the bot handle extraction and updates, while you focus on scenario design and toggling logic
What Premium gives you (no bot required)
PDF parsing: You can use AI Builder or premium connectors to extract structured data from PDFs like your FI Dashboard (Metrics).
Manual or triggered flows: You can run flows yourself (e.g., when a file is uploaded or a button is clicked).
Attended desktop flows: You can launch automations from your PC manually — no bot needed.
Cloud flows: Automate tasks like moving files, updating Excel, or sending alerts based on triggers.
When a bot is required
Only if you want unattended automation — meaning flows run automatically without you present (e.g., overnight updates, scheduled parsing).
That’s when you’d need the Process plan ($150/bot/month), which licenses a bot to run flows independently.
🧭 Your setup
Since you’re considering manual updates with dynamic Excel dashboards, Premium is perfect:
You stay in control.
You can parse PDFs and push structured data into your dashboard.
You avoid the cost and complexity of bot licensing.
Yes — with Power Automate Premium, you can parse Excel files that have multiple tabs (worksheets) and multiple tables. Here’s how it works in practice:
🔧 How Premium handles Excel
Excel Online (Business) connector (a premium connector) lets you:
Access specific worksheets inside a workbook.
Target named tables or defined ranges within those worksheets.
Read, update, or append rows across different tabs.
You can build flows that:
Loop through each worksheet in a file.
Extract data from multiple tables.
Push that data into another dashboard or structured dataset.
✅ What this means for you
If your FI Dashboard workbook has separate tabs for different funds or scenarios, Premium can parse each one.
If you’ve defined tables (using Excel’s “Format as Table”), flows can directly reference those tables by name — making automation modular and reliable.
You don’t need a bot for this; Premium alone covers attended/manual flows and triggered cloud flows.
⚡ Example Workflow
Trigger: File updated in OneDrive.
Action: Flow opens workbook.
Loop: For each worksheet → extract table data.
Output: Push structured data into your dashboard or save a consolidated version.
👉 So yes, Premium is enough for parsing multi-tab, multi-table Excel files. You’d only need a bot if you wanted this to run unattended on a schedule (e.g., overnight refreshes).
Practical Takeaway
Power Automate Premium:
Best if you want simplicity and seamless integration with your Microsoft 365 setup.
Parsing PDFs is straightforward with AI Builder, but you’re locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Great for manual or triggered flows, but unattended automation costs extra.
n8n:
Best if you want flexibility and control.
Parsing PDFs may require external services or custom nodes, but you can modularize flows exactly how you want.
More setup effort, but no extra licensing for bots or unattended runs.
👉 For your FI Dashboard use case:
If you want ease and reliability inside your Microsoft environment → Power Automate Premium.
If you want maximum modularity and scenario toggling across different dashboards, and don’t mind tinkering → n8n.
with Power Automate Premium, you’re not limited to email. You can absolutely parse data from Excel dashboards and PDFs, then push that data directly into another Excel dashboard (or even multiple dashboards).
🔧 How it works
Excel Online (Business) connector (Premium feature) lets you:
Read data from specific worksheets or tables in one Excel file.
Write or update rows/cells in another Excel file (your target dashboard).
PDF parsing (AI Builder) extracts structured data → you can map those fields into Excel tables.
Flows can be triggered by:
A new file added to OneDrive/SharePoint
A manual button press
A scheduled run (if you later add unattended automation)
📊 Example Workflow
Trigger: New PDF or updated Excel file in OneDrive.
Action 1: Parse PDF or read source Excel tables.
Action 2: Transform data (map fields, clean values).
Action 3: Update another Excel dashboard (write rows into the correct tab/table).
Optional: Send an email alert or Teams message confirming the update.
✅ Key Point
Email is optional — you can use it for notifications, but the core automation can directly update your dashboards.
This means you can keep your FI Dashboard, ETF Screener, and Super Analysis files in sync automatically, without manual copy/paste.
👉 Since you’re already modularizing dashboards, Premium gives you the flexibility to chain multiple Excel files together. You only need email if you want alerts or audit trails.
Parsing PDFs
Yes: With Power Automate Premium, you can parse PDFs using AI Builder or premium connectors.
This lets you extract structured data (tables, fields, values) from PDFs like your FI Dashboard snapshots.
📝 Updating into a new PDF
No direct PDF creation: Power Automate doesn’t natively generate or update PDFs with new data.
What it can do is:
Parse the PDF → push the data into Excel, SharePoint, or Dataverse.
From Excel or Word, you can then export/save as PDF (this is the usual workaround).
Automate the flow: Parse PDF → update Excel dashboard → generate new PDF from Excel/Word template → save to OneDrive/SharePoint.
⚡ Practical Workflow
Trigger: New PDF arrives in OneDrive.
Action 1: Parse PDF → extract metrics.
Action 2: Update Excel dashboard with parsed data.
Action 3: Use Excel/Word connector → “Export to PDF” → save new PDF version.
✅ So yes, you can end up with a new PDF file containing updated data, but the path is indirect: parse → update Excel/Word → export as PDF.
