ArcGIS Survey123

Load Survey123 data into Excel instantly with Microsoft Power Automate

Using the ArcGIS Survey123 connector for Microsoft Power Automate you can automate tasks when a survey is submitted. Typical tasks include:

This step-by-step guide you will show you how to instantly load data from Survey123 into a Microsoft Office workbook.

In this particular scenario, we will pretend a severe weather event has hit our city. You will create a public online survey to help citizens document damage to their property. Using Microsoft Power Automate you will take data submitted via Survey123 and instantly load it into an existing Microsoft Office workbook.

Ready to start? Following this step-by-step guide should not take you more than 20 minutes.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide you will need an ArcGIS Online account with publishing permissions and a subscription to Microsoft Office 365.

It all starts with a survey, let’s create one

There is not much you can automate without a survey , so let’s get that going first:

This image shows how to create a survey from a template

This survey allows residents of the city to report damage to their home.  Contact information, details of the property and a description of the damage are part of the form. You may make adjustments to the survey such as adding new questions, rewording existing ones or changing its look and feel. For this exercise, we will proceed to publish and share it publicly.

This image shows how to publish and publicly share a survey

If you now share your survey link with others, they will be able to submit data. Do you want to do that now? I don’t think so!

We need a spreadsheet too

Next, we are going to create a new workbook in Microsoft Office 365 and add columns matching the information collected in the survey:

This image shows how to create an Excel spreadshet in Microsoft Office 365

Ok. We are almost ready to have some fun with Microsoft Power Automate!

First steps with Microsoft Power Automate

Microsoft Power Automate includes a Survey123 module. We will use it to connect our survey with the workbook you just created.

Shows how to configure a cloud automated workflow with Survey123

Configuring the workflow

In the next steps, you will configure the Survey123 module to trigger your workflow when a new response is submitted. You will also add a second module to add new records into your Microsoft Excel workbook.

Shows how to configure the Survey123 and Excel modules

Once a table is selected, the Add row into a table module will display all the columns you added into the spreadsheet. One by one, we will instruct Microsoft Power Automate to populate the values using data from the Survey123 record that triggered the workflow.

This image shows how to map Survey123 dynamic content into the Microsoft Power Automate Excel module

Time to test!

Once the Power Automate workflow is saved, your Property Damage Report survey will be connected to your workflow.  At that moment, every time you submit a record from your survey, the Microsoft Power Automate workflow will be triggered.

This image shows how Microsoft Power Automate adds data from Survey123 into the spreadsheet after a record is submitted

What’s next?

Collecting data is just the beginning. It is only when you get data into the hands of people who need it that magical things happen.  Every time someone submits data through your survey, a new record is created in an ArcGIS layer. You can build web maps, real time dashboards and web applications to help people work with your data.  Thanks to your Microsoft Power Automate workflow, your data is also instantly loaded into an Excel spreadsheet. Excel is a favorite for many people, and for good reasons.

With Microsoft Power Automate and its Survey123 module, you can do much more. I encourage you to explore other Survey123 templates.  An an Esri user you can also access this 55 minute training seminar.  Do not hesitate posting your questions to the Survey123 Esri Community.

About the author

Ismael Chivite joined Esri in 2002. A geographer by training, he loves helping people leverage GIS to improve the way they work. As a Senior Product Manager, Ismael is always looking for ideas to create new and improve existing Esri products. Outside working hours: Legos, rock climbing, Romanesque architecture and jamon iberico. On occasion, he enjoys jamon during working hours too.

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