topic Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector in ArcGIS Connectors for Power Automate Questions

Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

EendrulatGH — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:25:17 GMT

Microsoft's documentation for the ArcGIS Connector list a few limitations, including:

Connections will time out after 14 days and must be refreshed manually by initiating a sign-in to ArcGIS.

Does this mean that any PA flows using the connector will need to be manually updated every 2 weeks? Is there any longer term plans on the roadmap to address this, or suggested workarounds to avoid this manual step?

Appreciate any guidance!

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

SeanKMcGinnis — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 11:55:46 GMT

Hi @EendrulatGH - your understanding is correct. The connection uses a token to connect to ArcGIS Online and it expires after 14 days forcing the user to refresh the connection.

We are working with Microsoft and investigating other methods for authenticating to avoid the two week expiration, but no timeline for release has been set.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

EendrulatGH — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:54:23 GMT

Thanks for the confirmation!

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

abul123 — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:56:12 GMT

Hi @SeanKMcGinnis,

Is there any update on this?

Thank you!

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

RobertAnderson3 — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 14:55:10 GMT

It's a 90 day time out now on the ArcGIS connector, I believe on all builds of it.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

PaulGiroux1 — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:47:51 GMT

@SeanKMcGinnis, you mentioned working on other methods to keep connections active. First, can you confirm what @RobertAnderson3 said about the 90 day time out? If that's correct, then I'm gold but if it's still 14 days, then I'll need to find other methods (API key, etc?).

I have a public Survey123 form so not sure the longest period before the form is used to report an issue so I want to make sure my flow it stays alive, regardless. We're also building flows with ArcGIS webhooks wanting to control this for those also.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

Katrin_Hils — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 12:48:36 GMT

Hi Community,

we are struggling with the same issue. In our case we have over 10 Surveys (in AGOL) and at the moment around about 15-20 Power Automate flows connected to these surveys. It's quite a pain to check every 2 weeks whether the connection is still there. As there was an development for ArcGIS Connector in ArcGIS Enterprise, I was hoping the same for ArcGIS Online. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the moment.

Therefore, I posted the issue as an Esri Idea and wanted to share this post (https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-for-power-automate-ideas/solution-for-timeout-for-power-automate-arcgis/idi-p/1335303) with you. I guess it might help, if this post gets some Kudos.

I kindly want to ask you to please give Kudos to this Esri Idea. I guess the more Kudos, the better and the higher the priority? 🙂

Thank you!

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

SeanKMcGinnis — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 14:16:41 GMT

@PaulGiroux1& @Katrin_Hils - thanks for reaching out.

To answer your question regarding the token timeout, it is no longer an issue with the ArcGIS for Power Automate Connectors. We worked with Microsoft to adjust the way the refresh tokens were be refreshed and now there is no need to refresh the connection as long as the flow runs within your refresh token's lifespan.

The Survey123 Connector is different connector using the previous authentication method. There are plans to update the authentication process to alleviate the need to refresh the Survey123 connection every two weeks, but that is managed by another team.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

Kevin_MacLeod — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 13:37:39 GMT

@SeanKMcGinnis roger that, use the ArcGIS Connector.

However, it was noted at UC 2024 that even then; connections that only activate less than every two weeks will lose the token. You had a 'keep alive' script that would 'jiggle the handle' once every two weeks; to keep it alive. Would you kindly share that script or flow?

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

JoabelBarbieri — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 13:21:30 GMT

It seems auth expires from time to time and our flows just stop working. if you don't pay attention and reconnect, lots of business-critical workflows will just stop and you'll be left wondering what happened. These connectors should never expire.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

SeanKMcGinnis — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 16:01:34 GMT

@JoabelBarbieri - we are sorry you are having issues with the connections. My suggestion is to submit an Esri support ticket so we can have people look into the source. When submitting the request, please provide details on the connectors you are using and the issue you are encountering? When you do submit an incident, please send me an email, including the ticket number, to smcginnis@esri.com and I will follow along with the case as the appropriate teams determine the source of the issue.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

Tiff — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:30:21 GMT

Hello @SeanKMcGinnis, thank you for this information and for your recent responses on this thread! I am following up to see if there have been any updates on the 2 week timeout. I had spoken to some Esri staff in the past year or so. Also, is this the best thread to be following for updates, or is there another place that updates will be shared, specifically about the 2 week timeout authentication period? Thank you!

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

RobertAnderson3 — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:50:16 GMT

Hi @Tiff the ArcGIS Connector (the orange one) no longer has an issue with tokens timing out, the Survey123 Connector (green one) does still have this two week timeout though (the trigger doesn't because it receives the token with the payload, but things like the Create report action will still have the 2 week timeout). Though I see below if the ArcGIS Connector flow isn't triggered in 2 weeks it will still timeout, but mine run consistently so I can't speak to that.

That said, it seems now the Survey123 Connector actions are all available in the ArcGIS Connector as well, so you could always move to that, however the ArcGIS Connector is part of the paid plan while the Survey123 Connector is not.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

Tiff — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 18:48:09 GMT

Thanks @RobertAnderson3,, I actually mixed up this thread with my primary question, which was on the Survey123 connector. While I have access to the premium ArcGIS connector, there have been some problems with it and thus I would rather stick with Survey123 despite the 2 week timeout. I actually had no idea that the ArcGIS connector flow would time out. Is this unique to each flow or just the connection itself?

In addition, in reference to my initial question, do you happen to have the most recent/authoritative forum post for the Survey123 connector 2 week timeout issue? I searched and just cannot find it. I would like to keep up with updates. Thank you again!

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

RobertAnderson3 — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 19:02:45 GMT

Ah no worries.

What issues have you encountered with the ArcGIS Connector? I want to start moving my flows to it so I was wondering if any differences were appearing.

I am not sure about the ArcGIS Connector timing out, I haven't experienced it personally.

Ahh okay, I do remember seeing another thread that was talking about it as well, I'll see if I can find it..

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

SeanKMcGinnis — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 19:59:27 GMT

@Tiff - regarding the timeout issue in the Survey123 connector for Power Automate, there is no further development on that connector and the time out issue is not going to be addressed. All future capabilities are going to be in the ArcGIS Connectors for Power Automate.

As @RobertAnderson3 shared, the connection timeout issue has been addressed when we ported the Survey123 capabilities into the connectors that work with ArcGIS Online and Enterprise.

I would be interested to hear what problems you had with the ArcGIS Connectors for Power Automate that are making you cautious.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

Tiff — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:22:19 GMT

Hi @RobertAnderson3, so the biggest issue is that somehow the updates don't trigger immediately. I worked with Esri support on understanding why, but it tends to take longer than 1 minute and up to 5 minutes. In comparison with Survey123 that is almost instant, that was a big difference. In addition, even though the connector works with fetching updates, it doesn't let you specify which fields you want to see have been changed. That led to some limitations in what we could do with our workflows. Finally, recently there was a big issue in the webhooks deactivating after some time, randomly. Luckily a workaround was found, but it caused quite a few headaches for me and users of the tools I created.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

Tiff — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:46:49 GMT

Hi @SeanKMcGinnis, I had NO idea that it would no longer be fixed. Last I heard the Esri team was working with Microsoft on the 2 week timeout, but that it was difficult.

Thank you for your interest in learning more about my experiences. I didn't see your post initially, but I sent a response in to Robert above. If you are curious, I have cases/bugs open with technical support (related bugs also noted). - BUG-000169874, BUG-000163136, BUG-000159797, BUG-000168340

I'm also open to connecting further offline.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

SeanKMcGinnis — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 21:43:01 GMT

Hi @Tiff - if you send me an email at smcginnis@esri.com, we can set up a time to talk. I look forward to hearing more about what you are encountering.

Re: Timeout for Power Automate ArcGIS Connector

RobertAnderson3 — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 11:11:13 GMT

Ah yeah, I did notice some challenges with the delays on the "when a layer is updated" trigger, but that probably wouldn't be an issue for my flows much outside of testing.

The lack of looking at specific fields did end up causing me issues too, for example I only wanted to know when a Status field was changed to Complete and nothing else updating mattered (it was causing some duplication but I found a workaround)

And yeah that bug lately was quite a headache but it's been fixed thankfully from my understanding.