Introduction
This guide will demonstrate how to extract data from consignment notes or CMRs (Convention Relative au Contrat de Transport International de Marchandises par Route) and import it into Microsoft Excel using Microsoft Power Automate. This process will help streamline your workflow by automating the data extraction from CMRs that arrive in your mailbox or are stored in OneDrive.
Video Instruction
Step 1: Deploy the CMR template
First, deploy the CMR template in Microsoft Power Automate, which allows you to extract data from documents related to shipments by road.
Search for the CMR template in the Bitskout Templates library:
Click Use Template to create a plugin.
Step 2: Create a Microsoft Power Automate flow
Create a flow that will extract data from CMRs arriving in your mailbox or stored in OneDrive. For this example, we will use a simple scenario where documents are received by email. Use a trigger called "when new email arrives" to initiate the flow.
Step 3: Get the email attachment
Since consignment notes are usually sent as attachments, add a step to get the attachment from the email. Choose the message ID and attachment ID to retrieve the attachment.
Step 4: Add Bitskout CMR plugin
First, inside the Apply to Each cycle, press Add Action and choose Bitskout. You'll need to use Run Plugin For a File item:
Then choose your created plugin.
Next, use the following expression in the file_url:
string(outputs('Get_Attachment_(V2)')?['body/contentBytes'])
Step 5: Save and test the scenario
Save your flow and run a test by sending an email with a consignment note attachment. The flow will pick up the email, and process the attachment.
Step 6: Add JSON actions
Since Microsoft Power Automate does not know what the Bitscout plugins will return, add JSON actions after each plugin. Before we proceed, copy the whole raw output from your test.
Then let's add Parse JSON action. As Content, choose outputs from the previous step.
Then click Generate from Sample and paste the output from the test:
