Add comprehensive documentation for Governance inactivity notification flows

[Copilot]

Users report receiving repeated inactivity emails after responding "Keep this App/Flow", and managers receive weekly notifications indefinitely. The flows are correctly implemented but lack documentation on lifecycle, timing dependencies, and troubleshooting.

Changes

New Documentation

• Documentation/InactivityNotificationFlowsGuide.md (17KB)

  • Complete lifecycle of Archive Approval table across 3 stages (pending → approved/rejected → cleanup)
  • How 5 flows interact: weekly Start Approval → daily Check Approval → weekly Manager notifications → weekly Cleanup
  • Root causes for repeated emails: timing mismatch (Start Approval runs before Check Approval processes weekend responses), Check Approval flow disabled/failing, connection auth expired
  • 6 troubleshooting scenarios with solutions
  • Configuration recommendations: adjust Start Approval to mid-week, test with admin_ProductionEnvironment = false
  • FAQ covering approval duration, manager notification behavior, customization

• Documentation/ISSUE_RESPONSE_INACTIVITY_NOTIFICATIONS.md (11KB)

  • Ready-to-use templates for repeated emails, manager notifications, and lifecycle questions
  • Quick troubleshooting steps for common scenarios
  • Escalation criteria for actual bugs

Updated Documentation

• Documentation/README.md: Added inactivity flows guide as first item
• docs/issue-response-templates.md: Added reference to inactivity notification templates

Key Insights

Archive Approval lifecycle by response type:

• Approve: Record persists indefinitely to prevent duplicate approvals
• Reject: 21-day grace period before deletion
• No response: Triggers weekly manager emails until responded to

Expected behavior: Start Approval flow checks for existing Archive Approval records with "Approve"/"Reject" status and skips those apps. Duplicate emails indicate Check Approval flow isn't processing responses (disabled, failing, or timing race condition).

Timing issue pattern: Start Approval (weekly Monday) + user responds Sunday → next Monday approval runs before daily Check Approval processes the response → duplicate email sent.

Recommended fix: Schedule Start Approval mid-week (Wed/Thu) to allow Check Approval time to process weekend responses.

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>[CoE Starter Kit - QUESTION] QUESTION: Need some more clarity on the Inactivity emails triggered via Governance Solution of COE Toolkit</issue_title>
<issue_description>### Does this question already exist in our backlog?

• I have checked and confirm this is a new question.

What is your question?

Need some more clarity on the Inactivity emails triggered via Governance Solution of COE Toolkit

We enabled all the Inactivity flows for the unused Power Apps and Power Automate flows, however when we enabled all these flows, the 1st flow ran very well and triggered emails to everyone (App/Flows not used in last 6 months) asking for the confirmation to keep or delete the App/Flow, some of the users clicked on "Keep this App/Flow" and provided the business justification.

Now when the flow ran after a week again it triggered an email to the same user who provided the confirmation.

So, we need to understand below scenarios in this inactivity flows as a part of Governance Solution Package

1. First Instance creates entry in the Archive Approval table, then how the complete cycle works for the 1st instance and after how many days the 2nd cycle would trigger and when it triggers what happens to the existing data in the Archive Approval Table?
2. If some of the users clicked on "Keep this App/Flow" and provided the business justification on the first instance of the flow, what will happen when the flow runs for 2nd and 3rd time till the cycle completes?
3. Also, if a user is confirming on if the App/Flow needs to be kept or deleted, another cloud flow that triggers email to the manager gets triggered every week.
4. Is there any best practice or any documentation on how we need to handle these inactivity flows because in our scenario this flow triggers email every week to everyone irrespective of the confirmation the user has provided or not?

What solution are you experiencing the issue with?

Governance

What solution version are you using?

January 2026

What app or flow are you having the issue with?

No response

What method are you using to get inventory and telemetry?

None</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>Analyze how the Governance Inactivity flows (Jan 2026) handle repeated runs and why users continue receiving weekly inactivity emails even after selecting ‘Keep this App/Flow’ and providing justification. Clarify the full approval lifecycle, behavior of the Archive Approval table during multiple cycles, manager‑notification logic, and provide guidance or fixes to prevent unnecessary repeated emails</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Custom agent used: CoE Custom Agent
Specialized agent for triaging and fixing issues in the CoE Starter Kit. Always consult the official CoE docs and the team’s SharePoint notes first, then mine prior GitHub issues and the CoE Common Responses playbook.

• Fixes [CoE Starter Kit - QUESTION] QUESTION: Need some more clarity on the Inactivity emails triggered via Governance Solution of COE Toolkit #10801

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