A Workflow is a series of tasks that are performed to fulfill a defined purpose.
Workflows can be used to automate manual tasks in a business process using some predefined business logic.
Workflows are used because they can improve business processes, reduce costs and time that it takes to complete those tasks.
What is a Sharepoint workflow ?
A Sharepoint workflow is the automation of manual tasks using the sharepoint application.
Examples include the following :
Sending an email notification when a new item is added to a Sharepoint list, sending an approval email notification when a resource request item is added to a Sharepoint list.
Sharepoint workflows were used in Sharepoint 2010, 2013, 2016 but they have been replaced with Power Automate in Sharepoint online.
What is PowerAutomate ?
Power Automate or Microsoft Flow as it was formerly known, is an application that is used in workflow automations.
Examples of PowerAutomate workflows include the following :
Automatically moving Sharepoint items from one Sharepoint list to another, sending weekly reminders via email to certain recipients, copying files from OneDrive to a Sharepoint document library and automatically saving email attachments to a Sharepoint site.