Minimum Path to Awesomeness

Power Platform is a low-code platform that enables you to create solutions that automate workflows, build apps, analyze data, and create bots. Power Platform consists of four main tools: Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents. Power Platform can help you improve your productivity, efficiency, and innovation by enabling you to build solutions that suit your specific needs and scenarios. However, to get the most out of Power Platform, you need to have a strategy for adopting and supporting it in your organization. This is where Power Platform COE comes in. Power Platform COE, or Center of Excellence, is a collection of tools and templates that are designed to help you develop a strategy for adopting and supporting Power Platform in your organization. Power Platform COE helps you plan, govern, and nurture Power Platform adoption and innovation, while maintaining standards, consistency, and governance. Power Platform COE can help you achieve the following benefits:

Power Automate can help you improve your productivity, efficiency, and innovation by enabling you to build solutions that suit your specific needs and scenarios. However, to get the most out of Power Automate, you need to follow some best practices that will ensure the quality, performance, and security of your flows. In this blog, we will share some of the best practices that you should follow when using Power Automate. Understand Power Automate in the Power Platform ecosystem Power Automate is part of the Microsoft Power Platform, which also includes Power Apps, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents. These tools work together to enable you to create end-to-end solutions that automate workflows, build apps, analyze data, and create bots. You should learn how to use Power Automate with the other tools in the Power Platform to create powerful and integrated solutions. For example, you can use Power Automate to handle the business logic and data integration for your Power Apps, or to trigge

One of the key features of Power Platform Dataverse is its rich security model that can adapt to many business usage scenarios. This security model is based on the concept of security roles, which are collections of privileges that define what users can do with the data and resources in Power Platform Dataverse. In this blog, we will explain what security roles are, how they work, and how to use them in Power Platform Dataverse. What are security roles? Security roles are groups of privileges that control access to data and resources in Power Platform Dataverse. Privileges are the basic units of security that define what actions users can perform on a specific type of data or resource, such as create, read, write, delete, share, or assign. Privileges are combined with access levels, which define the scope of access that users have to the data or resource, such as user, business unit, parent-child business unit, organization, or none. For example, a user with the read privilege and the

Welcome back, fellow Power Apps enthusiasts and developers! Today we're diving deep into the fascinating world of Power Apps and exploring some of its key components: variables, named formulas, and collections. Each of these tools plays a crucial role in creating dynamic, intuitive apps - but the key to unlocking their potential lies in understanding when and how to use them.  A Crash Course on Variables, Named Formulas, and Collections Before we discuss when to use these tools, let's briefly define what each of them does. Variables are the simplest of the three. They're essentially containers that store a single value. These values could be anything - a number, a string of text, or a Boolean value (true/false). Variables are extremely useful for storing temporary data, like the number of times a user has interacted with a button or the result of a specific calculation.  Named formula s are the next level up. They're an advanced form of variables, with the capability

We live in an era where digital platforms and tools continue to evolve, constantly changing the way we communicate and interact in the workplace. That's why today, we're exploring the exceptional benefits of using the "Send a Message in Teams" feature via Power Automate, instead of traditional email notifications.  Collaboration is King  Microsoft Teams isn't just a tool; it's a communal platform. Sending a message through Teams means it's visible to all members involved in a particular channel or chat. This universal visibility ensures everyone is well-informed and on the same page, making communication more efficient and collaborative. Imagine managing a team project through Teams. You can share updates, files, and even co-work on documents, ensuring everyone's looped into the project's progress and helping it move forward smoothly. Such transparent communication is difficult to maintain through email notifications. Engaging, Not Just Informing 

In the Power Platform universe, both SharePoint and Dataverse are significant players when it comes to data storage and management. But when should you use each of these as your data source? Let's delve into their pros and cons to get a clear picture. SharePoint Pros SharePoint is an excellent choice for document management and collaboration. It is already integrated with other Office 365 services, providing seamless interoperability. It's easier to set up and manage compared to Dataverse. It offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface for non-technical users. Cons SharePoint isn't designed for large-scale relational data storage. It may not provide the best performance for complex or large data scenarios. Its querying capabilities are limited compared to Dataverse.

Introduction Throttling is a common issue that users encounter when working with Power Automate. But fret not, this blog post is designed to walk you through how to effectively manage this challenge. Understanding Throttling While I will not be delving into what Power Automate is, it's important to understand the concept of throttling in this context. Essentially, throttling happens when your flows are making requests at a rate that exceeds the limits set by the service you are interacting with. This results in the service slowing down or even stopping the flow of data, which is what we refer to as 'throttling'. You can learn more about the specific limitations that Microsoft puts in place for Power Automate here . How to Handle Throttling Now, let's delve into how you can handle throttling in Power Automate. Here are a few strategies: Use Delays: Adding delay actions between your requests can he

If you're a Power Apps user, you've likely encountered situations where you needed to manage large data sets or complex data operations. To ensure smooth and efficient performance, Power Apps relies heavily on the concept of delegation. Although delegation can seem daunting initially, understanding and managing it effectively can significantly improve your app performance and user experience. Understanding Delegation in Power Apps Before diving into how to handle delegation, it's crucial to comprehend what it means in the context of Power Apps. Delegation is the method Power Apps employs to retrieve and manage data. Instead of fetching all the data at once and operating on it locally, Power Apps instructs the data source to perform operations such as filtering, sorting, or aggregation. The data source then sends back only the relevant data. The primary reason for this approach is to efficiently handle large amounts of data, keeping the app responsive and performing well. Wi

Since I blog about this, I need to tell you how to do this right; otherwise, you might end up facing the same hiccups that I initially did. Today, I will guide you on how to set up Azure Application Insights with Power Apps, Microsoft's fantastic low-code platform for building business applications.  Step 1: Create Your Azure Application Insights Resource  Before we can integrate Power Apps with Azure Application Insights, we first need an Application Insights resource to connect to. 1. Sign in to the Azure portal : Navigate to  https://portal.azure.com/ and sign in with your Microsoft account. 2. Create a new Application Insights resource : In the Azure portal, select "Create a resource" from the left-hand navigation. In the "New" window, search for "Application Insights". Click on it and then select "Create". 3. Configure your Application Insights resource : In the "Create Application Insights" window, enter the details for your

Good morning, afternoon, evening, or night, my fearless automation architects! Is your love for Power Automate as everlasting as that carton of almond milk you swore you'd finish? Well, buckle up, because today we're diving into the fascinating and frequently misunderstood world of the 'Compose' action! But first, let's pop open the hood and see what the Compose action actually is. Is it a finely crafted symphony, delicately harmonizing your every flow? Eh, not quite, but it's not too far off.  Essentially, Compose allows you to create and manipulate data on the fly within your flow, just like a maestro conducting a melody. Only instead of notes and rhythms, you're handling data inputs, variables, and outputs.  Let's break it down into some casual scenarios: The Middleman Maneuver Like a trusted broker in a Wall Street trade, Compose acts as an intermediary in your flow. Let's say you're doing a little bit of data gymnastics between SharePoint an

Power Apps have become a ubiquitous tool in the world of app development, empowering anyone to build user-friendly applications with little to no coding experience. But as the adage goes, with great power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is ensuring your Power Apps perform optimally for all users. This is where Azure Application Insights comes in. Azure Application Insights, part of the Azure Monitor suite, is an extensible application performance management (APM) service for developers and DevOps professionals. It offers real-time, actionable insights into how your Power App is performing and where it can be optimized for a better user experience.  Pinpoint and Diagnose Issues Quickly Having issues with your Power App but not sure where they're coming from? Azure Application Insights has you covered. The platform provides automatic collection and detailed analysis of application telemetry data. In plain English, it monitors your app around the clock, instantly a

Microsoft Power Automate, formerly known as Microsoft Flow, is a powerful tool for automating workflows across numerous applications and services. Despite its power and flexibility, like any system, there are times when performance can become an issue. But, by following a few simple steps and understanding key principles, you can get the most out of Power Automate, ensuring your flows run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Optimize Triggers and Actions Every flow begins with a trigger, which could be an event like receiving an email or a file being uploaded. It's vital to make sure that triggers are as specific as possible to avoid unnecessary flow runs. For example, if you have a flow that triggers when a file is uploaded to a SharePoint folder, ensure the trigger is set to that specific folder, not the entire SharePoint site. Similar principles apply to actions, which are tasks that the flow carries out when it runs. Try to limit the number of actions within a single flow.

Hello, world! Welcome to the inaugural post of our new Power Platform blog, your ultimate resource for everything concerning Microsoft's Power Platform. As the world revolves around an evolving digital sphere, the role of technology as a catalyst to transform businesses is more paramount than ever. This blog is dedicated to exploring and celebrating that power, specifically via Microsoft's Power Platform. What is Power Platform? For the uninitiated, Microsoft's Power Platform is a suite of business applications that allows individuals, teams, and organizations to analyze data, build solutions, automate processes, and create virtual agents. It encompasses Power BI for data analytics, Power Apps for app development, Power Automate for process automation, and Power Virtual Agents for creating chatbots. In essence, it's an amalgamation of tools designed to empower everyone, from the non-technical business user to the professional developer, to work more effectively. Why a P