Power Platform Business solutions and Microsoft 365 services

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We shall now describe how Power Platform business solutions can consume Microsoft 365 services. Microsoft Power Platform aims at combining the robust power of PowerApps, PowerBI, and Power Automate into a powerful business application platform. Also, it provides quick and easy app building and data insights. Moreover, each component of the Microsoft Power Platform has been built on the Common Data Service for Apps. The primary aim of the Microsoft Power platform is to bring all your data together into a common data model.

Single Solution for  Office 365 and Dynamics 365

We shall now discuss about the one app platform for Office 365 and Dynamics 365 elaborating each of the components.

One app platform for Office 365 and Dynamics 365 - Microsoft
Source: Microsoft

Common Data Service

Some of the features of Common Data Service (CDS) include –

  • Firstly, Common Data Service for Apps(CDS) is one of the most secure databases hosted in Azure Cloud that are prebuilt with a standard set of entities and record types.
  • Secondly, these record types include – Accounts, Contacts, and various activity types that are extensible, so we can add additional data fields.
  • Also, developers have the leverage to add new entities to fit their business requirements.
  • Such that, these entities are related to each other, and Business Rules can be created to make fields required, to hide fields and to set default values.
  • Further, the Power Platform is built on the Common Data Model, where users are provided with a semantic consistency and built-in connectivity.

Power Automate

Some of the features of Power Automate include –

  • Firstly, Power Automate helps to build automated workflows between apps and services.
  • Secondly, the workflows are used to integrate and update data, synchronize files, get notifications and more.
  • Also, there are over 200 apps and services, including Common Data Service for Apps, that work with Power Automate.
  • Moreover, Power Automate allows users to easily automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, providing a “better way to get things done.”
  • Also, it offers more accessibility to users with a diverse set of coding abilities to easily utilize Power Automate.
  • Together with intelligent and powerful capabilities for Power Automate makers resulting in better outcomes in alignment with digital transformation goals.
  • Lastly, it will be simpler to duplicate actions in the Power Automate designer with the cut and paste functionality.

PowerBI

PowerBI is a business analytics service provided by Microsoft. Using data stored in CDS or other databases, users can build informative reports and dashboards to display important data about sales, customer service, and other business functions. These dashboards and reports can be published on websites, in SharePoint or Teams, and in Apps. Power BI allows organizations to make business decisions based on data and facts, not opinions.

A recent improvement here is visual personalization for end users. This feature enables the user to adjust a visual based on their needs and bookmark it for later.

PowerApps

  • Firstly, PowerApps build on the platform of CDS permits citizen developers for building easy to use applications for standard business needs.
  • Secondly, the Power App can be built and made accessible on the rep’s phone that surfaces your survey and inspection questions.
  • Also, the rep could visit the franchise and quickly fill out the data from their phone then stored in the CDS.
  • This flow would trigger notifications of tasks identified to repair defects at the franchises. And PowerBI dashboards would allow you to rank stores against each other.
  • Moreover, it offers the ability for app developers to fully build custom and responsive experiences in their applications.
  • It offers the ability to create a new app within one of your channels in Microsoft Teams using data already existing in Microsoft Teams Sharepoint site.

NOTE – Microsoft has shifted the administration of the Power Platform out of Office 365 and to its own site. We can access the administration site using – https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/

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