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Common Data Service
The heart of the Microsoft Power Platform is the Common Data Service for Apps(CDS). CDS is a secure database hosted in Azure Cloud prebuilt with a standard set of entities and record types. These record types – for example, Accounts, Contacts, and various activity types are extensible – so you can add additional data fields. Developers can also add new entities to fit their business needs. Entities have relationships to each other, and Business Rules can be created to make fields required, to hide fields and to set default values.
Because the Power Platform is built on the Common Data Model, users are provided with a semantic consistency and built-in connectivity.
Power Automate
Power Automate (Formerly Microsoft Flow) is a service that helps you to create automated workflows between apps and services. These workflows can be used to integrate and update data, synchronize files, get notifications and more. There are over 200 apps and services, including Common Data Service for Apps, that work with Power Automate today and that number is always growing. Power Automate allows users to easily automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, providing a “better way to get things done.” We now have more accessibility – users with a diverse set of coding abilities can easily utilize Power Automate.
We now have more intelligent and powerful capabilities for Power Automate makers. There have been a number of productivity enhancements between Power Automate and Microsoft Teams. This results not only in better outcomes in alignment with digital transformation goals, but it also encourages early adoption of Microsoft Teams.
Soon it will be easier 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
PowerApps build on the platform of CDS to allow citizen developers to build easy to use applications for standard business needs. For example, you want to build an app for representatives to inspect your companies franchises. A Power App could be built and made available on the rep’s phone that surfaces your survey and inspection questions. The rep could visit the franchise and quickly fill out the data from their phone. This data is then stored in the CDS. 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.
We now see the ability for app developers to fully build custom and responsive experiences in their applications. We also now have the ability to create new app within one of your channels in Microsoft Teams. This can be done using data that you already have in your Microsoft Teams Sharepoint site.
Microsoft has moved the administration of the Power Platform out of Office 365 and to its own site, You can access the administration site at https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/ You can also start free trials for all of these services at the same URL.
Additional Resources
Increase your proficiency with the Power Platform and learn more about the apps that interest you in the following learning paths:
Learn new skills and discover the power of Microsoft products with step-by-step guidance by browsing all Business Application learning paths.
Download the 2020 Power Platform release wave 1 PDF
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