Invest in developing your architectural skills for Copilot Studio
Learn how to successfully go-live with Copilot Studio agentic solutions for your customers at the first ever in-person Copilot Studio Partner Architecture Bootcamp in Redmond, Washington! The Power CAT team is pleased to host solution architects from our key partner organizations in Redmond for a 3-day intensive training to cover: Copilot Studio implementation best practices and patterns Derisk or prevent derailed complex projects Learn and apply new technologies effectively Spots are extremely limited – apply today - https://aka.ms/JoinAprilCSBootcamp
Issue with Listing Tasks from Planner Premium in Power Automate
Hello, I have created both Standard Planner and Planner Premium. When using Power Automate to list tasks, it only retrieves tasks from Standard Planner but not from Planner Premium. I tried using the Microsoft Graph API /planner/plans/{planId}/tasks, but it does not return tasks from Planner Premium. I also checked app permissions in Azure AD and tested the API in Postman and Power Automate, but it still does not work. These methods have been either too complex or have not given any results. Is there any alternative way to list tasks from Planner Premium? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. ThanksBattle of the Apps: Canvas vs. Model-Driven Apps in Power Apps
In the dynamic world of app development, Microsoft Power Platform offers two powerful approaches: Canvas apps and Model-Driven apps. Each has its unique strengths and use cases, making the choice between them crucial for developers and businesses alike. Let's dive into the battle of the apps and explore which one might be the best fit for your needs. What are Canvas Apps? Canvas apps are all about flexibility and customization. They allow Nonprofits to design the app's user interface from scratch, providing a blank canvas to place controls, images, and other elements wherever desired. You can also design the interface using available templates, providing you with a solid starting point. Key Features: Drag-and-Drop Interface: Easily design the app layout with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. Custom Logic: Implement custom business logic using Power Fx, a powerful formula language. Integration: Seamlessly integrate with various data sources, including SharePoint, SQL Server, and more. Responsive Design: Create apps that work on different devices, ensuring a consistent user experience. Use Cases: Field Service Apps: Perfect for mobile workers who need a customized interface to capture data on the go. Customer Engagement: Tailor the app to meet specific customer interaction needs, enhancing user satisfaction. What are Model-Driven Apps? Model-Driven apps focus on data and processes. They are built on top of Dataverse, leveraging a data-first approach. This means the app's design is driven by the underlying data model, ensuring consistency and standardization across the application. Key Features: Data-Centric: Automatically generate forms, views, and dashboards based on the data model. Business Processes: Implement complex business processes with built-in workflows and business rules. Security: Robust security model with role-based access control to protect sensitive data. Scalability: Easily scale the app as your business grows, thanks to the structured data model. Use Cases: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Ideal for managing complex business processes and data across the organization. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Streamline customer interactions and data management with a standardized approach. Choosing the Right App for Your Needs The choice between Canvas and Model-Driven apps depends on your specific requirements and goals. Here are some factors to consider: Customization vs. Standardization: If you need a highly customized user interface, Canvas apps are the way to go. For standardized, data-driven applications, Model-Driven apps are more suitable. Complexity of Business Processes: Model-Driven apps excel in handling complex business processes and workflows, while Canvas apps offer more flexibility for simpler, user-centric applications. Conclusion In the battle of Canvas vs. Model-Driven apps, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Each approach has its strengths and is best suited for different scenarios. By understanding your business needs and the capabilities of each app type, you can make an informed decision that maximizes the potential of Microsoft Power Platform. Additional Resources Overview of building canvas apps - Power Apps | Microsoft Learn Overview of building a model-driven app with Power Apps - Power Apps | Microsoft LearnAutomate Your External Data Collection: Power Automate and Microsoft Forms
In the fast-paced world of nonprofits, efficiency is key. With limited resources and time, automating routine tasks can free up valuable hours for more impactful work. One area ripe for automation is data collection. By leveraging tools like Power Automate and Microsoft Forms, nonprofits can streamline their data collection processes, ensuring accuracy and saving time. (Please note that this process is applicable to both internal and external members using Microsoft Forms. For a simplified process that works exclusively for internal members, please refer to this blog: Simplify Internal Data Collection with Microsoft Lists Forms | Microsoft Community Hub) Why Automate Data Collection? Nonprofits often rely on data to make informed decisions, track progress, and report to stakeholders. However, manual data collection can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Automation offers several benefits: Efficiency: Automating data collection reduces the time spent on manual entry, allowing staff to focus on mission-critical tasks. Accuracy: Automated processes minimize human error, ensuring that data is consistent and reliable. Real-time Insights: With automated data collection, information is available in real-time, enabling quicker decision-making. Today, we will develop a Power Automate flow to capture form responses and automatically send a thank-you email. Let's begin by creating the form. Getting Started with Microsoft Forms Microsoft Forms is a powerful tool for creating surveys, quizzes, and polls. It's user-friendly and integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 applications. Here's how to get started: Log in to your Microsoft 365 account by going to https://www.office.com/ , select apps, then select all Apps and navigate to Microsoft Forms. Choose the appropriate form type for your needs. Select a template to begin your form creation. Tailor your questions and style to fit your specific requirements. Once your form is ready, Click on Collect Responses share it with your audience via a link, email, or embed it on your website. Automating with Power Automate Power Automate allows you to create automated workflows between your favorite apps and services. Here's how you can use it to automate data collection from Microsoft Forms: Log in to https://make.powerautomate.com/ and click on "Create" to start a new flow. Choose between "Automated flow" to trigger actions based on specific events or "Scheduled flows" to run at predefined times or intervals. In this example we will work with Automated flows. Set Up Triggers: Write a flow and Select "When a new response is submitted" in Microsoft Forms as your trigger. This will initiate the flow whenever someone submits a form response. Pick a Form: Click on the trigger and search for the form. If the form does not appear, save the flow and refresh the page. Define what happens next: For example, you can add an action to save the form responses to an Excel file, send an email notification, or update a SharePoint list. For this example, we will send an email. To Send an email, we have to first get the email address from the responses. Add Action: Click on the plus sign and select "Add an action." Get Response Details: Select get response details. Select Form: Choose the form, click on "fx" to access the Dynamic content, select "Response Id," and click "Add." Send Email Action: Add an action and select "Send an email (V2)." Switch to Advanced Mode. Use Dynamic Content: Use Dynamic content to add the email address and the name of the user in the email body. Click on "fx" to add dynamic content. Save and test: Save and Test your flow to ensure it works as expected. A green checkmark shows that there are no issues with your flow. Real-World Applications Here are a few examples of how nonprofits can use Power Automate and Microsoft Forms: Volunteer Sign-Ups: Automate the collection and organization of volunteer information, making it easier to manage and communicate with your volunteers. Expense Approvals: Simplify the form submission process for expenses and reimbursements by implementing an approval workflow, ensuring that all expenditures are reviewed and authorized by the appropriate personnel. Project Proposals: Implement a form and approval workflow for new project proposals to ensure they align with the organization's mission and strategic goals. Once approved, a workflow can be initiated to create the project in a Planner board. Conclusion By automating data collection with Power Automate and Microsoft Forms, nonprofits can enhance their efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making capabilities. These tools not only save time but also empower organizations to focus on what truly matters – making a difference in their communities. Additional resources Microsoft Power Automate – Process Automation Platform | Microsoft Get started with Power Automate - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn Microsoft Forms help & learningMicrosoft Power Platform Fundamentals Blueprinting Opportunity
Greetings! Microsoft is updating the Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals certification, and we need your input through our exam blueprinting surveys. The blueprint determines how many questions each skill in the exam will be assigned. Please complete the online survey by March 11th, 2025. Please also feel free to forward the survey to any colleagues you consider subject matter experts for this certification. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Rohan Mahadevan at rmahadevan@microsoft.com or John Sowles at josowles@microsoft.com. Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals blueprint survey link: https://microsoftlearning.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ePDe2KtBwgUew5MData-Driven Decisions: Creating Your First Power BI Report
In our upcoming guide, we'll take you through the exciting journey of creating your first report using sample data. Creating Your First Report Using Sample Data Creating a report from sample data is a great way to familiarize yourself with data analysis and reporting tools. Whether you're using Excel, database or another data source, the process generally involves similar steps. Here's a guide to help you create your first report: Step 1: Open Power BI and Create a Blank Report Begin by opening Power BI and selecting the option to create a blank report. This will give you a clean slate to start building your visualizations. Step 2: Select the Data Source Next, you'll need to select the data source for your report. You can use get data from the top left to select your data source. While there are many options, Excel is one of the most popular. For this guide, we'll use the sample data provided by Power BI, which comes from an Excel sheet. Click on "Use sample data." Click on "Load sample data." Select the "Financials" table. Step 3: Transform Data in Power Query Editor To clean and prepare your data, you'll use the Power Query Editor. Select "Transform Data" to open the Power Query Editor. Power Query Editor is a tool that helps you clean and organize your data before you use it to create reports. For now, select "Close & Apply" to load the data into Power BI. Step 4: Create Visualizations With your data loaded, it's time to create visualizations. Open the data tab and select "Sales" and "Country". Choose a pie chart for your visualization. To format the visual, select "Format visual", then "Detail labels". Choose "Label contents" and select "Percent of total". Set the position to "Inside". Step 5: Add Text and Customize Visuals Enhance your report by adding text and customizing visuals. On the home page, select "Text Box." Choose Arial as the font and set the size to 28. Step 6: Create Additional Visualizations Add more depth to your report by creating additional visualizations. Select "Profit" and "Product" from the data pane. Choose a Staked bar chart in the visualization options. In the format pane, select 'Bars' and change the color to your preferred color. Step 7: Save Your Power BI Report Once you are satisfied with your report, it's important to save your work. Go to the "File" menu. Select "Save" Choose a location on your computer or OneDrive to save the report. Enter a name for your report and click "Save." Step 8: Experiment and Explore Feel free to play around with different visualization and formatting options. This hands-on experimentation is key to mastering Power BI and creating compelling reports. Additional resources Tutorial: From Excel workbook to stunning report in Power BI Desktop - Power BI | Microsoft Learn What is Power BI? - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Tech Talks presents: How Copilot in Power Apps is revolutionizing the way makers build solutions
Join us on Thursday, February 28th at 8am PT as Jessica Lo, Senior Product Manager presents 'How Copilot in Power Apps is revolutionizing the way makers build complete solutions'. In this session, we will focus on how Copilot in Power Apps is revolutionizing the way makers build complete solutions – from plan to publish. Discover how Copilot can suggest user roles, define use cases, and iterate on requirements – all to help create robust solutions tailored to business needs. We'll explore new capabilities that allow makers and developers to leverage organizational knowledge and configure intelligent experiences for their users. We hope to see you there! Call to Action: Click on the link to save the calendar invite: https://aka.ms/TechTalksInvite View past recordings (sign in required): https://aka.ms/TechTalksRecordingIssue with listing tasks from planner premium in power automate
Hello, I have created both standard planner and premium planner. When using power automate to list tasks, it only retrieves tasks from standard planner but not from planner premium. I try using the MS Graph API, but it doesn't return tasks from planner premium. I also checked app permission in Azure AD and tested the API in postmen, but it does not work. And these method have been either too complex or have not given any results. Is there any alternative way ? Please give me some advice. Thanks
