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March 7, 2023
Video | 
Power Platform, Center of Excellence (COE)

Power Platform COE

Michael Buckman
Michael Buckman of Rockhop walks us through the Microsoft COE toolkit, and how best to apply both tools and processes to match best practices for your Center of Excellence.

Overview

In this video Michael demonstrates the Microsoft Power Platform COE toolkit. The COE toolkit is a free suite of tools for managing Power Platform environments. He showcases features for securing data and apps, including permission settings and DLP policies.

He also demonstrates tools for managing environments and monitoring usage. A key component is the Power BI dashboard and its environment analytics.

Finally, Michael walks through a demo illustrating automation of invoice processing using Power Apps, Power Automate, AI Builder, and SharePoint.

Video Table of Contents

Introduction [0:00-1:40]

    • Overview of the presenter's initial feelings about the demo and the goals [0:00-0:30]
    • Explanation of the common problems with sprawl in IT environments [0:30-1:00]
    • What the COE toolkit is, how to get it, and that it's free [1:00-1:40]

Getting Started with the COE Toolkit [1:40-3:10]

    • Resources and documentation provided by Microsoft [1:40-2:10]
    • Base packages and add-ons to the toolkit [2:10-2:20]
      • Power Platform Administration planner [2:20-2:30]
      • Power Platform communication site template [2:30-2:50]
      • Theming components [2:50-3:00]
      • Application lifecycle management components [3:00-3:10]

Securing Data and Apps [3:10-6:00]

    • Concepts of granular roles, DLP policies, and app/flow auditing [3:10-3:40]
    • Admin app permission center: managing app access and orphaned apps [3:40-4:15]
    • Developer compliance center: a view for makers to see compliance [4:15-4:45]
    • Other tools: admin flow permission center, DLP editor, CoE Power BI dashboard [4:45-5:00]
    • Out-of-the-box functionalities for security roles and granular permissions [5:00-5:30]
      • Environments as containers for apps and solutions [5:30-5:45]
      • DLP policies for connectors (e.g., blocking Twitter) [5:45-6:00]

Managing the Platform [6:00-7:50]

    • Power Platform admin view: overview of the entire tenant [6:00-6:45]
      • Environment requests and approvals [6:45-7:05]
      • View of makers and their apps [7:05-7:15]
    • Command and Setup Center: CoE health, release wave notes, etc. [7:15-7:35]
    • Problems solved: visibility, understanding usage, minimizing downtime, full control over environments [7:35-7:50]

Analytics and Reporting [7:50-9:10]

    • Out-of-the-box analytics for Dataverse, Power Automate, and Power Apps [7:50-8:20]
    • Power BI dashboard: monitoring, governing, and nurturing users [8:20-9:10]
      • App risk assessment and action tools [8:20-9:00]
      • Various reports to maintain the environment [9:00-9:10]

Protecting the Organization [9:10-9:50]

    • Overlap with previous tools (Power Platform admin view and Power BI dashboard) [9:10-9:20]
    • Out-of-the-box functionalities: environment backup and restore, environment history, and solution history [9:20-9:50]

Nurturing Users [9:50-10:20]

    • Importance of empowering users and tools available [9:50-10:00]
    • Power Platform Hub (SharePoint template) as a community center [10:00-10:20]

Examples of Nurturing Community [10:20-10:40]

    • Video hub app for training and community calls [10:20-10:30]
    • Assessment tool for solutions and maker feedback [10:30-10:40]

Demo Introduction [10:40-11:00]

    • Introduction to the demo's purpose and scenario [10:40-11:00]

Invoice Processing Demo [11:00-13:45]

    • Explanation of the business case (invoice processing) [11:00-11:20]
    • Demonstration of uploading invoices using different methods [11:20-12:00]
      • Uploading a document [11:20-11:30]
      • Taking a picture via the app [11:30-11:45]
      • Uploading an invoice via email [11:45-12:00]
    • Flows for processing the invoices, showing AI Builder in action [12:00-12:40]
      • Explanation of the email flow [12:00-12:15]
      • Explanation of the SharePoint file creation flow [12:15-12:40]
    • Viewing the processed invoices in the app [12:40-13:45]
      • Viewing the hand written invoice and making updates to it [13:00-13:20]
      • Viewing a more structured invoice and making updates to it [13:20-13:30]
      • Viewing a typed invoice [13:30-13:45]

Demo Takeaways [13:45-14:15]

    • Complete automation with AI Builder and saving user time [13:45-14:00]
    • Approvals in AI Builder for confidence level [14:00-14:15]
    • Data is formatted and ready to be used [14:15]

Closing Remarks [14:15-14:25]

    • Thank you for time and the presenter hopes the demo was enjoyed [14:15-14:25]

Transcript of Video Contents

  • Introduction
    • The presenter is excited to show the features of the COE toolkit and Power Platform. The goal of the demo is to help users feel confident in managing their environments and inspire them to enable other users to solve issues.
    • The presenter comes from the SharePoint world and saw issues with sprawl, and that IT does not have a firm grasp on applications that departments are deploying. Microsoft has addressed these issues with the COE toolkit.
    • The COE toolkit is a free package that Microsoft provides to help manage your environment. It includes apps and flows that can be imported into your environment and a Power BI dashboard to analyze and manage the Power Platform tenant. Microsoft provides documentation to walk you through setting up the toolkit, which is continuously updated.
  • Getting Started with the COE Toolkit
    • Microsoft provides documentation for setting up the COE toolkit. There are managed solutions packages of apps and flows that can be downloaded and imported into a dedicated COE environment.
    • There are base packages called building blocks which are a great place to start. There are also add-ons.
      • Power Platform Administration Planner: A tool to help plan and organize time spent configuring, managing, and nurturing the adoption of Microsoft Power Platform. It helps with team and organization structure.
      • Power Platform Communication Site Template: A SharePoint template that provides a community area to interact, post events, recognize top makers, and announce new features.
      • Theming Components: Allows users to utilize the same organizational brand to make apps look similar.
      • Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Components: These components provide guidance for makers to create healthy ALM practices. The ALM Accelerator for Power Platform provides an app and Azure pipelines for source control and the ALM accelerator for makers provides a reference app for makers and GitHub workflows.
  • Securing Data and Apps
    • Concepts include granular roles, DLP policies (data loss prevention), and app and flow auditing.
    • Admin App Permission Center: A power app for viewing and managing app details, user permissions, and orphaned apps. You can add new users to the app and control who can see the apps and who the owner is.
    • Developer Compliance Center: A view for makers to see if their apps and flows are out of compliance. The CoE can flag apps that need more information, and makers can provide justification or delete the app.
    • Other tools include the admin flow permission center, the DLP editor tool, and the CoE Power BI dashboard.
    • Out-of-the-box functionalities include security roles to set granular permissions on custom tables or apps. You can set create, read, write, delete and other permissions at different levels including user, business unit, or organization.
      • Environments are containers for apps, solutions, and flows and serve as a gate for users.
      • DLP policies can block connectors, including custom connectors, like the Twitter API.
  • Managing the Platform
    • Power Platform Admin View: An admin view of the entire Power Platform tenant with dashboards. It lists apps, flows, environments, and connectors, and allows for setting governance properties.
      • Users can request new environments, and admins can approve and create them.
      • The view also shows top makers and the apps they create.
    • Command and Setup Center: A command center for the CoE that shows the health of the CoE, release wave notes, Power Platform news, and learning paths.
    • Problems solved: full visibility, understanding usage, minimizing downtime, and full control over environment creation and access.
  • Analytics and Reporting
    • Out-of-the-box analytics are available for Dataverse, Power Automate flows, and Power Apps. These include usage of apps, errors, connector usage, and location of access.
    • Power BI Dashboard: This dashboard is used for monitoring, governing, and nurturing users. It includes an app risk assessment that gives a score of whether an app should be archived. The dashboard includes tools to take action on apps such as granting access, emailing the maker, opening the app in the portal, or deleting it.
  • Protecting the Organization
    • Tools overlap with the Power Platform admin view and Power BI dashboard.
    • Out-of-the-box functionalities include environment backup and restore and environment and solution history.
  • Nurturing Users
    • The importance of empowering users and tools available for this are noted.
    • Power Platform Hub: A SharePoint template that acts as a community center for makers to gather and get information.
  • Examples of Nurturing Community
    • Video Hub App: A tool for playlists of training videos and community calls.
    • Assessment Tool: A tool for users to fill out for their solutions and get feedback from the CoE.
  • Demo Introduction
    • Introduction to the demo's purpose and scenario.
  • Invoice Processing Demo
    • The business case is introduced: a business that takes invoices daily and must manually enter the details into their accounts payable application. This process results in mistakes and takes time away from more important tasks.
    • The solution uses Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Platform AI Builder, with SharePoint on the backend.
    • Demonstration of uploading invoices using different methods: uploading a document, taking a picture via the app, and uploading via email.
      • Uploaded invoices are saved to SharePoint.
    • Flows process the invoices using AI Builder.
      • The email flow captures email attachments and saves them to SharePoint and posts a message in teams.
      • The SharePoint file creation flow is triggered when a file is created, gets the file content and uses the AI builder to parse data.
    • The AI Builder breaks out the invoice data into a table and a JSON object. The confidence level of the data that was extracted can be viewed and used to trigger approvals.
    • The processed invoices can be viewed in the app.
      • The presenter shows a handwritten invoice and the AI builder was able to decipher the data, and the user can edit the data.
      • The presenter shows a typed invoice that the AI builder was able to read.
  • Demo Takeaways
    • Complete automation with AI Builder and saving user time.
    • Approvals can be added based on the confidence level of the AI Builder.
    • Data is formatted and ready to be ingested by other systems.
  • Closing Remarks
    • Thank you for time and the presenter hopes the demo was enjoyed.
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