Building Microsoft Power Platform Solutions

In this introductory module, Helen Devlin welcomes students to the course and provides an overview of the Microsoft Power Platform, highlighting its low-code to no-code tools designed to solve business challenges. She explains the core components—Power Apps for building custom applications, Power Automate for automating workflows, and Power BI for data analysis—and how they integrate to create streamlined solutions. The module also introduces the course scenario focused on automating expense reporting and sets the stage for creating a SharePoint list as the primary data source for the hands-on projects ahead.

In this module, Helen introduces SharePoint as a central data source for building Microsoft Power Platform solutions, focusing on creating and customizing SharePoint lists. Students will learn how to set up a new SharePoint site, create a detailed Expense Report list with various column types, and understand the practical uses of each data type. This foundational knowledge prepares learners to effectively manage data before moving on to environments and solutions in the next module.

In this module, Helen introduces the concept of solutions within the Microsoft Power Platform, explaining how they serve as containers to organize and manage related components like apps and flows throughout the application lifecycle. She emphasizes the importance of working within environments—such as development, testing, and production—and demonstrates how to create a new solution and publisher to ensure unique naming and smooth deployment across environments. This foundational knowledge prepares students to efficiently build, organize, and move their Power Platform projects, setting the stage for deeper exploration of Power Apps in the next module.

In this module, Helen introduces Microsoft Power Apps as a low-code platform for building custom business applications, focusing primarily on creating Canvas apps that offer complete design control and the ability to connect to multiple data sources like SharePoint. She explains the differences between Canvas apps, model-driven apps, Power Apps for Teams, and Power Pages, highlighting their use cases, data requirements, and licensing considerations. Students will gain hands-on experience by touring the design studio, establishing data connections, and building a Canvas app from scratch using various controls to streamline business processes and enable mobile-friendly solutions.

In this module, Helen guides you through creating a new canvas app from scratch within an existing solution in Power Platform, emphasizing the importance of choosing the appropriate app format based on user needs. She also explains key app settings, such as enabling modern controls and themes, turning off autosave to preserve undo functionality, and activating environment variables for smoother app deployment across environments. Finally, Helen demonstrates how to connect your app to a live SharePoint data source, setting the foundation for building a dynamic, user-friendly expense report application.

In this module, Helen introduces Power Automate, a key component of the Microsoft Power Platform designed to automate routine, rule-based tasks and streamline business processes. She explains the fundamentals of Cloudflows, including their triggers, actions, and conditional logic, and highlights the three types of triggers—automated, instant, and scheduled—that initiate these workflows. By the end of the module, students will understand how to create automated flows to improve efficiency, such as sending expense reports for approval without manual intervention.

In this module, Helen Devlin guides students through building an automated approval flow in Power Automate that triggers when a new expense report is submitted via a SharePoint list. She explains the use of the Approvals connector to send approval requests dynamically to managers across multiple platforms, highlighting different approval types and how to incorporate dynamic content from the triggering item. Students will also learn about the initial setup process for the Approvals connector and how to test their flow using a Power Apps interface integrated with SharePoint.

In this module, Helen introduces Power BI as a powerful business intelligence tool designed to help analyze and visualize data from multiple sources to support informed decision-making. Students will learn about the key components of Power BI, including Power BI Desktop for data preparation and report creation, the Power BI service for sharing and collaboration, and Power BI Mobile for on-the-go data access. The module also outlines the Power BI development lifecycle—data discovery, data modeling, and data visualization—setting the foundation for hands-on exploration in the upcoming lessons.

In this module, Helen guides students through the initial stages of the Power BI development lifecycle by demonstrating how to connect to a SharePoint Online list, perform data discovery, and apply essential data transformations using the Power Query Editor. She emphasizes the importance of cleaning and shaping data, including selecting relevant columns, adjusting data types, and expanding lookup fields to ensure the dataset is optimized for reporting. Additionally, Helen introduces the creation of a date table and establishes relationships between tables, laying the foundation for effective data modeling before moving on to report visualization in the next module.

In this module, Helen guides students through the process of exporting and importing solutions within the Microsoft Power Platform, emphasizing the importance of version control to ensure the correct app version is deployed. He explains the key differences between managed and unmanaged solutions, helping learners understand when to use each type depending on the environment—development, testing, or production. By following Daniel’s step-by-step instructions, students gain practical knowledge on preparing, exporting, and importing solutions while managing dependencies and environment variables effectively.