The best from both worlds - Office Apps & Services and BizApps combined
Updated: May 2, 2022
Talking about Microsoft and everything in the surrounding ecosystem is something that I really like, but sometimes it's hard since it's a huge area!! Then it's an absolute pleasure to have talented community colleagues to discuss topics outside of your comfort zone š„°š„°. This is the first of several blog post (I hope š) where me and Business Applications MVP Carina Claesson (her blog and Twitter) talk about the magic of combining our worlds š.
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The Microsoft ecosystem of products is a never ending, constantly evolving story and powerful changes are coming to us whether we want it or not (but of course we want it!). The good thing is that when you collaborate with great people who are willing to share their expertise, we can help each other to keep up with the latest technology and learn together how new technology best is utilized in what situations.āÆ
Next week it is time for Microsoft Ignite and as usual cool demos of upcoming new features and exciting announcements can be expected. With the world being a bit different this year and the acronym WFH (work from home) has been seen almost everywhere, a lot of effort has been put into making Microsoft Teams the obvious collaboration platform. When you have a collaboration platform in place and you want to increase productivity, then you can start to look at Power Apps. There are several sessions during Ignite with Microsoft Teams content as well as Power Apps content. The exciting part? Well, that is when we combine these two.Ā
Superpowers are great but even better combined. I had a chat with my community friend Carina Claesson about our different areas of expertise and our respectively expectations prior to Ignite this year. Since our worlds are merging more and more why not combine our respectively superpowers and let us start with some advice for sessions not to be missed at Ignite next week!Ā
Background to Project Oakdale and Microsoft Teams <3 Power Apps
This summer Microsoft announced that the Power Apps Studio and Power Virtual Agents (PVA) Portal will be available from within Microsoft Teams and we will get the possibility to store relational data with what has been given the temporarily name Project Oakdale (Common Data Service/CDS āliteā). Not only will we be able to create Power Apps and PVA bots directly from within Microsoft Teams (and these will then live and run within Microsoft Teams), Microsoft has indicated that all of this will be available at no additional cost, how amazing is that!
If you are from the BizApps part of the world, then you are familiar with CDS. Project Oakdale is the āCDS liteā that you will get for free with Microsoft 365. If you are from the Microsoft 365 part of the world, well, then you will be happy to get a relational data storage alternative with which you can create tables and have as a back-end to your Power Apps in Microsoft Teams. There will be sessions during Ignite where Microsoft Teams and Power Apps are combined, as well as Microsoft Teams and PVA and we can expect Project Oakdale to be a bit more demystified.Ā
Sessions not to miss at Ignite next week!
We had a chat about the upcoming event Ignite, how to plan the days and what sessions we are most excited about. Our most important tip is to pay attention to the key sessions, since big news tend to be announced during keynote sessions. Whatever you do, do not miss the main key session with Satya Nadella Building digital resilience.
āMicrosoft Ignite is definitely the highlight of the year, even though Iām sad I canāt be there IRL to meet my friends from around the globe I think itās a pure luxury that the event is FREE and people previously limited by anything now has the chance to watch. The sessions I look most forward to are of course focused around productivity and modern work, for example Enabling collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Project Cortex, and more and Microsoft Teams Live Q&A with Jeff Teper both with Jeff Teper. Jeff is what us old SharePointies calls the father of SharePoint and I always make sure to watch his sessions! Iām also really looking forward to Jared Spareto and his session on The Future of Work since thatās a topic I find close to my heartā, says Amanda.
Jared Spatero and his session that IĀ“m looking forward to is tagged as a key session (it is a key session with a Microsoft 365 focus). There are also other key sessions e.g. one focusing on Power Platform and one on Dynamics 365. As already mentioned, this year Microsoft Teams and Power Apps will become closer friends, which means if you are from either of these two different worlds then the key session focusing on Power Platform Microsoft Power Platform: Fill the app gap and supercharge organizational agility is something for you.Ā
āIām so much looking forward to Microsoft Ignite this year. Iāll pay attention during the key sessions, main and Power Platform at least and impatiently Iāll be waiting for exciting announcements. I might pick up on Amandaās advice and listen in on Jared Spateroās too. Charles Lamanna is leading the engineering team for the Low Code Application Platform (LCAP) in the Business Applications Group. He often presents news in a very cool way and makes great demos. Not only is he one of the speakers for the Power Platform key session, Charles will deliver several other sessions and the one I want to highlight a little extra is where mine and Amandaās worlds come together, Build Power Apps within Microsoft Teams and get to the next level with Azure APIs and the Power Platform. There are more sessions to be excited about within this same subject. Microsoft Teams and PVA come together Build intelligent bots for your employees using Power Virtual Agents and Teams and this sounds a lot like Project Oakdale stuff to me Build custom apps to drive productivity in the remote work world with Power Apps an Teams. One more that I just canāt miss is Julie Strauss and her session Amplify your pro developer skills with Power Platformā, says Carina.
Another exciting new concept for this digital Ignite is table talks and table topics. Since a lot of us go to conferences to discuss different topics with other engaged people, Microsoft wanted to have something similar - a format where you can discuss both in text and with your voice. Be sure to check out all available topics at the Microsoft Tech Community and promise you donāt miss the table talk IĀ“m is one of the hosts for: Running Community Events in an Online World Wednesday 23rd 15.30-16.00 CEST. You can join the conversation now in the Microsoft Tech Community!
We will have a new chat after Ignite and you can expect more combined superpowers as upcoming articles. Enjoy the excitement next week during Ignite!
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I really like the idea of combining different tools and expertise to find smarter solutions. Logical thinking and breaking complex tasks into manageable steps are valuable skills in both business applications and puzzle solving. Sudoku is another great way to practice these skills, as each number requires careful reasoning and planning. For anyone who enjoys sharpening their problem-solving abilities, sudokuexpertĀ is a fun way to put logical thinking into practice.
One of my favorite parts of World of Warcraft is that there is always something to work toward, whether itās finishing a long questline, improving professions, or getting ready for the next dungeon run. I also enjoy the economic side of the game, where gathering materials, selling useful items, and keeping track of WoW Gold can make a real difference to my progress. Balancing time between farming, exploring, and gearing up is part of what keeps each adventure interesting.
I really enjoy seeing how different apps and services can work together to create a better digital experience. It reminds me of how features like Snapchat Planets help people understand friendships and connections in a fun, visual way. Iāve been exploring similar ideas on my website about Snapchat Planets, and itās always interesting to see how technology brings people closer, whether through work or social connections. Looking forward to reading more from you and Carina!
The point about Project Oakdale offering a free 'CDS lite' within Microsoft 365 is intriguing, especially for those of us without a BizApps background. I wonder how governance and data boundaries will work when citizen developers create apps and relational tables directly inside Teams. Will IT admins get the same oversight as with full CDS, or could this lead to shadow data silos? That balance between empowerment and control seems like the key question for broader adoption.
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