Exam Tip
The original version of Power BI for Office 365 was an add-on product that added visual functionality to existing Excel Power View reports. There was also a Windows 8 app that allowed users to access those reports remotely. This version of Power BI was deprecated as of December 31, 2015 in favor of the new service-based version of Power BI that is part of the Power Platform today. When preparing for the PL-900 exam, be aware that some outdated documentation still exists on the internet that refers to this original Power BI version and not the current one.
As noted earlier, when Microsoft first began rolling out the Power Platform tools several years ago, they designed them primarily as an extensibility platform for the Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM applications. This was an obvious direction to take because the Power Platform and Dynamics 365 products were all designed to use the Common Data Service. However, Microsoft has announced their intention to expand that extensibility platform to include Microsoft 365 applications and services as well.
Unlike Dynamics 365, the Microsoft 365 components are not built on the Common Data Service, so they do not have the same shared data connection with the Power Platform tools. However, the Power Platform tools include connectors that allow them to access and use the data generated by the Microsoft 365 applications and services.
For example, citizen developers at an organization running Microsoft 365 can use Power BI to gather data from branch sites and mobile SharePoint, Exchange, and Teams users as they roam around the facilities or work in the field. They can then create dashboards or reports to display a conglomerated picture of the data from those various sources. Power BI allows the organization to monitor, analyze, and visualize trends in sales, supply, and other aspects of the business, helping them to anticipate needs before they arise.
Using Power Apps and AI Builder, developers can create applications that use text and image recognition to collect additional data from users as they work with Microsoft 365 applications and services, rather than requiring them to enter data manually on forms-based interfaces. For example, mobile users can photograph shelves in stores and warehouses; an app can then scan the photographs, count the number of products on the shelves, and use the data to update a Power BI dashboard with up-to-the-minute information. This additional data can then also be stored in the Common Data Service.
With Power Automate, citizen developers can create flows that perform time-consuming tasks automatically. In the previous example, the automated shelf-counting app can result in the creation of orders for additional products. When a new order arrives at the supplier’s mailbox, a flow can read the products requested and check the inventory to see whether they are available. If the products are available, the flow can trigger a shipment; if they are not, the flow can branch to a different process that classifies the products as back-ordered and notifies the requestor. Using the connectors supplied with the Power Platform tools, flows can interact with various Microsoft 365 applications and services.
