Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list July 2023

2023 Release Wave 2

• Dynamics 365, Viva Sales (aka Microsoft Sales Copilot) and supply chain platform: 2023 release wave 2 plan - early access will be available on July 31th
• Microsoft Power Platform: 2023 release wave 2 plan
• Power Platform 2023 Release Wave 2 Highlights (YouTube)
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform 2023 Release Wave 2 highlights (YouTube)
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service 2023 Release Wave 2 highlights (YouTube)

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• ALM for Power Platform (March 2023 Washington user group recording)
• Analyse your solution dependencies in  Dataverse with VSCode "PowerApps Helper" extension built by @MMe2K (Michael Megel)
• Power Apps Copilot (preview) feature ... Friend or Foe? (YouTube) by @dchristian19
• Azure Cost Management Power BI report (Github)
• Codename Project Bose: Calculate Azure Cost of an enterprise by cost centers, divisions and projects
• KQL Visualizations (YouTube)
• How to use invitation id of Customer Voice Survey invitation in Power Automate Flow by @inogic
• Use the Customer 360 component in Dynamics 365 Customer Service by @D365Goddess
• Additional capabilities in timeline view with Dynamics CRM
• Optimize performance for Create and Update operations (Microsoft Docs) - interesting update for data migration scenario using CreateMultiple and UpdateMultiple operations
• Dataverse long term data retention is finally available in preview - no info available yet on whether retained Dataverse records (offloaded to Data Lake) will still be billed at the same price as Dataverse storage.
• The Dataverse Accelerator is live on AppSource: https://aka.ms/dvaccelerator
• Discover the biggest Power Platform Announcements from Microsoft Build 2023 (YouTube) by @LisaCrosbie
• Azure Synapse Link for Dataverse : exporting to Delta Lake
• Kusto Detective Agency - learn KQL by playing a detective game
• Power Apps Data Sources Ranked! Which is best? YouTube video by Shane Young (@ShanesCows)
• New card visual in Power BI and Create a sparkline in the new card visual
• Take Customer Service to new heights with cross-geo support for Copilot
• Announcing monthly (release) channel for model-driven apps - release channels provide more choice for adopting new features. It seems that Dynamics 365 and Power Platform will allow to get features activated on a monthly basis
• Announcing public preview of IP firewall in Dataverse - only available for managed environments
• Microsoft Copilot readiness hub
• The importance of Orderby when retrieving more than 50K records from Dataverse
• Start using Azure Cost Management

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Applications Platform consultants, project managers and power users

• Introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365 copilot
• Copilot in Viva Sales
• Dynamics 365 Implementation Portal now available
• A report on Global State of Customer Service sophistication
• Reshaping the future of business with Microsoft Sales Copilot, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and a new cloud migration program
• Introducing AIM from Microsoft: Future-proof your business in the cloud

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list March 2023

 Power Platform and Dynamics 365 release 2023 wave 1

• Test engine to support model-driven apps (Public Preview May 2023)
• Make solution export source code repository friendly (Public Preview March 2023)
• Dynamics 365 Wave 1 2023: Top 10 features that you need to know! by @LisaCrosbie 
• Power Platform Wave 1 2023:  Top 10 features that you need to know! by @LisaCrosbie
• Virtual tables creation wizard now in Public Preview
• The new look for model driven Power Apps is available now in preview
• 2023 Release Wave 1 YouTube Playlist 

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Zero to Hero 2022 - Power Platform Governance and ALM by @thevictordantas
• How does Power Automate flow cope when a lot of actions are executed? by @timopertila
• Using Azure Key Vault to store secrets for use in environment variables and flows
• Introduction to Pipelines for Power Platform (YouTube)  by @rezadorrani and Build your first pipeline with Power Platform pipelines by @laskewitz
• Setup pipelines in Power Platform (Microsoft Learn)
• Signing up for a developer plan for Power Virtual Agents
• Power Platform build tools and Azure DevOps
• Pipelines in Power Platform is Generally Available (GA)
• Azure App Service Patterns and Features for the Azure Well-Architected Framework
• Adding a filter for lookup columns made easier with advanced lookup
• Every Azure Synapse Analytics Engineer Needs to Know this Essential Dataverse Feature - Synapse Link (YouTube)
• Power BI Dynamics 365 Sales templates with Scott Sewell
• Dataverse Environments for everyone - new developer plan - Power CAT Live by @topness
• Connections and connection references explained by @BergmannBene
• Model-driven apps: how to use the side pane to show custom html by @temmy_raharjo
• Enable managed environments in Power Platform Admin Center by @priyesh_wngman7

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Applications Platform consultants, project managers and power users

• Sales forecasting increase accuracy with AI predictive forecasting by @inogic
• Add voice mail to your call queue management
• Microsoft and Futurum research: Discover insights to create experiences that customers love
• Guidance on Sales Hub and custom model driven apps
• Create a Digital Contact Center in seconds with the Customer Service free trial

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list December 2022

First post of 2023 - so let's close with last month's  suggested reading list. If you want to catch up on previous reading lists for 2022 - here is the list:

• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list September 2022
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list July 2022 
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list May 2022
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list April 2022
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list February 2022
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list January 2022

 Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Dataverse: simple advice on how to design your plug-in by @temmy_raharjo
• Match contacts and accounts by email domain with Power Automate
• Setting as a solution component in Power Apps by @inogic 
• Dataverse group teams with Azure AD dynamic user membership groups
• Introducing Test Engine: an open platform for automated testing of canvas apps
• Adaptive cards in Power Apps
• Adaptive card designer overview (Preview) in  Power Apps 
• Create a card with data from Dataverse (preview) 
• Build powerful Adaptive Card experiences for Teams using Cards for Power Apps by @michelcarlo
• Complete a Dataverse Task by an adaptive card in Teams
• Setup Azure DevOps projects for ALM accelerator for Power Platform
• Granular billing for Azure Data Factory
• 2022 Release Wave 2: Timeline maker enhancements
• Announcing two new white papers that dive deep into Power Pages architecture and security
• Streamline low code governance in your governance (Ignite 2022 recording BRK41)
• How to setup and connect to Dataverse environment in Postman
• A few notes on the Timeline: model-driven Power Apps form  tweaks
• Power Platform Capacity Monitoring by @TheCRMNinja
• Top 25 Power Apps Tips, Tricks and Best Practices for Makers by @rezadorrani

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Applications Platform consultants, project managers and power users

• Enable AI generated conversation summary (Preview) by @D365Goddess
• E-mail validation (Preview) in Dynamics 365 Sales
• Utilizing the swarming feature in Teams (Preview) for intelligent collaboration within Dynamics 365
• Leverage low-code to do more with less at Microsoft Ignite 2022
• Live from Microsoft Ignite 2022: Introducing new AI, automation and collaboration capabilities for Dynamics 365
• Duplicate lead detection increases sellers' productivity
• The future of IT with Charles Lammana - Power CAT Live (YouTube)
• Power BI modeling guidance for Power Platform
• How we can correct the mistakes made with Agile (YouTube)
• Exploring sales usage reporting feature in Dynamics 365 CE sales analytics
• Unleash your Dynamics 365 data with Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI (YouTube recording)
• Price points of Power Platform (2022 pricing and licensing) by @jukkan
• One Dynamics One Platform - Introduction (FastTrack TechTalks)
• Discover new ways to analyze your customer service data
• Customer Service voice support channel launches in the UK (November 2022)

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list April 2022

 

2022 Release Wave 1

• Duplicate detection for leads (Preview) by @D365Goddess
• Updates to the Power Platform Admin Center
• D365 Customer Service: Swarming using Teams (Preview)
• The new AADUser Virtual Table (Youtube)
• React (virtual) and Fluent UI code components using platform libraries

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Enhanced user experience with new modern control on subject field
• Customizing the side panel in the deal manager workspace
• Disable hyperlinks for lookup columns in grid views of model driven apps by @linnzawwin
• Dataverse's planet scale infrastructure by Power CAT Live (Youtube) by @topness
• Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Technical Update Briefing - March 2022 from @PFEDynamics
• Dataverse: improve CRUD performance using partition key
• Setup Postman to connect to Dynamics 365 CRM using oAuth 2.0 | Azure App Registration by @priyesh_wngman7
• Integration patterns in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
• ALM Power Platform Part 1 - Overview and Process
• Solution deployments: automated vs manual
• The curious case of the missing application user view (Dynamics 365/Dataverse)
• Install Power Apps for Windows (preview) - run model-driven or canvas apps on your Windows device.

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Applications Platform consultants, project managers and power users

• What KPIs should service-based businesses monitor to ensure lasting success
• Evaluating software with Microsoft's Catalyst Framework
• The limits of legacy campaign management tools
• 4 ways to accelerate revenue with Dynamics 365 Sales and AI
• Customer case: Siemen's bold choice to pursue CRM transformation leads to unique collaborative results
• Power Platform - rise of the business technologists

Notes on the Power Virtual Agent in a day lab

Microsoft recently also released a Power Virtual Agent in a day and I decided to give it a try. Power Virtual Agents are one of the components in the Power Platform which allow you to built intelligent chat bots without any coding or AI experience.

Since Power Virtual Agents are built on the Power Platform and the Azure Bot Framework you still have the option to extend the capabilities to suit your organisations needs.

Some notes on the Power Virtual Agent lab:

• The creation of a virtual agent or bot is super easy and intuitive with a simple graphical interface for authoring the logic  that will drive your bots. The authoring canvas for the conversation tree has a great user experience and enables non-developers to create a powerful chatbot experience.

• After you import the SolutionPowerVirtualAgentInADay.zip solution file, you will need to reconfigure the connections in the different Power Automate Flows - to do this you will need to use the unique name of the CDS instance - so if you have used a Dynamics CRM instance you can not use the readable name - don't forget to add the region shorthand as well.
• If you are familiar enough with Dynamics 365 and/or Power Platform you will be able to complete the labs in a couple of hours.
• The built-in integration with Power Automate allows you to leverage the over 250+ external services and systems so the only limit is your imagination.

• To try out transferring a chat bot session to a human agent, the easiest option is to use Omnichannel for Customer Service (See Setting up Omnichannel for Customer Service on an existing Dynamics 365 trial for how to try this out). After you have completed t  Only limited documentation is available on how to write logic for escalating to an agent if you are not using Omnichannel for Customer service - see Configure hand-off to any generic engagement hub and code on Github

References:

• Introduction to Power Virtual Agents (Youtube 00:52:17)
• Create, test and deploy your bot with Virtual Agent for Customer Service (Youtube 00:10:48)
• PVA Series - real QnA chatbot with QnA maker
• Building proactive bot with Power Virtual Agent
• Create chatbot using Dynamics 365 Virtual Agent for your customers 
• Dynamics 365 Virtual Agent for Customer Service (Youtube 00:08:13)
• Create, test and deploy your bot with Virtual Agent for Customer Service (Youtube 00:10:08)
• Power Virtual Agents Solution packaging (Youtube)

Farewell to the Dynamics 365 Admin Center

In 2019 Microsoft announced that they would consolidate the different admin centers for Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Sales/Customer Service/Field Service. In the meanwhile, more and more functions seem to be moving to the new Power Platform Admin Center. Although the legacy Dynamics 365 admin center deprecation is not listed (yet) on the Important changes (deprecations) coming in Power Apps, Power Automate and model-driven apps in Dynamics 365. I expect this admin portal to quickly fade away.  

Update June 28th: @jukkan just mentioned that there is an update in Message Center which officially states that the old Dynamics 365 Admin Center will go away. I like the speed of innovation in the cloud but this seems like incredibly short notice.

To be able to access the Power Platform Admin Portal you will need to assign an appropriate service admin role - see Use service admin roles to manage your tenant for more details.

Features/functionality which is now surfaced in the new Power Platform Admin Portal:

• App management in the Applications tab of the legacy Dynamics 365 Admin center has now moved to Power Platform Admin Center - see  Manage Dynamics 365 Apps for more details. This applies to installing and managing Microsoft first party apps like Customer Service but also to other apps installed through AppSource. You first need to select your environment in the new admin center and use the Resources>Dynamics 365 apps menu to open the list of available apps to install. This same screen can be used to upgrade existing apps to newer versions. (Unfortunately there is no indication when there is a new app version available)

• Creating new Dynamics 365 instances has also moved to Power Platform Admin Center - if you try it from the legacy admin portal - you now get a warning message
• Storage details and analytics already moved to Power Platform Admin Center  quite a while ago but recently the documentation about the legacy storage model  got updated
• Backup and restore environments also got some interesting updates with continuous backup. Keep in mind though that backup retention is different for sandbox and production environments

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list February 2020

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform - 2020 Wave 1 Topics

• Series of blog posts from @nishantranacrm  Email template enhancements in Dynamics 365 for Sales – 2020 Release wave 1 , Configure Sales Hub from Centralized Location (General Settings Section added) for Dynamics 365 for Sales – 2020 Release wave 1 and Customize Case Resolution Dialog Box – 2020 Release Wave 1
• Dynamics 365 2020 Release Wave 1 Notes by @D365Goddess

Technical topics  (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Log telemetry for your Apps using Azure Application Insights
• Introducing Power Apps Monitor
• Improved performance center in Dynamics 365 model driven apps
• Creating activities using Power Automate
• Check managed solution installation failures in solution history in Dynamics 365 CE
• How to execute an entity bound action using the Dynamics 365 Web API
• PowerApps Community plan  - get a free environment for individual use
• CDS/CRM SDK – WS-Trust auth and OrganizationServiceProxy Deprecated, what does it mean?
• .NET Core CDS SDK Alpha Availability
• Unified Interface App URLs – 3 different ways by @priyesh_wngman7 

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Application Platform consultants, analysts, project managers and power users

• Using AI to build a modern field service organization
• Notes analysis from Sales Insight by @inogic
• Shining a light on shadow IT by @stevemordue
• Critical comments: where customer experience is won or lost
• Moving legacy Dynamics to the Power Platform/Dynamics 365 (online)
• Using playbooks in Dynamics 365 CE
• Introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations
• New AI features connect and extend insights across the organization

Microsoft webinar redelivery Dynamics Power! Saturday Brussels December 3th

Two weeks ago we had Dynamics Power! Saturday Brussels - a community event on Microsoft Business Applications with over 250 attendees and 25 different international speakers.

For those of you who were not able to make it, Microsoft will organise a short redelivery of 3 sessions in webinar format on Tuesday December 3th - more info and registration available on https://www.microsoftevents.com/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x8855388abcd 

Agenda:

• Updates on Power Platform (UI Flows, AI Builder, … )
• Integration between Dynamics 365 Sales/Customer Service and Dynamics 365 F&O (ERP)
• Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality

Quick tip: Using XrmToolBox with a MFA enabled login

More and more customers are introducing Azure Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Dynamics 365 CRM and while this is a good idea, there are some gotchas. If you are using XrmToolbox – the Swiss army knife in the Dynamics CRM consultant tool belt – you will need to revise the way you setup connections to your CRM/CDS environments.

Use the SDK Login Control when choosing a connection method

Next click on Open Sdk Login Control – this will open the standard browser login page and will allow you to fill in the details required in MFA.

References:

• MFA, PowerApps, XrmTooling and XrmToolBox

Dynamics 365 monthly reading list September 2019

Preview 2019 Wave 2 release topics

• Announcing experimental release of the PowerApps component framework for Canvas apps
• Announcing new Microsoft Dynamics AI-driven insights applications and our vision for the future of retail and Extending the power of Azure AI to business users
• For more info check out Announcing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Product Insights – now in preview and the Dynamics 365 Product Insights (Preview) home page
• Dynamics 365 Commerce (Preview) available
• Dynamics 365 Connected Store Community blog  launched
• Integration between Dynamics 365 CRM and Microsoft Teams in Wave 2 Release
• Dynamics 365 2019 release wave 2 plan – number of updates published on September 26th
• Release wave 2 launches with over 400 updates, new apps and industry solutions
• Requests limits and allocations for Power Platform – also impacts Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service and Field Service
• What’s new in Dataflows and Data Integration (PowerApps) – September 2019
• User experience improvement – fix user input errors quickly in D365 2019 release wave 2
• Introducing the Unified Action Center

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensiblity)

• Flow Everything: calling synchronous flows from CDS and Dynamics 365 by @Mikefactorial
• PowerApps optimization techniques
• All about the CDS and Dynamics update train! by @TeamIntergen
• Announcing the general availability of the new model-driven form designer
• The common Microsoft header is coming to PowerApps
• PowerApps checker now includes checker results for canvas apps in solutions
• Collaborative development for PowerApps Canvas Apps
• Announcing the timeline to move to unified interface
• Using adaptive cards in PCF by @dancingwithcrm
• Tip #1308: Secret support in SDK
• Important changes (deprecations) coming in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement – updated September 2019
• Embedded canvas app user settings utility
• Delaying emails to certain individuals based on their time zone
• Using PowerShell to export/import solutions, data and word templates for D365
• Recordings of Power Platform 24 Conference (August 2019)
• Using Application Insights to monitor your PowerApps Canvas Apps

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Application Platform analysts, project managers and power users

• September 2019 update for Dynamics 365 for Marketing is now available
• PowerApps vs PowerApps by @stevemordue
• How leading companies use CRM to power personalization
• 4 ways sales teams can close deals faster with AI powered insights
• Microsoft HR uses the Power Platform to transform employee experience
• PowerApps licenses and a Dynamics 365 environment
• Employee experience starter kit  - set of PowerApps sample apps
• What is the Common Data Service?

Introducing the PowerApps Checker PowerShell module to check PowerApps solution quality

Microsoft recently updated their tooling for checking the quality of  CDS/PowerApps/Dynamics 365 solution files by releasing the PowerApps checker PowerShell Module . With this new PowerShell module it is possible to receive a detailed report for your solutions identifying problems/issues taking into account best practices around performance, usage, upgrade readiness, supportability and maintainability. The static code analysis is based on rulesets which are provided by Microsoft and which are updated on a regular basis.

The main difference with the previously released tooling in the PowerApps maker portal (See Announcing general availibility of Solution Checker) is that you can now also do checks to validate both managed and unmanaged solutions (CRM2011 to current) so include on-premise solution validation.

The PowerShell module can be installed from https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Microsoft.PowerApps.Checker.PowerShell/1.0.2  and provides a number of commands that you can use to perform the checks.

Before you can use the Invoke-PowerAppsChecker PowerShell cmdlet ,  you need to create an Azure Active Directory (AAD) application in a tenant with PowerApps or Dynamics 365 licenses. Follow the steps on Get started using the Microsoft.PowerApps.Checker.PowerShell module to correctly do this using either PowerShell or manually.

The PowerAppsChecker cmdlets in interactive-mode (meaning you need to login everytime you run the checker) or using an application-based token.

Behind the scenes the PowerShell module will connect to the PowerApps checker Web API

The output of Invoke-PowerAppsChecker  is a zip file containing one or more reports in a standardized JSON format. The report format is based on static analysis results referred to as Static Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF).

By analyzing results and fixing indicated errors, you can learn how to write high-quality code and decrease the cost of fixing issues later.

Depending on the size & complexity of your project, I might be recommended to include it as part of your ALM strategy.

Other blog post:

• Check Dynamics 365 solution quality with the new PowerApps Solution Checker
• General availability of PowerApps solution checker makes  it easier to check Dynamics 365 solution quality

Dynamics 365 monthly reading list August 2019

Preview 2019 Wave 2 release topics

• Dynamics 365 release overview – short PDF guides and videos which outline the main features soon to be released
• Preview 2019 Wave 2 release: enhanced functionality in unified interface grids
• Preview 2019 Wave2 release: customize the opportunity close form
• Preview 2019 Wave 2 release: always show important information on the form header in the Unified Interface and introducing Microsoft Wave 2 release new feature – high density header
• Youtube video – adding a PCF component in a Canvas app
• Dynamics 365 Preview 2019 Wave2 release: business card scan preview feature
• Dynamics 365 Preview 2019 Wave2 release: contextual e-mail

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Create personalized experiences in Dynamics 365 for Customer Service with Microsoft Flow
• Cloud ETL with Azure Data Factory & Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement
• How to publish an app on AppSource
• Share canvas apps with guests in your organization
• Step by step to create a simple PCF control to show the GUID of a record by @Nishantrancrm
• Upgrade runs entity in Dynamics 365 CRM by @inogic
• Working with custom Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Dataset schemas in Azure Data Factory v2
• Cleaning up records from the AsyncOperation WorkflowLogBase table
• View Dynamics 365 lists/views as a calendar
• Using Microsoft Flow to sent an overview of imported Dynamics CRM solutions
• E-mail the selected record in Power BI with PowerApps and Microsoft Flow
• Quick tip  - CDS base url in Microsoft Flow
• Checking what a user can do in Dynamics 365 using XrmToolBox (Youtube 00:03:30)
• Qualify  lead in Dynamics 365 using a Canvas App in combination with Microsoft Flow
• Open PowerApps from inside Dynamics 365 CRM
• Using PCF to display contact cards by @Rajyraman
• Create and manage environments in the Power Platform Admin Center
• Preview Instant Flow steps in Business Process Flows
• CDS/Dynamics 365 Global Discovery Service additional versions and properties by @koolin_
• PowerApps for the CRM person: showing related entity data
• Prevent contact creation in Dynamics 365 on tracking email recipients
• Resetting PowerApps environments scripted
• Backup your PowerApps apps for non-CDS environments
• Dynamics 365 UG Bristol session replay Summer 2019 (Youtube playlist)

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Application Platform analysts, project managers and power users

• Canvas Apps for the model-driven mind: how to make that leap
• Setting up views for more usable lookups in the Dynamics 365 unified interface
• 4 directions for Power Platform business growth
• Industry accelerators: rapidly deploy solutions specific to your industry
• Application/platform separation in new PowerApps licensing model
• Unicef inspires donors with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights 
• The future of CRM
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service Insights demo (Youtube 00:02:45) 
• Customer Data Platform: going beyond MDM and CRM
• Tip #1295: Quickly search multiple records in advanced find
• Why your CRM is underutilized and what to do about it?
• Create a change management team: change management best practices for your Dynamics 365 CE projects

D365 CE 2019 Wave 2 Preview: Dynamics 365 Business card scan preview feature

Top request by customers: scanning business cards and capturing the information will be available in the upcoming Dynamics 365 release and is now available in instances with early access enabled. It worked remarkably well except for my own business card ...


 

The functionality seems to be provided by the new "AI Builder Business Card control" which is added on the quick create contact form. Next on the todo list - testing out modifying the mappings.

D365 CE 2019 Wave 2 Preview: enable contextual email communication

One of the upcoming enhancements that a lot of my colleagues were excited about is  Contextual email communication in Dynamics 365 for Sales & Customer Service.  Contextual email communication allows you to overlay an email composition screen on top of the existing Dynamics 365 forms without having to navigate away from the screen that you are on. After you have enabled your environment for early preview access you can go to App Settings > Enhanced email  to enable this new functionality. (You might need to do a hard refresh after enabling use CTRL-F5)

After you enable this feature, adding an e-mail to the timeline will open the composition overlay allowing you to consult information on the contact while creating your e-mail.

Early opt-in to Dynamics 365 CE release wave 2

You can now enable the features coming in the 2019 release wave 2 update by opting in to the updates in the Power Platform Admin Center. Opting in will enable all changed user experience updates for Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement.

Don't do this on your production environment but test it out on a copy of production - once enabled you can not turn this off

From October 2019, all environments will be enabled for 2019 release wave 2. Opting in now, allows you to get hands on experience with wave 2 changes and testing out the impact on your specific solution setup.

• Details Early opt in to 2019 release wave 2 - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/preview-october-2019-updates
• Dynamics 365 release schedule and early access – key dates for 2019 release wave 2 - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/get-started/release-schedule
• Overview of Dynamics 365 for Sales 2019 release wave 2 scenarios - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365-release-plan/2019wave2/dynamics365-sales/ 

Dynamics 365 monthly reading list July 2019

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Announcing the general availability of embedded canvas apps in model driven forms
• Automatically validate your solutions using the PowerApps solution checker PowerShell Module
• Preview instant Flow steps in business process flows
• Use of React and Office UI Fabric React in the PowerApps Component framework is now available in public preview
• Comparing the three main ways to get Dynamics 365 data into Power BI
• Source code for Google Address Autocomplete PCF control
• How to trigger a Microsoft Flow from a custom button in Dynamics 365
• Using Admin PowerShell cmdlets with Power Platform 
• Preview: Integration between Finance and Operations and Common Data Service – Phase 1 
• Dynamics 365: Notification error message – “You are using apps designed for the legacy web client”
• Dynamics 365 FastTrack Techtalks – FastTrack TechTalks provide technical and functional best practices and guidance for Dynamics 365 deployments
• How to user Solution Layers in Dynamics 365 v9.x
• Service Update 72 for Microsoft Dynamics 365 9.1.0
• Unified Interface Community
• Increase productivity of CRM users by using Dynamics 365 Virtual Agents
• Remove “The email below might contain script …” warning in Dynamics 365 by modifying orgdbsettings

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Application Platform analysts, project managers and power users

• Introducing the PowerApps Center of Excellence Starter Kit
• Does staffing the Microsoft Power Platform practice need a refresh?
• PowerApps Portals Licensing October 2019
• Top 10 anti-patterns in sprints, daily scrums, sprint planning, review and retrospectives 
• Power Platform and growth mindset of learning – part 1 and Power Platform and growth mindset of learning – part 2
• Satya Nadella demos Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Youtube 00:05:25)
• Building an SFD in Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform
• Make a great first impression with your virtual agent
• Unilever’s digital journey leads to real results for consumers and employees

Dynamics 365 monthly reading list May 2019

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Subscribe to AD changes using Microsoft Flow and Graph API
• Sprinkle some DevOps on your PowerApps & Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement projects – BRK3093 (Youtube 00:53:22)
• Build 2019: new accelerators bring Dynamics 365 and Power Platform ISVs to AppSource and Azure Marketplace
• Understand record references and polymorphic lookups in canvas apps
• Dynamics 365 Sales Insights – how relationship analytics values are calculated
• Building the platform for every developer
• Import or export records from PowerApps for Dynamics 365 CE
• Dynamic country maps in PowerApps
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Banking accelerator is now in private preview
• Why would you use “Stage for upgrade” with managed solutions?
• On the Fasttrack to a Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement on premise to online migration
• ALM at scale: new features and automation capabilities
• Announcing the general availability of the new view designer
• Dynamics 365 integration with Microsoft Flow
• Unearthing the “solution layering” feature of Dynamics 365. How are good old concepts of patching and cloning related to it?
• Flow vs Azure Logic Apps why am I a convert?
• Provisioning and administration of CDS instances is getting easier
• Geocode a custom entity with Microsoft Flow
• Using Azure Active Directory groups to manage user access to Dynamics 365 apps and data

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Application Platform analysts, project managers and power users

• Power Platform and the definition of done … or why SOWs are fundamentally broken
• Common Data Service – Strategies and silos
• PowerApps – Why spreadsheets suck
• Are you brave enough to ask your customers how you are doing?
• Dynamics 365 & Power Platform timeline for the 2019 release wave 2
• Steve has a chat with Jeff York – interesting podcast where Steve Mordue interviews Jeff York (CFO – Microsoft Business Applications)
• Dynamics 365 Virtual Agent for Customer Service is available for preview
• The future of Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation (PSA) also check out A letter to our Microsoft Project community
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing Insights Podcast – Know what your consumers say, seek and feel

PowerApps Component Framework available in public preview

On April 23th the PowerApps Component Framework (PCF) and the PowerApps CLI was finally made available for public preview. The PowerApps Component Framework (PCF) is the foundation for all controls used in the new Unified Interface released with Dynamics 365.

PCF allows 3d party developers to build visual components using the same framework which is used internally by Microsoft (see picture below for some examples) in the unified interface.

Components created using the PowerApps Control Framework are solution aware and can be used to build a more compelling user experience. The Dynamics365 developer community immediately picked up on this exciting news and Andrew Ly already shared the source code for 3 different controls  - Progressbar control , keybinding example  and countdowntimer.

Guido Preite  @crmanswers also set up PCF Gallery which contains a list of different controls like a timeline control, data card and UK postcode validator. Everyday new controls based on PCF are added.

The PowerApps Component Framework has been in private preview for quite a while but some details were already shared on a number of occasions in 2018. Initially the framework was called Custom Controls Framework and I you encourage to take a look at some interesting post from Bob Guidinger on this topic (see references below). Do keep in mind that there are some changes between the private preview and public preview – see Update existing custom components for more details.

You will notice from the documentation that most samples are using Typescript to implement custom components so I added also some other reference links below which might help you to get started. For a brief introduction you might also want to take a look at the PowerApps April community call recording (PCF presented from 00:47:00 onwards). One thing to note though is that this is a framework which is clearly targeted at professional developers so the Dynamics consultant who occasionally writes some Javascript web resources or some simple plugins in C# will face a steep learning curve. I even think that pure Javascript/.NET developers even have an edge on the average Dynamics consultant when trying to learn the necessary skills required for PCF development.

References:

• What is the Custom Control Framework and why should Dynamics 365 developers be excited about it
• Custom Controls Framework – Introduction by Bob Guidinger
• Custom Controls Framework – Miscellaneous (Part 7) by Bob Guidinger
• PowerApps component framework (Microsoft documentation)
• Getting started with the PowerApps Component Framework (Youtube webinar 00:58:30) – webinar with the PowerApps development team
• Credit card Validator PCF Control with Hands On Lab and demo code
• Typescript SDK for Visual Studio 2017
• Typescript in 5 minutes
• Getting started with Typescript in 2019
• How to create a PowerApps PCF control (Youtube 00:13:05) by Todd Baginski
• Develop your custom control using PowerApps Component framework and use it on your CRM interface
• PowerApps Component Framework – frosting on the cake
• Microsoft PowerApps CLI – time for the non-citizen developers to get more involved
• Create custom controls using the PowerApp Component Framework