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)

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list January 2020

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform - 2020 Wave 1 topics

Starting April 2020, new features in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform will be activated, but you can already try out some of the new features by enabling early access - for a full list of available features see 2020 release wave 1 features available for early access

• Dynamics 365 release schedule and  early access
• Dynamics 365: 2020 release wave 1 plan
• First impressions on Power Platform 2020 Release Wave 1 by @jukkan
• Marketing Release wave 1 2020 by @MalinMartnes
• 2020 release Wave 1 - random picks by @ashlega
• Microsoft Power Platform 2020 Release Wave 1 Plan: the bits which excited me by @leontribe

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• CDS vs CDS: what connector should I use in Power Automate? by @lagerquistsara
• How to run Microsoft Flow through custom ribbon button using httprequest
• 7 golden rules of Flow development in Power Automate
• Enable collaborative bot development across your organization for any user
• Dynamics 365 Org DB Settings
• How to avoid the "Get Record" action to retrieved related data in Power Automate
• Create your own Insight Cards with Power Automate in Sales Insights
• Create a Power Virtual Agent in 10 easy steps
• Using Power Virtual Agent and Power Automate to create a simple bot for cases in Dynamics 365 Customer Service
• Send and store surveys responses in Dynamics 365 CRM using Forms Pro by @inogic
• Introducing Test Studio to build end-to-end tests and maintain your (canvas) app quality
• 10 things I wish I knew before I started with PowerApps
• Power Automate + Adaptive cards introduces business form scenarios on Microsoft Teams
• What are environment variables?
• Can Azure Functions replace plugins in Dynamics 365? Well yes but ...
• Power Platform Admin role vs Dynamics 365 Admin Role in Office 365 Admin center
• Power Virtual Agent - Extend and Customize

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

• Omnichannel for Customer Service and Power Virtual Agents by @ParkhurstNeil
• Scrum Dynamics 32 - Measuring customization
• Get ready for licensing enforcement in Dynamics 365 
• Update to the Power Platform Center of Excellence Starter Kit
• Don't confuse Digital Transformation with Customer Experience

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list December 2019

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Introducing improvements to data storage in Common Data Services
• New improvements in Embedded Canvas Apps which are undocumented/unannounced
• MVP Advent Calendar 2019 - excellent initiative by @MeganVWalker
• Microsoft Flow vs Dynamics 365 Workflows
• Power Virtual Agent Series - add Power Virtual Agent to Microsoft Teams by @TomaszPoszytek
• Sentiment analysis for Power Virtual Agent using Power Automate & Azure Cognitive Services
• Performance benefits of unified interface
• Get notified in Dynamics 365 when a contact is no longer with a company.
• Generate demo data for Dynamics 365 using Power Automate and Mockaroo by @DylanHaskins
• Connect to Dynamics 365 Web API using oAuth2.0 - Authorization Code Grant Type
• Custom Insights Cards for Sentiment Feedback
• Filtering a lookup based on the linked entity by @Himbapinfo
• PowerApps: using the Common App Connector vs the Dynamics 365 Connector by @ccognetta
• SalesSpark and the PowerApps Component Framework by @ScottDurow

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

• Proactive chat in Dynamics 365 Omnichannel for Customer Service
• 2019 in Microsoft Business Applications by @jukkan
• How Microsoft publishes product release plans using Power Platform
• Microsoft Access: the database software that won't die
• Predictive lead scoring in Dynamics 365 Sales Insights
• Dynamics 365 Scrum - what to measure in your Scrum projects
• Less code, More Power II by @ManuellaPichler_
• Using AI to better understand your customers