Enable Early Access Wave 1 2023 | Power Platform

February 6, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform Admin Center early access, enable early access, power apps, Power Platform

Like every 6 months, enabling Early Access is one of the best things to look forward to as Microsoft announces Release Plans! So, here’s how you can enable Early Access for Wave 1 2023 if you are new to managing Power Platform environments!

It is recommended to enable Early Access features only for Sandbox environments as it is not GA [General Availability] yet.

Power Platform Admin Center

Given that you are a Power Platform Administrator / Dynamics 365 Administrator, here’s how you can enable Wave 1 2023 access for your Sandbox environment –

Select the Sandbox environment
Then, see the Updates section where you’ll now see 2021 Wave 1 updates available in Off mode.
On the right hand side, you can select the U
Then, enter the Display Name of the environment correctly in order to ensure you are enabling this on the correct environment.
Once you confirm, you’ll see that the Updates have started applying in the background.
And when you click or refresh, you’ll see what’s being Activated in the background based on how your environment is set up.
It takes a few hours based on the environment for the Wave 1 2023 Updates to be applied.

And you’re set! Here’s Microsoft Learn Documentation for Wave 1 2023 for Power Platform / Dynamics 365: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plans/?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Enable Managed Environments in Power Platform Admin Center

January 31, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform Admin Center managed environments, managed environments in power platform admin center, Power Platform Admin Center

Here’s what Managed Environments do! They provide more control on how you administer the Environments i.e. by limiting App Sharing, applying Data Policies on the environment and even how Solution Checker should allow to import solutions upon detecting critical issues (Solution Checker feature for Managed Environments is in Preview at the time of writing this post!).

Below is the snipped from Microsoft Learn Document highlighting the capabilities of Managed Environments

Further, as I explore these features more, I’ll update and add links to the posts explaining each of the features in details.

Enable Managed Environments in Power Platform Admin Center

Given that you have appropriate permissions to take administrative actions on Power Platform environments, you can navigate to Power Platform Admin Center and then in Environments (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/environments) –

Select an Environment and click on the ellipses on the menu.
Once you select the same, review the License implications as highlighted below –
Here’s the Microsoft Documentation on the same – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/admin/managed-environment-licensing?WT.mc_id=ppac_inproduct_env%3FWT.mc_id%3DDX-MVP-5003911
Once you review the below preferences on how you want this environment to be managed, you can select the same and click on Enable as seen below –
These will send insights in email. I’ll cover in a separate post and link here.
Once everything looks good, you can Enable.

Editing Managed Environments / Disabling

Here’s how you can edit or disable Managed Environments –

If you are seeing Edit Managed Environments, it means that Managed Environment is enabled for that environment.
And you can disable Management Environment control using PowerShell. You can check this post which highlights how you can do so – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/admin/managed-environment-enable#disable-managed-environments-using-powershell?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911
Snapshot of the document below –

Here’s Microsoft Learn documentation on Managed Environments – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/admin/managed-environment-overview?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Power Platform self-service analytics Data Export to Data Lake [Preview] | Power Platform Admin Center

January 31, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft Azure, Power Platform, Power Platform Admin Center adls gen 2, data export to data lake, Power Platform Admin Center, power platform data export, power platform data export to data lake, self service analytics power platform

Now, you can also export the Analytics Data to Azure Data Lake in order to further extend the derive rich data analytics!
At the time of writing this post, this feature is in Preview (As you’ll also see from the screenshots below)

This is a great feature where you can extract this Data into Data Lake and then further enrich and derive rich Power BI reporting based on your use-case.

In case you are new to understanding Azure Data Lake and pricing, you can review this – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/solutions/data-lake/?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Data Export (Preview)

In Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/), here’s how you can setup Data Export –

Navigate to Data Export in Power Platform Admin Center given that you have appropriate rights –
Then, you’ll get to choose amongst the Power Apps or Power Automate data to be exported to Data Lake.
In this example, I’ll choose Power Automate. As I select Power Automate, you’ll see that Tenant-Level Analytics are required and hence, already considered as Yes. If not, you’ll need to Enable Tenant-Level Analytics while doing this step – Here’s another post on how to Enable and Use Tenant Level Analytics –
Now, In the next section you’ll need to choose the Subscription.
Further, select the Resource Group and eventually, the Storage Account as well.

And Storage Account is selected as well.
Once everything looks good, you can click on Create.
In a few moments, this will appear in Data Lake section of the Data Export. It will take up to 24 hours for the data to first start showing in Data Lake.
Once this is completed after about 24 hours, you’ll see the status of the Data Lake data package changed to connected.

Data Export to Data Lake

Let’s look at the Azure Storage Explorer to connect to our Data Lake and see the Power Platform data – In case you are looking to install Azure Storage Explorer, here’s a post – Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer | Getting Started

Once authenticated to the correct environment in Azure Storage Explorer, here’s what you would see in the ADLS Gen 2 (In case you want to create ADLS Gen 2 storage account, you can review this post – Create ADLS Gen 2 Storage Account for Azure Data Lake)
You’ll see powerplatform folder show up.
If you open this folder, since we had chosen Power Automate, it’s folder will be created.
And let’s go in Flows folder to see the data. You’ll find json files of the same. You can double click to open it and it’ll open in whatever editor you have installed.
In this case, I had VS Code, so here’s what the Flow data looks like –
Likewise, you can dig deeper in this data and use this further for your reporting!

Here’s Microsoft Learn Document on the same – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/self-service-analytics?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Here’s Microsoft Learn Docs for Tenant-Level Analytics – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/admin/tenant-level-analytics#how-do-i-enable-tenant-level-analytics?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Tenant-Level Analytics in Power Platform Admin Center | For Power Apps and Power Automate

January 30, 2023February 5, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform Admin Center power platform admin center analytics, tenant level analysis for power platform, tenant level analytics, tenant level analytics power platform admin center, tenant level analytics reporting

As your organization and tenant usage grows, it’s difficult to keep track of Adoption. To tackle this, Tenant-Level Analytics have been introduced in Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/).

Let’s see how we can turn this on for your tenant!

Enable Tenant-Level Analytics

Given that you have appropriate permissions in Power Platform Admin Center, here’s how you can enable Tenant-Level Analytics –

In Power Platform Admin Center, look for Settings area – under this, you’ll see an option called as Analytics –
Once you select Analytics, you’ll see on the right-hand side, a simple switch to turn it On. it could be Off by default.
Once you Turn if On and Save, you’ll also see a confirmation message.

And it’ll show this message once applied.
Now, do a complete Broswer refresh.

Reading Tenant-Level Analytics

Here’s how you can review tenant-level analytics once enabled for your Tenant via the Power Platform Admin Center –

When Tenant-Level Analytics are disabled, you’ll not find anything on the top right corner of the Analytics under Power Automate or Power Apps

Tenant-Level Analytics: OFF (for both, Power Automate and Power Apps)

Tenant-Level Analytics: ON
You can drop down on the menu and find Tenant-Level Analytics.
Once you choose Tenant level analysis, you’ll see the below report show up – this is the same for Power Automate as well as Power Apps.
Please note that it takes up to 24 to 48 hours for the metrics to start showing from the previous day.
And after approx. 48 hours later, I see this data now showing up.

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Bulk Delete Cancelling in Dynamics 365 CRM | [Quick Tip]

January 3, 2023 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform Admin Center

In case you want to cleanup some background data in a Sandbox environment but your Bulk Deletion Jobs are failing? Here’s why.

Canceled Bulk Deletion

Below is what you would see –

Once you set a Bulk Deletion job in a Sandbox environment, you notice the below –
The Bulk Deletion Job gets Canceled without even deleting a single record!
There’s a specific reason for why this is happening. Let’s look below.

Background Process

Here’s why the Bulk Deletion job keeps failing –

The reason Bulk Deletion jobs are getting Canceled in the Sandbox environment is because of the Background Processes.
In case the Environment is in Administration Mode.
Open the Environment Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/environments) and Go inside the Environment.
Look for the Edit button.
You’ll find that the Administration mode might be enabled. But besides that, the Background operations might be disabled.
This is causing the Bulk Deletion jobs to fail.
And when you restart the process, you’ll find that the Bulk Deletion Jobs will start deleting the items and will be In Progress.

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Run User Diagnostics in Power Platform Admin Center | Solving User Access Issues for Dynamics CRM

December 29, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform Admin Center Power Platform Admin Center, run diagnostics in power platform, user access issue in crm, user access issue in dynamics 365 crm, user diagnostics

Many users often reports issue of not being able to access Dynamics 365 CRM even when they’ve been assigned security roles.

So, Power Platform Admin Center will provide you a Diagnostic Tool to quickly check what type of access is missing at the administration level across the below areas –

Sign in blocked for the User at M365 level.
No license for Power Apps / CE Apps.
Not in Security Group of the Dataverse/CRM environment

Let’s see how we can run the Diagnostics and how to solve each of them!

Run Diagnostics on Users

Here’s how you can Run the Diagnostics on the Users in Power Platform Admin Center –

Navigate to the Settings once you select the Environment –
Then, expand the Users + permissions area to see the Users option
Once you see all the Users, you’ll be able to see which Users you want to select and then investigate for diagnostics.
When you click on Run Diagnostics, you’ll see the pan on the right hand side complete some tests and then show the results –
And when you zoom, you’ll see the information as below –
So, when you check the License information in the M365 Portal (considering you have Admin access), you’ll identify that the User is missing the license for Power Apps / Customer Engagement Apps.
When I run this for User whose all levels of access are correct, I’ll see the below –
In other instances, the Sign-in could be blocked as well and this is how it’ll appear. The error message will point out what is causing the User to not access the Dataverse environments.
And when you check the User in the M365 Admin Center, you’ll see that the Sign-in is blocked –
And a final reason that a User is not a part of the Security Group which has been assigned to the Environment itself.
In that case, they’ll see the below error –
So, if you check the Environment in PPAC itself, you can see what Security Group has been applied to the Environment.
And if you look at this Group, you’ll not find the member in the Security Group at the M365 Level.

You can find the complete Microsoft Learn documentation on the same here – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/admin/troubleshooting-user-needs-read-write-access-organization#user-diagnostics?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Setting up Billing Policy for Dataverse Environments in Power Platform for Azure Pay-As-You-Go plan | Microsoft Azure

October 31, 2022October 31, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Microsoft Azure, Microsoft PowerApps, Power Platform Admin Center Dataverse, Microsoft Azure, power apps, power platform billing policy, power platform pay as you go

Pay-as-you-go has been recently announced with Azure and I too wanted to explore this topic myself on my trials Dataverse/D365 Sales environment as well as my Microsoft Azure trial subscription which I started.

Disclaimer: Please note that I’m exploring this topic and sharing as I go on. Hence, I’ll continue to write further topics as I proceed. Please try on your Dataverse trial & Microsoft Azure trial subscription to identify / estimate the costs your actual implementation will incur.

I also recommend going through the below Microsoft Learn Pages for detailed information on pricing and meters of the Pay-as-you-go model –

Detailed Microsoft Docs for Pay-as-you-go: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pay-as-you-go-overview?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Power Apps Pricing: https ://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

Pay-as-you-go Meters: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pay-as-you-go-meters?tabs=image?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Let’s see how we can get started!

Setting up Billing Policy

Here’s how you create Billing Policy in Power Platform –

In Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/), you can see Policies section. If you expand the same, you can see Billing Policies.
Here, you can start by creating a new Billing Policy
You can give it an appropriate name. And it doesn’t allow you to have spaces.
Next, you’ll be asked to select the Subscription you wan to assign the Billing Policy under.
Notice the error below. My Free Trial Azure Subscription doesn’t have a Resource Group created yet. Hence, this need to be present.
Since at this point, I don’t have a Resource Group under the Azure Subscription I selected, I need to go to Azure Portal (https://portal.azure.com/), search for Resource Groups
Since you might not have any Resource Group right away, you can create one.
I’ll just give it a name which I can identify with.
I’ll validate and Create the same in Azure.
Resource Group will be created here.
Now, when I come back to Power Platform, if I reselect the Azure Subscription, I’ll now see that the Resource Group I created is showing up.
I’ll select the same and select United States as the Region.
And click on Next.
In the next steps, I can select which all Environments should be included in the Policy. Then, I can click on + Add to policy.
You can see the Added to policy tab now showing your environment. Once you are satisfied with the selection, you can click on Next.
Final step is to now Review and confirm the policy you are creating.
It’ll take a moment to start provisioning. Then, you’ll see the status as Provisioning.
Once completed, the status will show as Enabled.
Now, when you go back to Azure Portal and open the Resource Group, you’ll find a Deployment show up
Open it up and you’ll see a Deployment created.
And if you open the Deployment, you can see the DataverseBilling which we had set up in Power Platform.
And this point, you are now setup with using Pay-As-you-go plan for your Dataverse environment(s).

Note: Further, I’ll write follow up posts as I explore Pay-as-you-go scenarios and experience myself.

Hope this helps!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Set up Power Platform Tools in Visual Studio Code | Power Platform CLI

October 24, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform, Power Platform Admin Center power platform cli, power platform tools for vs code, visual studio code

In your Visual Studio Code, you can now set up Power Platform Tools / Power Platform CLI Extension for Visual Studio Code (VS Code).

Here’s VS Marketplace Link for Power Platform Tools – https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=microsoft-IsvExpTools.powerplatform-vscode

Let’s review in this post!

Extensions in Visual Studio Code

Here’s how you can install Power Platform Build Tools in Visual Studio Code

Navigate to Extensions section in Visual Studio Code.
Search for Power Platform Tools
It’ll then start installing –
When you open the installed extension, you’ll be asked to Add Auth Profile.
Clicking on Add Auth Profile will open up the Login dialog.
Once you enter Username and Password and authenticate yourself into the environment, after a few moments, you’ll see the environments show up in Visual Studio Code.
And if you expand on the environments, you’ll see the Solutions in the environment and each of them will let you get some information right away –

Testing Power Platform Tools Extension

Let’s make sure the Power Platform Tools were successfully installed –

Once installed, you can open a new Terminal and type ‘pac‘
It should show you all the Commands available since you are logged in.
And as you start to use the Commands, they have other options inside the Menus themselves.
Here’s a sample Command I used to see all the Environments
Had Power Platform Tools not been installed or Disabled, you’d see the below error –

Here’s the reference Blog which talks about Power Platform Extension for VS Code – https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-platform-extension-for-vs-code/

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Environment Variables in Power Apps and Power Automate

October 16, 2022October 16, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform, Power Platform Admin Center environment variables, environment variables in power platform

Here’s how you can create Environment Variables in Power Apps or Power Automate portal.

Creating Environment Variable in a Solution

First, create Solution to store your environment variable.

In this example, I’m using Power Apps (https://make.powerapps.com/) to create a n Environment Variable.
In the Solution, I can click on New and then look for an Environment variable.
Below are the types of Environment variables which you can create –
For example, I’m storing the current Org’s ID in an Environment Variable which I want to re-use in my Flow for whatever purpose (Just an example 🙂).
I’ve given it a suitable name and stored the current value as well.
And my Environment Variable will be created in a Solution in either Power Apps or Power Automate.
Now that your Environment variable is ready, you can feel free to use it in Power Automate and Power Apps. Environment variables can be used in Flows and Canvas Apps which are in a solution.
Here’s how you can use Environment Variables in Canvas Apps and Flow – Using Environment Variables in Power Automate and Canvas Apps

You can look at Microsoft’s Documentation on Environment Variables for more info – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/data-platform/environmentvariables?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Hope this was useful!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

Schedule maintenance updates should occur for Dynamics 365 CRM environment | Power Platform Admin Center

October 2, 2022October 2, 2022 priyeshwagh777 Power Platform Admin Center dynamics 365 crm solution import, maintenance window settings for dynamics 365 crm, Power Platform Admin Center, solution history

In case you are seeing issues lately that you are not able to access your Dynamics 365 CRM or it’s running relatively slow, it might be perhaps because the platform is being updates from Microsoft’s end for importing solutions in your environment as platform updates.

System freeze could happen if any solutions are being imported into your environment. Now, you can control when the updates should be allowed so that you don’t get downtime during your business hours. Let’s look at this!

Maintenance Window Settings in Power Platform Admin Center

Given that you are already aware on how you can go to Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/) –

Navigate to Environments, select the Environment which you want to check the Apps Updates schedule and click on Settings.
Once in Settings of the Environment, you’ll see the Updates section which you can expand and you’ll see the Maintenance Window Settings – So remember, this is still in Preview as of yet and might not work as expected unless it’s in GA.
And this will let you set the time frame based on when you want to Updates to be applied to the environment.
It’ll show that it’s currently set to 02:00 to 11:00 UTC – which is not favorable for my based on my working hours since I’m in India.
So, I’ll check on a service like https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ and make sure I compare and see when is the best way to schedule my updates for –
Currently, the above updates are scheduled for 07 am IST which won’t suit my needs.
So, I’ll change it to some other time! So, something like 15:00 UTC works for my which skips my usual business hours so that my business hours are not interrupted with Updates on the platform.

So, I select the new time and click Save. I can expect about 48 hours for this to come into effect even though updates are usually pushed over the weekends and not weekdays.
You can read this Microsoft Docs on Maintenance Window Settings here – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-platform/admin/manage-maintenance-window?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911

Check Solutions History

In order to check if your CRM environment is not working as expected, as an Administrator you can always to Power Apps (https://make.powerapps.com/) –

Make sure the correct environment is selected, then
Then, in Solutions, you can see History tab which will show the recent App Updates applied.
And as you see above, the updates were taking place based on what my old settings were set. Hence, I needed to change the same to ensure my business hours are not affected.

Hope this was useful and this helped in clarifying the concept!

Here are some Power Automate posts you want to check out –

Thank you!

D365 Demystified

A closer look at Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Power Platform Admin Center

Enable Early Access Wave 1 2023 | Power Platform

Power Platform Admin Center

Like this:

Enable Managed Environments in Power Platform Admin Center

Enable Managed Environments in Power Platform Admin Center

Editing Managed Environments / Disabling

Like this:

Power Platform self-service analytics Data Export to Data Lake [Preview] | Power Platform Admin Center

Data Export (Preview)

Data Export to Data Lake

Like this:

Tenant-Level Analytics in Power Platform Admin Center | For Power Apps and Power Automate

Enable Tenant-Level Analytics

Reading Tenant-Level Analytics

Like this:

Bulk Delete Cancelling in Dynamics 365 CRM | [Quick Tip]

Canceled Bulk Deletion

Background Process

Like this:

Run User Diagnostics in Power Platform Admin Center | Solving User Access Issues for Dynamics CRM

Run Diagnostics on Users

Like this:

Setting up Billing Policy for Dataverse Environments in Power Platform for Azure Pay-As-You-Go plan | Microsoft Azure

Setting up Billing Policy

Like this:

Set up Power Platform Tools in Visual Studio Code | Power Platform CLI

Extensions in Visual Studio Code

Testing Power Platform Tools Extension

Like this:

Environment Variables in Power Apps and Power Automate

Creating Environment Variable in a Solution

Like this:

Schedule maintenance updates should occur for Dynamics 365 CRM environment | Power Platform Admin Center

Maintenance Window Settings in Power Platform Admin Center

Check Solutions History

Like this:

Power Platform Admin Center

Share this:

Like this:

Enable Managed Environments in Power Platform Admin Center

Editing Managed Environments / Disabling

Share this:

Like this:

Data Export (Preview)

Data Export to Data Lake

Share this:

Like this:

Enable Tenant-Level Analytics

Reading Tenant-Level Analytics

Share this:

Like this:

Canceled Bulk Deletion

Background Process

Share this:

Like this:

Run Diagnostics on Users

Share this:

Like this:

Setting up Billing Policy

Share this:

Like this:

Extensions in Visual Studio Code

Testing Power Platform Tools Extension

Share this:

Like this:

Creating Environment Variable in a Solution

Share this:

Like this:

Maintenance Window Settings in Power Platform Admin Center

Check Solutions History

Share this:

Like this: