In this post I am sharing some comprehensive self-pace labs to learn about Dataverse in a learn-by-doing approach. If you have been reading the other posts on this blog, you might be thinking that this is slightly out of context… I admit that I did, at first! Well, not completely. A key aspect of Power Platform Governance is Maker Education. Power Platform CoEs will have an interest in helping Makers make the right decision to store their data. SharePoint is great in many instances, but in some others Dataverse can be better, even if it requires premium licenses. And the Makers are not the only ones benefiting from it! Knowing about Dataverse will also helps CoEs and Admins to better customize the CoE Starter Kit.

• Access the Dataverse Labs
• Why Dataverse is worth it
• The reason behind these Dataverse Labs

Access the Dataverse Labs

Let’s cut to the chase first, and do the talking after… I am sharing these Dataverse Labs in my GitHub Repo.

It contains:

• A Note for Admins: This document is intended for Power Platform CoEs and Admins. I provide information about the technical requirement to follow the Labs there. The main question will be to define the Environment which will be used by the users, for which I share some ideas.
• The PowerTricks Dataverse Labs: the actual step-by-step instructions to follow to complete the Labs. This has been as detailed as possible with screenshots and annotation.
• Some Lab Materials: two external materials are needed to complete the beginning of the labs. One of them is the complete solution. This is used at the beginning to import the solution which will be created from scratch later on. The other one is a set of csv files to import some random data at the beginning to explore the application.

The content of the Labs has been heavily inspired by the Accident Tracking Learning Path. I basically used this as a foundation and added more steps and functionalities on top to provide a full Dataverse training experience. Whether you are looking to learn about Dataverse yourself, or interested in upskilling people in your organization, I am hoping these labs will be useful!

Why Dataverse is worth it

We have all been hearing the push from Microsoft towards the use of Dataverse. Dataverse being a premium capability, there is an obvious financial incentive for Microsoft to have everyone using it. But is this it? Is Microsoft the only winner in the use of Dataverse? The answer is no. So, should Makers always use Dataverse not matter what? The answer is also no. Regardless, there are so many valuable characteristics and benefits about Dataverse, making it a powerful choice to consider for organizations. Let’s look at some of my favorites.

Faster development

Using Dataverse in Power Platform solutions simply tends to accelerate the development process. This is partly true because:

• Enhanced Application Life Cycle Management: Dataverse tables are solution-aware. Importing a solution with tables into another environment will automatically create or update them. Compared with SharePoint where the Site and Lists need to be replicated for each phase of the development, this is a massive time saver when implementing solutions,
• Model Driven Apps: they are one of the Dataverse jewels. Makers can create such Apps very quickly, simply by configuring the tables and relationships, but it only connects to Dataverse by default. It can also be extended by integrating custom pages built as Canvas Apps,
• Common Data Model: a set of standardized tables ready to be used and/or customized for your Power Platform solutions. Familiarity with this model allows to save a considerable amount of time in creating the data structure for the solution.

Integrations

Dataverse is at the core of the Power Platform. It offers a rich range of integrations, such as:

• Virtual Tables: virtual tables allow you to point to another data source. The data is available through Dataverse but physically remains in the original Data source. This can be a great way to leverage Model Driven Apps without moving the data into Dataverse,
• Dataflows: as opposed to virtual tables, Dataflows leverage Power Queries to actually import data into Dataverse. You can automatically load data in from another data source, making it available within Dataverse,
• Fabric Integration: two-way integration allowing to report on Dataverse data from Fabric OneLake as well as build Apps connecting to Fabric OneLake data thanks to Virtual Tables.

Security & Compliance

Dataverse provides a lot of interesting functionalities to secure the data and comply with regulations. The offering around the creation of Security Roles and the Auditing capabilities makes Dataverse far beyond what SharePoint can offer.

The CoE Starter Kit leverages Dataverse

This is a good reason in itself for Power Platform CoEs and Admins to learn more about Dataverse. The functionalities of the CoE Kit are always ahead of what is available in-product from the Power Platform Admin Center. For organizations wanting to be proactive and lead the way in the Power Platform Governance, the CoE Kit is a very strong component. It is true that running the Flows from this kit will require a premium license. On the other hand, a lot of these functionalities require even more premium licenses when they make their way in-product by only being supported for Managed Environments.

In many situations the customization of the CoE Kit will allow to go even further in the governance strategy. Being able to customize the Dataverse structure as needed, for instance to establish a hybrid operational model between centralization and decentralization, can bring a lot of value.

Aligned with the Platform Roadmap

One of the biggest blockers I have heard from organizations regarding Dataverse is licensing. An App leveraging Dataverse will require all its users to have a premium license. This can be pretty dissuasive for organizations to implement a global Application leveraging Dataverse. Paradoxically, this the type of Apps where Dataverse can bring the most value.

On the other hand, Dataverse is here to stay. It is at the core of the platform and Microsoft promises a lot of continuous evolution and improvement. And this is not all, as they are investing more and more in the platform evolution, Microsoft is also determined to push their customers to leverage more premium capabilities. Most recent governance features are only supported for Managed Environments. Power Apps Maker Copilot is also first released to support data structures in Dataverse. The Modern Table control was also only supporting Dataverse at first. So starting to learn about Dataverse and rolling out premium licenses is also a strategic decision which aligns with Microsoft vision and roadmap (and wallet 😁).

Learning and practicing with Dataverse is a strategic decision and I recommend following these Dataverse Labs to everyone interested. On top of the few interesting facts about Dataverse listed here, equipping users with the licenses they need to use it will also open the realm of the other premium capabilities such as Managed Environments. After practicing and exploring all these capabilities, organizations will have more data to decide whether or not this is worth rolling out more premium licenses internally. In the meantime, I still hope that Microsoft will make some of these capabilities more accessible to begin with which would be a win-win move if you ask me, but this is another debate, and now one asked me…

The reason behind these Dataverse Labs

We have just discussed why I think Dataverse is worth exploring and learning about. This is not enough to explain why I spent hours building these Dataverse Labs though! Especially considering all the great content available on Microsoft Learn platform.

The main reason is the absence of a comprehensive path in MS Learn. Currently in MS Learn there are several learning paths about Dataverse. However they tend to be independent and unrelated. By browsing the modules, you will work with dogs and cats, cruises, or work accidents. I wanted to create a training which will keep a same leading scenario to explore the vast range of Dataverse most common features.

CoEs and Admins tend to have have a leading role in Maker Education. The trainings from MS Learn are not always re-usable within the organization due to the governance controls applied internally which sometimes conflict. By creating and sharing these Dataverse Labs here, I am hoping that Power Platform CoEs and Admins will find an interest in re-using and/or adapting them to suit their organization and further empower their Makers.