PL-200: Power Platform Developer - Technical Designs

• PL-200: Microsoft Power Platform Developer exam measures a candidate's ability to design, develop, secure, and automate business solutions

Skills Measured

• Ability to create technical designs

• Identify requirements

• Translate business requirements into technical requirements

• Describe the data model

• Identify dependencies

• Describe when to use code-first versus design-first

• Design a security model

• Design a solution layering strategy

• Design a solution partitioning strategy

• Design a quality assurance (QA) and testing strategy

• Can configure Microsoft Dataverse

• Create and manage tables

• Identify when to use standard versus custom tables

• Create tables

• Configure table properties

• Configure table relationships

• Configure calculated and rollup fields

• Configure alternate keys

• Configure auditing

• Import data

• Configure columns

• Configure column properties

• Configure column data types

• Configure calculated and rollup columns

• Configure column validation

• Configure choice columns

• Create global and local choice columns

• Modify the state of choice columns

• Import choice columns

• Implement data governance policies

• Configure duplicate detection rules

• Configure data encryption

• Configure field-level security

• Implement Microsoft Dataverse search

• Configure relevance search

• Configure quick find views

• Ability to create and configure Power Apps

• Create model-driven apps

• Create model-driven apps

• Configure site map navigation

• Configure grids and forms

• Enable mobile offline

• Create canvas apps

• Identify data sources

• Connect to data sources

• Develop the user interface (UI)

• Implement navigation

• Implement data validation

• Optimize performance

• Implement mobile offline

• Implement component framework features

• Create PCF controls

• Import PCF controls

• Can create and configure Power Automate

• Create cloud flows

• Create automated flows

• Create instant flows

• Create scheduled flows

• Create business process flows

• Create business process flows

• Configure business process flow actions

• Implement parallel branch workflows

• Implement role-driven business process flows

• Create desktop flows

• Record UI flows

• Implement exception handling

• Implement expressions

• Use expressions

• Use functions

• Implement error handling

• Implement try, catch, and finally blocks

• Implement error logging

• Integrate Power Platform with other services

• Configure Microsoft Power Platform Connectors

• Create custom connectors

• Use custom connectors

• Implement gateway connectivity

• Integrate Power Platform with Microsoft 365

• Identify integration points

• Implement integration with Microsoft Teams

• Implement integration with Microsoft SharePoint

• Integrate Power Platform with Azure

• Identify use cases for Azure Functions

• Integrate with Azure Functions

• Consume Azure Cognitive Services

• Consume Azure Logic Apps

• Implement security measures

• Implement authentication

• Implement multi-factor authentication

• Configure Microsoft Entra ID conditional access policies

• Implement authorization

• Configure table permissions

• Configure column security

• Implement hierarchical security

• Implement data loss prevention (DLP) policies

• Create custom DLP policies

• Configure DLP policy scopes

• Manage environments

• Implement a Microsoft Power Platform environment strategy

• Implement managed environments

• Automate environment management tasks

• Use solution checker

• Analyze solution checker results

• Resolve solution checker findings

• Manage, test, and deploy solutions

• Manage solutions

• Create managed and unmanaged solutions

• Implement solution layering

• Implement solution versioning

• Upgrade solutions

• Patch solutions

• Export solutions

• Import solutions

• Test solutions

• Perform unit tests

• Perform user acceptance testing (UAT)

• Automate testing

• Implement DevOps practices

• Automate builds

• Automate deployments

• Configure source control

Key Concepts

• Dataverse

• Provides a secure, cloud-based data storage and management platform

• Used to store and manage data for business applications

• Tables

• Represent entities within Dataverse (e.g., Accounts, Contacts)

• Can be standard (out-of-the-box) or custom

• Columns

• Represent attributes of a table (e.g., Account Name, Contact Email)

• Have various data types, such as text, number, date, and choice

• Relationships

• Define how tables relate to each other (e.g., one-to-many, many-to-many)

• Used to link related records

• Model-Driven Apps

• Focus on data management and business processes

• Based on the underlying data model in Dataverse

• UI is largely driven by the metadata configuration

• Canvas Apps

• Offer a blank canvas for creating highly customized UIs

• Connect to various data sources, including Dataverse, SQL Server, and Excel

• Provide pixel-perfect control over the app's appearance and behavior

• Power Automate

• A cloud-based service for automating workflows

• Connects to various applications and services

• Can be triggered by events or scheduled to run at specific times

• Cloud Flows

• Automated workflows that run in the cloud

• Can be triggered by events, run on a schedule, or be started manually

• Desktop Flows

• Automate tasks on desktop applications

• Record UI interactions and replay them automatically

• Connectors

• Pre-built integrations that allow Power Platform to connect to other services

• Custom connectors can be created for services that don't have a pre-built connector

• Microsoft 365 Integration

• Power Platform integrates with Microsoft 365 services like Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook

• Allows for seamless collaboration and data sharing

• Azure Integration

• Power Platform can integrate with Azure services like Azure Functions, Logic Apps, and Cognitive Services

• Enables more complex and scalable solutions

• Security Roles

• Control access to data and functionality in Dataverse

• Assigned to users or teams

• Define permissions for creating, reading, updating, and deleting records

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies

• Prevent sensitive data from being shared with unauthorized services

• Define rules that govern how data can be shared between connectors

• Solutions

• Packages that contain Power Platform components (e.g., tables, apps, flows)

• Used to manage and deploy customizations

• Can be managed or unmanaged

• Managed Solutions

• Deployed to production environments

• Cannot be directly customized

• Changes are made through updates and patches

• Unmanaged Solutions

• Used in development environments

• Can be fully customized

• DevOps

• Practices for automating the build, testing, and deployment of software

• Power Platform supports DevOps through tools like Azure DevOps and GitHub

Creating Technical Designs

• Translating business requirements into technical specifications is crucial for successful Power Platform projects
• Data modeling involves defining the structure of data within Dataverse
• Considerations such as performance, scalability, and security must be addressed
• Code-first approach involves writing code to create and customize Power Platform components
• Design-first approach focuses on using the platform's configuration tools
• Use of design patterns to create modular, reusable, and maintainable solutions

Configuring Dataverse

• Standard tables are pre-built tables provided by Dataverse, such as Account, Contact, and Opportunity
• Custom tables are tables created by users to store data specific to their business needs
• Alternate keys used to identify records uniquely other than the primary key
• Data governance policies include duplicate detection rules to maintain data quality
• Data encryption protects sensitive data at rest and in transit

Creating and Configuring Power Apps

• Model-driven apps best suited for complex business processes and data management
• Canvas apps are ideal for creating highly customized user interfaces and mobile experiences
• Component framework enables developers to create reusable UI components for Power Apps

Creating and Configuring Power Automate

• Cloud flows automate tasks and workflows in the cloud
• Business process flows guide users through a series of steps to complete a specific task
• Desktop flows automate tasks on desktop applications
• Expressions used to perform calculations and manipulate data within flows
• Error handling mechanisms include try, catch, and finally blocks

Integrating Power Platform

• Power Platform Connectors allow Power Platform to connect to other services
• Custom connectors connect to services not supported by pre-built connectors
• Power Platform integrates with Microsoft 365 services like Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook
• Power Platform integrates with Azure services like Azure Functions, Logic Apps, and Cognitive Services

Implementing Security

• Multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to user logins
• Conditional access policies control access to resources based on specific conditions
• Table permissions control access to data within Dataverse tables
• Column security restricts access to specific columns within a table
• Data loss prevention (DLP) policies prevent sensitive data from being shared with unauthorized services
• Managed environments provide a governed and secure environment for developing and deploying Power Platform solutions
• Solution checker identifies potential issues with Power Platform solutions

Managing, Testing, and Deploying Solutions

• Managed solutions deployed to production environments and cannot be directly customized
• Unmanaged solutions used in development environments and can be fully customized.
• Solution layering allows for customizations to be organized and managed in separate layers
• Solution versioning tracks changes to solutions over time
• DevOps practices automate the build, testing, and deployment of Power Platform solutions
• Automate testing solutions to maintain a level of quality through repeated development cycles

Learn about the skills measured in the PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Developer exam. This lesson focuses on creating technical designs, configuring Microsoft Dataverse, and identifying requirements. It also covers translating business needs into technical specifications, and designing security models.