In January I published an article regarding Microsoft Certifications, covered the most relevant for Power BI, and mentioned that some of them you might even do for free. We also discussed two main paths for development, that starting with Power BI you might expand towards Data Platform or Power Platform. If your current focus is Power Platform, I hope you will find this article useful.

What is Power Up Program

It is great initiative that Microsoft started, that aims to enable non-technical people to explore new career path in low-code applications. Use the link below to join the upcoming cohort:

Microsoft Power Up Program for career switchers

Entire program is 100% free. The only thing it requires is your commitment to complete it, so, no excuses here 🙂 In order to complete the program, you must go through mandatory learning materials and complete the Power Up Challenge. What is it exactly? I will cover it shortly. Once you complete the program, you will receive a badge through Credly and Microsoft Certification Voucher. But more importantly you will gain some hands-on experience of working with Power Platform.

Application steps

Power Up Program went through a lot of modifications. I will cover them on the fly. When you sign up for the program, you will receive email confirmation, that your application is received, and you will receive further information once you are assigned to specific cohort. When it’s done, you will receive another email, requesting your availability confirmation to join the assigned cohort. Further information is shared right before the cohort starts. Here is where you receive your login to LMS (Learning Management System), as well as temporary password, which you may change later. Platform is very intuitive to use, there are two main tabs available to you:

Here is where first big change was introduced into this program. Previously you were receiving two different links to learning platform and development environments. You also had two different logins to each of the platform. Now, as you may guess it is a lot easier to go through the learning, having one landing zone and one login. Now, let’s look into the content of the training.

What are you going to learn?

Here is another big update in the program:

• Program now lasts for 7 weeks in total.
  • Previously it was 12 weeks (9 weeks for learning and 3 weeks for final challenge)
• There are 4 mandatory learning modules to complete.
  • Previously it was around 11-13.
• Entire training is delivered in form of the videos.
  • Previously it was mainly learning modules from MS Learning platform. There were optional videos included, covering introduction to each area.
• Copilots Studio (Power Virtual Agent) and Power Pages are not included in the training.
  • Previously both modules were included.
• Final App Challenge is easier, and you don’t create chatbot anymore.

As you can see, this is quite significant change that was done to the program, proving that Microsoft treats it seriously. Especially considering that this completely free. So, here is what training covers. As mentioned, there are training 4 modules:

• Building Model Driven Apps (this module covers setting up Dataverse instance as well)
• Build Canvas App
• Create workflows with Power Automate
• Visualize the data with Power BI

There is also an introductory module, that helps you navigate through the platform, and squeeze maximum value out of this training. The last mandatory module is related to Power Up Challenge. There is also variety of Live Q&A Sessions that you may join:

• App in a Day virtual one-day workshop
• Q&A – Account setup & Power Platform fundamentals
• Q&A – Dataverse and Model-Driven Apps
• Q&A – Canvas Apps
• Q&A – Power Automate
• Q&A – Power BI
• Q&A – Power Up Challenge (2 sessions)

These are optional sessions; they are not required to complete the program. Still, it’s good to know that there is a place to ask questions if you are stuck. There is also a chat available for program participants, where you can connect with others and ask questions.

Previous vs Current Program

As you can see, a lot of have changes. Is it good thing? Probably yes. It also depends on what your end goal is. If this is PL-200 exam that you may take for free as a reward or is it making a very first step with Power Platform. Previous version of the program was loaded with mandatory materials. Completing it brings you a lot closer to certification, as to pass it you must go through that material anyway. On the other hand, it could scare some of the people away. Current program is much more user friendly. Much shorter content (around 16 hours of materials), delivered in a form of videos is very easy to follow. It is much more encouraging for beginners to continue and complete the training. As a result, you get to build your first low-code application. Then you can decide if you want to continue learning and take the PL-200 exam. In my opinion, current version of the program is much better, and something that I can recommend to anyone. Regardless of your current experience.

Final Challenge

You are asked to create a solution for Animal Shelter. You will receive set of requirements that your final solution must meet. As you might guess, what you must do corresponds almost 1-2-1 to what you have learned during the training. In a nutshell, you must use available to create new entities in Dataverse. The only complexity here was to identify which are dimension tables and fact table, and setup proper Lookup columns between them. For me, I created table schemas and loaded the data using Dataflows. On top of the Dataverse, you must deliver a simple Model-Driven App, that allows to review all the animals related to your shelters. App should allow to create/modify entries through pre-defined form. Available training covers this topic nicely, so there shouldn’t be a problem with this task. Next task is to create Canvas app, that allows to browse animals that are ready to be adopted, and request to start the adoption process. My “amazing” app looked like this 🙂

Hitting “Claim for foster” button for selected animal takes you to another screen, where you see animal’s details, you must select a Foster Family and complete the request:

Selecting a Foster Family was one of the requirements for this app, therefore, “Claim for foster” button on second screen activates only when family is selected. Whatever you must do around Canvas App was presented during the training, so, here you shouldn’t have any problems either. The most complex part is the formula behind “Claim for foster” button on second screen, as it must run several actions, including using “Patch” function to update the animal record in Dataverse:

This is not a lot of code, and even here, the only complexity is using “Patch” function on Lookup column (at least in my case). How this formula works?

1. It reads the selected animal to find a proper record in Dataverse (Lookup function in patch function).
2. Changes the status of animal to “Claimed for Foster”. This is a choice field, that’s why we can’t simply provide text value, but use one of the available choices defined in the column.
3. Sets the Fost Family from drop-down selection. Again, here we update the value in column of Lookup type. So, both updated columns are not standard ones (Text or Number).
4. Refresh function refreshes Dataverse table, so when we go back to first screen, we see updated information.
5. Reset function clears the selection from drop-down list.
6. Navigate function takes us back to Home Screen.
7. Notify function informs us that everything went well.

Next task was to create a workflow using Power Automate. We just claimed the animal in Canvas App, now we would like to inform Foster Family that everything is on track. Luckily, the flow is not complicated:

Flow starts when row in Dataverse table is modified. To make sure that we capture the right modification, you may use OData filter expression. In my example, we want to capture update for specific Shelter Status. You must use the technical name of the column, and since my field is a Choice field, I can’t provide a text value of the status, but numeric representation setup in the choice:

Requirements given for automation flow could basically finish here. Of course, you still need an action to send an email, but nothing else was specifically required. It is only suggested that you could put additional effort to design an email message that you would be happy to receive. For me, I used the information from updated row to find a Foster Family information, and information from that table to find the closest shelter that his family could visit.

Thanks to additional details, I could address the email directly to contact person from Foster Family, mention the name of our animal, point out the closest Shelter, and Shelter Manager name was used as a signature in the email.

Last but not least, there is a Power BI report to be created. Not too many requirements are given. We are asked only to provide number of animals arrived to shelter in last month, how many were fostered in last month, most frequently adopted types in last 3 months, most frequently fostered animal types in last 3 months. Here is a sneak peek of the Power BI Report I created:

Once you complete all the given tasks, you must record a video (max 10 minutes), where you will describe what you did and how did you do it. I waited around 1 week since I submitted my video till it was approved. Then, I again waited around 1 week to get the final confirmation, that I completed the Power Up Program. I was also informed, that I can go back to Learning Platform and claim voucher for PL-200 Certification. Microsoft gives a lot of time to complete it, for me it’s almost 6 months before voucher expires.

Conclusion

Power Up Program was great experience, and I recommend it literarily to anyone. You start very slow, but it’s more than enough for the beginning. Form here, you may take it further and continue your Power Platform journey.  If you are thinking about joining the program, I am once again providing the link:

Microsoft Power Up Program for career switchers

I wish you good luck in the program, and hope you will enjoy it 🙂 For now, thank you for reading, and see you in next article.