Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect's Handbook: An expert's guide to becoming a Power Platform solution architect and preparing for the PL-600 exam

Cover
Title
Copyright and Credits
Table of Contents
Part 1: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction to Power Platform Solution Architecture
	Laying the foundations for great solution architecture
		The security concept
		Empowered users – the cloud citizen
		Compliance
		Maintainability and supportability
		Availability and recoverability
		Performant and scalable solutions
		Implementation and operation efficiency
		Cloud delegation
		Balanced design decisions
	Understanding the solution architect’s role
		Managing expectations and project scope
		Defining standards and implementation guidelines
		Breaking down work into implementable tasks
		Leading by example
		Helping people reach the same conclusion
		Giving good news and bad news
	Power Platform architecture overview
		Dataverse, the foundation of Power Platform data-based applications
		The four key Power Platform components
		Other Power Platform building blocks
		Environments and tenants
		Security
		Power Platform application life cycle management
	The Microsoft cloud-based ecosystem
		Dynamics 365
		Microsoft 365
		AppSource
		Azure
	A hands-on approach to Power Platform solution architecture
	Summary
	Further reading
Chapter 2: The Digital Transformation Case Study
	Introducing Inveriance Corps
	Understanding the architecture as-is
	Understanding the to-be architecture
	Summary
Part 2: Requirements Analysis, Solution Envisioning, and the Implementation Roadmap
Chapter 3: Discovery and Initial Solution Planning
	Discovering the business and its needs
		Pre-discovery research
		Case study – pre-discovery research
		Preparing effective discovery questions
		Running the discovery phase
		Case study – a discovery outcome and project plan
	Identifying applicable solutions within the Microsoft Power Platform and the wider Microsoft Cloud-Based ecosystem
		Case study – matching Inveriance Corps’ requirements to Microsoft solutions
	Leveraging AppSource apps, third-party applications, and other solutions
		Case study – matching Inveriance Corp’s requirements to AppSource components
	Estimating the migration effort
		Case study – sizing the migration effort at Inveriance Corps
	Summary
Chapter 4: Identifying Business Processes, Risk Factors, and Success Criteria
	Conducting high-level discovery workshops
		Preparing discovery sessions
		Delivering discovery sessions
		The post-discovery session wrap-up
	Understanding the organization’s key success criteria
		Case study – reviewing the key success criteria at Inveriance Corps
	Facilitating understanding through high-level processes and data modeling
		The benefits of a high-level process and data models
		Modeling the high-level business processes
		Case study – modeling existing and proposed business processes
	Identifying automation opportunities and process optimization
		Case study – a high-level model of the existing data structure
	Balancing digital transformation risk factors through planning and mitigation
		Case study – the SWOT analysis
		Case study – an initial project risk analysis
	Summary
Chapter 5: Understanding the Existing Architectural Landscape
	Assessing the existing enterprise architecture
		Understanding the current enterprise architecture
		Understanding the upcoming changes that may have an impact on the enterprise architecture
		Understanding the desired enterprise architecture
	Identifying Power Platform data sources, their usage, and quality standards
		Case study – current data sources at Inveriance Corps
	Documenting the organization’s architecture and detailed business processes
		Case study – assessing the existing architecture at Inveriance Corps
	Summary
Chapter 6: Requirements Analysis and Engineering for Solution Architecture
	Overview of effective requirements analysis and engineering
	Planning the requirements gathering sessions
		Defining the purpose and desired outcome of the sessions
		Reviewing previously defined requirements
		Defining a clear agenda
		Identifying attendees and stakeholders
		Scheduling the workshops
		Sharing the session prerequisites with the attendees
		Preparing facilities, equipment, and demonstration platforms
		Preparing the baseline documentation
		Arranging for any support required during the workshop sessions
	Delivering the requirements gathering sessions
		Starting with the desired outcome
		Driving the agenda
		Refining the high-level requirements
		Identifying functional requirements
		Identifying non-functional requirements
		Assessing requirement feasibility
		Managing conflicting requirements
		Managing exceptions
		Managing scope creep
		Leveraging requirements capture methodologies and templates
		Helping stakeholders share your vision
	Post-requirements capture review and sign-off
		Reviewing the requirements capture workshop sessions
		Confirming/re-aligning the requirements to your digital transformation goals
	Summary
Chapter 7: Power Platform Fit Gap Analysis
	Introduction to Power Platform fit gap analysis
		Power Platform fit gap analysis essentials
	Deep-diving into feasibility analysis
		Will a feature be used?
		Is it technically possible to implement a feature?
		Are there any regulatory compliance issues?
	Deep-diving into best fit analysis – matching Microsoft product capabilities
		Matching requirements to Power Platform components
		Matching requirements to Dynamics 365
		Matching requirements to industry accelerators
	Best fit analysis deep-dive – matching AppSource, third-party product capabilities
		Case study – matching Inveriance Corp’s requirements to AppSource components
	Validating solutions through POCs
	Summary
Part 3: Architecting the Power Platform Solution
Chapter 8: Designing the Power Platform Solution
	Defining the Power Platform Solution Architecture topology
		Understand the current state
		Understand the to-be state
		Considering the project’s constraints
		Architecture that fits short and long-term objectives
		Linking the architectural building blocks
		Presenting multiple architecture options to facilitate selection
		Review iterations
		Product roadmap
	Power Platform detailed design
		Power Apps design patterns
		Power Automate design
	Facilitating understanding through descriptive visual designs
	Defining user experience prototypes for customer-facing and internal applications
	Benefits of UX prototypes
	Designing data migration strategies
	Defining the application life cycle management process
	Summary
Chapter 9: Effective Power Platform Data Modeling
	Translating complex business requirements into visual data models
		Creating logical data models
		Creating physical data models that support the implementation
		Strategies for creating effective data models and diagrams
	Deciding factors for integrating or importing external data sources
		Dataverse
		Copying data to Dataverse
		Copying data to Azure Data Lake
		Direct access to external data
	Defining extensible Power Platform data models
		Dataverse table types
		Selecting column data types
	Optimal reference and configuration data modeling strategies
		Modeling reference data
		Modeling configuration data
	Establishing table relationships and cascade behaviors
		Types of Dataverse relationships
		Relationship behaviors
	Power Platform data modeling best practices
		Deciding whether to use built-in or custom tables
		Deciding whether to use the Account and Contact tables
	Summary
Chapter 10: Power Platform Integration Strategies
	Introduction to Power Platform integrations
		Your role during the implementation of Power Platform integrations
		Benefits of an integrated Power Platform
		Power Platform integration challenges
		Integration layers
		Managing Power Platform integration implementations
	Designing integrations between Power Platform and Microsoft 365
		Designing for Exchange integration
		Designing Power Platform integrations with Outlook
		Designing Power Platform SharePoint integrations
	Designing integrations with on-premise and cloud-based customer systems 
		Options for connecting on-premise systems and Power Platform
		Integrating Power Platform applications with cloud-based services
	Defining inbound and outbound authentication strategies
		Designing Power Platform inbound authentication strategies
		Designing Power Platform outbound authentication strategies
	Designing a business continuity strategy for Power Platform integrations
		Monitoring and alerts
		Recovery
	Summary
Chapter 11: Defining Power Platform Security Concepts
	Designing the Power Platform core security model
		Understanding an organization’s security requirements
		Securing Power Platform environments
		Providing Dataverse API access to external applications
		Defining data loss prevention policies for Power Platform solutions
	Securing Dataverse-based applications 
		Common usage patterns for security design
		Best practices
		Leveraging Dataverse security features
		Defining a Dataverse permissions matrix
	Defining access routes for external Power Platform users
	Summary
Part 4: The Build – Implementing Solid Power Platform Solutions
Chapter 12: Validating the Solution’s Design and Implementation
	Continuous review of detailed designs and their resulting implementation
		Validating the Power Platform detailed designs
		Validating and reviewing the Power Platform implementation
	Validating compliance with the defined security requirements
		Validating Dataverse security for compliance with best practices and guidelines
		Validating authentication strategies
		Validating storage and processing secrets
		Monitoring for security compliance
	Implementing solutions that work within Power Platform API limits
		User API limits
		Dataverse service protection API limits
		Power Automate limits
	Resolving business automation conflicts
		Systematically problem-solving automation conflicts
	Resolving integration conflicts
		Systematically problem-solving integration conflicts
	Summary
Chapter 13: Power Platform Implementation Strategies
	Power Platform environment and tenant configurations
		Selecting a geographical location for the environments
		Deciding on a Power Platform environment strategy
	Optimizing the output of cross-functional Power Platform development teams
		Understanding the team’s capabilities
	Implementing effective test strategies for Power Platform solutions
		Manual testing
		Automated tests
		Load tests
		Penetration tests
	Summary
Chapter 14: Leveraging Azure DevOps for Power Platform
	Leveraging Azure DevOps for task management
	Leveraging Azure DevOps for source control
	Leveraging Azure DevOps for application life cycle management (ALM)
	Summary
Chapter 15: Go-Live Strategies
	Selecting a go-live strategy
		Selecting a phased go-live strategy
		Selecting a big-bang go-live strategy
	Preparing for go-live
		Identifying the resources required to go live
		Training users and maximizing adoption
		Defining the post-go-live capacity management and monitoring plan
		Planning the go-live cutover (who will do what and when)
		Ramping up the operational support activities
		Preparing a communication plan
		Common go-live issues and how to preempt them
		Validating the solution before rolling it out to production
		Taking into account the Power Platform product release schedule
		Running through the go-live checklist
		The go/no-go decision
	Rolling out the production environment
		The cutover
		Deciding when to roll back
		Troubleshooting data migration issues
		Handing over operational support
	Summary
Part 5: Power Platform Solution Architect Certification Prep
Chapter 16: Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert Certification Prep
	The benefits of being a Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert
	Preparing for the PL-600 – the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert Microsoft exam
	Tips for the day
	PL-600 example questions
		Question 1 – Dataverse column types
		Question 2 – Dataverse security
		Question 3 – Select a Power Platform component
		Question 4 – Identify functional and non-functional requirements
		Question 6 – Select the most appropriate feature
		Question 7 – Power Apps portal (Power Pages) security features
		Question 8 – Retry strategies
		Question 9 – Select a suitable Power Platform feature
		Question 10 – Select a suitable Power Platform feature
		Question 11 – Select a suitable application
		Question 12 – Identify functional and non-functional requirements
		Question 13 – Data migration
		Question 14 – API and service protection limits
		Question 15 – External client authentication
		Question 16 – Data security
		Question 17 – Table security
		Question 18 – Dataverse relationships
		Question 19 – Data security
		Question 20 – Customer satisfaction surveys
		Question 21 – Integration options
		Question 22 – Select the ideal components
		Question 23 – Select integration options
		Question 24 – Functional versus non-functional
		Question 25 – Table columns
		Question 26 – Connecting external services
		Question 27 – Dataverse teams
		Question 28 – External users accessing a solution
		Question 29 – Identify the functional requirements
		Question 30 – Fit gap analysis
		Question 31 – Microsoft 365 integration
		Question 32 – Document management
		Question 33 – Integration options
		Question 34 – Solution strategies
		Question 35 – Dataverse features
	Recommended further reading and additional learning materials
		Conclusion on practice exams
	Final thoughts
		What we have discovered so far
		Where to next?
Index