Keith Atherton

Copilot in Microsoft Power Apps OK, I hope you’re sitting down. An announcement was made recently which blew my mind: Copilot in Microsoft Power Apps (preview)! This feature is made possible by use of next-generation AI technology and means you can write a sentence such as: Build an app to manage music playlists for my favourite artists such as Metallica (Well, that’s one example but the choice is yours 😄) [Read More]

I recently started paying more attention to the Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform Release Planner to learn about planned features, features coming soon, and features available to try now. The release planner does cover Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform but my main focus is on Microsoft Power Platform. Selecting a feature provides more information such as the description of the feature, who the feature is aimed at (admins, makers, etc), when the release is scheduled for phases like Public Preview and General Availability (GA), and much more: [Read More]

Azure Spring Clean 2023 This special blog post is part of the amazing Azure Spring Clean 2023 event organised by the awesome Joe Carlyle and Thomas Thornton. Microsoft Azure certifications have many benefits, including the potential to get your first job working with Azure, earn a promotion, keeping your skills up to date, and having greater job satisfaction. In this session, we’ll cover which certifications are available, learning resources, exams and renewals, money-saving tips and much more! [Read More]

My Microsoft certifications I’m very proud to have earned all eight Microsoft Fundamentals Certifications: Azure Fundamentals Azure Data Fundamentals Azure AI Fundamentals Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Power Platform Fundamentals Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM) Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (ERP) Why I study for Microsoft certifications Studying for a technical certification, Microsoft or otherwise, is a personal choice which can be motivated by several factors such as: [Read More]

I wondered what ChatGPT thinks about the Microsoft Power Platform… so I asked it! The results were very interesting - here they are: Me: What is the Microsoft Power Platform? ChatGPT: The Microsoft Power Platform is a low-code platform that enables organizations to build custom business applications quickly and easily. It combines three products: Power Apps, Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow), and Power BI. Power Apps is a platform for creating custom business applications for mobile devices and web browsers. [Read More]

The Microsoft Power Apps Community is a place where you can connect with peers, share ideas, and learn from experts for everything Power App-related. It’s a great place to find help as well as offer help to others. In fact, when searching on Google (other search engines are available) for answers to Power App questions, I’m often directed to the Microsoft Power Apps Community where, often, someone has encountered a similar issue and helpful folks have responded with a solution. [Read More]

The Microsoft Power Platform 2023 release wave 1 plan was recently announced with a TON of interesting updates! The release plan contains hundreds of new features across Power Platform so here is a brief summary of some of my highlights: Power BI Integrate Power BI into Teams meetings Power BI is adding new in-meeting experiences for Microsoft Teams. Users can add content like reports to Teams meetings by adding the Power BI tab to their meetings. [Read More]

The Festive Tech Calendar 2022 online event ran throughout December, 2022 and was fantastic! I was privileged to be one of the co-organisers along with Gregor Suttie, Richard Hooper, Simon Lee, and Lisa Hoving. It was great to work with the organising team, speakers, our chosen charity, supporters, and everyone else, to be able to deliver a wonderful event. There was a huge number of sessions submitted, and all event sessions are still available for catch-up here: [Read More]

One of my favourite Microsoft certifications is Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals which requires passing Exam DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals. LinkedIn Learning now has courses for all four of the skills measured, and I was lucky enough to be one of the instructors: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) Cert Prep: 1 Core Data Concepts by Gregor Suttie Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) Cert Prep: 2 Working with Relational Data on Azure by Adam Wilbert [Read More]