Overview of the Power Platform

Quick reference

• 00:04 In this final section of the course,
• 00:06 we're going to completely shift our focus to Power BI reporting.
• 00:11 Now, why have I added this in on the end?
• 00:15 Well, as we established at the start of this course,
• 00:18 one of the biggest advantages of using Project for the Web over something like
• 00:23 Project Desktop is that it's built on the Power Platform.
• 00:27 And what this basically means is that it sits next to other power applications,
• 00:32 so we can effectively extend the capabilities of Project for the Web.
• 00:36 Now if you're not familiar with the Power applications, they basically consist
• 00:42 of Power Apps, Power Automate, formerly known as Microsoft Flow, and Power BI.
• 00:48 So what are each of those applications and why is this relevant?
• 00:52 Well, Power Apps is an application that is predominantly used by developers
• 00:56 to create applications.
• 00:58 Power Automate, formerly known as Flow, is an application that allows
• 01:03 us to create our own workflows to effectively automate tedious tasks.
• 01:07 For example, we could create a workflow that automates the holiday approval
• 01:12 process, or automates the uploading of a video to YouTube.
• 01:17 It basically helps us become more efficient when performing those tedious,
• 01:21 time consuming tasks.
• 01:23 And then finally, we have Power BI.
• 01:26 And Power BI is a business analytics tool.
• 01:29 It allows us to take a large set of data, analyze that data, clean it up,
• 01:34 and create some really stunning visuals in the form of charts and
• 01:38 graphs, and also interactive dashboards.
• 01:42 And all three of these are really powerful applications.
• 01:45 And Project for the Web is built on the same platform, which means we can utilize
• 01:49 aspects of these other applications when we're working in Project for the Web.
• 01:54 And one of the most useful that I find is the ability to take all of our data in
• 01:59 Project and create some really nice looking reports that we can provide to our
• 02:03 stakeholders, our CEO, or anybody else who might be interested in this project.
• 02:09 And that is specifically what I'd like to go through in this section.
• 02:13 And it's worth noting that creating things like reports and dashboards based off of
• 02:17 project data isn't possible currently in Project Online Desktop,
• 02:22 because Project Online Desktop is not built on the Power platform.
• 02:25 Now, I'd just like to state that this isn't going to be a full-on Power BI
• 02:29 training course.
• 02:30 You'll see when we get into it, it is an absolutely massive topic.
• 02:34 And I would highly recommend investing in a dedicated Power BI course if you think
• 02:39 this is something that you're going to be using frequently.
• 02:42 But we are going to touch on the main points, and I'm going to show you
• 02:46 a super simple way to create a really nice interactive looking report.
• 02:50 But before we get on to that, there is a really important concept that you need
• 02:55 to be made aware of, and that is something called the Dataverse.
• 02:59 So that sounds all very futuristic, but what exactly is it?
• 03:03 When we're creating our projects in Project for the Web,
• 03:06 when we're adding our tasks and other pieces of data,
• 03:09 all of that data is being stored in something called the Dataverse.
• 03:13 And the Dataverse is a secure area for our data.
• 03:17 And data within the Dataverse is stored in a series of tables.
• 03:22 So if you think of something like Excel, it's very similar to that.
• 03:26 These tables contain rows, formerly known as records, and columns,
• 03:31 formerly known as fields.
• 03:32 And each table within the Dataverse is designed to hold a certain type of data.
• 03:38 And all of these tables get created automatically as you start adding data
• 03:42 into your project.
• 03:43 So all of your data is sitting there in the background stored in different tables,
• 03:48 and all of these tables combined together are known as the Dataverse.
• 03:52 And everybody has their own specific URL for their Dataverse information.
• 03:57 Now, everything I've told you there is quite a lot to take in, and I will say,
• 04:01 don't overthink this too much.
• 04:03 It's really just background information for you so
• 04:06 you understand how everything fits together.
• 04:08 So start to get that structure in your mind.
• 04:12 You add your data into Project for the Web, and as you are doing that, in
• 04:16 the background, tables are being created to hold that data in the Dataverse.
• 04:21 We can then retrieve that data from those tables in the Dataverse to build things
• 04:26 like reports in Power BI.
• 04:27 And speaking of which,
• 04:29 that is exactly what we're going to get on to in the next lesson.

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