TIDBITS on the Microsoft Power Platform

Copilot in Dynamics 365 for Business Applications: a whole new way to work

Copilot: A Whole New Way to Work (office.com)

I want to encourage everyone to take advantage of these two-custom created virtual events at the end of June hosted by Microsoft + Avanade. The focus is copilot in the world of the Microsoft Business Applications.

A demonstration

June 26th (10:00 PST) - Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement & Copilot
“Enhance productivity and end user experience.”
Copilot for Sales - Sales enriched experience.
Copilot for Service - Enhance customer experience.
Copilot for Field Service - Create and route work orders seamlessly.

June 27th (10:00 PST) - Dynamics 365 ERP & Copilot
“Enhance Productivity of a Business user across Finance, Procurement and inventory functions."
Copilot for Finance - Enhance AI based collections and increase productivity on financial reconciliations, and AP Invoice automation.
Copilot for Supply Chain - Improve Forecast Accuracy and inventory visibility.

Please register using the following URL:
https://lnkd.in/gYB-XJmW

Time to Clean the House

As customer brains filter out the noise and try to jump on the moving train to tap into AI, there are still deep needs to align the foundation for future greatness. 

One of the biggest areas of opportunity is in diving into cleaning up the house.

Consider:

Do you have a unique way to understand that a company and/or a contact within the data that you manage is the same company or the same contact? This seems to be such a simple concept, but I suspect that more than one reader has pain in this area. 

There are now a number of third-party ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) who are offering deduplication tools for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Dataverse. 

These vendors can either extend or use what is available out of the box with the Power Platform or use other toolsets in building out their offerings. Finding duplicates is not necessarily the business or technical challenge.  The challenge comes when you need to decide what needs to be done with a set of duplicate records.

If the records have no children, then an easy merge. A user can pick field, by field, the most accurate data and the out of the box tools will inactivate the secondary record. Perfect fix! 

But if records have numerous child and grandchild records the use of merge can make things a bit messy and more intelligence is needed to rearrange the hierarchies and spiderwebs of related data. 

What are your favorite ways to de-duplicate data?

 

AI Branding and the Power of Choice

Are you struggling to get your head around the various branding of AI? Consider that functionality can be built using the power of "AI" and that each functionality bundle can have a very different usage. The way it works, the way it is designed, the data that it uses, the reach and security that it leverages. Companies are working on communicating this, because for some audiences it matters.

In the world of "Business Think" the technology doesn't matter as much as what is being provided and how. If I have a specific need and that need is the same as another company, then perhaps, I just want to purchase something that meets that need. I don't necessarily need the technical details of how it is built, I just want the telephone system that allows all my employees to make calls, BUT just like buying a car, there are all the "you could also have" and "you might also need" or preferences such as color or in the case of a phone system, transcription, video, integrations, empowerment, security and the list goes on.

 Microsoft has an interesting dilemma as the world gets nosier. They empower teams, business people, technical people, partners, independent software companies and others with the power to configure their offerings and not only configure, but choice of configurations depending on need and if there many choices are not enough, they also support, deeply support extensions to their code bases. Just like walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery story. 25 choices that are slightly different and you can pick your own ingredients and make your own granola (oats, raisins, brown sugar, nuts, bake). 

Do we want choice?

Most of the time we do want choice. Try to be patient when considering that at times choices can be a bit overwhelming. Find your trusted souls, build your trusted network of gurus and most importantly have multi-person conversations on options. 

The human knowledge wells are deep, if you can tap into these without egos, fears, games, societies current anxieties, you will have more power and more information than needed to make the right long-term choices.  

 

 

Copilot Studio Vocabulary

Just a few fun terms to get you thinking about all you can build (Note: I did use Copilot (Microsoft Teams Copilot) to extract the definition for each of the below terms)

• Trigger Phrases: These are specific phrases or keywords that, when detected in a user's input, activate a particular topic or response in Copilot. They help in identifying the user's intent and directing the conversation accordingly.
• Nodes: These are the building blocks of a conversation in Copilot studio. Each node represents a specific part of the conversation flow, such as a question, a response, or an action. Nodes are connected to create a structured dialogue.
• Response Variation: This refers to the different ways Copilot can respond to the same user input. By having multiple variations of a response, Copilot can provide a more natural and engaging conversation experience.
• Quick Replies: These are predefined responses that users can select to quickly reply to a message. They help streamline the conversation and guide users through the interaction.
• Entities: These are specific pieces of information that Copilot can recognize and extract from the user's input. Examples include dates, names, locations, and other relevant data points.
• Variables: These are placeholders used to store and manage information within a conversation. Variables can be used to personalize responses and keep track of the conversation context.
• Power FX: This is a formula language used in Copilot studio to create complex expressions and logic. It allows for advanced customization and control over the conversation flow.

We Do AI 2024

AGENDA

• OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Copilot(s)
• The Power Platform
• Microsoft Power Platform Model Driven Apps built by Microsoft
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Journeys/Marketing
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center
• Microsoft Copilot Studio
• An Agent versus A Copilot

 

 

 

 

 

Guess Who?

Azure OpenAI (Frequently Asked Questions)

Is Azure OpenAI different from OpenAI? Yes

Azure OpenAI Service frequently asked questions - Azure AI services | Microsoft Learn

"Azure OpenAI Service provides REST API access to OpenAI's powerful language models including GPT-4o, GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, GPT-4, GPT-3.5-Turbo, and Embeddings model series. These models can be easily adapted to your specific task including but not limited to content generation, summarization, image understanding, semantic search, and natural language to code translation. Users can access the service through REST APIs, Python SDK, or our web-based interface in the Azure OpenAI Studio." Retrieved from What is Azure OpenAI Service? - Azure AI services | Microsoft Learn

• "Does Azure OpenAI support custom API headers? Current APIs allow up to 10 custom headers, which are passed through the pipeline, and returned."
• Does Azure OpenAI support GPT-4? Azure OpenAI supports the latest GPT-4 models. It supports both GPT-4 and GPT-4-32K

and there are so many more goodies here Azure OpenAI Service frequently asked questions - Azure AI services | Microsoft Learn

Discussions with Copilot on the future of Exams

If Copilot can find the answers to all my exam questions, then I only need to know enough to know if the answers are right or not. Do you think this will change how we get certified in the future?

 

I decided to ask Copilot the question: 

Copilot said:

"The idea of using technology like Copilot to find answers to exam questions raises interesting questions about the future of certification processes. While it's true that having access to information can assist in learning and exam preparation, the core purpose of certifications is to validate one's understanding and ability to apply knowledge effectively.

Certifications often aim to assess not just factual knowledge, but also critical thinking, problem-solving, and the application of concepts in practical scenarios. Therefore, while technology may change the way we study and prepare for exams, the fundamental skills that certifications aim to measure are likely to remain important.

Moreover, the process of learning and studying helps to internalize knowledge, which is crucial for long-term retention and the ability to apply skills in different contexts. It's possible that certification processes may evolve to incorporate new technologies in a way that enhances learning and assessment, rather than just focusing on the ability to find answers.

In the context of Microsoft certifications, there have been changes and updates to the process, such as different types of vouchers with specific redemption procedures, eligibility for certification renewals, and the introduction of new certifications like the Power Platform certification. These changes reflect an ongoing effort to keep the certification process relevant and valuable in the face of evolving technology and industry needs."

What is fascinating about the answer is that one of the challenges with exams is the level of experience that the exam preparation team has with actual project work and getting this field experience into the answers. It is not about where to find something within the menus and when it comes to approach, it is Microsoft. We often have numerous approaches and solutions.

Microsoft Contact Center

We so often fall into the default thought process of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and if we stretch our thought processes, we include Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Dynamics 365 Customer Journeys/Insights BUT there is a new "awesome" in the huge suite under the Power Platform Umbrella. 

The Dynamics 365 Contact Center Announcing Dynamics 365 Contact Center - a Copilot-first cloud contact center to transform service experiences - The Official Microsoft Blog

 

 

Incredible Flexibility

I am working with some incredible technologies, and I am working with the Power Platform and so many cool things that can be done with this incredible engine of growth. 

Consider this: You have an incredible repository of many different data sources. You have an entire team of people who work on "DATA" (and AI and all the cool new in the data space), but you also use one or many of the Power Platform, Model Driven, Dynamics PowerApps (Sales, Field Service, Customer Service, Connected Field Service, Marketing, Talent, Custom and so many more)

Did you know that you can work with a Power BI team to create incredible reports off of your data "repositories" (pulling data from many different places) AND you can then embed these Power BI reports in a Power Platform, Power Portal. Why use a Power Portal over a custom web page or some other option? well there is that little gem of application and/or data access security. Yes, the templates are also incredibly nice, but where Microsoft shines is in the layers of awesome. 

One of the reasons that I continue to focus and grow within the Power Platform is the huge flexibility and pivoting of new technologies to meet the demanding business needs. These needs are met leveraging the same platform and the platform continues to grow and be supported.