Category: Community

Updates to the Power Platform Admin Center

There’s a saying amongst seasoned IT professionals who deal with Microsoft software. It goes something like this – ‘Why make do with one admin centre, when you could just have MULTIPLE admin centres to carry out functions!’.

It’s a bit of a tongue-in-check response to the numerous different admin centres that Microsoft technology seems to have. Now, I/we totally understand that over time, different (standalone) products have come together to co-exist, but their administration centres still differ.

Over time, Microsoft has been applying efforts to make them work better together, but it can still sometimes be quite frustrating not to know exactly where to go to in order to carry out specific function/s, or not to be able to see capabilities holistically overall in a single place.

So for example, we have:

  • Microsoft 365 Admin Centre
  • Power BI Admin Centre
  • Power Platform Admin Centre (which, for Dynamics 365 deployments, still leads users to the Classic Advanced Settings for some of the functionality…)
  • etc….

Now when it comes to Power Platform related items, admins would usually go to the Power Platform Admin Centre (which though it has a URL of admin.powerplatform.com, this auto-resolves to admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com – I have no idea why this is, given that no other admin centre seems to have this structure in place….another mystery…)

From here, we’d be presented with a list of environments, similar to the screenshot below:

The menu on the left hand side gave us a few of the different admin centres that we’re able to switch to. Alternatively, we could expand the overall menu to show us more capabilities, including other apps that we may wish to access:

So this is what we’ve been used to for the last few years. Essentially, information in different areas, and we’d need to go to each admin centre to find out what’s happening. So for example, if a Power Platform Admin user wanted to see any health advisories, they’d need to go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre to view the Service Health area there.

Not anymore! As part of the focus on unifying information across admin centres, Microsoft has now updated the functionality for this!

Now, with the new functionality, there’s a Home screen. On this, information is able to be presented to users, as well as applying one of several themes to the interface, such as a rainbow:

Now, in terms of information available to users, these are presented as ‘cards’. Within each card, information is shown, based on the card type:

At the moment, there are three cards to choose from:

Service Health

This section outlines any service health issues, such as outages or advisory information that users should be aware of. Clicking through it will bring users to the Service Health section of the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre:

From here, users can choose to switch across to other categories, such as Incidents, History & Reported Issues.

It’s (at least) one less click from the previous method, and I’m quite liking this. In my mind, it’s about making the information as accessible as possible (leaving aside that I think that Power Platform specific alerts should actually show within the Power Platform Admin Centre…)

Message Center

The second section is the Message Center. Here we’re able to see specific messages (yes, I know I have a LOT of messages sitting here!), and clicking on them will bring up the corresponding information directly within the same interface (which again, I’m really liking). So for example:

Nicely for messages, we also have options to filter the types of services that we want to see here. This, in my mind, is quite important, as we wouldn’t want Power Platform admins to be overwhelmed by messages that have absolutely no (usual) interest for them:

We also have the ability to specify which email notifications we want to be receiving. Again, we may be interested in some non-Power Platform notifications, but not want to see them directly within the Power Platform Admin Centre. Instead, we can specify to receive these via email – another nice touch!

Documentation

Finally, we have linked out to various Power Platform (& Dynamics 365) related resources on the Microsoft website. These are all static (ie they’re provided by Microsoft), but hopefully in the future admins will have the capability to add custom links to other resources as well.

What is nice about the documentation section though is that it’s got linked to the various Community forums. Microsoft has recently started to promote these within the products, and they can be a very helpful resource at times to be able to use!

There are also links to the Microsoft Centre of Excellence toolkit, which is a great resource that organisations should look to implement.

All in all, I think that this is a VERY good start to things. I’m hopeful that with Microsoft implementing this ‘home screen’ functionality with the ability to add cards to it, there will be additional cards that are released, bringing more information & functionality into the interface. I’m also hopeful that Microsoft will allow admins to add custom functionality here as well.

It’s a good first step – now let’s wait to see how this functionality iterates over time, and hopefully enables admin users in better ways!

Finding Employment

I thought that, given it’s now a new year, this would be a topic that could be of use to people.
Maybe it’s making all those new years resolutions that fills you with thoughts of new possibilities, but it’s usually around this time that people consider what they want their year to look like, and whether to decide to move employers, or stay in the same place.

I frequently get messages on LinkedIn, as well as direct emails, from recruiters. What happens next usually seems to fall along the same sorts of lines. They try to get some information from me, promise me the world, etc. Usually they’d try to get me on the phone, whilst not really providing any information for me to go on, or showing why having a call with them would be of any value to me.

Together with the amazing Alison Mulligan, we’ve drawn up the below. Alison is not only a seasoned recruiter, she’s also another Microsoft BizApps MVP! It’s a topic that we’ve been discussing on & off over the last few years since we first met. Alison also does a ‘One Minute Monday’ quick tips session every week. I’d strongly recommend to go & check it out!

We both chat with lots of people, and thought that giving a view from ‘both sides of the fence’ would be helpful to others. With this, we’ve put the time into drawing up a shortlist of points that both sides might think to take into consideration. Our aim here? Purely to help out – we’re not getting anything for this at all.

Tips for people looking for a new position

Why use a recruiter? Isn't it better to apply for jobs · Ambition
  1. Ensure that your CV is up to date, with all relevant information on it. Include any professional qualifications, employment history, etc, & it’s laid out well. Personally, I’m a great fan of ‘Words in Tables’ by John Moon (https://www.jmoon.co.uk/index.cfm). Free registration (or an optional charitable donation – what better way to do good for yourself and someone else at the same time) on his site will give you a great CV template that will stand out from most others (I use it myself!)
  2. Think about what you’re wanting in a new position. Be comfortable with discussing these, as you’ll need to mention them to recruiters. They could include:
    • Salary
    • Benefits
    • Career progression options
    • Volunteering
    • Work/Life balance
  3. Ensure that your LinkedIn profile is up to date, with all relevant information. Include your qualifications as well as any other experiences. Use the space available – any good recruiter will read the information that you’re including, rather than just skim the first line. A good rule of thumb is to do at least two paragraphs for each position, detailing your achievements, & what you brought to the company. You can also use LinkedIn’s own 20 steps to a better profile
  4. Use the LinkedIn ‘About’ section to describe why you’d be an asset to an employer, your skills & expertise that you bring to the table, and what you absolutely enjoy & love doing. If you don’t know what you love doing, sit down and give it some thought – start with tasks that, when you do them, get you into a ‘flow state’ (as in time seems to pass quickly)
  5. Keep your overall career plan in mind – if you haven’t done that yet, then now is a good time to start.

Above all, if someone contacts you with a role, be open and honest about things, and if you feel it’s not appropriate, you can say so. Alternatively if you think that someone else you know would be suitable for the position, you can always recommend them.

Tips for recruiters

The Pros and Cons of Using a Recruiter - HR Daily Advisor
  1. Have a proper job specification available, listing out the required & wished for items. If you don’t have one, be open about what the role is actually supposed to be, rather than guessing at it. Or at the very least have a detailed view of the company and WHY they are looking to hire. If you’re speaking to someone with more than a few years experience in their line of work, be pro-active about giving the spec to them. They’re able to take an initial look & assess whether it’s appropriate or not in much less time than you (as a recruiter) might be able to.
  2. Ensure that you actually know the salary range for the position and are happy to share it. I’ve been approached multiple times with absolutely no salary information, and when it is finally available, it turns out to be half of what I’m currently on – this feels like a giant waste of time for everyone, recruiter included, as no matter how awesome the company or role, no one is taking a 50% pay cut (unless its to work with Elon Musk or Satya Nadella)
  3. If using LinkedIn to search for candidates, take a proper look at their experience & information. All too often we’re asked about Developer opportunities, when it’s quite clear that I’m not a Developer. Use the appropriate filtering tools/options available to return pertinent results. And, we know you are under pressure in terms of time, but if you spend five minutes reading our profile (particularly if we have bothered to make it as detailed as possible), you will get a 10x greater return than if you don’t.

One final thing to keep in mind, in general. If you feel that you’re being pushed into something, take a step back, and consider if it is indeed the right move for you. It could just be the way that it’s being pitched at you, but taking a few minutes to make sure you’re alright is very important. You could also consult with a mentor around it, who we’re sure would be only too happy to help you out.

Oh, and if you have any tips you’d like to share, feel free to post them below in the comments – we’d love to see them!

The Bespoke Badger

Some of you, no doubt, will be wondering what exactly this post is about. Others will be all too familiar with this, and likely be nodding their heads as they read through it. Cryptic, right? Well, let’s begin….

Our community. It’s amazing – that’s simply the only way to describe it. People give talks at User Groups, engage on the forums, hack at hackathons. Outside of our ‘day jobs’, we continue with sharing the knowledge & love that we have for things. Look around the world, and the number of user groups is astonishing. So many great people out there who are speaking, blogging, mentoring, etc.

Of course, socialising was a major part of this as well. Go to any event, and afterwards you’d likely find a large percentage of people going to their local ‘watering hole’ (aka pub/bar/drinks location), and continuing to chat around things. It’s one of the reasons why I was drawn into the community several years back.

Then in early 2020, COVID-19 hit. Suddenly there were no user group meetings in person. Most of us were working from home, spending a lot (most?) of the day on Teams calls. We couldn’t get out, we couldn’t socialise, and we definitely couldn’t hang out & have drinks (non-alcoholic drinks ARE counted as drinks as well, for the record!) together. It was depressing, and weighed us all down.

Then a hero stepped forward. Admittedly, due to it being Chris Huntingford, he was already a hero in most people’s eyes, but this took things to the next level. He realised the need for social interactions in this ‘new world’ that we were facing, and started a virtual pub. The Bespoke Badger was born!

Image

Running on Thursday evenings, starting off around 6:30pm UK time, and going…until the last person left. People would drop in to say hi, catch up with friends, and drop off again. Some stayed for a few minutes, others stayed for hours. Some even would stay the whole night!

It wasn’t just the UK though. Plenty of people from multiple European countries joined as well, and soon became regulars. The USA would start coming online too (even though it was during the workday there) across multiple time-zones. One person (no names!) there even re-organised their Thursday schedule so that no-one would book meetings whilst it was ‘Bespoke Badger time’. Even people based in the Far East, Australia & New Zealand would come on as well (being Friday their time).

Sure, there were regular topics brought up again & again, but we all had a laugh from them. Welcoming new members to the Badger, sharing laughs & sadness together. Even better, no queues at the bar to get drinks, as all it usually took was a short trip to the kitchen! Some technology talks as well (careful not to mention SharePoint!), but SO many different subjects & topics that came up.

Larry Merkelis took over as the Landlord, and would throw open the (virtual) doors with aplomb every week.

undefined

Now you might be thinking ‘why would I spend my evening on yet another virtual call’? Well, from my experience (& those of others), it’s not just ‘another virtual call’. Time flies by, we’re all having fun, and then suddenly you realise it’s past midnight, and you’ve been there for 5+ hours.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Well, for a few reasons. For me, the Bespoke Badger has become a staple in my weekly schedule (which my family all knows about), and a way to keep up/connect with friends, as well as meeting new people.

The Christmas Party (held this past weekend, organised by Tricia Sinclair & Alison Mulligan) had a total of 87 people from around the world joining in live, covering 11607 minutes (that’s almost 200 hours!) across them. Awards were presented, and I was honoured to received the ‘Social Butterfly’ award, presented by Dona Sarkar.

Current times can be challenging, but I feel that the Bespoke Badger makes it so much more bearable for so many of us.

You may have come for the nerdy tech stuff, cool apps and awesome Microsoft gear, but you will stay for the heart-warming, encouraging people. We’ll all welcome you with open arms, cheer you up, help you out and take so much care.

Image

So come along & check it out, and join us there. There’s a website (https://www.thebespokebadger.com/) & Twitter (https://twitter.com/BespokeBadger). We’re more than welcoming (you’ll get used to the ‘in jokes’), and would love to see you.

Wishing you happy holidays!