Chapter 1: Introduction to Power Platform Solution Architecture
Microsoft Power Platform solution architects have functional and technical knowledge across the Microsoft cloud ecosystem and other third-party technologies. This chapter introduces the solution architect’s role, the Power Platform, and the broader Microsoft stack. You will be taken through a journey covering the hands-on approach used to apply best practices, solve problems, identify opportunities, and increase the value of the customer’s investment in Microsoft solutions.
In this chapter, we are going to cover the following main topics:
- Laying the foundations for great solution architecture
- Understanding the solution architect’s role
- Power Platform architecture overview
- The Microsoft cloud-based ecosystem
- A hands-on approach to solution architecture
By the end of this chapter, you will be equipped with the tools and context to propel you through the activities and scenarios in the chapters to come. You will also gain an awareness of the various components and moving parts that make up Power Platform implementations of varying sizes and complexity.
Laying the foundations for great solution architecture
The advent of cloud-based solutions has brought forth the era of scalable, highly performant, and secure business applications. Planning, designing, and building great Power Platform solution architecture requires the consistent application of a set of principles. Each organization and solution is unique, and while a single solution design pattern does not exist, the following nine concepts will help you lay the foundations for a great Power Platform solution architecture:
Figure 1.1 – The pillars for great solution architecture
Now, let’s outline these nine key concepts for great Power Platform solution architecture.
The security concept
Data is the crown jewel of most organizations. The security concept encompasses every aspect of the implementation. You define the authentication strategies, identify network vulnerabilities, and management of secrets, certificates, and other credentials. These activities will result in effective perimeter control for your solution.
The definition of a solid security concept will do the following:
- Provide the client with confidence in their Power Platform investment.
- Expedite the implementation and configuration of the solution.
- Reduce the risk of data breaches in production environments.
Through access control, you will also define the level of access that the internal users will be granted. In the chapters that follow, you will learn how to define a security concept that ensures data is placed only in the hands of the right users.
Empowered users – the cloud citizen
The Power Platform provides a wealth of features, allowing users to extend the base implementation. A great architecture blueprint will be cognizant of these user-accessible features and plan for these to be used as part of the user’s daily activities. The Power Platform design will define guardrails to safely empower users to build their components, allowing them to achieve greater productivity through a synergy between the base implementation and user-created enhancements.
In the use case scenarios that follow, you will learn how to define Power Platform guardrails to safely empower users.
Compliance
Privacy and trust requirements vary greatly, depending on the industry, geographical location, scope, and nature of the implementation. Data retention policies and access request channels are defined to comply with local and international regulations.
In this book, you will explore the Microsoft Trust Center tools and capabilities to locate certifications for the components that make up the solution architecture.
Maintainability and supportability
Power Platform solution architects design solutions that leverage the inherent functionality available within each Microsoft component. Making use of the standard functionality within the various Power Apps, Dataverse, and the wider Microsoft ecosystem, configuring and customizing these components are the first implementation point of call. Custom development is considered only when all other options have been exhausted and implemented within the bounds of supported customizations.
Following the configure-first approach outlined and thorough documentation of the implementation build, a solution architect defines the implementation principles and best practices for the teams to follow.
Availability and recoverability
Organizations have expectations regarding the uptime and availability of their critical systems and business applications. As a part of the initial phases of the solution design, these requirements are identified and mapped to Power Platform product capabilities. Solution architects understand the availability and recoverability features within each component in the implementation, and design integrations with retry strategies and fallbacks to prevent the transient faults from impacting the solution.
In the following chapters, you will explore the features available within each Power Platform component, define recoverability strategies, and design integration patterns that benefit from a high level of fault tolerance.
Performant and scalable solutions
Users expect business applications and portals to respond within a specific amount of time. Successful Power Platform solutions take these expectations into account and are designed to perform within the customer’s requirements. Solution architects document these performance requirements and translate them into actionable implementation tasks. Considerations such as Dataverse capacity planning, integration response times, Power Automate throughput, and Power Apps portal user experience are considerations during the solution architecture process.
In addition to performance, the solution architect plans for the dynamic allocation of resources to scale with changing demands on the system. In the following chapters, you will work through the planning of efficient resource allocation to maximize performance while optimizing costs.
Implementation and operation efficiency
A solid monitoring architecture provides a platform for the detection of faults in the solution before they happen. Monitoring strategies also provide visibility over the usage of resources. Administrators can visualize how efficiently the solution is performing and make adjustments where needed.
In the upcoming chapters, you will learn how to plan effective monitoring solutions to facilitate the efficient operation of the Power Platform systems.
Cloud delegation
The Power Platform and the wider Microsoft cloud-based ecosystem present the opportunity to delegate the responsibility for the setup and maintenance of the management of the underlying platform. Solution architects have greater freedom to focus on the implementation architecture, compared to on-premises solutions, which require careful consideration of hardware and software capabilities, constraints, and ongoing administration overheads.
In the chapters that follow, you will learn how to shift the responsibilities to the service provider, leveraging the Microsoft support infrastructure.
Balanced design decisions
Applying the aforementioned key solution architecture concepts will result in the creation of a scalable, performant, and secure Power Platform implementation. Adhering to these pillars of architecture attracts a cost, be it financial, increased project implementation timescales, or operational agility.
Throughout this book, you will learn how to balance the cost of employing these key concepts versus the benefits to the organization using the systems. You will learn how to initiate discussions with key stakeholders to agree on the goals that are most important to the organization and balance these with the cost/benefits associated with each pillar for great solution architecture.
Note
Look out for the Applying the pillars for great architecture sections, as these are hands-on applications of each of the nine pillars discussed previously throughout the activities covered in the upcoming chapters.
Understanding the solution architect’s role
The Power Platform solution architect’s role is to harness their technical knowledge and functional expertise to chart a path for the implementation team, navigating risks, issues, and changes to make the implementation a success. The solution architect is in constant dialog with the project stakeholders, project managers, and development and implementation team members to ensure the project’s vision is achieved.
The following diagram illustrates the key activities a solution architect engages in on a typical Power Platform implementation:
Figure 1.2 – The solution architect’s role
Managing expectations and project scope
A solution architect is responsible for ensuring project requirements are actioned. When requirements inevitably change throughout a project, the solution architect manages the change in scope, assesses the risk and impact these changes would bring to the build, and sets the right expectations regarding timescales for implementation. When scope creep occurs, the solution architect reviews the change, breaks down the new requirements into tasks, and communicates an action plan to the project managers, stakeholders, and the development team, thus preventing unexpected impacts on the project budget and implementation timeline.
Managing expectations and project scope is one of the key activities performed by a Power Platform solution architect and ensures that nothing is over-promised or under-delivered. The chapters that follow provide practical examples for successfully managing project scope and customer expectations.
Defining standards and implementation guidelines
As a solution architect, you will be responsible for defining the development and implementation standards that will help Power Platform consultants and developers build high-quality supportable solutions. Development standards define the technical approach, conventions, and controls expected from the implementation team, and provide a template for the Power Platform solution.
Defining clear implementation standards helps boost the build teams’ output capacity by providing a foundation for the customization of each aspect of the Power Platform, from table and column-naming conventions to advanced integration patterns, peer reviews, and coding standards. In the chapters that follow, you will learn how to define implementation standards that bring new team members up to speed faster and propel your implementation.
Breaking down work into implementable tasks
Organizational requirements are captured in the early stages of a Power Platform project and throughout the various phases of implementation. For these requirements to be implemented in harmony with the overall solution, they are broken down into tasks that the various implementation team members can perform.
Through the use of task management and sprint planning tools, such as Azure DevOps, solution architects analyze these requirements and related user stories, design a blueprint for the implementation, and create tasks that are later assigned to the implementation team members. Having an awareness of the various technical skillsets that make up a Power Platform implementation team, tasks are created to address each aspect of the organizational requirement.
In the chapters that follow, you will work through sample scenarios, and learn how to divide implementation work into discrete pieces of work to match the technical and functional skillsets of a build team.
Leading by example
Having defined the project development standards and designed a blueprint for the Power Platform solution to be implemented, solution architects proceed to lay the foundations for the implementation, helping team members build the solution from the ground up. Junior team members requiring additional attention during the early stages of the project are guided by the solution architect, providing a cushion to handle development issues, and making sure the project timescales are achieved by boosting the overall output for the team.
Helping people reach the same conclusion
During the various phases of a Power Platform project, team members will have varying opinions on the best course of action when implementing customer requirements. The solution architect listens to the options proposed by team members, project managers, and stakeholders, to ascertain the value contribution to the project. It is the solution architect’s job to convey the best solution for the various problems and tasks that come up during the implementation.
Achieving harmony and the cooperation of the implementation team is achieved by creating an environment in which discussions can take place, weighing up the pros and cons, and clearly explaining why the solution blueprint put forth is the best way forward to achieve the current and future organizational requirements. Solution architects do not assume all team members have the same level of technical expertise. They aim to raise the team’s awareness of the benefits the solution design brings to the implementation by highlighting use cases where specific implementation strategies have been successful in the past.
In the coming chapters, you will work through several scenarios where these negotiating skills will come into play, helping the project become a success.
Giving good news and bad news
Everyone enjoys giving people good news. There will be times during the implementation of business applications and portals when unexpected complications arise. This may be in the shape of new technical constraints, changes to the licensing model resulting in additional costs, or the deprecation of product features. A solution architect is responsible for the timely management of these issues, researching solutions to mitigate risks, and communicating the best course of action to the customer or project stakeholders.
In the chapters that follow, you will work through a sample implementation scenario that requires just this type of intervention to ensure the successful completion of a Power Platform project.
This section described the general activities and responsibilities solution architects take on during a typical Power Platform implementation. In this book, you will work through these activities to help cement their understanding for application in future projects.
