Power Platform 2020 release wave 2
Microsoft has announced the range of new features coming to the Power Platform in October 2020. This forms part of Microsoft’s wave 2 2020 updates.
Microsoft has announced a wide range of powerful new features in this wave for the Power Platform. This article summarises our pick of favourite features released for Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, Power Automate, data integration and AI Builder.
Explore the latest features released in wave 2 for Power BI here.
Power Apps
Release wave 2 brings significant improvements to Power Apps for developers of all levels and ability, improving the sophistication and usability of apps that are developed significantly.
Power Apps Portals
Power Virtual Agents can now be added to the portal simply by dragging and dropping, just as you would with the existing Power BI component.
Custom page option for developers
For developers of model-driven apps, there will now be a new ‘Custom Page’ option. No longer will you be restricted to tabs with up to 3 columns containing sections.
Power Apps component framework
The ability to utilise the Power Apps component framework is also being extended. The component framework allows developers to source or write their own custom components allowing developers to create unique user experiences.
View the complete Power Apps updates here.
Power Virtual Agents
Welcome message
Organisations will be able to configure an automatic ‘welcome’ message that is triggered when users first interact with the bot. This will allow the bot to introduce itself and the organisation and give some helpful hints and phrases to use when interacting with it.
Bot customisation
Developers will also be able to customise the look and feel of their bot. Utilising bot theming you will be able to match the bot to your corporate brand and style as well as giving it a custom icon.
Enrich Bot conversations
As well as configuring the welcome and style of bot developers will be able to enrich bot conversations by including URLs to online images and videos on different topics.
Integration with Alexa
Further enhancing their interactivity bots can be deployed as Alexa skills. By using the new Alexa channel users will be able to talk directly with your bots via the Alex app and Alexa compatible devices.
View the complete Power Virtual Agents updates here.
Power Automate
Coming to Power Automate are some key features that will enhance the usability of this service.
Integrate UI flows with Power Apps
Microsoft is making it a smoother process for developers to integrate Power Automate flows with Power Apps. Existing Power Automate widgets can be deployed within canvas apps by providing inline templates for some of the more popular scenarios users may want to run.
Use Power Automate flows in Microsoft Teams
It will also now be possible to create and use Power Automate flows directly in Microsoft Teams. The aim is to make it easier for organisations to automate the everyday tasks they rely on.
Administration of UI flows
Microsoft appreciates that developers need a consolidated view to monitor their UI flows. To facilitate this, they are rolling out new and improved management and monitoring. This will make it easier to see an overview of UI flow runs, flows utilising UI flows, and most common errors.
View the complete Power Automate updates here.
AI Builder
Whilst Microsoft AI Builder already provides an intuitive point and click UI to develop powerful AI wave 2 will see its capabilities enhanced.
AI starter kits
Microsoft is also improving AI Builder’s integration with Power Automate. Starter kits will be made available to help developers get kick-started with AI Builder by providing the building blocks for specific business cases.
AI scenarios
Microsoft will also be rolling out new AI scenarios allowing organisations to automate even more day to day business processes. These new scenarios are receipt scanning, translation, and entity text extraction.
Form processing
Form processing will also be streamlined as models will now be able to support multiple document layouts. One model will be able to handle the processing of your various documents regardless of layout.
View the complete AI Builder updates here.
Data integration
Export to Data Lake – integration with Azure Synapse
The flexibility of export to Data Lake is to be further extended by integration with Azure Synapse to enable the use of Azure Synapse SQL on-demand.
Data flows
Developers will now be able to publish the results of their developments in Power Query as data flows in the cloud directly from Power BI Desktop and Excel.
Data gateways
For users of data gateways maintenance is about to get a lot easier with the implementation of a new auto-update feature. It will no longer be necessary for each gateway to be updated manually when a new version is released.
Power Query Online
Power Query Online will also see the addition of certified connectors. It will be possible to leverage the library of certified connectors that are developed by Microsoft partners.
View the complete Data integration updates here.
Power Platform governance and administration
The single largest development in governance and administration is the unification of all the disparate administration processes into the Power Platform administration centre.
Summary
There are many more features for the Power Platform included in the 2020 release wave 2. All of these updates will be released between October 2020 and March 2021.
Alternatively, get in touch and we will be glad to help your organisation transition through and harness the power of these changes.