Microsoft is a company distinguished by the high frequency of implementing subsequent innovative changes, updates, and new products. On the one hand, this translates into a growing number of technological solutions like Dynamics 365 that are able to meet various needs of companies, but on the other hand, it makes it difficult to track subsequent changes.
Therefore, we try to keep you informed about what is happening in the world of Microsoft. Today we share with you information about one of the most interesting and fastest-developed Microsoft products, which is the Power Platform.
What is Power Platform?
Power Platform is the collective term for three Microsoft products: Power Apps, Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow), and Power BI. They provide tools that allow you to easily modify, automate and analyze data and its flow – they can be used together with Office 365, Dynamics 365, as well as other Microsoft services and solutions of external suppliers.
Power Platform is based on Dataverse (formerly Common Data Service), which is the underlying data platform that provides a unified and simplified data flow diagram so that different Microsoft applications and services can easily connect and collaborate.
What makes Power Platform interesting?
Due to the enormous technological advances that have taken place over the past decade – the business world is incomparably more data-dependent than ever, and this trend continues to accelerate. The digital transformation of our world is a fact and a must-have for each company. However, the data itself is useless if the company does not have the tools to work on it properly.
The Power Platform provides three technologies that allow employees a huge range of possibilities when it comes to working with key dates – including adapting these tools to their specific needs without the need or with the limited need of programming.
Of course, most advanced or custom Power Platform solutions still require the support of a developer, but even then the amount of programming is limited. This translates primarily into a significant reduction in the implementation time of the digital transformation of a company, lower costs when using external resources, or reducing the load on internal IT resources.
PowerApps, Power Automate & Power BI
PowerApps
The idea behind Power Apps is the process of creating applications in a way that does not take many months of programmers’ work. Power Apps gives users the ability to create applications without writing code or with the limited need of using additional code in case of more sophisticated solutions. As we have mentioned above.
Applications created with PowerApps, or Power Platform in general, can be used on various devices – Android or iOS phone, laptop, tablet, desktop computer, or as a web application.
Security is also an important component of the Power Apps service and the entire Power Platform platform. Power Apps offers high-end security, the ability to enable multi-factor authentication, the ability to modify permissions and accesses in the company, which can be managed through Azure Active Directory.
PowerApps has the functionality of the activity log, additional security to avoid data loss, and the ability to manage data from the administrator panel, which gives the person responsible for administering the central access to managing applications throughout the organization from one place.
A key advantage that applies to all applications within the Power Platform is the possibility of two-way integration of data with existing systems. This means, inter alia, the ability to use data in Dynamics 365 from the level of an application created with PowerApps and vice versa.
PowerApps highlights:
Creating applications adapted to mobile devices – quickly and without the need to involve significant IT resources,
Integration and mutual sharing of data from business applications such as Dynamics 365, Office 365, and others,
High level of data security, additional tools to avoid data loss.
Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow)
Power Automate, formerly known as Microsoft Flow, enables process automation to eliminate or reduce employees’ everyday lives – simple, repetitive tasks, and thus eliminate the human errors that accompany them. Power Automate is a powerful workflow automation tool that allows you to connect different systems with each other and use the data contained in them.
Power Automate enables the automation and construction of business processes in existing applications. Starting from simple automation of uncomplicated processes, and ending with very advanced, multi-branch scenarios based on different reactions to specific user behavior.
A good example of a simple process that can be automated with Power Automate would be, for example, the use of this tool to support the application approval process combined with notifications of approval or rejection of an application – on various platforms, on which individuals in the organization work.
Power Automate translates into a series of various functionalities. Some of them are natively integrated with Microsoft Cloud applications, and others can be integrated, for example, via Microsoft Dataverse (Common Data Service). You can also create custom workflows or applications via the Power Platform.
Power Automate highlihts:
Ready-to-use automation templates for typical processes (using Flow Gallery),
Create your own automations by combining various applications such as Outlook, SharePoint Dynamics 365 or non-Microsoft applications such as Twitter, Gmail, Asana or MailChimp etc.
Set up alerts, automatic e-mails, notifications and much more – no programming required,
Save time, reduce the amount of human errors and overally streamline your processes.
Power BI
The Power BI service allows you to view interactive dashboards in real-time and provides insights in the form of a single window. With Power BI analysis software, you can get a deep view into your company – no matter where your data is located, so the intention is to combine and consolidate that data to give you a more complete insight into your business.
Thanks to a deeper insight into what is happening in the organization, it enables the improvement of the decision-making process based on data and their analysis. There are currently over 275 different types of data sources that can be connected to the Power Platform.
There are various data sources within Power BI, such as a SQL database, Dynamics framework, or data from file servers such as Excel. All these sources can be combined to obtain the so-called big picture.
Power BI navigation dashboards are not limited to downloading data from Microsoft tools. As Microsoft provides multiple data connectors, the Power Platform can integrate with other cloud-based solutions as well. In addition, it is also possible to connect to older applications if they have the REST API.
Power BI highlights:
Integration with cloud services from Microsoft and other companies within just a few clicks,
Easy and convenient work on data, creating visualizations, charts, dashboards, maps and many other functionalities that allow you to present data in an easy-to-understand format,
The ability to easily analyze and understand even very complex data.
How does Power Platform fit into Microsoft’s strategy?
Power Platform connects a wide range of different data sources – Office 365, Dynamics 365, but also third-party applications, such as Google Analytics or Twitter. Microsoft presents Power Platform as a way to unlock the full potential of Dynamics 365 and Office 365 in a simpler and faster way than ever before. Power Platform also enables easy and quick expansion of the range of available functionalities within the Microsoft environment.
According to the announcements of Microsoft – Power Platform will be an area of large investments in the coming years. You can expect regular updates, changes, and further improvements. It seems that the Power Platform is to be one of the key elements that will bind the entire Microsoft environment – Office 365 / Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure into one ecosystem.
How to get access to the Power Platform?
Contact us using the form HERE, call us at +48 61 624 86 40, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will advise you on how to purchase a Power Platform license, we will help you implement this solution in your company and we will adapt it to the needs of the organization or create whole new custom solutions.
Unified Service Desk is an add-on to Customer Engagement apps that allows you to quickly configure your customer support apps. Solutions based on the Unified Service Desk for Dynamics 365 model allow collecting information from various business systems in one place, thanks to which an employee responsible for customer service has the possibility of full insight into the history of contact and interaction with the customer within a 360 ° view.
This gives the agent immediate access to key information and facilitates effective contact with the client, as well as answering their questions and solving problems. USD is quite simple to set up with Customer Engagement or Dynamics 365 apps.
Who is the Unified Service Desk for?
USD is most often used as a tool for creating applications for call centers, but its functionality is not limited to this only. Features such as telephone integration, session management, and agent scripts have potential that is beyond this type of business.
However, let’s focus on the example of a call center. A person responsible for customer service faces many challenges on a daily basis related to the efficiency and the level of complexity and multithreading of tasks. That’s why the unified 360 ° view of key customer information is especially helpful, allowing to handle inquiries and reported issues faster and more accurately.
Suppose you run a business that sells various types of financial products. Within your organization, you have a team of agents who are responsible for processing customer inquiries and issues reported via the company’s communication channels (telephone, social media, email, website). Using USD, employees can record all details regarding, for example, a phone call in the CRM system and create cases assigned to individual clients. Then, from the USD level, a given case can be assigned to a specific agent who will be responsible for solving it. After a case is being opened, appropriate records related to the customer are automatically created. As a result, USD shortens the process of case management and resolution, which allows agents to more precisely resolve more cases in a shorter time.
How will Unified Service Desk help your company?
Unified Service Desk provides a configurable framework for rapidly building customer service support applications that provide unified access to customer information that is stored in Microsoft Dataverse.
Here are the key benefits of Unified Service Desk:
Unified access to customer information. USD provides agents with an interface to access all the most important information about customers in Dataverse, enabling them to service faster and more accurately.
A framework that allows quick configuration. It allows adapting the application to the requirements of the organization, in a short time, while maintaining relatively low costs and commitment of resources. Note that while USD provides high application customization and rule creation with minimal developer involvement, proper configuration of the solution requires experience, knowledge, and technical skills.
Configurable and manageable from Dataverse. It allows configuring and managing agent applications from the Dataverse interface.
Session management capabilities. Agents can handle multiple client sessions simultaneously, and the application provides the ability to maintain contextual information in each session.
Safe access to data. USD uses the Dataverse security model to manage access to entities and configuration data. In addition, it allows you to configure and manage security in USD, by grouping users and assigning them the appropriate permissions.
Facilitating the work of those responsible for customer service. The organization can provide guidance to its employees using the so-called agent scripts. Thanks to this, employees have full access to the knowledge necessary to perform the task, how to perform it, and knowledge about interactions with the client so far, e.g. from other agents. This translates into facilitating work and building consistency of customer service, and thus also higher customer satisfaction.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) support. Unified Service Desk provides a structure for CTI adapters that can be used in the application responsible for supporting the work of agents responsible for customer service, among others via call forwarding, softphone control and other CTI functions.
How does Unified Service Desk work?
The USD client is an application that can run on a local machine, but the configuration and maintenance tasks are performed on the Dynamics 365 server. However, you cannot perform configuration work on the local machine.
When installing USD, some solutions are added to Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps, which create entities in the Dynamics 365 CE instance. The USD configuration is stored in the above entities.
When a user opens USD, all configuration information is automatically cached on the client’s system. It is possible to combine the telephony service system with older versions of the application.
You can also extend and add new functionality to USD with code where you need to implement hosted controls and adapters.
How to start using Unified Service Desk?
First, make sure your Dynamics 365 license includes Unified Service Desk. USD is a relatively new feature and is only available in newer versions of Microsoft’s CRM. In case of an older CRM license, please update it.
USD can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. When the runtime file is running, sample application packages are available are being shipped with USD. You can install one of the sample application packages during the USD installation, which will provide more possibilities when developing applications for customer service agents. With the package deployment tool, you can also connect to CRM. Once installed, all USD components can be found in Dynamics 365 / CRM settings.
Summary
USD is one of the most advanced tools for creating applications for e.g. call center. It requires a limited amount of programming, provides one unified view for agents, allows you to handle all types of queries and significantly translates into shortening the response time, building consistency of customer service, as well as increasing its quality.
Do you want to learn more about Unified Service Desk or implement it in your company?
Contact us using the form HERE, call us at +48 61 624 86 40, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will be happy to provide all necessary assistance.
Microsoft Office is one of the most popular business applications and is currently used by approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide. It is hard to imagine that someone who has used a computer for the last 30 years has never dealt with Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and so on.
Millions of businesses use the Office to create and work with documents, communicate with coworkers, present content, and more. However, not everyone is aware of the great potential and a wide range of functionalities provided by the Microsoft 365 cloud-based package, previously Microsoft Office 365 (on April 21, 2020, Office 365 became the Microsoft 365 platform).
What is Microsoft 365?
The Microsoft Office 365 service was launched in 2011 as a response to the competitive suite of Google apps and it is a cloud-based computing platform that operates in the subscription model.
It contains all the key tools that can also be found in the classic Office i.e. Word, Excel, Teams, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote. Depending on the plan, it can also include Publisher, Planner, Exchange, SharePoint, Access.
There are many different Microsoft 365 licenses available – including personal, multi-user, corporate, nonprofit, and educational.
There are also online-only and mobile-only versions through which users can access the free but limited online version of Office for free.
How is Microsoft 365 different from the traditional Office?
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based service, which means that instead of buying a copy of the package once and paying for it in advance, users pay a monthly subscription fee, thanks to which they gain access to the service at the level of their choice and for the duration of their choice.
As part of the subscription model, users always have access to the latest version as the platform is constantly updated by Microsoft. Thanks to this, people using Microsoft 365 do not have to buy new versions of the software to use the latest one.
Despite the fact that Microsoft 365 is originally built to run in the cloud, desktop versions of the application are also available in most plans. However, users do not need to install software as all applications, services, and data generated by Microsoft 365 are hosted on Microsoft’s servers.
Who is Microsoft 365 Business for?
Microsoft 365 Business offers much more than just word processing and editing of documents.
While most of the applications in Microsoft 365 Business provide companies with the core applications that they need to perform daily work, such as document creation, data management, and information transfer, Microsoft 365 also provides a comprehensive set of intelligent tools that enable organizations to increase productivity and efficiency.
Thanks to the capabilities of Microsoft 365, all applications and services are connected with each other, creating one coherent environment that facilitates teamwork, saving employees’ time, and enabling them to collaborate better thanks to such functionalities as team chat, shared calendar, online meetings, co-editing and sharing files and group e-mails.
The use of the cloud and mobile applications as part of Microsoft 365 also allows organizations to work from anywhere and at any time while maintaining safe access to data, conversations, tasks, and schedules from any device.
How will using Microsoft 365 improve work efficiency in your company?
Microsoft 365 is a toolset that increases the productivity of the entire organization, supports the productivity of individual employees, enables more effective communication and faster execution of tasks. Microsoft 365 enables, among others performing activities such as finding information, sharing knowledge, communicating with colleagues, processing data, planning and organizing events.
It’s quick and easy to use – reducing the time it takes to perform administrative tasks and leaving companies more space to focus on priority tasks – innovating, acquiring customers, improving customer experience, and growing their business.
The office suite as part of Microsoft 365 can also have a positive impact on the company’s finances. Subscription-based services are generally cheaper and more flexible as business circumstances change. Microsoft 365 does not require any investment in additional infrastructure as it is provided and fully operated by Microsoft. This reduces the need for specialized IT knowledge and resources that are necessary to manage an on-site infrastructure package and potentially lowers the costs of having your own IT backend.
How is Microsoft 365 different from G-Suite?
Microsoft 365 is a toolset that increases the productivity of the entire organization, supports the productivity of individual employees, enables more effective communication and faster execution of tasks. Microsoft 365 enables, among others performing activities such as finding information, sharing knowledge, communicating with colleagues, processing data, planning and organizing events. Works great for sales teams and marketing teams.
The situation has changed by the popularization of solutions based on cloud computing and the Google G-Suite package, which currently remains the only significant competition for Microsoft 365 / Office 365.
G-Suite also has its free version that supports word processing, communication, and e-mail hosting and a subscription version that targets businesses of all sizes.
However, a major advantage of Microsoft 365 is that it provides a more generous range of tools under similar subscription plans. The key difference is also the fact that Microsoft’s suite provides a desktop and offline version of its solution, as opposed to G-Suite, which works exclusively in the cloud.
The most important applications within Microsoft 365
Access to individual applications within Microsoft 365 varies depending on the license that has been purchased. However, each of them gives you access to the following services:
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Outlook
OneNote
Publisher
Exchange
SharePoint
Microsoft Teams
OneDrive
Some of these applications also have mobile versions that make it easier to work on the go. They include i.a. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive or OneNote. What is worth noting is that as part of the Microsoft 365 subscription, each user also gets 1 TB of disk space as part of the OneDrive cloud.
What is Microsoft SharePoint?
SharePoint is a flexible and responsive platform that enables data storage and circulation. It was launched in 2001 and is sold mainly as a document management and storage system, but thanks to the huge range of possible configurations, it can be used in many ways – depending on the needs of a given organization.
The solution is available under many Microsoft 365 plans as cloud-based SharePoint Online. In this case, it does not require SharePoint Server to be deployed locally. SharePoint Online allows to store and operate within 1 TB of data.
According to Microsoft, about 85% of Fortune 500 companies currently use SharePoint. Most of the value its flexibility as the main advantage, which makes it possible to adapt this solution to the needs of both small local companies and global corporations.
SharePoint allows users to:
Creating, editing, managing and sharing documents, sharing insights with colleagues, within the company, department or team,
Access to current information for individual employees and teams, thanks to tools such as task lists, e-calendar, etc.
Informing employees about events and updates concerning the company’s life, using internal websites available for the entire organization,
High level of data security and authorization policy,
Downloading documents and working with them offline.
Read our article to learn more about Microsoft SharePoint
OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud file storage service. OneDrive can store all kinds of files, including documents, pictures, music, and videos, and can be accessed, managed, and shared securely from almost any device, as long as it has internet access. OneDrive is where all files for Microsoft 365 users are stored and allows you to sync files between computers, browsers, and mobile devices.
All Microsoft 365 business and corporate users get access to 1 TB of OneDrive storage, and Enterprise E3 and E5 subscribers get unlimited cloud storage.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft decided to create Teams to enable better coordination of work in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, etc. Thanks to this, it is possible to exchange files faster, collaborate on them, and communicate quickly.
Microsoft Teams is not only a successor to Skype, it is also a multi-team workspace, flexible solution based on various forms of communication and collaboration.
It is a product distinguished by very extensive integration with Microsoft 365 applications. It combines the functions of chat, document sharing, interactive calendar, project management tools, and more.
Do you want to learn more? Read our Microsoft Teams article.
Microsoft Exchange is an e-mail server from Microsoft and is the foundation on which the Microsoft Outlook e-mail client works. All activities that take place in this tool – incoming and outgoing e-mail, tasks, contacts, calendars, are stored and processed on the Exchange server. Thanks to Microsoft Exchange, the organization has the opportunity to create its own independent e-mail system.
Microsoft 365 and security
Data is one of the most valuable assets of all businesses. The consequences of compromising their security can be very serious, as we have heard about in many cases in recent years.
Data within Microsoft 365 is stored in Microsoft data centers. Their safety is supervised by special teams of advanced security specialists who constantly monitor any suspicious activities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Thanks to multi-stage security, both digital and physical – the level of security provided by Microsoft 365 is one of the highest in the world, which under normal conditions would not be available to smaller companies.
Microsoft 365 comes in standard with anti-virus, anti-spam and anti-malware software. Information flow is monitored with Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and e-mail is encrypted with SSL/TLS.
The Message Encryption feature also allows users to send encrypted e-mail to anyone, no matter what e-mail provider they were using.
At the file level, access can be assigned to individual users through the Azure Rights Management service, so that only people with the correct user credentials can access sensitive information, and multi-factor authentication prevents unwanted access to the service.
Do you want to learn more about Microsoft 365 or implement it in your company?
Contact us using the form HERE, call us at +48 61 624 86 40, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Outsourcing of IT specialists is one of the models in which we mostly cooperate with our clients. In one of our previous articles, we have described how does this form of cooperation look like from the formal and business side.
Today we have decided to focus on the skills that individual IT experts who make up our team have. At the outset, it should be noted that the demand for outsourcing IT specialists is constantly growing, including CRM programmers, SharePoint experts, technical consultants, and system architects.
Problems with covering recruiting needs is a phenomenon that has a very high growth of dynamics among the IT sector. According to data published by Eurostat, currently, 46% of Polish companies had problems finding employees for a position in the IT industry.
It is also worth noting that body leasing of IT specialists is a solution that allows convenient cooperation. For example – the client receives a programmer who is an expert in Dynamics 365 and has all the skills necessary to perform the tasks set by our business partner. He or she can be available full-time or part-time, the level of commitment can be adjusted on an ongoing basis depending on current needs.
What specialists will you find in our team?
Technical consultant
This is the person responsible for contact with the client. His or her task is to establish a relationship with the client, identify the needs, and then explain them to developers responsible for adapting Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft SharePoint or other Microsoft solutions depending on the client’s needs.
Additionally, technical consultants are also responsible for developing simpler solutions that do not require advanced programming skills.
Analyst
After the initial understanding of the customer’s needs by the technical consultant, the analyst’s task is to analyze them thoroughly, collect the exact demand, create business descriptions, analyze the processes in the client’s company and bring them to a document that is understandable for both business and programmers and will constitute the basis for planning work schedule.
Programmer
Our developers are responsible for adapting solutions to the needs of clients in the field that requires programming skills.
They create and modify solutions in the field of CRM Dynamics 365, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Azure which is a computing cloud, or a module supporting customer service in companies, i.e. Microsoft Customer Service (formerly known as Customer Engagement).
It is possible to hire one programmer or the entire team – at an averaged rate. As ARP Ideas, we will select people with appropriate knowledge of technology and according to the expectations of a specific customer.
Software architect
The architect’s task is to combine the skills of an analyst, consultant, and programmer and to thoroughly analyze and understand the client’s needs and problems, plan and create a solution structure, prepare a work schedule, as well as ongoing team management. In addition, the software architect is also programming by him or herself.
What exactly can our programmers and architects do?
Programming: .NET Framework, .NET Core, C ++, Pascal (Delphi), C #, Silverlight / WPF / UWA, ASP.NET, ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, Angular, React, KnockoutJS, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, LINQ
Watch the video below to learn more about how team leasing works
Find out more about the most important technologies and solutions that our specialists work with
CRM – customer relationship management, is a tool that allows you to maintain and care for customer relationships. It collects information from all communication channels with the client, such as e-mail, telephone, website, live chat, advertising campaign, and social media. Thanks to this, the marketing and sales department gain the full context, allowing for the planning and implementation of an effective communication strategy with the client.
The EDI system– Electronic Data Interchange, or electronic data interchange, is a technology that is becoming a common business standard in an increasing number of sectors of the economy. Its purpose is to improve data exchange and document circulation or data flow in the company. Electronic document flow enables, among others, a significant reduction in the use of paper documents, which significantly improves communication and reduces costs.
Intranet – a non-public telecommunications network that resembles the Internet, but access to it is limited only to members of the organization or other authorized people.
Originally, the intranet operated only in closed internal networks of companies, scientific or public institutions. Currently, it is possible to use the Intranet also from the outside using a login, password and advanced security measures.
Its main goal is communication within the organization, exchange of data and documents, and improvement of cooperation between teams and individuals.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 – a solution, or actually a whole set of solutions intended for business, operating on the basis of computing cloud. It was introduced to the market in November 2016. It is a combination of the CRM system – Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the ERP system – Microsoft Dynamics AX / NAV.
It is distinguished by its versatility, flexible licensing model and a very wide range of integration with other solutions from and outside the Microsoft product family. A very wide pool of possibilities is available when it comes to adapting and customizing Dynamics 365 to the individual needs of a given company.
Additionally, Dynamics is integrated with the Microsoft 365 platform, the Office 365 environment and the LinkedIn portal. This translates into more effective team collaboration and speeds up data manipulation.
Microsoft SharePoint – SharePoint is one of the most important Microsoft products. It is a flexible, responsive and fully configurable platform that enables data storage and circulation. It works as an intranet – enables the creation of internal channels of information circulation, sharing, versioning and joint and convenient work on files.
The most common version of this solution is currently SharePoint Online. Access to it can be obtained by purchasing i.e. a Microsoft 365 license. As part of this choice, it is possible to store and operate on SharePoint 1 TB of data in the cloud.
Microsoft Power Platform – Power Platform is a set of tools based on cloud computing, which includes:
– Power BI is used to analyze data using graphic and interactive dashboards.
– PowerApps allows to create custom applications without the need or with a very limited need to involve developers.
– Power Automate – allows to create the workflows aimed at process automation.
The service is based on the Microsoft Azure computing cloud, which translates into very high data security standards and easy management.
Microsoft Visual Studio – Microsoft’s integrated development environment. It allows i.a. to edit, debug, compile, and publish the application. It is a program used at many stages of software development. Used on platforms such as: Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Windows CE, .NET Framework, Microsoft Silverlight, Linux, MacOS and Xbox consoles.
Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL) – a relational database management system developed and popularized by Microsoft. The most important database product of this company.
As a database server, it is software which primary function is to store and retrieve data at the request of other applications that may run on the same or another computer on the network.
Microsoft sells over a dozen different versions of Microsoft SQL Server that cater to different audiences and workload levels – ranging from small applications destined for a single machine to large web applications that serve multiple users simultaneously.
MySQL – open source relational database management system. Its name is a combination of the name of the daughter of one of the founders of Michael Widenius and the abbreviation “Structured Query Language”. Currently, MySQL is developed by Oracle, after the Swedish MySQL AB was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008, and then in 2010 by Oracle.
SQL is the language that developers use to create, modify, and extract data from a relational database, as well as to control user access to the database. In addition to relational databases and SQL, RDBMS such as MySQL works with the operating system to implement the relational database in the computer’s storage system, manages users, enables network access, and facilitates database integrity testing and backup.
MySQL is free and open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, also available under other proprietary licenses. It is a solution used by many popular database-based applications and websites, such as Facebook, MediaWiki, Twitter and YouTube.
Transact SQL (T-SQL) – is a proprietary solution created by Microsoft and Sybase, which extends the SQL standard with the possibility of procedural programming, local variables, auxiliary functions facilitating the processing of strings and data.
Transact-SQL is critical to using Microsoft SQL Server. All applications that communicate with an instance of SQL Server do so by sending Transact-SQL statements to the server, independent of the application’s user interface.
Entity Framework– is an open-source object-relational mapping platform. Entity Framework helps architects and developers achieve two different goals. Model logic of solutions, in cooperation with the data engines used for data storage and data transfering.
In 2016, Entity Framework Core 1.0 was released, along with ASP.NET Core 1.0 and .NET Core 1.0. It was originally called Entity Framework 7, but was renamed to emphasize that it was a complete rewrite of the Entity Framework, not a gradual upgrade to it.
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) – free open-source runtime and API set for the .NET Framework, formerly known as Indigo. WCF integrates all existing Microsoft technologies for communication: .NET Remoting, COM +, MSMQ, Windows System Messaging, basic profile webservices and transactional webservices.
WCF is a tool that is often used to implement and deploy a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). It is designed with a service-oriented architecture to support distributed computing where services have remote consumers.
In addition, it is a solution that implements many advanced Web Services (WS) standards such as WS-Addressing, WS-ReliableMessaging, and WS-Security. With the release of the .NET Framework 4.0, WCF also provides RSS syndication services, WS-Discovery, routing, and better support for REST services.
.NET Framework – a development platform that was designed and created by Microsoft. Includes runtime and class libraries. It is a technology that is not related to one programming language, various languages can be used for programming within it: C ++, C #, F #, J #, Visual Basic, Delphi 8. The main task of the .NET Framework is to support such elements as application code, memory or security.
.NET Core – the successor to the .NET Framework, a free open-source framework designed for Windows, Linux and macOS. The project is mainly developed by Microsoft employees through the .NET Foundation and made available under the MIT license.
.NET Core 1.0 was released in 2016 with Update 3 to Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and allows to create and develop software based on .NET Core. The next editions – 1.0.04 and .NET Core 1.1.1. were released with .NET Core 1.0 and Visual Studio 2017 in 2017.
.NET Core was announced by Microsoft in 2014. The goal was to create a framework that supports many platforms, including the above-mentioned. Linux and macOS. .NET Core is a redesigned version of .NET based on simplified versions of the class libraries.
ASP.NET – is a set of framework-based technologies designed by Microsoft to create dynamic pages and a variety of web services and applications.
ASP .NET was first released in 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework and is the successor to Microsoft’s Active Server Pages technology. The ASP.NET platform is based on the Common Language Runtime (CLR) technology, thanks to which the logic of ASP.NET and XML Web Services pages can be created in Visual Basic, .NET, C # or any other language supporting the Microsoft .NET Framework technology.
ASP.NET Web Forms – web application framework and one of the several programming models supported by Microsoft ASP.NET technology. As with ASP.NET itself, Web Forms applications can be developed in any programming language that is supported by Common Language Runtime, such as C # or Visual Basic.
Web Forms was released with the original .NET Framework 1.0 release in 2002 as the first programming model available in ASP.NET.
C # – a modern programming language, designed in 1998-2001 for Microsoft. It allows developers to create safe applications that run in i.a. within the .NET platform.
Angular – an open-source framework that allows creating web applications using HTML and TypeScript. Run and developed by the Angular team at Google, a community of individuals, companies and corporations. Created by the same team that created AngularJS and is written in TypeScript. Implements basic and optional functionality as a set of TypeScript libraries that can then be imported into the applications.
React – an open-source JavaScript library that allows creating user interfaces and UI components. Developed by Facebook and the community of individuals, as well as companies and coprorations. React can be used as the basis for creating single-page and mobile applications. Note, however, that developing a React application typically requires the use of additional routing and form libraries. Examples of such libraries are e.g. React Router and Formik.
JavaScript (JS) – is a high-level programming language that is used to create dynamic content on web pages. Next to HTML and CSS – JavaScript is one of the basic technologies used to create web pages. It was created by Brendan Eich, known more widely as a co-founder of the Mozilla, Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation.
The advantage of JavaScript is its versatility – with its help you can create image galleries, carousels with pictures, but also games, animated 2D and 3D graphics, and even entire applications.
Initially, JavaScripy engines were used only in web browsers, but now they are important elements of other execution systems, such as Node.js or Deno.
Despite the similarities between JavaScript and Java – in terms of name, syntax, and standard libraries, they are two separate languages that differ significantly from each other.
TypeScript – an open-source programming language that relies on JavaScript, one of the most often used tools in the world and is a superset of it i.a. by adding static typing or new interfaces.
The main advantage of TypeScript is the ability to better describe the object, providing better documentation and the ability to validate the code.
Importantly, any code written correctly in JavaScript is also TypeScript code. Even if while checking the code, any errors occur, they will not make it impossible to run code created with JavaScript.
Code written in TypeScripy can also be converted to JavaScript code using the TypeScript or Babel compiler.
Bootstrap – free open-source CSS framework. Designed for responsive, front-end website development for mobile devices. Includes CSS and JavaScript based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface elements.
Bootstrap was originally developed as Twitter Blueprint by Mark Otto and Jacob Thorton from Twitter to allow better consistency between different tools. In 2011, it was renamed to Bootstrap and published as an open-source project.
Team Foundation Server (TFS) – a Microsoft product that enables source code management, reporting, requirements management, project management, automatic compilations, testing and version management. Covers the entire application lifecycle. TFS can be used as a back-end for many integrated development environments to i.a. Microsoft Visual Studio.
JIRA – is a proprietary product developed by Atlassian, which enables error tracking and efficient project management. Interestingly – the name is an abbreviated form of the Japanese word “Gojira”, meaning “Godzilla”.
Scrum – an iterative and incremental framework that allows effective developing, delivering and maintaining complex products in line with the Scrum Guide. It is an approach used in the implementation of projects based on agile methodologies and in line with the Agile Manifesto. It should be noted, however, that despite the fact that Scrum is mainly associated with programming, it is an approach also used in research, sales and marketing.
It is intended for teams of ten or fewer members who divide their work into goals that are achievable in time-limited iterations, called sprints, that last no more than one month, and most often two weeks.
The Scrum Team tracks and summarizes its progress in daily 15-minute meetings. At the end of the sprint, the team demonstrates the work done and conducts a sprint retrospective in order to improve the overall process in the future.
What are the differences between outsourcing, body leasing, offshoring, and nearshoring?
IT outsourcing
IT outsourcing consists in transferring IT-related activities outside a given enterprise and transferring them to an external company.
Usually, it is an activity calculated to reduce the costs associated with maintaining a company’s department, which, for example, is not crucial for its day-to-day operation.
This allows the organization to focus on the most important priorities, while carrying out activities that have so far been implemented internally. It is a method used not only in IT, but in the entire service and production sectors.
Body leasing
Most people who have not been recently following the IT market or have not tried to learn more about it, might have problems distinguishing IT outsourcing from body leasing. Therefore, we decided to explain the differences between them.
The main difference is their goals. Body leasing is the temporary rent from an IT company of IT specialist or IT specialists with competences in various fields of software development and development, whose goal is to implement, for example, one project instead of not partially or completely replacing the IT department in the client’s company.
Thus, body leasing services are also used by companies that not need an IT department at daily basis. However they need it for a moment in order to for example implement a CRM system, electronic data and document flow, or other software that will help improving business operations.
Offshoring
Offshoring is an outsourcing model in which a given type of operational activity is transferred to another country.
In general, the goal of offshoring, and potentially the main benefit of this type of outsourcing, is to reduce the company’s costs. However, it should be noted that it is potentially associated with the risk of a language barrier, a different work culture, a different time zone, or the quality of the Internet connection.
Nearshoring
An alternative model to offshoring is nearshoring. It is a model similar to offshoring, but with the difference that it consists in establishing cooperation with a company from a nearby country, often bordering with the client’s country.
Nearshoring is a solution primarily for companies that plan to outsource some of their processes, but at the same time are afraid of the above-mentioned risks, in particular differences regarding work culture, time zone, or Internet quality.
Do you need a developer or a team of IT specialists who will streamline the business processes in your company?
We are eager to listen about your exact needs and suggest the optimal solutions. Contact us using the form HERE, call us at +48 61 624 86 40, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Microsoft has developed a number of business solutions that help companies simplify processes and integrate and synchronize data from different sources. As a result, companies can look forward to gaining greater work efficiency and better results than before. One of such solutions is Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow), an online application that automates tasks and processes in an intuitive way.
What is Power Automate?
Power Automate is a cloud-based solution that enables employees to build automated workflows. These can be placed in a variety of applications – without writing code or with minimal new code.
The person responsible for setting up the workflows defines the actions to be taken when a specific event occurs. In this way, the organization can automate repetitive tasks for its employees in different programs and applications. As more repetitive processes and tasks are automated – the efficiency and productivity of the entire company increases.
What is Microsoft Flow?
Microsoft Flow was a tool that allowed to increase work efficiency by automating tasks, integrating data, and improving collaboration between different applications. This allowed employees to avoid repetitive tasks, receive automatic notifications, have their files synchronized, etc. Eventually, Microsoft decided to incorporate Microsoft Flow into the Microsoft Power Platform as a key component of today’s Microsoft Power Automate.
How do I get started with Microsoft Power Automate?
Getting started with Microsoft Power Automate is simple. All you need is an e-mail address and a web browser. Registration is free.
The app includes many templates ready to use and recommendations of applications that can be linked to Power Automate. Navigation is intuitive, which makes this tool convenient for users who have little programming knowledge.
From within Power Automate, you can create, for example, a workflow that retrieves a potential customer’s data and transfers it to Microsoft Dynamics 365, or one that automatically retweets tweets with specific parameters, or allows attachments from emails to be saved to OneDrive or SharePoint – the list of potential possibilities is de facto endless.
Key features of Power Automate
PowerBI connectors enable collaboration with external database systems. This gives your organisation access to insightful data analytics.
Automate processes using templates and UIs that require no programming,
Tools to create complex workflows for entire teams.
RPA (Robotic Process Automation) – observes and records all actions, which include mouse clicks, keyboard presses, database entries, and then enables replication and automation of workflows.
Availability for mobile applications, which also allows you to run automated tasks while on the move or in the field.
Key Flow Types for Microsoft Power Automate
Automated
Automatically triggers events in a product or service based on predefined conditions.
Instant
Is triggered when a user taps a button on a mobile device or clicks a button on a website.
Scheduled
Starts based on a predefined time schedule predefined by the user.
What are connectors in Microsoft Power Automate?
The ability to quickly and easily integrate with other Microsoft solutions and services and more is a very big advantage of Power Automate. The tool has just under 300 predefined connectors that allow Power Automate to work with, for example, SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Mailchimp, GitHub, Dropbox, YouTube, WordPress, and many others.
The list of external solutions with which you can easily integrate Power Automate using connectors is constantly expanding and allows you to work comfortably with data in the cloud or on-premise. In addition, if none of the predefined connectors meet your expectations – you can create your own.
How do the connectors work?
Trigger
It is a connector that starts a given workflow. For example, saving a file on Microsft SharePoint or publishing a new video on YouTube may trigger an e-mail notification to specific employees.
Actions
Allows you to define actions that will be taken after the workflow starts. For example, uploading a file to SharePoint will start the approval process, which will require, for example, receiving an email from a specific person.
Connections
Refers to the situation when we want to connect two applications. The tool will ask for the credentials of each of the applications we want to connect. It is worth noting that the data is encrypted using Microsoft security and can be easily deleted at any time.
Key benefits of Power Automate
The implementation of Power Automate in an organization brings concrete benefits, first and foremost:
Increased work efficiency
The creation of workflows allows you to save time both at the level of individual tasks and across the entire organization and systems.
Convenient data flow and easy integration
Thanks to quick integration with hundreds of predefined connectors, you can enable convenient data flow between individual applications, while providing convenient access to data for selected users.
Close to zero programming
Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Flow) requires almost no or minimal new code development. Creating workflows mainly requires an idea for a workflow and then creating it directly from within this application.
AI support
Within Power Automate, we have access to AI, which will further help us reduce the number of boring, repetitive jobs. This will allow employees to focus on getting the most out of their skills.
Summary
Microsoft Power Automate is one of the most interesting components of the Power Platform and is a great extension of the former Microsoft Flow. It is particularly useful for slightly larger organizations where the number of processes is sufficiently large and, in addition, they are repeatable and clearly defined.
Power Automate will help to relieve many employees and allow them to concentrate on using their key skills. A salesperson will be able to devote more time to customers, a marketer will be able to think longer about developing a creative and effective campaign, etc. The tool will also help to improve collaboration within and between teams, e.g. by making it easier and more systematic to approve documents at different stages.
Want to start using Power Automate in your company?
Contact us using the form HERE, call us at +48 61 624 86 40, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We would be happy to talk about the possibilities of Power Automate in the context of your organization.
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