
Is the solution implemented within the customer’s Microsoft environment, or is it outsourced for implementation in Lanttu’s environment?
At the beginning of the project, the implementation of the solution is decided; whether it will be done within the customer’s own Microsoft environment or if the solution will be provided as a service by Lanttu in our environment. At the start of the development process, it’s also possible to create a demo environment for the customer on Lanttu’s platform, enabling a demo model suitable for low-code development. The defined solution is implemented with minimum requirements in the demo environment, allowing the customer to quickly assess and test the suitability of the solution. This is possible even if the actual final solution is implemented within the customer’s environment. The work done is not wasted, as we can easily transfer the implemented application between tenants with a simple solution transfer, also into the customer’s environment.
If the decision is made to implement the solution within the customer’s environment, the customer must have the necessary Microsoft services and O365 licenses for users. In this case, the customer is responsible for procuring the licenses required for using the Power Platform. However, Lanttu can collaborate with the customer to define the licensing needs to match future user numbers, automation needs, and capacity. In this scenario, Lanttu’s developers also require Power Apps licenses for access to the customer’s environment.
The solution implemented within Lanttu’s environment is provided as a service to the customer. Lanttu is responsible for procuring the required licenses and user management in the Azure AD tenant and Power Platform environment. In this case, the customer themselves may not necessarily need Microsoft licenses; instead, users are considered as guest users within Lanttu’s tenant.
Project initiation, requirements, environment, and solutions
The project begins, like any other system project, with the definition phase. Through this phase, we collaborate with the customer to understand the project requirements and thus design the best possible architecture for implementing the solution with Power Platform. It’s important to understand the structure of the desired data model, the amount of data to be stored, integration needs, as well as the business and validation rules that the solution aims to automate.
Once sufficient definition is done, it’s time to start the development work. The first task is to implement the necessary environments so that development work can commence. Initially, a lightweight model can be chosen where a single combined development and test environment is set up within Lanttu’s tenant. This allows for the implementation of the initial proof of concept (POC) version of the solution, enabling the customer to quickly assess its suitability for the defined need. However, a successful project delivery requires three separate environments for different purposes. Each implemented environment is fundamentally based on its own Dataverse database, where data and metadata are stored.
- Development environment – The development environment is solely for the use of developers, where development work takes place. In the development environment, solution packages are created, which may consist of one or more packages depending on the needs and scope of the application being developed. Within a solution package, necessary components are built, such as database tables and Power Automate automations. The development environment can operate with a very limited amount of data or even entirely without real business data. Developers perform unit testing in the development environment
- Test environment – As the name suggests, the test environment is intended for testing the solution. The implemented solution packages are transferred from the development environment to the test environment using XML file-based transfer. It’s advisable to bring a limited set of business data into the test environment to facilitate the necessary testing. Integration and user testing are performed in the test environment.
- Production environment – The production environment should be created well in advance before the solution is moved into production. The production environment serves as the environment for end-users, where solution packages are deployed. The components contained within these packages have been deemed ready during testing and function as designed. During the deployment to the production environment, any necessary connection configurations are made. Additionally, user permissions and roles are managed in the production environment.
Conclusion
The roots of a successful Power Platform implementation lie in good planning. The roles of the customer and the provider become clear when deciding where the project will be implemented. In the project initiation phase, the focus is on defining requirements, and development begins with the creation of necessary environments. Collaborating on license definitions and environment management is crucial to ensuring a successful project delivery. In the next part, we will focus on the components that make up a successful master data management application and the features that the solution includes.
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