What is Explore connectors and Microsoft Dataverse

Typically, when organizations are building business solutions, how the solution works and performs can be impacted by several factors. Two of those areas are connecting to data sources and managing business data. Power Platform includes two tools, data connectors and Microsoft Dataverse that make these areas easier. Data connecters make it easy to connect to data across different services. Microsoft Dataverse is a business database that not only stores business data, but also includes other built-in features such as security and more.

Let’s take a moment and examine each of these elements a little more closely.

Connectors

Creating solutions that span multiple services can create challenges. One of those challenges is ensuring that you can perform the necessary operations in all systems. You need to access the service with a valid account, but the account needs to perform the necessary actions across all services. Let’s look at the following document processing example.

A building management uses vendors to perform services at their buildings, such as cleaning properties after tenants leave and providing landscaping services at their properties. After the jobs are completed, vendors send invoices to the building management company. The building management company might want to automate processing invoices from vendors.

Currently the process is as follows:

• Invoices are received as email attachments. The management company uses Microsoft Exchange for processing emails.
• These attachments are downloaded and stored in Microsoft SharePoint.
• Each invoice is sent to a specific person for approval. Approval is made in Microsoft Teams.
• Once approved, the invoices are entered into the company’s ERP system. The management company uses Oracle.
• Once entered, a confirmation email with the invoice number must be sent back to the vendor.

Automating a process like this requires interaction with multiple services. There are likely different accounts being used with each service, and different data operation that are being executed. In this example, we would be working with at least four different services.

• Office 365 Outlook: First, you would need to monitor a specific Microsoft Exchange mailbox.
• Microsoft SharePoint: Attachments are downloaded and saved to a specific folder in Microsoft SharePoint.
• Microsoft Teams: Invoice approval requests are sent to managers in Microsoft Teams, where they can either approve or deny the request.
• Oracle: Once approved, the new invoice is created in Oracle. Details of the invoice are stored so they can be used later.
• Office 365 Outlook: A confirmation email is sent using a dedicated mailbox to the company that submitted the invoice.

With Power Platform, data connectors make working with different data sources easier. They act as the bridge between data sources and your app or workflow. Power Platform has more than 900 connectors available to various data sources. Connectors also include a series of actions that simplify the process of working with those data sources. For example, the Office 365 Outlook connector has prebuilt actions for working with mailboxes, such as downloading attachments, sending emails, managing events, and more. When using a connector, you just need to provide some basic details about the action you want to complete. Data connectors are used throughout Power Platform. For example, in Power Apps, they are used to connect apps to data. A company might create an order fulfillment application for their employees who work in the field. Data connectors would be used to connect the app to data sources like an SQL database or Microsoft Dataverse. In Power Automate, data connectors can be used to connect to data sources that are used as either triggers or actions.