Dataverse is a low-code database of Microsoft’s Power Platform. The benefit of low-code includes a short lead time, lower development and maintenance costs and faster time-to-value.
After studying the book, I had four thoughts.
- First, it doesn’t include many hands-on parts
- Second, even though the book title is for Dataverse, the book also explains a lot about the other components of the Power Platform, such as Power Automate and Power Apps
- Third, it includes a nice chapter 7, planning your solution design, about how to manage users’ demand management.
- Fourth, Chapter 4, security layer, explains a lot of details about the security settings for data. If you only want to create a prototype app. You can ignore this chapter. If you’re an administrator for Power Platform, it’s really worth to study it.
Overall, the book is not a manual for Dataverse. It is a conceptual book for creating an App using the low-code tool.
The author uses four layers to structure this book. I classify the Power Platform components into these layers. As the figure shows:
The following are the concepts of each layer:
Presentation Layer, in other words, is the place where users can interact with the data. Power Apps is mainly introduced here. The Power BI and Power Page are not included, but these two are also the major components of Power Platform.
In the Business Logic Layer, Business Rule in Dataverse can set certain rules to ensure data integrity. For example, it requires a certain data format when the user inputs the data. Power Automate can do more logic in the backend. For example, it can send an email when a certain event happens or update data in a table.
Security Layer is used to control the data accessibility of the user. It can decide which table, column or record can be read, updated and deleted by certain users. There is no independent component for this functionality. The major setting is in the environment page.
Data Layer includes Dataverse and Connector. You can think of Dataverse just like a SQL server, but it’s no-node mostly. You can create a table and a table relationship without using any script. It’s really convenient and can save a lot of time. And connector is a tool for you to integrate with other systems outside the Power Platform ecosystem. The connector is an important component for the integration of an enterprise because there are usually many different systems inside.
Okay, a quick summary of this book. The book is not difficult to read, exclude Security Layer part. The book is not heavy, with around 200 pages. If you want to enhance your knowledge about Power Platform, this book is good. But you’re new to Power Platform, I suggest you choose another book.
If you’re interested in more details, the following is the book information.