Preface
Microsoft Power Platform is the world’s leading low-code, no-code platform – a modern application runtime on which an infinite number of business solutions can be realized. The more complex and business-critical these scenarios become, the more need there is for professional DevOps processes. This book focuses on the well-known practices of custom software development projects and the mapping of these common activities to the Microsoft Power Platform toolset. We explore every phase of the software development life cycle and the tools and capabilities that are provided by this Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product to delve into the usual DevOps activities, such as packaging, building, deploying, testing, and releasing solutions, in detail. In addition, we take a deep dive into DevSecOps processes and introduce the security-infused development practices in Microsoft Power Platform. You’ll learn about modern DevOps tools such as Azure DevOps Services and GitHub and the different ways to implement DevOps processes for Microsoft Power Platform. With the right DevOps implementation in place, our solutions can run in highly regulated industries in a controlled and governed manner.
We strongly believe that low code is for professional developers. Microsoft Power Platform is one of the rapid application development frameworks and the only framework that provides a UI for citizen developers (makers). The platform was created for professional developers and engineering teams to reduce the go-to-market time of business applications. But, this only works if it is backed by professional DevOps processes.
As a unique approach, this book brings these two orthogonal worlds together: low-code/no-code enthusiasts who can build complex solutions on one side and professional developers who know about DevOps and Application Life Cycle Management on the other side. This knowledge is a unique opportunity for you, dear reader, to build up competencies that will give you a compelling advantage in the job market.
As a final thought, with the rise of generative AI solutions, developers’ work will change significantly and the focus will shift to prompt engineering and larger building blocks. Since AI agents can act in different roles (as developers, testers, or project managers) and can synthesize applications on their own with only provided prompts, instead of writing code lines, we craft components. These components can correspond to the building blocks offered by Power Platform. Considering the Copilots for Power Platform, a kind of new application crafting era has just begun, which can only be successful if DevOps processes are implemented in the same way as in the case of custom development projects.
