Copilot in the Power Platform: What Works and What Needs Work

Introduction

Copilot is the hot new thing in M365, and just like other areas, it is going to transform how and what we create in the Power Platform. This article describes the three high-level ways you can use Copilot with the Power Platform:

1. Authoring. Creating Apps, Data Structure Design, Expressions, Flow Creation, etc.
2. Content Interrogation (Agents). Think of bots that users can interact with to get an answer to a question.
3. Dev Ops Tooling. Helping developers and technicians be more efficient.

Authoring

Copilot is available to makers for a variety of use cases, including the creation of tables in Dataverse, app creation, expression building, flow creation, and generative actions. The objective is to save time for makers by providing a conversational way to describe and create data structures, apps, and flows. While some features are still in preview and may not work perfectly, the potential for time-saving and efficiency is significant.

Data Design (meh!)

Copilot aims to remove guesswork from the data envisioning and design process. A new table designer experience for Dataverse lets users describe their data structure conversationally. Unfortunately, in the current state, Copilot struggles with data structures when they need to be moderately complex. It's also unable to sort out special table configuration options. It may be useful for simple data scenarios; it is not reliable as an enterprise data designer for complex solutions.

App Creation (low complexity apps in a snap)

Apps are one of the most prominent components within the Power Platform. Copilot is now available to save you time in creating apps. Simply tell Copilot what your application should do, and it will start by conjuring up underlying data structure and then guide you through the process of creating a Canvas app or a Model-driven app. I found this feature to be a great way to create an initial version of an application that you can then add to and tweak. This feature is a significant time saver if you're building a Canvas app since by their nature there is so much more effort that goes into building and wiring up a Canvas app. If you need a starting point, or your application is relatively simple, this is worth a look.

Flow Creation (...fill in the blanks)

Copilot can be used to author Power Automate flows by allowing makers to generate flows and flow actions based on prompts. Users can tell Copilot what they want to achieve, and it will create a flow with most actions in place. In my experience Copilot still is not able to divine everything and you will have to fill in many of the action properties yourself, or with additional prompts. This functionality helps save time and assists citizen developers in building automated processes.

Formulas & Expressions (become PowerFx fluent)

In both Power Apps and Power Automate you can use Copilot to help you with creating expressions. This may be the area most makers are familiar with. This is particularly useful if you're a beginning citizen developer and you're not fluent in PowerFx expression syntax. On the Canvas apps side there is a bonus feature of Copilot as an expression tool. You can ask Copilot to explain any of the existing formulas in your app. Yet another great tool if you're trying to be more fluent with PowerFx.

Generative Actions (so you're saying there's a chance)

Generative Actions in the Power Platform are a new feature created through Power Automate flows. They provide the next level of abstraction for automating processes in that you give it initial instructions and parameters and then Copilot can decide, on the fly, how best to generate a result. Unfortunately, they're not as effective as they could be. In part because it's new, in preview, and needs some work, but also due to lack of support for a variety of connectors including Dataverse.

These limitations are noted in the Microsoft documentation. In practice, Generative Actions may not yet be practical for most real-world scenarios... yet.

Content Interrogation a.k.a. Agents (yeah baby!)

Copilot extends AI features to end users by allowing the creation of Agents through Copilot Studio. These Agents can interact with specific content, providing answers to user questions and enhancing communication, collaboration, and processes. This feature has immense potential utility, especially for scenarios like human resources bots, app data interrogation, and even customer engagement.

There is real potential with this feature to free up resources and enhance user experience by shifting workloads for response to common questions or guided data capture to a workforce of AI bots. Use these agents to serve both internal and external users through existing Power Platform components.

Dev Ops Tooling (very nice)

Copilot enhances DevOps tooling in the Power Platform by streamlining the deployment process and offering insightful analytics on a variety of Power Platform components.

One notable feature is the generation of AI notes for deployment. This feature simplifies understanding solutions by browsing components and dependencies, making the deployment process more efficient.

On the Power Automate side, the new Automation Center now features Copilot, which can be used to analyze flow run history.

For Power Platform developers, managing solution deployment and analyzing problems can be quite time consuming. I am sure there will be more to come on the DevOps side, but these are a good start.

Key Takeaways

🕥Save Time

Copilot can help you build apps and automations faster and multiply the utility of your apps and processes by leveraging AI.

👩‍🎓Increase Proficiency & Learning

Level up your ability to work with the Power Platform and learn while you build. "Pair low-coding" with Copilot.

🏋️Limitations

It's true, it's still in preview and limitations abound. The higher the complexity, the farther the horizon. Don't expect to take it all the way yet. Do look for little ways it can work for you.

Conclusion

Copilot in the Power Platform offers significant potential for enhancing productivity and efficiency. While most features are still in preview and have a way to go, the high-level capabilities in authoring, content interrogation, and Dev Ops tooling provide a glimpse into the future. A future that not only includes AI-assisted development in the Power Platform, but also the ability to leverage AI within the solutions you deliver in your organization and to your customers.