Microsoft releases new certification for Microsoft Fabric engineers

Microsoft has introduced a new certification for data engineers specializing in Microsoft Fabric. The Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate validates expertise in data loading patterns, architectures, and orchestration processes, with a beta exam currently available at a discounted rate for a limited time​.

New certification exam key info:

• Audience: Experts in data loading patterns, architectures, and orchestration processes.

• Exam: DP-700 - Implementing Data Engineering Solutions Using Microsoft Fabric.

• Focus areas: Ingesting and transforming data, securing and managing analytics solutions, and optimizing performance.

• Skills needed: Proficiency in SQL, PySpark, KQL, and collaboration with analytics teams.

• Offer: First 300 test-takers before November 12, 2024 get an 80% discount.

Get the certification here.

Microsoft brings AI-first business process to organizations with autonomous agents

Microsoft's latest announcement introduces autonomous agents for Dynamics 365, designed to streamline business processes. These AI-driven agents enable organizations to automate tasks, reduce inefficiencies, and improve decision-making. By embedding these agents into daily workflows, businesses can accelerate operations and focus on strategic goals. This new integration highlights Microsoft’s continued innovation in business automation, offering users more control and productivity across sectors.

Autonomous agents’ features and capabilities:

• Autonomous agents seamlessly execute and orchestrate tasks on behalf of individuals, teams, or entire functions.

• 10 new autonomous agents in Microsoft Dynamics 365 are designed to boost capacity across sales, service, finance, and supply chain teams.

• Sales: Sales Qualification Agent prioritizes leads and crafts personalized sales emails, allowing sellers to focus on higher-value activities.

• Operations: Supplier Communications Agent autonomously handles supplier collaborations and proactively manages potential delays.

• Service: Customer Knowledge Management Agent continuously updates knowledge articles by analyzing case insights and ensuring teams have the latest information.

Microsoft makes Power BI Admin Monitoring Workspace available to key government cloud platforms

Microsoft made Power BI Admin Monitoring Workspace available to several U.S. government cloud environments, including Government Cloud Community (GCC), GCC High, Department of Defense (DoD), US National Security (USNAT, USSEC), and Mooncake. These platforms are part of the specialized Power BI service available under Microsoft 365 Government plans, distinct from the commercial version. This new feature strengthens data oversight and governance for agencies using these secure government cloud infrastructures.

Power BI Admin Monitoring Workspace features:

• Gain access to pre-built Power BI reports and semantic models for tracking tenant-level inventory and audit activities over the past 30 days.

• Seamlessly access metadata and audit logs, empowering Tenant Admins to make more informed administrative decisions.

• Leverage the built-in semantic models to customize reports tailored to organization's needs.

• Manage access to key content within the Admin Monitoring Workspace, including workspaces, reports, and semantic models.

Copilot Studio brings autonomous agents new capabilities to public preview at Microsoft Ignite 2024

Microsoft is set to unveil a groundbreaking set of capabilities at Microsoft Ignite 2024, enabling businesses and organizations to build autonomous agents through Copilot Studio in public preview. These agents are crafted to understand the intricacies of individual workflows and act proactively on behalf of users, providing comprehensive support across various roles, teams, and functions. By allowing agents to operate independently, initiate events, and automate complex business tasks, Copilot Studio aims to transform the workplace with enhanced efficiency and productivity.

Copilot Studio’s new agents capabilities:

• Autonomous agents can now understand your work, acting on your behalf across roles, teams, and functions, streamlining operations like never before.

• These agents can be configured to trigger actions without human input, whether it's hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly.

• Gain full transparency with the ability to view the logic behind each agent's actions, including key steps and systems involved.

• Activity tab will soon provide a comprehensive log of past agent runs for added transparency and accountability.

• Enterprise-grade security ensures your agents are protected with encryption, data loss prevention, and more.

Microsoft makes Azure Cobalt 100-based Virtual Machines generally available

Microsoft has announced the general availability of its new Azure Cobalt 100-based Virtual Machines, powered by the company's first 64-bit Arm-based Azure Cobalt 100 CPU. This launch represents a significant step forward in Microsoft's efforts to innovate and enhance its cloud infrastructure, with optimizations and customizations applied at every level—from silicon and servers to services. With these enhancements, businesses can expect improved performance, greater efficiency, and more scalable solutions for their cloud workloads.

Azure Cobalt 100-based Virtual Machines features:

• Designed in-house to optimize Azure's cloud infrastructure with an end-to-end systems approach.

• Includes Dpsv6, Dplsv6, and memory-optimized Epsv6 series—ideal for scale-out and cloud-native Linux workloads.

• Delivers top-tier performance, outpacing previous generations of Azure Arm-based VMs.

• Now available in 14 regions, including Canada Central and Central US, with more on the way.

Power Platform enhances pipelines in Power Apps with new updates for Admins and Makers

Power Platform has introduced new updates to its pipelines feature in Power Apps, bringing enhancements designed to benefit both Admins and Makers. With this latest release, Admins can now enable Makers to seamlessly discover their custom host instead of the default tenant-wide platform host when navigating to Pipelines. This update simplifies the process by removing the need for Admins to manually set up a custom host and link it to Makers' development environments. Associating new development environments with the default custom host is now more streamlined than ever.

Pipelines in Power Apps feature summary:

• Easily associate new development environments by deploying through a pipeline in the host.

• Provide an environment ID under Advanced Settings to enable pipelines in unlinked environments.

• Admins can control pipeline creation by assigning the "Deployment pipeline default" role.

• Copilot-generated deployment notes are now available in 20 languages, including Chinese, Czech, and Danish.

• All pipeline-deployed solutions are now accessible in the solution import experience.

Power BI October 2024 feature summary

Power BI's latest release introduces a range of enhanced features, with a strong focus on improved visualization and reporting capabilities. These updates are specifically designed to elevate data insights, empowering Power BI users to make more informed decisions with greater clarity and precision.

Power BI’s latest features:

• Copilot-powered report creation: Build more insightful and transparent reports with Copilot, now available in public preview.

• Smarter DAX queries: Quick Measure Suggestions have evolved into Microsoft Fabric Copilot, making it easier to write DAX queries with precision.

• Enhanced combo charts: Visual calculations in combo charts just got better, with field parameters now supported in preview mode.

• Data-bound Azure Maps: Seamlessly integrate reference layers with your business data for a smoother mapping experience.

• Visual storytelling boost: Enjoy improved rendering of columns, bars, ribbons, lines, area charts, and markers for more impactful visuals.

Check the full list here:

Microsoft Azure shares expert tips for AI readiness through modernization

Generative AI is revolutionizing businesses worldwide, transforming the way people live and work. By integrating AI into their operations, companies can drive sustainable growth, future-proof themselves against economic challenges, and gain a lasting competitive edge. But what does it take to be truly AI-ready? Microsoft Azure offers valuable insights and strategies on modernization to help businesses achieve AI readiness.

Microsoft Azure essential tips for modernization:

• Modernization is a holistic journey that enhances every aspect of your business to integrate seamlessly with digital tools and the cloud.

• Revitalize your legacy tech to prepare it for AI, driving operational efficiency and cost savings.

• True modernization starts with the cloud but requires a strategy to scale and unlock AI’s full potential.

• Aligning your people, processes, and skills is key to maximizing AI’s impact on your organization.

Data Workspace is now generally available in Power Platform's Dataverse

Data Workspace is now generally available in Power Platform's Dataverse, following outstanding feedback during its public preview. This powerful new feature offers a seamless, user-friendly experience for creating and managing multi-table data models. With its intuitive Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) view and Copilot assistance, Data Workspace provides a one-stop solution for building complex data models more efficiently than ever before.

Data Workspace feature summary:

• Create tables effortlessly: Use natural language to create tables and bring in data from Excel files or SharePoint Lists with simple drag-and-drop functionality.

• Global reach: Data Workspace supports 9 different languages worldwide and adheres to geo-availability policies.

• AI-powered precision: Copilot in Data Workspace leverages the latest GPT models (GPT 4o mini and GPT 40) for more accurate data model generation.

• Seamless integration: Access Data Workspace directly within your solutions, simplifying the way you create and manage tables and apps.

• Build modern apps: Create both canvas apps and model-driven apps directly from the workspace based on your data model.

Power Automate releases picture-in-picture for seamless multitasking and automation

Microsoft has unveiled a game-changing picture-in-picture feature that lets users run their attended desktop flows within a virtual window, mirroring their desktop. This innovative addition empowers users to multitask effortlessly, enhancing their overall experience and boosting productivity. With this feature, there's no need to pause and wait for a flow to finish—users can now continue their work without interruption.

How to set up picture-in picture feature:

• Run attended desktop flows in a virtual window for seamless multitasking and productivity.

• Enable Picture-in-Picture mode from the Power Automate console by selecting your flow and choosing "Run in Picture-in-Picture."

• Set flows to always run in Picture-in-Picture mode by enabling the flow property for local execution.

• Trigger desktop flows from cloud flows in Picture-in-Picture mode using Power Automate for desktop.