We’ve used Copilot Studio, I created a personalized chatbot and embedded it directly into our Canvas app. The goal? To provide players with quick, accessible info about the game, so they can jump in without needing to spend hours figuring out all the details.
The chatbot is designed to help players learn about key game elements, including: Wizards, Spells and Guilds. Players can get to know the strengths and roles of different wizards, quick details on which spells and pull data from the game’s leaderboards, helping them make better decisions when assembling their Quidditch teams.
We’ve integrated the game’s Dataverse tables to power the chatbot’s responses. This means that all the information the bot provides is pulled in real-time from our database, ensuring that the advice and stats are always up-to-date.
However, despite all the great features Copilot can give, there are some existential risks. As the Second Wizarding world showed us, witches and wizards gathering around a common cause can lead to terrible consequences – what if sensitive data is leaked by Copilot? The app is primarily used by students at Hogwarts, but there is no stopping adult witches and wizards from signing up. The Copilot might provide more information than we can imagine, and this tech in the wrong hands can be very destructive.
Is it smarter than a 5th grader? No, but it is much quicker and much more persuasive than a 5th grader. Getting the wrong hints and using ineffective spells can be devastating for a users game statistics.
In the world of artificial intelligence, there are many ways to collect, analyze, and enrich data to create more personalized and meaningful experiences. One of the most innovative—and perhaps magical—methods of enriching data is through the power of voice. Eleven Labs, an AI company known for its advanced voice generation and natural language processing (NLP) technology, has found a way to turn data into something much more than just numbers and text: it gives data a voice.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how Eleven Labs—an advanced AI-driven platform known for its voice generation technology and natural language processing—can be used to enrich the data. Traditionally, sorting systems rely on questionnaires or predefined attributes to make these decisions. However, with the power of Eleven Labs, we transformed this process into something far more engaging and dynamic.
Eleven Labs helped us to enrich the experience by receiving and analyzing data that we send and enrich it by giving us back voice. This technology helped us make the sorting process more engaging and enjoyable. For example, using realistic voiceovers to narrate the sorting ceremony or create unique dialogues for each person being sorted.
When we give data a voice, we aren’t just providing users with information; we’re engaging them in a conversation, offering insights with nuance and tone, and creating an experience that feels more human. Eleven Labs leverages voice synthesis and speech recognition technology to bring data to life.
Greetings, wizarding developers and judges! ✨ At Team PowerPotters, we’ve turned the Production Order page in Dynamics 365 FO into a powerhouse of functionality, blending standard tools with custom innovations to enhance potion production workflows. With seamless access to essential features, apps, and visual enhancements, our solution is an explosive display of ingenuity worthy of the Feature Bombing Badge!
The Features That Bombarded the Production Order Page
Standard FO Features:
All standard functionalities of D365FO are readily accessible on the Production Order page, providing a robust foundation for managing production.
Embedded Resco App:
Resco’s scheduling and coordination component is embedded into the Installation Details section, enabling production workers and installers to streamline operations directly from the Production Order page.
Alchemy Approval App:
The responsive Approval App is integrated into the page, allowing managers like Snape to approve or reject potion production requests effortlessly. This ensures approvals are handled directly in F&O for smooth workflows.
Potion Image Display:
A custom feature dynamically displays an image of the potion being produced, giving users a visual representation of their work. This adds a delightful, magical touch and improves clarity for production managers.
Planned Ingredient Adjustment:
Another custom feature enables users to easily modify the planned ingredients for the potion.
This includes a visual ratio representation, ensuring potion recipes remain balanced and precise while allowing quick adjustments when needed.
Why This Earns Feature Bombing
Our enhancements exemplify the essence of Feature Bombing by delivering a feature-rich experience on a single page:
Comprehensive Functionality: Users can access a combination of standard and custom features, apps, and visuals, all within the Production Order page.
Integrated Apps: The embedded Resco and Approval apps expand the capabilities of FO, bringing external tools into the heart of the workflow.
Custom Visuals: Features like the potion image display and ingredient adjustment tool elevate user engagement and efficiency.
Streamlined User Experience: With all key tools accessible in one place, users can focus on their tasks without navigating across multiple systems.
The Impact of Feature Bombing
Our feature-packed Production Order page revolutionizes potion production by:
Enhancing User Experience: Intuitive tools like the potion image and ingredient adjustment feature make workflows more engaging and user-friendly.
Boosting Productivity: With all critical features in one place, production teams can work faster and smarter.
Improving Collaboration: Embedded apps like Resco and Approval streamline communication between teams, ensuring seamless production and installation.
Exploding with Innovation
With the Production Order page in D365FO brimming with features, we’ve shown how to maximize functionality while keeping the user experience magical. We humbly submit our case for the Feature Bombing Badge and invite you to explore the power of feature-rich design with Team PowerPotters: acdc.blog/category/cepheo25.
We are very happy with the way we have collaborated together during this hackathon, specially considering we some of us didn’t each other in advance!
We firmly believe that a huge factor that helped us has been our way of work. Defining objectives, sharing tasks clearly and having a solid solution structure and ALM processes.
We will shortly describe them here:
1. DevOps backlog
We have worked using Epics and tasks to keep track on the process, what have to be done and who had to work on what.
2. Solution structure
We have been storing all our Power Platform elements for locating and importing them easily.
3. DevOps processes
They have been previously exposed in 2 different articles:
Everyone can send a Howler! It is up to you. Post a message to our public API and it will be read out loud. Do note that the content of your message will be altered by our magical services. So please be careful of what type of sentiment you use.
{ “sender”: “Bellatrix”, “recipient”: “Sirius”, “sentiment”: “Angry but polite”, “subject”: “The end”, “body”: “You’re definitely fired.” }
The endpoint triggers a Power Automate flow that adds a new row to our Dataverse. A new flow triggers and sends it to our Python Flask app. And it connects to the Howler and reads out the message.har hurtigmeny
In the world of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), being a hipster isn’t just about wearing glasses and drinking artisanal coffee. ☕ It’s about using the latest tech and best practices to ensure your solutions are compliant, governed, and respectful of privacy. Here’s how we’ve upgraded our ALM setup to be as sleek and modern as a barista’s latte art. 🎨
🌟 Delegated Deployment with SPNs
The backbone of our ALM setup is delegated deployment using a Service Principal (SPN). This ensures that our deployment process is:
Secure: Using the SPN credentials, we minimize risks of unauthorized access.
Streamlined: Delegated deployment allows automation without compromising governance.
Key configuration steps:
Set “Is Delegated Deployment” to Yes.
Configure the required credentials for the SPN.
UAT:
PROD:
📜 Approval Flows for Deployment
Governance is king 👑, and we’ve built a solid approval process to ensure that no deployment goes rogue:
Triggering the Approval:
On deployment start, a flow triggers the action “OnApprovalStarted”.
An approval request is sent to the administrator in Microsoft Teams.
Seamless Collaboration:
Once approved, the deployment process kicks off.
If rejected, the process halts, protecting production from unwanted changes.
📢 Teams Integration: Keeping Everyone in the Loop
Adaptive Cards are the stars of our communication strategy:
Monitoring Deployments:
Each deployment sends an adaptive card to the “ALM” channel in Microsoft Teams.
Developers and stakeholders can easily follow the deployment routine in real-time.
Error Alerts:
If a deployment fails, an error flow triggers and sends a detailed adaptive card to the same channel.
This ensures transparency and swift troubleshooting.
Release Notes:
Upon a successful production deployment, a flow automatically posts an adaptive card in the “Release Notes” channel.
End users can see the latest updates and enhancements at a glance.
🛡️ Why This Matters
Our upgraded ALM setup doesn’t just look cool—it delivers real business value:
Compliance: Ensures all deployments follow governance policies.
Privacy: Protects sensitive credentials with SPN-based authentication.
Efficiency: Automates processes, reducing manual intervention and errors.
Transparency: Keeps all stakeholders informed with real-time updates and error reporting.
💡 Lessons from the ALM Hipster Movement
Automation is Key: From approvals to error handling, automation reduces the risk of human error.
Communication is Power: Integrating Teams with adaptive cards keeps everyone in the loop, fostering collaboration.
Governance is Non-Negotiable: With SPNs and approval flows, we’ve built a secure and compliant deployment pipeline.
🌈 The Cool Factor
By blending cutting-edge tech like adaptive cards, Power Automate flows, and Teams integration, we’ve turned a routine ALM process into a modern masterpiece. It’s not just functional—it’s stylish, efficient, and impactful.
Greetings, wizarding developers! ✨ At PowerPotters of Cepheo, we’ve mastered the art of separating concerns, ensuring our solution is as efficient as it is elegant. By shifting complex logic to the backend with X++ and creating responsive, user-friendly frontends, we’ve built a scalable, intuitive system for potion production. This approach ensures developers can specialize, users get a seamless experience, and the system can grow effortlessly.
Backend Enchantment with X++
Our backend services, crafted with X++, perform the heavy lifting, allowing the frontend to remain clean and lightweight.
Core Actions in X++:
Actions such as creating production orders, updating inventory, and calculating material consumption are handled entirely in the backend.
Example: The X++ method in the image dynamically creates production orders by:
Validating inputs such as company, item ID, and quantity.
Retrieving item details from InventTable and generating BOM and route IDs.
Logging errors with structured handling (AdEngEntityActionLogTable), ensuring traceability and stability.
This structured logic enables efficient processing while adhering to ALM principles.
ALM Practices in X++:
Consistent naming conventions, such as AdEngEntityActionLogTable, align with our Ad-prefixed ALM standards, ensuring clarity and maintainability.
Robust error handling captures and logs any issues, reducing debugging time and ensuring system resilience.
Frontend Elegance with Modern Frameworks
With the backend performing heavy computations, the frontend remains focused on delivering a smooth user experience.
Dynamic Interfaces:
Lightweight, responsive Canvas Apps provide users with intuitive tools for tasks like approving production orders and managing potion ingredients.
Frontends dynamically fetch data processed by the X++ backend, ensuring real-time updates without overloading the system.
User-Centric Design:
Potion masters interact with simple, visually engaging interfaces. For example:
The material consumption tool provides visual ingredient ratios, powered by backend X++ calculations.
Approval workflows are streamlined with embedded apps directly in D365FO.
The Perfect Salsa: Backend Power, Frontend Grace
By combining backend processing in X++ with responsive frontend frameworks, we’ve created a system that:
Separates Concerns: Developers can specialize in frontend or backend tasks without overlap, improving efficiency.
Scales Effortlessly: Backend X++ services and lightweight frontends can grow independently, ensuring long-term scalability.
Delivers an Exceptional User Experience: Users benefit from intuitive interfaces powered by robust backend logic.
Why This Earns Client Side Salsa
Our approach exemplifies the principles of Client Side Salsa:
Backend Magic: Heavy computations and validations, such as production order creation, are performed in X++, ensuring a lightweight frontend.
Frontend Simplicity: User-friendly Canvas Apps focus on delivering a clean and intuitive experience.
Scalable and Maintainable: ALM standards and modular design keep the system robust and ready for future enhancements.
Dancing Towards Innovation
With backend power driving the magic and frontend charm engaging users, we’ve created a potion production system that’s as delightful as a perfectly executed salsa dance. We humbly submit our case for the Client Side Salsa Badge and invite you to explore the elegance of our solution: acdc.blog/category/cepheo25.
Wayfinder Academy: Redefining Digital Transformation in Magical Education
In an ever-evolving world where magic and technology coexist, Wayfinder Academy and its Logiquill portal represent the forefront of digital transformation within the magical education sector. By seamlessly integrating intelligent automation, data-driven insights, and a personalized approach to student guidance, we’ve set a new standard for how magical institutions can enhance their operations while meeting the expectations of the modern student.
A Magical Solution for Dynamic Needs
The mission of Wayfinder Academy is clear: to ensure that every magical student finds an environment that nurtures their unique talents, temperament, and aspirations. Our innovative processes are built on the belief that students thrive when matched with the right school, and we’ve developed a groundbreaking redundancy plan to ensure this mission continues uninterrupted—even under the most unexpected circumstances.
A turning point in Hogwarts’ history came when the Sorting Hat was temporarily stolen during a sorting ceremony, leaving the school in disarray.
This incident underscored the need for a robust, adaptable system that could provide an alternative for sorting and student reassignment. Enter the Wayfinder Academy, with its Logiquill portal: a solution that combines magical precision with technological advancements to guide students toward their ideal paths.
Intelligent Automation: A Transformative Approach
Our process begins with the student’s application submission via the Logiquill portal. From the moment the application is received, intelligent automation takes center stage:
Data Collection: Students upload memorable photos and historical records are requested from their current school. These data points form the foundation of our analysis.
AI-Driven Interviews: Each student participates in a digital interview with a virtual “digital twin” of one of our esteemed teachers. During this session, a pulsometer captures emotional responses and stress metrics, creating a comprehensive profile.
Real-Time Analysis: Emotional and physiological data, along with responses, are stored in our dataverse. Advanced algorithms interpret these inputs to assign attributes and recommend the best faculty placement.
Personalized Results: Students receive an animated, interactive experience—an owl delivers their results, followed by a magical feather writing their new faculty assignment. They also gain access to detailed reasoning and insights through the portal.
Meeting Expectations with Seamless Integration
The Logiquill portal is more than a sorting tool—it’s a hub for continuous support and engagement. Students are offered a personalized coaching program, featuring:
Monthly Letters: Tailored tips for successful integration into their new faculty.
Virtual Mentorship: Access to digital twins of professors who provide one-on-one guidance.
Interactive Forums: A space for students to connect, share ideas, and discuss events.
Our platform’s capabilities extend beyond sorting and mentorship. By linking Meta, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts, the portal analyzes social engagement to generate actionable insights, track progress, and enhance the overall experience.
Delivering More with Less Through Innovation
The Wayfinder Academy exemplifies how magical institutions can deliver exceptional experiences while maximizing efficiency. Our approach achieves this by:
Reducing Manual Effort: Automated processes streamline application review, data analysis, and faculty recommendations.
Enhancing Personalization: AI and real-time data ensure every student receives individualized guidance tailored to their needs.
Driving Continuous Improvement: Insights derived from forum discussions and social media analysis enable proactive support and dynamic enhancements to our services.
A Bridge Between Expectation and Capability
The integration of intelligent automation into magical education through the Wayfinder Academy and Logiquill portal is a testament to the potential of digital transformation. By weaving a spell that bridges the gap between customer expectations and operational capabilities, we’ve created a solution that empowers students and institutions alike.
Wayfinder Academy is not just reshaping how magical students find their paths—it’s setting a new precedent for innovation, personalization, and efficiency in education. With every detail meticulously designed, we’re proud to demonstrate how businesses can achieve more with less while delivering unparalleled experiences to their communities.
Greetings, magical developers and hackathon judges! ✨
At Team PowerPotters, we’re always striving to make complex processes simpler and more user-friendly. By embedding key apps directly into Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO), we’ve improved usability and responsiveness for potion masters, installers, and approval managers alike. With these integrations, users can now complete tasks faster, more intuitively, and directly from the system they know best.
How We Fulfilled Plug N’Play
1. Incorporating the Resco Component
The Resco PCF component has been embedded into the Installation Details section of production orders in D365FO.
Value Delivered:
Streamlines scheduling and coordination by providing intuitive Resco functionality directly in the F&O interface.
Eliminates the need to switch platforms, ensuring users can manage production and installation workflows seamlessly.
2. Embedding the Alchemy Approval App
Our Canvas Approval App, previously a standalone tool, is now directly incorporated into F&O.
Value Delivered:
Snape and other approval managers can review potion requests, check ingredient availability, and approve or reject orders—all without leaving F&O.
The app retains its dynamic design and responsiveness, allowing approvals on any device or screen size.
3. Developing a Material Consumption Feature in F&O
We’ve created an easy-to-use feature within F&O for adjusting material consumption during potion production.
Value Delivered:
Provides users with a visual representation of ingredient ratios, ensuring precise adjustments to potion recipes.
Improves decision-making by offering a clear view of how changes impact production outcomes.
Why This Fulfills Plug N’Play
Embedded Usability:
All three features—Resco, the approval app, and the material consumption tool—are directly integrated into the D365FO interface, allowing users to stay within one platform to complete critical tasks.
Enhanced User Experience:
By embedding these tools into F&O, we’ve reduced friction for users, enabling them to work intuitively and efficiently.
Responsiveness and Accessibility:
Both the Approval App and the material consumption feature are responsive and user-friendly, ensuring ease of use across devices and user types.
The Impact of Plug N’Play Integration
These integrations have transformed D365FO into a powerful, all-in-one potion production and management hub:
Potion Masters: Can adjust ingredient ratios visually, ensuring precise material consumption and potion quality.
Installers: Benefit from Resco’s scheduling and coordination capabilities, seamlessly integrated into their production workflows.
Approval Managers: Save time and stay productive with the embedded Approval App, designed for quick and informed decision-making.
Why This Earns the Plug N’Play Badge
Our solution perfectly embodies the Plug N’Play philosophy by:
Integrating Directly Into F&O: Embedding apps and features ensures users can complete tasks without leaving the platform.
Improving Usability: Intuitive and responsive tools streamline workflows and enhance productivity.
Delivering Real Business Value: From approvals to material adjustments, these integrations solve real-world challenges and empower users.
With our integrated solutions, we’ve turned D365FO into a user-centric platform that simplifies potion production and management. We humbly submit our case for the Plug N’Play Badge and invite you to explore how Team PowerPotters continues to innovate: acdc.blog/category/cepheo25.
