Author Archives: Gryffindor Geeks

Welcome to the Future of Wizardry with Weasleys’ Wizarding Wonders App!

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Welcome to Launch Day!

The Weasley twins are thrilled to unveil their latest magical innovation: ✨Weasley Wizarding Wonders App✨ – your ultimate digital companion for surviving and thriving at Hogwarts! 🪄

This enchanting app brings the Weasley magic to your fingertips, offering exclusive access to their pranks, products, and more. The app ensures you have all the wizarding fun and mischief in one place. Magic is just a tap away! 🧙‍♂️🧙‍♀️

About the App

This magical platform brings together everything a Hogwarts student could ever need, all in one convenient place:

🎩 SortHat

Curious about your Hogwarts house? Let the SortHat reveal whether you belong to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin!

🏆 HouseCup

Track house points in real time! Find out which house is in the lead and view details on who earned (or lost) points, and why, all thanks to those diligent professors.

🎭 Pranks

Unleash your inner mischief-maker! Shop for legendary prank supplies from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and team up with the PrankBot for sneaky, hilarious, and perfectly timed pranks—whether it’s for friends, rivals, or even a professor (if you’re brave enough).

💡 HogHacks

Discover insider tips from fellow students on how to make the most of your seven magical years. Plus, ask Hermione-bot anything—from homework help to navigating tricky calendar changes.

🦉 OwlChat

Say goodbye to parchment and quills! This modernized owl-post system lets you message classmates and professors directly within Teams (feature coming soon).

⏳ Time-Turning

Stay on top of your schedule with a magical calendar that keeps track of your classes, Quidditch matches, and other activities. Feeling adventurous? Use the time-turning feature to glimpse how your calendar—and life—might shift!

The Magic Behind the Curtain 🖥️✨

Our enchanted digital platform was brought to life using a mix of cutting-edge (and magical) technologies:

  • Power Apps: The backbone of our app, enabling us to create a seamless and interactive experience for every Hogwarts student.
  • PCF Components: Adding custom functionality and extending the app’s magic beyond its default capabilities.
  • Power BI: Keeping track of house points and other data in real-time with beautifully visualized insights (because even magic needs analytics!).
  • SharePoint: The repository for all Hogwarts resources—secure, organized, and magically accessible (yes, we have a “valid” reason why).
  • Copilot Studio: Providing advanced AI-powered assistance, including the brilliant Hermione-bot, making sure every student thrives in their magical journey.

And let’s not forget our enchanting Figma designs, skillfully crafted by our talented designer! These designs were seamlessly brought to life in the Canvas App, delivering a polished yet delightfully playful and chaotic interface that perfectly captures the spirited essence of the Weasley twins. 🎨✨👨🏻‍🦰

Fabric Fera Verto

Datasource: SharePoint

The Weasley twins prefer not to spend too much on data storage, so we use SharePoint as a database despite its limitations. This cost-effective solution allows them to allocate resources to other priorities. (Besides, we’re quite used to this approach as consultants, since many companies opt for similar setups instead of using the slightly pricier option – Dataverse.)

We created multiple lists in SharePoint and combined them in one list creating one table for all the information we needed in order to create the report. SharePoint is functioning as the Professors portal where they are fulling in and updating the scores as they come. The Twins have gotten access to the site to make use of this data in the app. We exported this data to PowerBI, setting up Scheduled refresh on the Semantic model to ensure updated data at alle times.

House scores play a crucial role in students’ daily experiences throughout the year. To streamline this process, we digitized the scores, making it easier for students to track which house has the highest score and understand the reasons behind it. Teachers continuously award and deduct points, so it’s essential for students to stay updated on the latest scores.

Additionally, we created some example-data in different excel tables, where we further utilize OneLake to store the data, and creating one semantic model in PowerBI including these.  Considering we did not use external data in our reports we decided that OneLake was not functional in our solution.

This was in the testing stage, and we decided to not use the same model and report going forward – as we went in a different direction with the app.But decided to include it in the final report to demonstrate it.

PowerBI

We created a interactive Dashboard that visualizes the data of the House Cup. We wanted to show how the points are divided between the houses, visualizing for example that Gryffindor is not in fact favored by Dumbledore.

Embedding to the canvas app: Dashboards

The dashboards were divided into two in order to make the display mobile friendly – as this was not a built-in function in canvas app. We added a PowerBI-tile – and as magic goes, it was interactive.

It may look like Dumbledore actually favors Hufflepuff…

Low-Code Charms

Power BI

Power BI is explained above this section in the Fabric Fera Verto section.

Power Apps

🎩 SortHat

The Sorting Hat greets students warmly and selects a house based on the user’s profile. To make the experience enjoyable, it uses a fun GIF, the name of the student and a picture of the houses logo.

🏆 HouseCup

The House cup is a significant event for the students as it recognizes the house that has accumulated the most points through academic achievements, good behavior, and performance in various school activities. Therefore the Weasley brothers’ thought it would be helpful for the students to have page in the app to keep track of the different housing scores. This triggers the competitive instinct and encourages them to make an extra effort and work harder in order to win the house cup at the end-of-year feast at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

🎭 Pranks

A gallery in Power Apps displays all products, complete with detailed information and pricing. This ‘Pranks’ section is based on a SharePoint list with the columns/attributes “Title” (product name), “Description”, “Price Tag” (in the currency Galleons) and “Supply” (current stock). These values are then retrieved in the Power App by adding the SharePoint list as a data source and used in the gallery alongside photos to display each item/product.

Ideally, with more time, the Weasley brothers’ would not have their shop inventory in a SharePoint list. But it is a small business and they just started their online shop journey. Also, they are saving on license costs by using what they already have. In the future, they might further develop the application architecture to better support scaling and security as the business expands.

The Copilot Bot is trained to provide comprehensive product knowledge and recommend the perfect item for any prank the user inquires about (more about this in the section: Digital Transformation under Intelligent Automation).

💡 HogHacks

A collection of tips from all students, along with a Hermione Bot that can answer any questions about the Harry Potter universe. The bot is trained on multiple Harry Potter wikis to provide comprehensive and accurate information.

🦉 OwlChat

This feature is still under development but will soon be connected to teams so that the students can chat with each other on teams.

(The prank scheduler they’re discussing is available for purchase in the prank store)

⏳ Time-Turning

The Time-Turner is a gallery connected to the SharePoint “Database” (hehe) that displays the schedule. Many students have overlapping lectures, so they need to use the Time-Turner to attend them all. This magical device turns back time, shakes, and displays an alternative schedule for each student, giving them full control over their day (Harry would have liked to have this in his third year at Hogwarts).

Power Automate and Copilot Studio

We have also utilized Power Automate and Copilot Studio, as detailed in the Digital Transformation section under Intelligent Automation, found below in this blog post.

Pro-Code Potions

The Weasley Wizarding Wonders app is a perfect example of how pro-code and low-code solutions can work together seamlessly. By implementing the PowerApps Component Framework (PCF) Gallery, we were able to infuse Fred and George Weasley’s mischievous energy into the app. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we took advantage of one of the strong suits of Microsoft; utilizing an open source library and the great publishers/developers that share their coded solutions. So we picked out two playful components that gives the user feedback on interacting with buttons in the application. The security is important when implementing open source components. So before the components where downloaded and implemented as managed solutions the code and dependencies were reviewed. We have a blogpost describing this if you want to know more and see some pictures and videos:

Bringing Weasley Twins’ Magic into Power Apps: Utilizing PCF Components from PCF Gallery | Arctic Cloud Developer Challenge Submissions

We initially planned to implement the Network View PCF component from the PCF Gallery, published by Scott Durow, to visualize the different housings and student relationships, as well as the distribution of students across housings. However, we decided against it due to the lack of necessary setup and configuration for our solution’s architecture. Additionally, we felt that the time required for implementation wasn’t justified compared to other tasks and features that would provide more value to the end user.

Digital Transformation: Doing More with Less While Delivering Magical Experiences ✨

In the magical world of Harry Potter, nothing is digital, but the Weasley Wizarding Wonders App brings the magic into the modern age in a spectacular way. By digitalizing students’ schedules, the twins’ store, house points, and communication, the app makes everything more accessible, organized, and efficient—transforming Hogwarts life into a seamless, tech-savvy experience.

The app is a prime example of how intelligent automation and digital transformation can revolutionize traditional processes while enhancing user experiences and driving business value. It modernizes key aspects of Hogwarts life, demonstrating how businesses can achieve more with fewer resources while still delivering exceptional outcomes.

One of the core transformations is the digitalization of the owl messaging system, replacing slow, manual letter deliveries with a streamlined, mobile-friendly OwlChat. This innovation ensures instant communication for students on their devices, making interactions faster, more reliable, and accessible anywhere. Likewise, the House Cup point system has been fully digitized, creating real-time transparency that not only boosts student excitement but also drives engagement and competition. These improvements address inefficiencies in traditional methods, delivering a better, more seamless experience for users.

The app also incorporates intelligent workflows, such as utilizing user credentials in a feedback flow. This enables students to provide feedback directly to the Weasley Twins, allowing them to continually improve the app and ensure it remains user-friendly and impactful over time. Additionally, the app features an in-app shopping cart where students can purchase their favorite prank products directly, making it simpler and more convenient to get their hands on the magical items they adore.

By transforming how Hogwarts students connect, communicate, and engage, the Weasley Wizarding Wonders App exemplifies how businesses can leverage digital tools to automate workflows, enhance customer experiences, and unlock new opportunities—all while doing more with less. 🪄✨

Intelligent automation

Automating tasks digitally brings new efficiency and convenience. This transformation streamlines communication, scheduling, and administrative tasks, allowing more focus on magical studies.

The Power Automate flow that collects feedback helps streamline the process, making everything more efficient and user-friendly. This flow is explained in this blog post.

What is considered hipster-worthy when everything is new? | Arctic Cloud Developer Challenge Submissions

The Hermione Bot automates answering questions from students about the Harry Potter universe, providing accurate information without needing Hermione to respond to each query individually. This efficiency allows her to focus on other important tasks and helps ensure that more students receive timely answers. Similarly, the PrankBot assists the Weasley twins by recommending products and answering customer questions from students, freeing them up to create more magical mischief and innovative products. This increased efficiency also allows them to sell more products, enhancing their business success. Read more about the chatbots here and you can se them in action under the sections HogHacks and Pranks:

Late night hunting for magical badges | Arctic Cloud Developer Challenge Submissions

ALM-magic

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) in Power Platform is crucial for ensuring efficient, reliable, and scalable development and deployment of applications. It enhances collaboration between developers and citizen developers, improves app quality, and ensures compliance and security. Implementing ALM in our solution required a lot of research in advance: using Application Lifecycle Management on Microsoft Power Platform as our guide provided us with the tools, luckily.

Environments

We set up three different enivornments: DEV, TEST and PROD.

Given the ease of access and existing integration within Power Platform, we opted to set up pipelines directly in Power Platform. Previously, integrating Git with Power Platform solutions required using Azure DevOps pipelines, which involved a more complex setup and management process. However, with the recent introduction of native Git integration within Power Platform, users can now connect their Dataverse environments directly to Git repositories. This new feature simplifies the process, offering a streamlined experience for both developers and citizen developers. It enables faster setup, easier change tracking, and seamless collaboration, all within the familiar Power Platform interface.

In our solution we set up the DEV environment as unmanaged, and TEST and PROD as managed.

Environment variables

Environment variables is used in the solution, pointing to two different SharePoint sites: Dev for DEV and TEST and one for Production data that is used in the PROD environment. This is useful in managing the environment long-term, keeping track of all the data and not getting it mixed together.

Neat and tidy solution:

Deleting tests and getting rid of useless elements helps to make sure the managing of the solution is easier.

You can read more in-depth about connection references, service account and ALM measures we took in our solution in this blogpost: 

Crafting Excellence: Weasley Twins’ Development Best Practices | Arctic Cloud Developer Challenge Submissions

Team-process: from chaos to order

We arrived Thursday morning not having a specific plan set up on how to create our shared vision. Getting started therefore was a bit chaotic: trying to get ahead of all the elements to include in the solution, but without a actual plan of what was required to get there. We therefore needed to have a quick RETRO on Friday morning, looking back at the rooky mistakes we made, taking our experiences and evolving into more pro team-players. This included:

  • Developing a clear plan and shared vision
  • Prioritizing tasks: we had a lot of ideas of what we wanted to create, but narrowing it down and getting more specific was a important step to ensure having a finished product to present today
  • Having frequently stand-ups to clarify uncertainties in our group, getting a overview of the badges we had, which ones we needed to write and aspire to achieve, as well as setting the goals for our next stand-up.

ALM involves multiple stages, including planning, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Effective team coordination ensures that all team members are aligned and can collaborate efficiently, including resource- and time-management, clear communication and adaptability.

Magic Matrix – Solving a Real Business Problem with the Magic of Microsoft 365 🪄✨

Hogwarts students face significant challenges that disrupt their magical education.

  • Disorganization leaves them without a centralized system to manage lectures, activities, or navigate the castle.
  • Communication is stuck in the past, relying on slow, letter-carrying owls.
  • The House Cup, a cherished tradition, suffers from a lack of transparency, leaving students disengaged from the competition.

Using the magic of Microsoft 365, we’ve conjured an impactful, accessible, and enchanting digital platform to solve these problems. At the same time, the app is designed to inspire engagement, creativity, and a little bit of mischief—because, after all, you’re only 12 once, and Hogwarts should be as magical and fun as possible!

The Weasley Wizarding Wonders App creates a seamless and interactive experience that transforms how students navigate their school life. Features like the SortHat help students discover their house, while the Time-Turning Calendar ensures they can keep track of their schedules, explore alternate timelines, and never miss a class or Quidditch match. The House Cup Leaderboard adds transparency and excitement to the competition, allowing students to see in real time how points are awarded or deducted and which house is in the lead.

The app’s backbone is powered by SharePoint, acting as a magical repository that organizes everything in one place—lecture overviews, Hogwarts tips, and detailed point system logs, all accessible at a moment’s notice. Teams powers OwlChat, transforming traditional owl-based messaging into a modern, instant communication system while still retaining the whimsical touch that Hogwarts students love.

The Weasley Twins’ Smart Business Strategy

From the Weasley twins’ perspective, the business value of their setup is clear. By using a Power Apps gallery connected to a SharePoint list, they efficiently manage their inventory and display detailed product information, including pricing and stock levels. This cost-effective solution allows them to save on licensing costs and make the most of their existing resources, crucial for a business just starting its online journey.

Additionally, the PrankBot enhances customer engagement by providing comprehensive product knowledge and personalized prank recommendations. This not only boosts sales but also frees up the twins to focus on creating new, innovative products and mischief. As their business grows, they plan to further develop their application architecture to support scaling and security, ensuring long-term success.

Designing Magic – A playful and chaotic experience

The design of the Weasley Wizarding Wonders App embraces a playful and chaotic style that captures the essence of the Weasley twins’ mischievous spirit. Bold, vibrant colors and dynamic patterns defy traditional design norms, creating a visually striking and energetic user interface. This approach brings the whimsical chaos of the twins’ magical world to life, ensuring that the app feels as magical as it is functional. From bright pops of color to unexpected design elements, the layout feels like stepping into the minds of Weasleys—exciting, unpredictable, and full of surprises.

Rather than adhering to conventional design structures, the app thrives on its unconventional and fun aesthetic, making it both memorable and engaging. This style appeals to students who are looking for something beyond the mundane, turning an ordinary educational tool into a delightful experience. The vibrant visuals bring energy and excitement to the navigation, making every interaction feel playful and whimsical—just like Hogwarts itself. See our design moodboard from Figma here:

Weasley Wizarding Wonders App | Arctic Cloud Developer Challenge Submissions

By blending these magical features with the capabilities of Microsoft 365 technologies, the Weasley Wizarding Wonders App ensures that Hogwarts students stay informed, connected, and enchanted. The platform not only solves real challenges but also enhances the magic of Hogwarts life, making school a place where every student can thrive academically, socially, and, of course, mischievously. 🧙‍♀️✨

I think we all agree that is has been a magical experience to be here.

TEAM Gryffindor!

Naive and happy on the day: Little did we know what we were in for..

See you next year!

Crafting Excellence: Weasley Twins’ Development Best Practices

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Environments

Our solution utilizes three distinct environments within Power Platform: Development, Testing, and Production. The Development environment is where initial coding and development take place, supported by robust version control to ensure code integrity and traceability. The Testing environment is used for rigorous testing to ensure code quality and expected functionality. Finally, the Production environment hosts the live code that is actively used by students.

Power Platform Pipelines

To streamline the movement of code between these environments (DEV – TEST – PROD), we have implemented Power Platform Pipelines. This ensures a smooth and efficient transition of code through each stage, maintaining consistency and reducing the risk of errors. Automation tools and scripts are used to facilitate this process, enhancing efficiency and minimizing manual intervention.

Environment variables

We leverage environment variables to manage our SharePoint sites and lists across different environments. This approach provides us with precise control and flexibility, ensuring that each environment operates with the correct configurations. Environment variables support dynamic configuration, allowing for easy updates and changes without altering the codebase.

Connectors

Our solution employs a smart naming standard for connectors. This naming convention simplifies the process of tracking and reusing the appropriate connectors, enhancing maintainability and clarity. Comprehensive documentation of the naming standards and usage guidelines ensures consistency and ease of understanding for new team members.

Service Account

We have established a dedicated service account for the twins to use with connectors, enhancing security by isolating permissions and reducing credential exposure risks. It simplifies auditing and ensures consistent configuration across environments. Adhering to the principle of least privilege, it grants only necessary permissions, providing clear accountability and preventing identity spoofing. Monitoring tools track the service account’s activities to ensure compliance with security policies.

Bringing Weasley Twins’ Magic into Power Apps: Utilizing PCF Components from PCF Gallery

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In our app we have made use of the great opensource libraries of ready-made opportunities through the PowerApps Component Framework (PCF) Gallery. Inspired by the playful spirit of Fred and George Weasley from Harry Potter, these components add a touch of magic to the app: “Shaking Text” and “Confetti.”

Navigating all the lectures at Hogwarts can be tricky, but fear not! We’ve got a Time-Turner feature, just like Hermione’s, to ensure you never miss a single lesson. With this magical tool, you’ll be able to attend every class and ace your studies! 🕰️✨

Fred and George Weasley are known for their pranks and infectious energy. The “Shaking Text” component adds a dynamic, eye-catching effect to text, while the “Confetti” component brings a celebratory vibe, both reflecting the twins’ lively personalities. Power Apps

The Confetti component and the Shaking text component is published by Clavin Fernandes. They are built using TypeScript and React, and the Confetti component utilizes an NPM package. The developer on the team reviewed the source code and checked dependencies before importing the components into our solution. This thorough review ensures that all dependencies are compatible and up-to-date, preventing potential conflicts and integration issues. By doing this, the developer helps maintain the stability and reliability of the solution, ensuring a smooth and error-free deployment.

Confetti PCF Component | PCF Gallery

React Shaking Text Virtual Component | PCF Gallery

The PCF components are built using TypeScript and React, allowing for custom functionality and appearance in Power Apps. They integrate seamlessly and are reusable across different applications, enhancing the user experience. By leveraging these technologies, developers can create highly interactive and visually appealing components that meet specific business needs.

What is considered hipster-worthy when everything is new?

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Hip is usually used about things or people when its new, unconventional or non-mainstream. However, hipsters have in modern time become more of a oldschool thing – people dressing up in vintage clothing, listening to old music and living a lifestyle thats is more similar to how it was before (and usually living in the center of Grunerløkka). Being Hip is a thing that is open to interpretation.🤔

Our team has a lot of junior resources – new to the magical world of Power Platform. All of these different functions are considered new and cool – and therefore also hip. And one especially hip and up-and-coming thing is privacy concerns. With everything going digital it is much more important to be aware of security in the solutions: especially in the digital transformation in the Harry Potter Universe: the danger awaits around every turn. Maybe Voldemort somehow find a way to hack into Hermiones app so he is able to locate Harry Potter. This would be catastrophic.

To prevent disaster DLP policies, setting up Audit Logs and Environment-Level Security are some of the important steps that needs to be taken:

  1. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies help prevent the accidental or unauthorized sharing of sensitive information by controlling which connectors can be used in apps and flows. This ensures that sensitive data remains protected and compliant with regulatory requirements.
  2. Audit logs track user activities and changes within the Power Platform. They provide a detailed record of actions, which is crucial for monitoring, compliance reporting, and investigating any suspicious activities or breaches.
  3. Environment-Level Security. Setting up security roles and permissions at the environment level ensures that only authorized users can access specific data and resources. This helps maintain data integrity, protects sensitive information, and ensures that users only have access to the data necessary for their roles.

These are just some of the things that we want to focus on in the further development of our solution.

In our app, we have already implemented a secure login process using Microsoft account authentication to ensure your user information is accurately identified and protected.

As shown below, when opening the app: is checks the user credentials and name

The User Credentials is also used in a feedback flow that provides the oppurtunity to provide the Weasley Twins with feedback on the app. That way, they can continuosly make the app better and more user friendly.

And speaking of cool functions: POWER AUTOMATE
Go with the flow

This is especially magical feature in our app. With the press of a botton it triggers a flow sending out a email through Outlook: The input is dynamic from the users input in the app and dynamic user information gathered as shown above.

Take notice of the tidy and neat code-naming standards following Best Practice.

The outcome
To user:

The feedback sent to the twins (service-user):


Keep it HIP and cool, and always go with the flow! 😘

Late night hunting for magical badges

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As we prepare for bed, we embark on a late-night hunt for badges. Four badges in total!

🪄 Hogwarts enchantment

We’ve infused our app with intuitive designs that bring the magic of the wizarding world straight to the user’s fingertips in Figma to Canvas App.

Here is a glimpse of the app’s functionality and design so far:

From a sleek and user-friendly interface that embodies the essence of Hogwarts, to AI-powered features like:

  • Hermione Bot: Your personal academic copilot, ready to guide you with wisdom and wit at any time.  
  • Prank Bot: A mischievous partner in crime, perfect for orchestrating magical pranks.

Together, these elements not only enhance the app’s usability but truly enchant the experience, making the wizarding world feel alive and interactive.

We encountered an issue where we couldn’t select our bots, and the only option available was to create new ones.

Previously, it was possible to use the Chatbot component, but it has been removed since last year. Fortunately, we found a solution.

Solved: Unable to integrate Copilot bot into powerapps(canvas app)

Many people have faced the same problem, and the solution is to use the old retro component (Retro badge). To do this, you need the following superdirty hacks to achieve awesomeness (Nasty Hacker):

– Chatbot:

    Control: Chatbot

    Properties:

      EnvironmentId: =”ADD YOUR ENVIRONMENT ID”

      SchemaName: =”Add your Copilot’s Schema name”

      Height: =602

      Width: =555

      X: =372

      Y: =65

  1. Right click on a new screen
  2. Click Paste code
  3. Change the environment ID

And just like that, the bots appear as if by magic!

(Yes, I tried the button create new on the Copilot component multiple times…)

☢️ The Existential Risk 🤖

Magic meets modern technology!

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With delicious pizza fueling our spirits, we’re proudly claiming three badges! In this blog post, we’ll dive in with the same courage and determination Harry displayed in the Triwizard Tournament.

💣 Feature bombing

From the very beginning, our goal has been to unite multiple platforms into one seamless, feature-packed experience with a Weasleys’ twist. On our homepage alone, users can:

  • Get sorted into a house.
  • Chat with friends.
  • Check the calendar for Hogwarts classes and social events.
  • Get help from Hermione Bot for academics or planning.
  • Team up with Prank Bot to mastermind mischief.

These features don’t just exist – they’re alive and interactive, ensuring the experience is magical, dynamic, and fun. We’ve officially mastered the art of feature bombing (without overwhelming) and are ready to claim this badge!

🦎 Chameleon

Our app is built with adaptability at its core, ensuring a magical experience no matter what device you’re using. Whether it’s the compact elegance of an iPhone 13 or the expansive screen of an iPad, our interface scales perfectly without compromising usability or design.

Below, you can watch a short video showcasing the app’s responsiveness in action. Magical, right?

And last but certainly not least, the…

🥳 Remarkable team spirit

Of course, we have to share with the world how incredible this weekend has been!

Go check it out, and don’t forget to give Iselin a like! —> https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7288637216099127297/
We have also been posting on Snapchat, Instagram and the Bouvet internal Slack channel! #sharingiscaring 😉

Now, we’re off for a swim! 🏊‍♀️✨

Sharing is caring in this community: copy/paste

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Recently updates including two more badges: Crawler and Dataminer.

Api, datasets and code are handy tools to share. But as a PowerBI rooky, it can just as difficult to get a overview and navigate through the magic Power BI provides. Thats why I wanted to share some insight into this area to make it easier for those who comes after us.

We have been struggeling for hours to find a way to embed the PowerBI report as an interactive report in the app. With a free trail not all features are possible, and some workarounds are needed.

After a whole lot of tries and fails as you can see below…

… we managed to put a PowerBI tile in the canvas app, with the wanted dimentions to match our apps design.

After publising your report to PowerBI service the same report can be saved as a tile in a dashboard. Having the whole report in one tile will make the vizualisations interactive with each other – which is more user-friendly.

Embedding a Dashboard tile in the Canvas app was not the biggest issue – making it mobile friendly was a bigger problem. It was not possible to create a dashboard with a mobile display that could be embedded in the app. However, splitting one Raport into 2 Dashboard tiles seemed to be the best way to get the wanted result (visually), even though it was not as interactive as we wanted. But its good enough – as shown below.

Getting the data

Dataminer: We created our own data in SharePoint lists showing the House Cup Points, combined with the other lists. This created the base for exporting this data directly into PowerBI

  • SharePoint as datasource​
  • Lists: Students, PointSystem, Houses, Professors​

In the semantic model we configured Schedueled refresh (every 6th hour)​, ensuring that the data updates often enough so the students can keep track of their progress.

The semantic model provided enough data to create the golden report we later embedded in the app.

Crawler: Search and AI in PowerBI report

In PowerBI we included this cool visual where the data is searchable simply by using natural language to ask what the data contains. This is a flexible way for users to access data even though it is not in any of the visuals.

Let us demonstrate:

Helping out

Walking down the hallway – I bumped into Sopranova struggelig with the same thing I just figured out how to do. Lending a hand and providing some guidance we managed to create a custom page with a embedded dashboard tile for their app.

We were very happy about that.

So if anyone else needs a hand in this spesific area we are happy to help:)

Weasley Wizarding Wonders App

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Beautiful design (Glossy Pixels)

The design draws inspiration from the Weasley twins and their magical shop, embracing a playful and chaotic style with vibrant colors and patterns that break away from traditional design norms. Students highly value an app that combines bold, dynamic visuals with a user-friendly interface, as it greatly enhances their overall experience. A well-designed app with exceptional UX ensures they can navigate effortlessly and enjoyably, making it easy to access the information they need.

Our talented designer uses Figma to craft stunning designs that developers can seamlessly follow. Here are some examples of the designer’s work from today, which greatly simplifies the development process. Here is the color palette and the inspiration behind it:

Starting with the homepage, we want to give users a dynamic and engaging experience that reflects the app’s content and features. The idea is for the buttons to move and change positions, much like the shifting staircases at Hogwarts. While this might challenge usability, the goal is to highlight the app’s diverse possibilities and encourage exploration, ensuring no features are overlooked.

Houses Score, Quidditch and owlpost (Fabric) (Dash It Out)

House scores play a crucial role in students’ daily experiences throughout the year. To streamline this process, we aim to digitize the scores, making it easier for students to track which house has the highest score and understand the reasons behind it. Teachers continuously award and deduct points, so it’s essential for students to stay updated on the latest scores.

We plan to utilize Fabric’s OneLake to store our data, which is then visualized in our Power BI dashboards. These dashboards represent all the houses, their scores, and the teachers’ reasons for awarding or deducting points. Additionally, we include data about owl post and Quidditch, providing a comprehensive view of all aspects of student life at Hogwarts.

The App (Low-Code)

Students need a single place to find all the information they need to navigate life at Hogwarts. They need easy access to the school system to know which lessons to attend. Some may even need a Time-Turner to attend all their lessons.

Our mobile-friendly canvas app leverages the fantastic native drag-and-drop features Power Apps offers. With beautiful galleries, powerful data integration, and intuitive user interfaces, our app provides a seamless experience for students.

PCF (Pro-Code) (Power User Love)

It’s crucial for students to know who is in their house, but currently, there’s no system in place to facilitate this. Implementing a digital, visual, and accessible solution would be a smart move.

Low-code and pro-code can coexist peacefully. We have found a PCF component online, created by this cool dude called Scott Durow. We hope his code meets the judges’ expectations. Power Apps development and integrations is quite new to the pro-coder so this is still a work in progress, but we plan to use the component Network View (Network View | PCF Gallery).

From no system to complete digital solution (Digital transformation)

Hogwarts currently has no digital system (they send mail by owls). We want to digitize everything a student may need to navigate life at Hogwarts.

We plan to use multiple technologies from the platform, including Power BI, Fabric, Power Apps, and Copilot Studio. These technologies work (more or less) seamlessly with each other and will help us create a complete digital solution.

DEV-TEST-PROD (ALM)

Fred and George have never created an app before, so they need our assistance. We’ve explained the importance of ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) to them and set up three Power Platform environments.

Given that we’re participating in a hackathon for just a few days and the solution is currently quite small, we’ve decided to use the environment-centric approach (Environment vs. Source code centric ALM approach » Benedikt’s Power Platform Blog). While this is the most commonly used method, it has several drawbacks, such as vulnerability to environment issues, aging configurations, and reliance on manual deployments.

The magical students love the app (Magic Matrix)

All the students at Hogwarts love the app because it makes their daily lives easier. Transitioning from “pen and paper” to a fully digital solution is usually challenging, but for the students at Hogwarts, it was seamless. They appreciate having everything in one place, making it easy to navigate and find what they need.

I wish I had a similar app when I was a student. Back then, everything was scattered across different systems: one for school, one for living arrangements, one for information, one for stores, one for events, and another for books. Each had its own system, making it difficult to find anything. That’s why we believe it’s smart to consolidate everything into one place, making it easier to find.

The app isn’t just for school-related tasks; it also includes information about events, stores in Hogsmeade, where to find the cheapest butterbeer, sending pranks, and many other fun features the twins came up with.

Want to taste some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans?

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Badges: Early Delivery, Happy Camper and Show and tell-post

Hello everyone! This is our first blog post where you will get a introduction our team and our vision for our platform.

It’s the five of us from Bouvet. Bouvet decided to finally send a team that can win, that why we ended up being 5 girls – obviously. We are the Grifiindor Geeks represented by: Iselin, Malin, Celine, Marthe and Marianne.

GO GRIFFINDOR!

We are 5 very happy and excited campers, currently camping in a sea of wands, snacks, coffee, luggage and monitors – hopefully we will become more organized on our camp as soon as we have checked into our room. But in our Gryffindor uniforms, we know that courage and chivalry will get us a long way.

Our current chaotic camp:

Our solution

In our story, Fred was brought back to life by George using the Resurrection Stone, because he found an even better business idea that he could not do by himself. George and Fred Weasley as you know – dropped out of school to open their magical store. The twins have now decided to move in a different direction – from magic to technology. Hogwarts is a school where there are a lot of things happening all the time, and as a new student it can be hard to keep track of all the events, classes, quidditch matches and so much more. The twins therefore decided to make this more accessible and gather all this information in the same place – as well as a whole lot of other cool features.

The Weasley twins present: Weasley Wizarding Wonders App.

  • A complete platform for Hogwarts students where they can find everything to master and thrive in life at Hogwarts offering all kinds of fun. We’re planning to use a variety of technologies like Power Apps, PCF components, Power BI, Fabric, SharePoint, and Copilot Studio.

Welcome to the Weasley’ Wizarding Wonders App – the ultimate enchanted portal to surviving (and thriving) at Hogwarts! Created by the mischievous masterminds George and Fred Weasley, this app is bursting with magical mayhem and clever tools to make every student’s life easier and way more entertaining.(Canvas app)

Inside this spellbinding system, you’ll find:

  • Sorting Hat: A new interpretation of the Sorting Hat. Again – technology over magic. Using a questionnaire to gather information about each student, the Hat can sort everyone where they truly belong (or strive to be a part of). This also includes a score board report of the different points and reasoning for it: making sure that Gryffindor is not favored as previous suspicions would imply (Fabric Power BI).
  • The Time-Turning Timetable – A customizable schedule that keeps you one step ahead of even the trickiest professors. Apply to get Hermines Time-Turning gadget here, if needed. This calendar helps every student to keep track of classes, events and other obligations in the busy day of a Hogwarts student.
  • Prank Scheduler: A feature that allows users to schedule and send prank notifications or messages to friends at specific times. Think of it as a digital version of the twins joke shop products.
  • The Owl Chat – Send instant messages (no owls required!) to friends, teachers, and maybe that cute Ravenclaw.
  • HogHacks – (Aka: Herminie’s hacker): This is a collection of tools that will assist students with everyday tasks and spells to get more organized and structured (Copilot Studio).
  • Map: Find your friends (or enemies) easier with this live tracking app.

Below you can see a first draft of our app visually in Figma.

Our very own sorting hat in the canvas app:

Dare to taste the magic? Visit our table for a chance to try Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans!

We are very exicted to get to know everyone and see your magical solutions!

Happy camping!