The examination’s potion brewing system implements an intuitive yet powerful interaction model that seamlessly combines inventory management with skill assessment. Students select ingredients previously earned in earlier examination categories, carefully pairing them according to the cryptic guidance provided in the medieval-themed web resource interface.
The brewing process begins when a student selects two ingredients from their inventory and activates the “Brew Potion” command, meticulously crafted through Ribbon Workbench. Upon activation, the system evaluates the combination against known potion recipes. Successful combinations reward students with examination points and academic recognition, while incorrect pairings result in ineffective concoctions that yield no assessment value.
The system maintains inventory integrity through real-time quantity management. Each brewing attempt decrements the available quantities of selected ingredients, with items automatically removing themselves from the inventory when depleted. This resource management aspect adds strategic depth to the examination, encouraging students to carefully consider each combination before proceeding. When ingredients are exhausted or insufficient quantities remain for further brewing attempts, the system automatically concludes the examination category and directs students to their results.
The technical implementation leverages modern JavaScript frameworks in conjunction with Dynamics 365’s Crm.WebApi capabilities, ensuring reliable data operations and seamless integration with the CRM infrastructure. This architecture provides a robust foundation for managing complex interactions between student choices and examination outcomes.
Our Potions examination interface exemplifies the standards of the Glossy Pixels badge through its exceptional implementation of responsive design principles. The interface maintains visual integrity and functionality across all device sizes, from desktop monitors in the Hogwarts library to mobile devices in the dungeons.
The parchment-style containers and medieval typography demonstrate sophisticated scaling, ensuring readability without compromising the magical aesthetics. It resides magically and consistently above our three-column ingredient list and gracefully adapts to different screen sizes while maintaining clear visibility of crucial examination elements.
Most importantly, the interface achieves this responsiveness without sacrificing the mystical atmosphere essential to a Hogwarts examination. Like a perfectly brewed potion, each visual element maintains its properties across all viewing conditions, creating an experience that is both functional and authentically magical.
In our application, we need to use a plugin for a specific part of our challenges. One of our games involves potion brewing, where we need potion ingredients that are added to an inventory table, which is related to the contact that navigates our tasks.
At the core of every wizard’s journey is the quest to explore their magical potential, refine their skills, and discover the path that best aligns with their unique abilities. To provide aspiring wizards with the guidance and feedback they need to succeed, we are developing a comprehensive system of tests to assess their proficiency in the magical arts.
Our aim is to create a series of engaging and challenging tests that evaluate various aspects of magical performance. From precision in flying to advanced problem-solving within magical constraints, these tests offer a well-rounded assessment of each student’s strengths. Tailored to reflect the critical skills needed in the magical world, the tests will immerse students in scenarios where their creativity and expertise are put to the test.
Upon completing the tests, each wizard-in-training will receive a detailed performance evaluation. Whether a student excels in potion-making or flying, they will gain valuable insights into the areas where their talents truly shine. These recommendations are designed to guide them toward a fulfilling and successful magical career.
This innovative grading and evaluation system is powered by cutting-edge technology. By harnessing these advanced tools, we’re not only modernizing the evaluation process, but also creating an enchanting and transformative experience for both students and instructors.
This approach goes beyond grading; it’s about empowering the next generation of wizards to realize their full potential. With a blend of tradition and innovation, these tests serve as a bridge between magical lore and modern technology, ensuring that every student is prepared, inspired, and ready to thrive on their magical journey.
Fabric Fera Verto
In our solution we had created report for two groups of Users. For the future wizard who is going to get the report that will summarize the results of the Exams in the last step of the CRM pipline, that will be filtered by the student id. Such as this is a personal document available only to him or her:
Another key group of users we targeted includes the teachers of Hogwarts, led by Professor Albus Dumbledore. They are provided with an overview of student progress, along with statistics for the various houses—both collectively and for each individual exam:
The filters are dynamically is changing the placement of the flags in the championship dashboard depending on the current situation and sum of the points by the student that are competing in each of the houses. For this we used DAX measure:
We used data model with a fact table OWL (challenges) (with Direct Query connection type to the Dataverse) and dim tables Student (Import mode, cds connection), house (from Xsls and SharePoint), and date (Dax measure – Bravo table). Measures are separated in a separate table to make better it more structured. Measures are organized in a separate table to improve structure and clarity:
Low-Code Charms
Revolutionizing Examination Processes Through Low-Code Innovation
In today’s rapidly evolving educational technology landscape, even the most traditional magical institutions must adapt. Our implementation of Microsoft’s Power Platform demonstrates how low-code solutions can transform traditional examination processes into streamlined, automated experiences that benefit both students and examining professors.
The Power of Business Process Flows
At the core of our examination system lies Microsoft’s Business Process Flow (BPF) functionality, serving as the architectural foundation that guides students and examiners through each step of the examination journey, much like the Marauder’s Map guides visitors through Hogwarts’ corridors. This low-code approach ensures consistency and clarity, while significantly reducing the complexity typically associated with magical examination management systems.
The BPF structure provides a clear visual pathway through the examination process, automatically guiding participants from registration through to certification with the precision of a well-cast Guidance Charm. This intuitive flow reduces cognitive load on both students and examining professors, allowing them to focus on the examination content rather than navigating complex systems.
Automated Communication Through Power Automate
One of the most innovative aspects of our implementation is the seamless integration of Power Automate with Link Mobility’s SMS capabilities, providing communication efficiency that rivals that of owl post. This automation triggers at crucial moments – when the Business Process Flow transitions from the Registration to Certification stage. Students receive immediate SMS confirmation that their examination has begun, providing reassurance and establishing clear communication channels from the start, ensuring no message is lost in the owlery.
This integration showcases the versatility of low-code solutions, as complex communications that would traditionally require extensive coding (or complex charm work) are accomplished through Power Automate’s intuitive interface and our custom connector to Link Mobility.
Dynamic Challenge Management
Our examination structure introduces a sophisticated approach to challenge presentation and progression, as carefully structured as Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration curriculum. Each examination category resides within its own form, connected to our central Challenge table. This modular design allows for easy updates and modifications without disrupting the overall system architecture.
The progression through challenges is managed through a workflow system that monitors option set field updates with the precision of the Hogwarts House Point system. As students complete each challenge, the workflow automatically advances the Business Process Flow to the next examination category based on the value in this field. This automated progression ensures a smooth, uninterrupted examination experience while maintaining the integrity of the assessment process.
Key advantages of our implementation include:
Reduced Development Time: The low-code platform accelerates the development process while maintaining robust functionality, allowing our magical institution to stay current with modern educational standards.
Enhanced User Experience: The intuitive flow and automated communications create a more engaging and less stressful examination environment, letting students focus on their magical prowess rather than technical complications.
Flexible Architecture: The modular design allows for easy updates and modifications to meet evolving examination requirements, ensuring our system can adapt quickly and readily.
Automated Progression: The intelligent workflow system reduces manual intervention and potential human error, providing outstanding reliability.
Looking Forward
This implementation serves as a testament to the power of low-code solutions in creating sophisticated, user-centered applications within magical education. By leveraging the Microsoft Power Platform’s capabilities, we’ve created an examination system that not only meets current needs but is also positioned to evolve with future requirements, ensuring Hogwarts remains at the forefront of magical education technology. As we continue to bridge the gap between traditional magical education and modern technology, our system stands ready to support the next generation of witches and wizards in their academic pursuits.
Pro-Code Potions
Enhancing Low-Code Solutions with Strategic HTML Integration: A Modern Approach to Magical Development
In our journey to create innovative solutions within the Microsoft Power Platform ecosystem at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we’ve discovered that sometimes the most effective approach is to blend low-code capabilities with strategic pieces of traditional programming, much like combining precise potion ingredients with the right stirring technique.
Our approach to the Potions examination system involves embedding custom HTML web resources within our Power Apps solutions, particularly in areas requiring specialized user interfaces or complex interactions. We created an engaging, medieval-themed assessment environment worthy of Professor Slughorn’s approval, complete with animated elements and responsive design. This custom interface seamlessly integrates with our Power Apps solution through web resources, demonstrating how traditional coding can enhance the user experience beyond standard low-code capabilities. The implementation includes custom-styled medieval fonts reminiscent of ancient spellbooks and animated potion bottles with realistic bubbling effects. Custom HTML allows us to create lightweight, efficient interfaces that load quickly and perform smoothly, ensuring students can focus on their brewing techniques rather than technical difficulties.
The potion mixing happens by selecting two ingredients from your inventory, ingredients won in the previous examination categories. It is up to the student to mix the correct potions according to the riddle provided in the html web resource above. You select two inventory items, press the button “Brew Potion”, which is meticulously developed in Ribbon Workbench, and voila! If the ingredients correspond to a known potion, you gain honor and glory and also points in your exam. If the ingredients do not mix well, you make a useless potion that provide you with no points. As you mix and match, inventory items decrease in quantity or disappear completely, so make sure you take the time to understand the riddles. If all inventory items are used, or you do not have enough to brew a potion, the examination category is finished and you are redirected to the results page.
This all happens due to a magically magnificent JavaScript, utilizing the wonderful Crm.WebApi properties and methods to interact with CRM data.
Pro-Code Potions: Innovative React Components in Action
In our latest release, we’ve leveraged cutting-edge pro-code technologies to develop a suite of innovative components that push the boundaries of web application functionality. Let’s dive into the exciting features we’ve implemented:
This component streamlines the registration and identification process, ensuring quick and accurate documentation of magical personas.
Precise Facial Detection: Leverages advanced face API for accurate wizard identification
Automated Documentation: Seamlessly uploads images directly to the CRM annotation table
Technical Optimization: Automatically zooms and processes images to ensure clear, focused facial captures for identification purposes. All done directly in browser.
The Flappy Broomstick Challenge
The Flappy Broomstick game is far more than a simple diversion—it’s a sophisticated evaluation of a wizard’s most critical flying abilities:
Spatial Awareness: The intricate collision logic tests a wizard’s ability to navigate complex magical environments with precision
Reflex Assessment: Custom gravity mechanics challenge the pilot’s instantaneous reaction times and spatial awareness
Endurance Measurement: The score tracking system provides quantitative data on a wizard’s sustained flight performance
Imagine recruiting for a high-stakes magical profession like Quidditch player. The Flappy Broomstick component doesn’t just test flying—it reveals a candidate’s potential under pressure.
Easter Egg Component: The D365 Character Invasion Prank
A group of tech-savvy students have unleashed a digital prank that’s turning serious study sessions into absolute chaos. Their Easter Egg component creates a wild spectacle: as students type, random characters literally come running across their screens, interrupting their work in the most absurd way possible. I suspect the Weasley twins have something to do with this.
Imagine a student diligently working on a potions essay, only to have tiny letters and numbers suddenly sprinting across their screen, dancing, leaping, and causing complete visual pandemonium. Professors are outraged, students are in hysterics, and the magical academy’s technology department is at their wit’s end.
The prank is ingenious in its simplicity: keyboard inputs trigger these animated characters to parade across the screen, transforming mundane typing into an unexpected carnival of chaos. Serious research documents are now a playground for mischievous digital characters, turning concentration into comedy.
Technical Implementation Highlights
Developed using modern React 19
Leveraged React’s latest hooks and state management techniques
Prioritized performance and modern development practices
Seamless cross-platform user experience across desktop and mobile devices
Opted for React’s brand new compiler over virtual components. It automatically understands the codes dependencies, and optimizes rendering.
The entire project is available for exploration on our GitHub repository: sindrejv/ACDC
Azure Functions with Open AI and canvas app
The first challenge is the Certification quiz that tests the student in magical theory. This questionnaire is generated using OpenAI (GPT-4) hosted in Azure AI Foundry and uses a canvas app with Power Fx integrated into the model-driven app as the user interface. Among these technologies, we use an Azure function that is integrated with the AI to process the data so the AI output is more convenient to use in Power Fx. See the repo here:
We use open AI structured output (Introduction to Structured Outputs | OpenAI Cookbook) to genreate an json response of the quiz with the props: ‘You are a quiz bot that provide question for wizards in the harry potter universe, You must provde a question and three awnser where the questions and awnseres are a bit long, make the awnsers as difficult to awnser like microsoft sertification questions, also add the awnser in the reponse json‘
How this entire flow works is as follows: When the canvas app is loaded, the OnStart event in the canvas app triggers a Power Automate flow that posts to the HTTP-triggered Azure function. The Azure function then posts to the OpenAI deployment with a JSON template of the quiz data, which the AI provides. The Azure function processes the JSON data and sends it back to the canvas app.
Plugins:
In the solution, we use a plugin to add inventory items for the potion game. The original idea was to collect items in each game, but due to a time crunch, we created a plugin that hardcodes adding items when the user arrives at the potion game. 🙂 (The original idea was to use a custom API in Dynamics with input parameters specifying which items to add).
From a business perspective, this innovative system for evaluating wizardry skills presents a unique opportunity to tap into the growing intersection of education, technology, and entertainment. By leveraging advanced tools such as Power BI, Power Automate and Model-Driven apps, this solution not only modernizes the way magical education is assessed but also aligns with current trends in gamification and learning. At the same time the solution provides a good case for establishing methods to replace pen and paper, and increase efficiency.
The business model could capitalize on a subscription-based platform where schools, magical academies, or online learning portals pay for access to the tests, personalized feedback, and the tailored recommendations that guide students towards their magical specialties.
Furthermore, the integration of personalized recommendations offers significant business value. As students progress through the tests, they generate data that can be used to create targeted services and products. For example, based on the strengths and weaknesses identified through the assessments, institutions could offer specialized courses, workshops, or even magical tools designed to improve a student’s abilities in specific areas. The system could also serve as a recruitment tool, where students with certain talents are connected to professional organizations or magical institutions that require specialized skills, creating a direct link between education and career opportunities.
The scalability of this system is another major business advantage. The solution is designed to be adaptable, easily integrated into various educational settings, and capable of expanding as the user base grows. As the platform evolves, new magical disciplines could be introduced, or additional features could be added to improve the experience for both students and instructors. By embracing cutting-edge technology while staying true to the enchanting, fantasy-driven nature of magical education, this solution positions itself as a compelling product in both the educational technology market and the broader entertainment and gaming industry.
ALM Magic
We have used the out-of-the-box PowerApps feature (Pipelines) for our components within Power Apps, creating a core solution that is deployed to Production once it is ready. This streamlined approach ensures that the components are efficiently developed and tested before going live, maintaining the integrity of the system throughout the process. Given that this is a relatively short event, we opted to create only two environments. This decision allows us to maintain simplicity and focus on the core aspects of the solution, minimizing complexity while ensuring the solution remains flexible and scalable for the duration of the event.
Magic Matrix
We utilized SharePoint to build the report by creating a dedicated folder containing images corresponding to each house, with each image named appropriately to match its respective house.
To get the data into the Power BI we used the SharePointfolder data source to connect to a new table:
And we used Power Query transformations we got the SharePoint URL into the PowerBI report:
As each stage is completed, whether during registration or the games, users are automatically guided to the next step in the business process flow. This seamless transition is achieved through a combination of classic workflows and a touch of JavaScript magic, ensuring a smooth and efficient user experience. Additionally, feedback from SMS messages is efficiently managed using Power Automate, streamlining communication and enhancing overall workflow.
The stages:
Automated with classic Workflow:
Example of Power Automate sending out SMS to student:
Once the OWLs have begun, all challenges become accessible through each stage of the business process flow. This streamlined approach ensures that students can easily navigate the challenges in a structured and organized manner. By integrating the challenges into the business process flow, participants can seamlessly progress through each stage, maintaining clarity and focus while engaging with the tasks. This design enhances user experience and encourages a smooth, efficient workflow throughout the OWLs.
We brought along a few decorations and outfits to liven up our camp, and fortunately, we’ve also won some items that perfectly capture the spirit of this event.
To easly use the link mobility api we create a custom connector to integrate towards Link Moblity. To make sure we can keep track and controll the sms integration flow we use a message based integration with azure service bus and azure functions to handle the outgoing sms
As the figure over show:
With any kind of power automate flow, a custom trigger is avaiable to use to send sms towards link mobility
The Custom trigger is configured towards an azure function http trigger that taket the sms information and send it to a service bus
Another service bus trigger function picks up the message when and sendt it towards the link mobility api
A Service bus based sms integration provides a more robust system, as we are able in the backend to have control of the sms flow,
The Wisleys are well-known for their love of fun, games, and playful tricks on others. It seems they couldn’t resist adding a bit of mischief to the student exam experience! With the easter-egg-collection, students may encounter amusing animations if they happen to type certain keywords that trigger these surprises. It’s all in good fun, adding a touch of humor to the challenges:
