The Library · Insights
Deep dives across data, automation & AI
1261 in-depth articles — from Excel foundations to production machine learning. Filter by topic or difficulty to find exactly what you need.
Power AppsPractitioner
Configuring Dataverse Environment Variables in Model-Driven App Solutions: Managing Connection References, Default Values, and Deployment-Time Overrides Across Environments
Environment variables are the key to building Power Platform solutions that deploy cleanly across dev, UAT, and production without manual edits. This deep-dive lesson covers the full lifecycle: creating typed variables, managing the default/current value split, binding connection references, and injecting overrides at deployment time using Power Platform CLI and deployment settings files.
23 min read
Power AutomateExpert
Automating Mainframe Terminal Sessions in Power Automate Desktop: Connecting via TN3270 and TN5250 Emulators, Navigating Green Screen Menus, and Extracting Structured Data for Modern System Integration
Mainframes still run the world's most critical business data, but extracting it means navigating green screen terminals most modern tools can't touch. This expert-level lesson teaches you how to connect Power Automate Desktop to TN3270 and TN5250 emulators, navigate menu hierarchies reliably, and parse fixed-width screen data into structured tables for modern system integration.
31 min read
Microsoft FabricPractitioner
Deduplicating and Cleansing Lakehouse Delta Tables with PySpark: Drop Duplicates, Fill Nulls, and Enforce Data Quality Rules Across Medallion Layers
Dirty data in bronze silently corrupts silver and gold. Learn how to build a production-grade PySpark cleansing pipeline that removes exact and soft duplicates, handles nulls with intentional strategies, quarantines bad rows, and enforces data quality rules with exceptions — all structured around the medallion architecture in Microsoft Fabric.
20 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Configuring Dataverse Connection Roles and Relationship Categories: Modeling Party-to-Party Associations Between Records in Model-Driven Apps
Standard lookups can't capture the full complexity of who plays what role in a relationship — a contact might be a sponsor on one project and a stakeholder on another. This lesson teaches you how to design, configure, and deploy Dataverse connection roles for real-world professional scenarios, including reciprocal pairs, table restrictions, form surfaces, and security.
24 min read
PythonFoundation
Calculating Business Metrics in pandas: Revenue, Margin, Conversion Rate, and Other KPIs from Raw Transaction Data
Learn how to turn raw transaction data into real business KPIs using pandas. This hands-on lesson walks through computing revenue, gross margin, conversion rate, average order value, and customer-level metrics — with the common pitfalls explained so you get the numbers right.
13 min read
Power AutomateExpert
Automating Report Generation and Distribution in Power Automate Desktop: Exporting Data from Windows Applications, Merging into Excel Templates, and Delivering Files via Email Without Human Intervention
Learn how to build a production-ready, end-to-end report automation pipeline in Power Automate Desktop — from extracting raw data out of Windows applications to merging it into formatted Excel templates and delivering the finished report via email, completely unattended. This expert-level lesson covers architecture, error recovery, credential security, and the edge cases that break real-world flows.
28 min read
Microsoft FabricExpert
Implementing Incremental Refresh for Direct Lake Semantic Models in Microsoft Fabric: Configuring Delta Table Partitioning, Framing Policies, and Triggering Refresh via the XMLA Endpoint
Direct Lake incremental refresh isn't a checkbox — it requires aligning Delta table partitioning, TMDL framing policies, and XMLA-triggered refresh operations into a precise orchestration chain. This lesson gives you the full architecture, the code, and the troubleshooting knowledge to implement it correctly in production.
26 min read
PythonExpert
Building a pandas Data Quality Scorecard: Automating Completeness, Consistency, and Validity Checks Across Every Column Before Analysis
Bad data doesn't announce itself — it hides in nulls, inconsistent categories, out-of-range values, and pseudo-null strings until it breaks your analysis. This lesson walks you through building a complete, reusable data quality scorecard in pandas that interrogates every column before a single analysis runs, scores failures by severity, and exports a stakeholder-ready Excel report.
24 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Configuring Dataverse Auto-Numbering Columns and Sequence Patterns in Model-Driven Apps
Learn how to design and configure Dataverse auto-numbering columns that generate reliable, auditable record identifiers for procurement, compliance, and business process workflows. Covers format string patterns, seed management, API configuration, and production deployment strategies.
22 min read
Power AutomateExpert
Automating Database Queries and Record Updates from Power Automate Desktop: Connecting to SQL Server, Executing Queries, and Writing Results to Windows Applications
Learn how to connect Power Automate Desktop directly to SQL Server, execute parameterized queries safely, iterate over results, and write data into Windows applications — with production-grade error handling and multi-bot concurrency patterns built in.
29 min read
Microsoft FabricPractitioner
Orchestrating Multi-Notebook Workflows in Microsoft Fabric: Using Pipeline Notebook Activities, Activity Dependencies, and Output Variables to Chain PySpark Transformations Across Medallion Layers
Learn how to wire Fabric PySpark notebooks into a production pipeline using Notebook activities, On Success/On Failure dependencies, and mssparkutils.notebook.exit() output variables. Build a complete Bronze→Silver→Gold medallion pipeline that passes context between stages and handles failures gracefully.
20 min read
Power AppsPractitioner
Configuring Dataverse Table Queues and Routing Rules in Model-Driven Apps: Managing Work Assignment, Queue Item Lifecycles, and Team-Based Record Distribution
Learn how to configure Dataverse queues and routing rules to build a structured work assignment system in model-driven apps. This lesson covers queue item lifecycles, team-based distribution patterns, and automatic case routing from scratch.
24 min read