MS Ignite 2018 wrap up

Microsoft has started rolling updates to all platforms after wrapping up Ignite in Orlando last week. Updates from Microsoft Ignite 2018 and links to all the session videos and slide decks. There were announcements across all the Microsoft platforms, but some stood out more than others. Check recording for session and presentation at link below

MS Ignite 2018 Session Recording and Presentations

https://myignite.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions 

Open Data Initiative: Microsoft, Adobe and SAP entered into an open data partnership at Ignite. Watch Staya's keynote for details 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Kjm4brpZo&feature=youtu.be 

Power Platform: Big focus on PowerApps with supporting technologies Flow and PowerBI. Recording and slides available for 50+ sessions at the link below.

MS Teams as a fastest growing product in Microsoft history, many recorded videos and presentation available to explain these new features.

SharePoint also saw its share of announcements including the availability of hub sites which will allow you to easily pull together – with consistent navigation – all the SharePoint Team Sites you have in Office 365.

New updates to SharePoint hub sites will support flexible information architecture approach for the organisation. Content and Collaboration keynote: by Jeff Tepper

Azure Digital Twins  Microsoft has announced the ability to create digital twins.  A digital twin is a virtual representation of physical systems which can then take in new information or datasets to test and probe the system's capabilities.

and a lot more….

SharePoint & Power Apps - Few Ideas/Suggestions for product team

I have noticed a few trends/things in the last couple of years and this came as a theme in recent Ignite conference as well so I thought I should share key pointers with you. Big focus on Teams and Comms site which is great but SharePoint is much bigger than this and I haven't heard much on broader topics especially following topics which deserve some attention. 

SharePoint

• Many organizations/Govt are using SharePoint as Document and Record management system and it is a platform of choice for an organization who wants to move from file share or other DMS/Record management system to SharePoint but not much guidance available from Microsoft in modern templates to support these things (except conventional way). I have discussed this with few folks from MSFT IT Services and SharePoint product team but no clear direction available from them. 
• Consistent user experience in Onedrive and new features are great but the story is getting convoluted for OneDrive V/S SharePoint document library especially on Mobile Devices where users have (One Drive V/S SharePoint App). Many whitepaper and options available by partners on when to use what but a clear message from the product team in this regard will be helpful in shaping up better solutions I and improve adoption. 
• Microsoft best practice suggests using metadata and content types to structure content in document libraries but site created with MS Teams use a folder based structure which is confusing for users. 
• If an organization is using Teams and SharePoint based intranet and DMS how they should have a well-connected experience? Having a tab for the site inside Team is usually not good enough. I think having a flow connector which can add a newly created site under (teams) to a hub site could be one way to integrate that experience. 
• The idea of Hub site is great but organizations who have recently implemented intranet structure based on subsite structure, Microsoft should provide some guidance and roadmap for transition to new constructs. 
• Not much clarity or direction available from Microsoft for public-facing portals after this feature is deprecated in O365, partners like site core and other have a solution in this area but will be good to see Microsoft offering in this space.
• Search is a big thing for the end user and no doubt this has improved a lot in the last couple of years but many people in community/groups are not much aware of configurations and options available in SharePoint search beyond configuring few basic settings and not 
• As much as I love SPFx and flexibility and power it offers for techs but I think from an end-user perspective they really don't care much if a yammer web part is loaded using a traditional approach or using the modern web part and same goes on for other constructs so a bit more 

PowerApps:

• Doesn't offer responsive experience, it has to be built either for mobile or tablet view which is not great. 
• The story for model-driven V/S Canvas app with multiple types of licensing and inconsistent experience is confusing for the user as canvas app run on PowerApp in device and model-driven runs on CRM app and many other differences. 
• Technically model driven is a light touch version of CRM so Microsoft should consider a new type of D365 license to make it easier for them to understand and use it. 
• Access for users outside the organization (users who don't have an AD account) is limiting factor and limit many scenarios for contractors/field related staff. Microsoft can consider perhaps something similar to CRM portal licenses for users outside the organization or have at least anonymous access with a fixed fee paid by an organization who host that app. 
•  Recent whitepaper and updates are good about governance and analytics but still much opportunity available to handle dev ops for power platform.  
• Currently, available templates/examples are good but it will be good if these templates get updated with some more business savvy apps and perhaps an area can be created for allowing partners to publish apps and Microsoft can approve it before they are added to the gallery.