Power Pages ALM with Solutions, Pipelines and Enhanced data model general availability (GA)
We’re happy to announce that beginning October 3rd, 2023, solutions, pipelines, and enhanced data model in Power Pages general availability will start rolling out.
Using solutions with Power Pages you can contain and transport website configurations using standard Power Platform solution concepts.
Power Platform pipelines with Power Pages makes the solution deployment process easier by allowing you to automate the deployment of websites from development environments to target environments like test and production.
Try it yourself at make.powerpages.microsoft.com!
Feature highlights
- Solution explorer embedded experience in Power Pages.
- Add site(s) to a solution and export/import across environments.
- Automate deployment of sites using an intuitive, in-product guided experience.
- Enable healthy ALM practices.
- All new sites created using any of the following templates will by default use enhanced data model:
- Starter layout 1-5
- Application processing
- Blank page
- Program registration
- Schedule meetings
Note: ALM using solutions and pipelines are available only for sites created on enhanced data model.
How this change impacts existing Power Pages Customers?
One important thing to note here is that with the General availability of Enhanced data model, all the new sites created in the environment will be created using enhanced data model. This may require some changes in the way your organization work with Power Pages websites. Some common things you might have to think about are covered below:
Q1: What is enhanced data model?
Ans: Enhanced data model is a combination of system tables, non-configuration tables, and virtual tables. System tables are available out of the box with every Dataverse organization. As tables are already available via system tables the need to install additional packages is eliminated.
Enhanced data model for Power Pages provides the following benefits:
- Provisioning of websites is faster.
- Design studio experiences are faster.
- Website configurations can be contained in solutions to provide smoother Application Lifecyle Management (ALM) experiences.
- Updates of Power Pages enhancements and bug fixes are improved.
Q2: What are major changes coming with these feature releases?
Ans: With Enhanced Data model GA any new site created using any of the following templates will by default use enhanced data model:
- Starter layout 1-5
- Application processing
- Blank page
- Program registration
- Schedule meetings
Sites created using any other template will continue to use Standard data model, however in future all the templates would be updated to use enhanced data model by default.
Q3: How can I check what data model my website is using?
Ans: The Setup workspace in the Power Pages design studio and Power Platform admin center-> site details show which data model is being used. More details here.
Q4: How can I disable default new site creation on enhanced data model?
Ans: You can disable the default site creation in the enhanced data model by turning off the “Switch to enhanced data model” toggle in the Power Platform admin center for a specific environment. Consequently, sites will be created using the standard data model. This toggle is available per environment.
Disabling this toggle has no effect on existing sites created using the enhanced data model and continue to operate with the enhanced data model and will not revert to the standard data model.
Q5: How can I ensure my existing ALM process is not impacted by new changes?
Ans: If you are planning to create new sites, where you’ll import changes using from existing sites that are on the standard data model, then continue to create the new sites on standard data model by disabling enhanced data model toggle on PPAC. This will ensure that your existing ALM process is intact even after the enhanced data model becomes the default model for new websites.
Q6: Can I continue using Portal Management App for advanced customization and configuration for enhanced data model sites?
Ans: The enhanced data model includes a new UCI model-driven Power Apps application that is named Power Pages Management. You must use this app for advanced customizations that aren’t available through the Power Pages design studio.
Q7: Will all sites (using any templates) be created with Enhanced Data Model by default?
Ans: Any new site created by using one of the following templates uses the enhanced data model by default with enhanced data model is enabled in the environment:
a) Starter layout 1-5
b) Application processing
c) Blank page
d) Program registration
e) Schedule meetings
The following templates use the standard data model even if enhanced data model is enabled in the environment:
a) FAQ
b) Community (Dynamics 365)
c) Customer Portal (Dynamics 365)
d) Customer Self Service Portal (Dynamics 365)
e) Employee Self Service Portal (Dynamics 365)
f) Field Service (Dynamics 365)
g) Modern Community (Dynamics 365)
h) Order Returns (Dynamics 365)
i) Partner Portal (Dynamics 365)
Q8: What changes for my existing sites which are created in standard data model and how can I migrate existing standard data model site to enhanced data model?
Ans: Nothing changes for your existing sites, they will continue to work as it is using Standard Data Model.
Guidance and tooling support to help you migrate from the standard data model to the enhanced data model will be provided in a later update soon.
Q9: I am using XrmToolBox to migrate site data across environments as well as authoring content for sites, can I continue using it for new sites created on enhanced data model?
Ans: XRMToolbox or other third-party tools may not have immediate compatibility with the enhanced data model.
Q10: How can I use solutions to manage ALM for existing sites?
Ans: You can migrate standard data model sites to enhanced data model with tooling support and use solutions for ALM as solutions are only supported for enhanced data model sites. Additional information regarding the migration process will be provided along with the migration tool.
Q11: Are there any known limitations of the enhanced data model?
Ans: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-pages/admin/enhanced-data-model#known-issues
Q12: Can I revert my site created on enhanced data model to standard data model site?
Ans: Currently, it’s not feasible to revert an enhanced data model site to a standard data model site and the site will need to be recreated using Standard data model.
However, in future we will provide migration tool which will enable the ability to revert a site to the standard data model in case of functionality issues arising after the migration to the enhanced data model.
To learn more, see our documentation:
