The Microsoft Power Platform Conference returns for its second edition in October, and Microsoft's Heather Cook, who is also an executive producer of the event, joins us to talk about the conference and trends in the community. Heather joined Microsoft's Business Applications team in June of 2020 after working in the Microsoft Teams group, and she tells us about her efforts over that time, from supporting grassroots local groups to large centralized events like MPPC 2023. MPPC will offer sessions for a range of interest, from technical to professional development to community. Heather tells us how MPPC fits into Microsoft's broader approach to supporting the Power Platform community, how newcomers are getting involved, and what else Microsoft will be doing in the coming months. Show Notes: 5:00 – Evolution of the Power Platform community since Covid across products, events, and initiatives 8:00 – Heather's event experience and how she applied it when joining the Business Apps group in June of 2020 13:00 – Speaker highlights at MPPC 2023: Execs, product managers to community members 15:00 – More event agenda details 17:30 – How members of the community take the first steps toward adding their voices 20:00 – Stories of Power Platform career changers and career opportunities 23:00 – How newcomers get started today 25:00 – Heather's broader community planning outlook for 2023 and beyond Follow Mondays at Microsoft (https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-community/) with Heather and Karuana Gatimu at 8am PT every other week, where they share product and community updates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FOU4Fh1raY

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central veterans Robb Delprado and Steve Chinsky of Accelerynt attended Cavallo's recent PANELS'23 event and joined us as the event was winding down to discuss their impressions. We discuss Cavallo's Business Central product roadmap, the role of ISVs more generally in today's BC ecosystem, today's balance between investing in custom development (including Power Platform) and add-on solutions, and what an ISV like Cavallo, with its existing GP customer base, can teach NAV and BC veterans about the future of Business Central projects for organizations with on-prem ERP today. Show Notes: 3:30 – Reaction to Cavallo's roadmap, focused on both Dynamics GP and D365 Business Central 8:00 – The challenge of planning for a Business Central implementation project 12:00 – The importance of exposing GP customers to a future with BC 14:30 – Customization versus packaged solutions for Business Central 22:30 – More about the BC 3 Amigos podcast 23:45 – Other impressions of the PANELS'23 experience See also: PANELS'23 Event Report: What Microsoft can learn about cloud ERP adoption from veteran ISVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-nlisonyVA

EPBCS and Essbase Application Optimization encompasses improving performance, implementing best practices, and reviewing application activity to best adjust to growing data and metadata throughout an application’s lifecycle. Business and supporting IT teams have a vested interest in calculations, reports, and data loads running efficiently and effectively. This EPM Managed Services education series will focus on setting up the right foundation for your Planning and Budgeting application as well as using all the tools Oracle has at your disposal to improve performance after the go-live stage. Topics discussed will include BSO and ASO application optimization, helpful design and settings considerations when building business rules and Essbase calculations, and a review of fragmentation issues that drive slower performances with time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiKfUiQSnjI