What is Microsoft Dataverse

In this Power Apps Tutorial, we will discuss what is Microsoft Dataverse and why people will use it in their organization. Also, we will see the Usage Updates and how we can combine the data into Dataverse in Microsoft Dataverse.

Moreover, we will cover all the below topics that are related to the Microsoft Dataverse:

• Microsoft Dataverse pricing
• Microsoft Dataverse licensing
• Microsoft Dataverse limitations
• Microsoft Dataverse connector

What is Microsoft Dataverse?

• Microsoft Dataverse is like a data container that can allow some business data to be united from multiple sources and stored in a single database. Later, we can use this dataverse in many different apps like Microsoft Dynamic 365, Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Azure, etc.
• Dataverse that helps to hold the data and that stores within a set of tables securely. When we are talking about a table, it let us understands some set of rows and columns. Every row of a table is known as records and every column is known as attributes or fields.
• A table can contain several data types like Product Title (Text), Product Price (Currency), Product Quantity (Number), Product Color (Choice), Product Sales Date (Date and Time), etc.
• Microsoft Dataverse provides some inbuilt standard tables that we can use easily. Also, a user can create their own custom tables in the organization and use their own data by using any Power Query.

Read Dataverse Create Table

Why do we use Microsoft Dataverse?

Next, comes why we will use Microsoft Dataverse instead of any other database?

Microsoft Dataverse is a cloud-based storage database that helps to secure the business data within standard and custom tables. Also, below represents some advantages that why we use it rather than any other database:

1. Productivity tools: To increase productivity and ensure data accessibility, tables are present within the add-ins for Microsoft Excel.
2. Manage the data easily: Every time when we store the data in the cloud, it holds both the metadata and data. It takes all the responsibilities to store the business data within the cloud securely.
3. Easy to access Dynamic 365 Data: It is very easy to access the Dynamic 365 data within the app as data from the Dynamic 365 app is also stored within the dataverse itself. A user can easily make some apps using the Dynamic 365 application data.
4. Secure the data easily: As the data is stored in cloud storage, it is very safe and secure. Those whom you will allow or give permission to control, they only can access the data within the organization. It is known as Data Role-based security.
5. Logic and Validation: To ensure the data quality, it describes some business rules, business process flows, workflows, calculated fields, etc.
6. Rich Metadata: Within Power Apps, all the data types and relationships are used directly.

Also check: Dataverse Primary Name Column Autonumber

Usage Updates in Microsoft Dataverse

There are some updates available in Microsoft Dataverse that is effected from November 2020. All these below usage updates will not apply to any APIs in the Dataverse services. The below table represents all the terminology updates:

Inheritance Term	Present Term
Entity, entities	Table, tables
Field, fields Attribute, attributes	Column, columns
Record, records	Row, rows
Option set, multi-select option sets Picklist, picklists	Choice, choices
Two Options	Yes/No

Combining data into Dataverse

In this topic, we will see how and why we will combine the data into Microsoft Dataverse in Power Apps. Below represents some of the beneficiaries:

Modify and Import data using Power Query:

We can change the data and then import them into Dataverse via Power Query (it’s a tool that is used in Power BI and Excel) from other online data sources.

Organized integration with other systems:

If you have some data within another application, then it can synchronize with the Dataverse and you can use it in Power Apps.

Single time Data Import:

You can export and import the CSV and Excel files only one single time in Dataverse.

Microsoft Dataverse Pricing and Licensing

• Microsoft Dataverse Pricing plans depend upon the Power Apps Pricing. You can find all the standalone plans and pricing in Power Apps and Power Automate Licensing.
• Microsoft Dataverse for Teams is free of cost. You do not need to buy any additional subscriptions for Teams.
• In Power Apps Plan Pricing, there are two types of plans. Such as:

1. Subscription plans: This plan divides into two categories. Such as Per-app plan and Per user plan
2. Pay-as-you-go plan: This plan contains only a Per-app plan.

Subscription plans

Per app plan	Per user plan
This plan is available on per user basis that he/she can run one app at a time.	This plan is available per user and on a monthly basis. By using this plan, the user can run unlimited apps.
The plan cost is $5 for a user/app/month.	The plan cost is $20 for a user/month.
Covers 250 AI Builder service credits per month.	Covers 500 AI Builder service credits per month.
Needs access to the Microsoft 365 admin center with global administrator or billing administrator roles.	Use the Credit card to buy this plan.
Create and access custom entities to store and manage data.	Create and access custom entities to store and manage data.
The database capacity (at the tenant level) of the Microsoft Dataverse is 50MB.	The database capacity (at the tenant level) of the Microsoft Dataverse is 250MB.
The file capacity (at the tenant level) of the Microsoft Dataverse is 400MB.	The file capacity (at the tenant level) of the Microsoft Dataverse is 2GB.
Use pre-built, custom, or on-premises connectors and gateways connectors to connect the data.	Use pre-built, custom, or on-premises connectors and gateways connectors to connect the data.
To trigger flows within the context of the app, Power Automate use rights (including premium connectors)	To trigger flows within the context of the app, Power Automate use rights (including premium connectors)
Custom real-time and Asynchronous workflows	Custom real-time and Asynchronous workflows

Pay-as-you-go plan

Per app plan

It requires an Azure subscription to pay per user based on the number of unique apps or portals a user runs each month.

The plan cost is $10 for an active user/app/month.

Use pre-built, custom, or on-premises connectors and gateways connectors to connect the data.

Create and access custom entities to store and manage data.

The database capacity (per environment with pay-as-you-go enabled) of the Microsoft Dataverse is 1GB.

The file capacity (per environment with pay-as-you-go enabled) of the Microsoft Dataverse is 1GB.

To trigger flows within the context of the app, Power Automate use rights (including premium connectors)

Custom real-time and Asynchronous workflows

Microsoft 365 Plan

Microsoft 365 is a plan that enables the user to customize the office experience in power platforms like Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Virtual Agents, etc.
The below represents all the functionalities and availabilities in Microsoft 365 plan.

Capabilities	Microsoft 365 plan for Power Apps
Connect to Microsoft 365 data	Yes
Run Canvas apps offline	Yes
Run Canvas apps in the context of Microsoft 365	Yes
Create, run and share apps	Yes
Connect to cloud services using standard connectors	Yes
Access on-premises data or use premium or custom connectors	—–
Access to Microsoft Dataverse	Yes
Support for data policies established by the Microsoft 365 administrator	Yes
Run apps in a browser or Power Apps mobile for iOS and Android	Yes

Read: Delete All Records From Dataverse Table [With Examples]

Dataverse functionalities in Microsoft 365 licenses

• In Microsoft 365 Licenses, a limited dataverse functionality is added to enable some Microsoft applications.
• There is a new service plan named “Dataverse” that has been added to the Microsoft 365 licenses.
• To view this Dataverse service plan, go to the Microsoft 365 Admin center -> Expand Users -> Select Active users -> Select a specific user -> click on Licenses and Apps tab -> Scroll down and expand the Apps section -> You can see the plan (Common Data Service is by default enabled before) as shown below.

To read more details about Microsoft Dataverse Pricing and Licensing, visit this link: Dataverse Pricing and Licensing

This explains all about the Pricing and Licensing in Microsoft Dataverse.

Microsoft Dataverse Limitations

• Microsoft Dataverse Storage capacity can handle up to 3GB Dataverse database capacity, 3GB Dataverse file capacity, and 1GB Dataverse log capacity.
• To view all its usages, you can go to its environment capacity analytics page that will show 0GB.
• The maximum Dataverse for Teams environment storage per tenant is 10 GB + Dataverse for Teams environments × 2 GB (up to a maximum of 19.5 TB). The 2 GB storage limit can’t be extended further. You can upgrade your environments to Dataverse for more storage.
• To view each Dataverse consumption for Teams environment in a tenant, visit Microsoft Teams Capacity. Refer to the below screenshot.

This is all about the Limitations in Microsoft Dataverse.

Microsoft Dataverse Connector

• You may store your business data safely in Dataverse and create powerful apps in Power Apps for users to handle it. You can also use that data to connect Power Automate, Power BI, and Dynamics 365 data to your products.
• For Dataverse tables, the app connects to the current environment by default. The connector links to data in the new environment if your program switches to another environment.
• You can adjust the environment and then select one or more tables when adding data from the Dataverse. The app connects to data in the current environment by default.
• To view the dataverse connector in Power Apps, go to the Data tab (from left navigation) or View tab (from the top command bar) -> Click on Data sources -> Under the Tables section, you can view all the inbuilt and custom tables.
• In case you want to change the environment, then click on ellipses (…) -> Select Change environment as shown below.

• You can search or opt to draw data from a different environment instead of or in addition to the one you’re in right now. The name of the selected environment is displayed beneath the tables list.

This explains all about the Connector in Microsoft Dataverse.

Data type mappings in Power Apps

The Microsoft Dataverse connector is more reliable than the Dynamics 365 connector, and it’s getting close to feature parity. The data types in Power Apps and how they map to data types in Dataverse are listed in the table below.

Power Apps	Microsoft Dataverse
Text	Email, Multiline Text, Phone, Text, Text Area, Ticker Symbol, URL
Number	Floating Point Number, Currency, Decimal Number, Duration, Language, TimeZone, Whole Number
Choice	Choice, Yes/No
DateTime	Date Time, Date and Time, Date Only
Image	Image
Guid	Unique Identifier

This explains all about the Data type mappings in Power Apps.

Also, you may like the below Dataverse and Power Apps Tutorials:

• Dataverse Create Table [With Examples]
• Dataverse create table from SharePoint list
• Power Apps Sort Function
• Power Apps Sort Gallery
• PowerApps Search Function + How to use with example
• Power Apps Search SharePoint List Examples
• Power Apps Search Gallery + 19 Examples

In this Power Apps Tutorial, we read the overall concept of Microsoft Dataverse and its uses. Also, we saw the Usage Updates and how we can combine the data into Dataverse in Microsoft Dataverse.

Also, we covered all the below topics that are related to the Microsoft Dataverse:

• Microsoft Dataverse pricing
• Microsoft Dataverse licensing
• Microsoft Dataverse limitations
• Microsoft Dataverse connector