The ask, propose some ideas for improved data governance. However, before jumping in and tackling governance itself, let's ask Copilot for a more high-level definition: With Copilot's definition in mind, is there an underlying organizational resistance to data governance? Generally, no. Everyone understands its importance and agrees that it could be improved upon. Rather, there's … Continue reading Data Governance: Reframed for Better Participation
Uncategorized
Personal Reflections: Data Trends + Context
No ask this time, just reflections and observations. First and foremost, it's been amazing to see people around the world find my blog content helpful. I published my first post mid-2019, and I've consistently posted at least twice a month since. Little by little, I feel that my writing and presentation skills have improved as … Continue reading Personal Reflections: Data Trends + Context
Merry New Year | 2025
Cheers to 2025! Quickly recapping 2024, I wrapped the year with 11 speaking events: 10 in-person and 1 virtual. Among the in-person events, I taught my first workshop in MN, traveled to Montreal, QC for an event, and visited 6 different states, speaking in 8 different cities. I still blogged quite a bit but slowed … Continue reading Merry New Year | 2025
Merry New Year | 2024
Cheers to another year! As promised, there was more blogging, more learning, and more projects. Switching things up a bit, I gave mobile app development a try and there were a few speaking engagements. Also, I finally drafted my personal brand statement: "I am a sharer of knowledge, solver of puzzles, and developer of creative … Continue reading Merry New Year | 2024
Merry New Year 2023!
Another year of blogging, several training sessions, and a speaking engagement. Thank you to everyone that found my content helpful. Fortunately, 2022 was a good year of continued learning: Power Platform, Power Fx, Dynamics, Dataverse, Codex, Graph API Blazor, Xamarin, PowerShell, DevOps, Azure, etc. May 2023 bring more growth. May 2023 bring more learning. May … Continue reading Merry New Year 2023!
Merry New Year 2022!
Blogging has been an interesting journey. Years back, someone told me to blog for myself. Being in the Microsoft 365 space, blogging would help me document things that I worked on for future me's reference. And to no one's surprise, he was right... However, my blog has since transformed. Much of this has become therapeutic … Continue reading Merry New Year 2022!
Power Automate: What If… Automation?
Automation is already a thing in our lives, in particular: Email - Inbox rules.Scheduled emails.Automatic replies. Banking -Balance alerts.Scheduled autopay.Monthly transfers Digital Assistants -Set a reminder.Schedule <event>.Call <person>. However, these are usually single action workflows. Something, the "trigger", prompts an activity, the "action". Depending on the activity, people may still need to carry out some … Continue reading Power Automate: What If… Automation?
SharePoint Online: Sync vs OneDrive Shortcut
Microsoft 365 is ever changing. Released many, many months ago, Add shortcut to OneDrive remains a mystery to some people. This is different than Sync, right? Figure 1 - SharePoint Online Contextual Menu options. Somewhat different, but a lot of the same. Even so, the shortcut link delivers on its promise. Shortcuts link to specific … Continue reading SharePoint Online: Sync vs OneDrive Shortcut
SharePoint Online: File Metadata w/ Graph API
Microsoft's Graph API has endpoints for [SharePoint Online] lists and libraries. Worthy of note, document libraries are /drives when using the APIs. And although libraries are technically lists, the two resources will return different properties for the same SharePoint object. Additionally, some actions can only be performed using the /lists resources. An example of this, … Continue reading SharePoint Online: File Metadata w/ Graph API
Azure Runbook: Task Logging
PowerShell is a scripting language great for task automation. The framework has gone through a number of iterations and Microsoft supports it in Azure. These cloud-hosted scripts are created as Azure Runbooks. Contrasted against the PowerShell ISE and Visual Studio Code, there are some logging differences with Runbooks. Locally run scripts typically write their logs … Continue reading Azure Runbook: Task Logging
SharePoint Server: Purge Cached Access
As content is migrated from [SharePoint Server] to [SharePoint Online], the sites are often moved incrementally. But post-migration, not everyone uses their new links day-one. There are enough people still trying to use their old SPS bookmarks, so I needed to purge legacy site access. This includes the site collection user cache and forces everyone … Continue reading SharePoint Server: Purge Cached Access
OneDrive: Hidden List (SharePoint Home Cache List)
Auditing [OneDrive for Business] sites with PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph API uncovered several hidden lists. The SharePointHomeCacheList is one of these lists, but it offers more information than the previously discussed lists. Continuing the trend of examination: Create script variables. [System.String] $endUserAccount = "charles@contoso.com" $endUserAccount = $endUserAccount.Replace("@", "_").Replace(".", "_") [System.String] $tenantName = "contoso" [System.String] … Continue reading OneDrive: Hidden List (SharePoint Home Cache List)
OneDrive: Hidden List (Recent Lists)
Another hidden list found, so onward to part 5 of the series... This might be a new-ish container, but it logs recently created [SharePoint Online] lists by a person so it gets audited: Create script variables. [System.String] $endUserAccount = "charles@contoso.com" $endUserAccount = $endUserAccount.Replace("@", "_").Replace(".", "_") [System.String] $tenantName = "contoso" [System.String] $requestAPI = "" [System.String] $siteGuid … Continue reading OneDrive: Hidden List (Recent Lists)
OneDrive: Hidden List (Access Requests)
So yeah, this was an unintentional blog series. Welcome to part 4 out of #shrugs because there were more hidden lists than expected... But this time, there's a "request" to audit access requests of an individual's [OneDrive for Business] account. E.g., a PDF was shared with an external collaborator. Create the script variables. [System.String] $endUserAccount … Continue reading OneDrive: Hidden List (Access Requests)
OneDrive: Hidden List (Notifications)
[OneDrive for Business] sites are [SharePoint Online] site collections. Because of this, the ODfB sites have hidden lists which are discoverable using scripted solutions. Another of these hidden lists track user notifications. The Microsoft Graph API is again capable of querying the list and its items for reporting... E.g., list user notification types. To begin, … Continue reading OneDrive: Hidden List (Notifications)
console.log('Charles'); 