Category Archives: Business

Business, Development, SDLC, Software Development, Technology

Microsoft Power Automate SDK to Build Externalized Applications

January 10, 2023 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

When I first started looking at Microsoft Flow, the previous name of Microsoft Power Automate, I recognized the high value and potential uses within my organization. Almost innumerable Connectors to 3rd party applications, “sensing” / triggers for many of the applications participating. Huge potential, and won’t “break the bank” with a 15 USD price per user/month which contains all of the “Premium Connectors.”

I started automating processes for both personal and business. I upped my social media game, for example, sending a mobile notification to myself when there was a potentially interesting tweet. Or, if there was an RSS feed containing keywords I was monitoring, I sent myself an email with the news article. My client had needs around Microsoft Azure DevOps (ADO) that it was not capable of doing “out of the box,” so I took on those automated workflows with ease.

Venture using New Business Model with msflowsdk

Then I thought it would be great to commercialize some of these workflows. However, there were several technical limitations I came to realize. First, to execute one of these workflows manually, you would have to execute it from within the MS Power Automate web or mobile application. The user must be logged in with your Power Automate credentials to execute “your” workflow manually. As a Power Automate user, you could “Share” Power Automate flows with other Power Automate users. Unfortunately, that would require your web app customers to have Power Automate accounts paying as much as 15 USD per month. We would have to think in terms of a generic “Production” application user, potentially shared with all external, commercial users.

Providing Custom Interface using HTML and JavaScript

Then I realized there was one way to present the Power Automate Flows without the Power Automate Web UI or the Power Automate iPhone app, and that would be to use the MS Flow SDK to build HTML and JavaScript Web applications. Unfortunately, you would still have to log in with your Power Automate user, that has access to the flow, but the User Interface was highly customizable by using MS Flow SDK.

Using “Generic” Test User for MS Power Automate

Limit the user’s access who does have access to your Microsoft Power Automate workflows. As micro as possible to granularize the permissions, such as execute XYZ Power Automate Flow without permission to read/see ALL the Power Automate Workflows, At the moment, that doesn’t seem possible (TBD). I need to recheck in Azure Portal and client app registration.
Does my approach to commercializing MS Power Automate apps even supported from a Microsoft business perspective? I don’t know yet. I read the article: Types of Power Automate licenses and need to reread this document.
Need the ability to grant “Execute” access to specific MS Power Automate workflow users without the ability to create or read any workflows of their own, limited Power Automate, User License?

Create an Azure AD User For Each Customer

Technical seamless implementation would be required to add Azure AD users who have paid a commercial fee for the Web app powered by Power Automate, or I embed advertisements into the Azure, Power Automate, Custom Web App.

The Experiment – SMS Delay

Wouldn’t it be fun to send a text message with a delay, enter a text message, and parameterize the delay in N minutes? How fast could I write the app across multiple platforms, desktop, and mobile? The backend and mid-tier would probably be the longest aspect of the development of this app. You probably need to put it in a responsive Web App to resize it to fit the platform. But the N tiers of the stack, how fast can I develop that? Less than an hour using Power Automate.

Power Automate Workflow

This Power Automate Workflow has three steps in the workflow: the “Manual Trigger,” the “Delay,” and leveraging the Twilio Action – Send Text Message (SMS), which happens not to be a “Premium” connector.

Front End Code to Integrate

With a combination of HTML, JavaScript, and the MS Flow SDK, I was able to put the SMS-Delay app together rather swiftly, including everything from Azure Authentication to my app to execution.

Give SMS-Delay a Try

Would you like to try out this Power Automate manual workflow? Please provide ANY login you would like to use for Azure AD authentication, and the user must have access to Microsoft Power Automate FREE license. Once you provide the user name to me, I will update Azure AD to include your permissions to the app and then send you a note to give the app a try: SMS Delay Application (rosemansolutions.com)

To Be Continued

For the next steps, I’d like to…

Publish the project HTML and JavaScript code I used to create this app
Solve the riddle of the Power Automate authentication
Create this and many other applications using the MS Flow SDK

Anonymous Authentication or Limited Authentication

Limiting the authentication, using very granular controls of Power Automate which may or may not yet be implemented. Have a limited Power Automate user with grant permissions ONLY to execute a specific workflow.

Is it possible to execute a Power Automate workflow with anonymous credentials and not necessarily have a Power Automate user account?

Business, Economy, Entertainment, Games, Technology

Digital Download: Content and License Transfer – Business Model In Jeopardy!

December 28, 2022 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

GameStop reminds me of Redbox and Netflix facing business model decimation as we transitioned from DVDs and Blu-Ray to streaming digital content. No more physical medium to borrow/rent, just streaming data from massive content libraries. Netflix pivoted early on and became a survivor and thriving revised business model.

GameStop’s pre-owned buy-and-sell business model is in jeopardy and has been for some time now. All of the major game consoles provide users with purchasing via digital download. There is no way to transfer that digital content and license purchase to anyone else. If there was a way to transfer the digital content and associated license for a game, maybe GameStop’s pre-owned business model might thrive again.

Securely Transfer Digital Content and License

There are several possibilities for implementing this transfer. One opportunity could be leveraging a large-capacity SD card, and the software on the console can push the digitally downloaded game onto the SD card along with the correlated license. The opposite should also be true. Pop in the SD card with a loaded game and license and that content could be transferred to any console of the same manufacturer.

Is this a job for Blockchain?

It should put software game designers at ease, leveraging several design features of Blockchain. Blockchain architecture would guarantee ownership, the uniqueness of a digital license, and associated digital game ownership. The content could be stored in the cloud, similar to NFT art and video content. This should NOT be confused with using ETH to purchase NFTs with cryptocurrency. In this scenario, we would exchange the SD card medium with Blockchain architecture.

So, why is this not implemented already?

The game console manufacturers don’t profit from trading and selling pre-owned games, so there is no push. GameStop should be leading the charge on this endeavor, offering to implement this module in all major gaming systems or outsourcing its implementation. Worst case, form an ADHOC committee to derive standards for implementing this module. The game console manufacturer market is a monopoly or, at a minimum, an oligopoly. Can anti-trust legislation be applied here to Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation, and Nintendo Switch?

Online, Gaming as a Service (GaaS) – Not Applicable

To state the obvious, online gaming or Gaming as a Service (GaaS) business models charging monthly or annual fees to access their game service do not apply to the one-time purchase of the game where the customer owns “the game.”

AI, Augmented Reality, Business, Information Architecture (IA), Virtual Reality

Microsoft’s Plethora of Portals

May 11, 2022 Ian Roseman 1 Comment

As I was looking through Microsoft’s catalog of applications, it occurred to me just how many of their platforms are information-centric and seemed to overlap in functionality. Where should I go when I want to get stuff done, find information or produce it? Since the early days of AOL and AltaVista, we’ve seen the awesome power of a “Jump Page” as the starting point for our information journey.

Microsoft, which one do I choose?

From one software vendor’s perspective, we’ve got many options. What’s the best option for me? Seems like there should be opportunities to gain synergies between available Microsoft platforms.

Bing.com

Searching for information on the internet? News, images, encyclopedias, Wikipedia, whatever you need, and more is on the web. Microsoft Bing helps you find what you need regardless if you’re using text or an image to search for like for like information. It also serves up “relevant” information on the jump page, news mixed with advertisements. There is also a feature enabling you to add carousel “boxes”. for example, containing latest MS Word files used, synergy from Office.com

Office.com

Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio, Power BI… If you’ve created content or want to create content using Microsoft applications, Office.com is the one-stop-shop for all your Office apps and the content created using these applications.

SharePoint

Another portal to a universe of information around a centric theme, such as collaboration/interaction with product/project team members, an Intranet, SharePoint site with one or multiple teams. At the most fundamental level is the capability to collaborate/interact with teams, potentially leveraging Microsoft collaboration tools. Just one of many of its capabilities “out of the box” is a document management solution and the use of version control.

SharePoint can also be used for any type of Internet/web platform, i.e., a public-facing portal platform. However, SharePoint, in fact, is a sharing tool in which the authors of the website can share video presentations, shared calendars of public events, and a plethora of customized lists.

Yammer

Engaging your people is more critical than ever. Yammer connects leaders, communicators, and employees to build communities, share knowledge, and engage everyone. I’m thinking synonymous with a bulletin board. The implementation of Yammer looks like Facebook for the Enterprise.

Use the Home feed to stay on top of what matters, tap into the knowledge of others, and build on existing work.
Search for experts, conversations, and files.
Join communities to stay informed, connect with your coworkers, and gather ideas.
Join in the conversation, react, reply to, and share posts.
@ mention someone to loop them in.
Attach a file, gif, photo, or video to enhance your post.
Praise someone in your network to celebrate a success, or just to say thanks.
Create a virtual event that your community can ask a question and participate live or watch the recording afterwards.
Use polls to crowd source feedback and get answers fast.
Stay connected outside the office with the Yammer mobile app.
Use Yammer in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, or Outlook.

“Yammer helps you connect and engage across your organization so that you can discuss ideas, share updates, and network with others.”

Microsoft Teams

For any team, there is a wealth of information varying from the group or single Chats, Teams, Calls, Files, and practically integration for almost all Microsoft applications and beyond. The extensibility of MS Teams seems relatively boundless, such as integrations with Wikis, SharePoint document folders, etc. From what I can tell, many organizations just use Teams for the group, or individual Chat channels are barely grazing the surface of MS Teams’ capabilities.

Setup of MS Teams, Teams “landing” page is a great place to start constructing your “living space” within MS Teams. From there, you can carve out space for all things related to the team. For example, in the “Team ABC” Team channel, you can add N number of “tabs” relating to everything from an embedded Wiki to specific SharePoint folders for the team’s product specifications. A team could even create an embedded Azure DevOps [Kanban] Board to show progress and essentially “live in” your MS Team, team channel.

Another porta;l overlap, Microsoft Teams Communities, seems to equate to Yammer.

Delve

What is Delve – Microsoft 365?

Use Delve to manage your Microsoft 365 profile and to discover and organize the information that’s likely to be most interesting to you right now – across Microsoft 365.

Delve never changes any permissions, so you’ll only see documents that you already have access to. Other people will not see your private documents. Learn more about privacy.

Delve is a content curation platform for the person it’s most relevant to…you. It gives the appearance of a user experience similar to carousels of video streaming apps. There are “Popular Documents” carousels and other carousels that are based on the most recent access. Based on how files are saved based on who can access content is how the platform gives you a treasure trove of documents you never knew you had access to or existed. It actually paints a potential compliance nightmare if people select the default document access as “…anyone within my organization…”.

Outlook.com / Best of MSN

Another portal of information focused around you: your email, your calendar, your To-Dos, and your contacts/people. It’s not just your communication with anyone, e.g., your project team members; it’s organizing your life on a smaller scale, e.g., To-Dos. You can also access other shared calendars, such as a team release schedule or a PTO schedule.

The Best of MSN is information, i.e., news around your interests, a digest of information relevant to you, delivered in an email format. Other digests of information from other sources may be curated and sent if subscribed.

Mediums to Traverse Information: AR, VR…

The visual paradigms used to query and access information may drastically influence the user’s capacity to digest the relevant information. For example, in an Augmented Reality (AR) experience, querying, identifying information, and then applying it, serving up the content in a way most conducive to a user’s experience is vital.

Users can’t just “Google It” and serve up the results like magic. The next evolution of querying information and serving up content in a medium to maximize its usability is key and is most evident when using Augmented Reality (AR). If you’re building something, instructions may be overlayed by the physical elements/parts in front of the user. Even the context of the step number would allow the virtual images to overlay the parts.

Automated and Manual Content Curation is a MUST for all Portals

Categories, Tags, Images, and all other associations from object A to everything else, the Meta of Existence, are essential for proper information dissemination and digestion. If you can tag any object with metadata, you can teach an AI/search engine to identify it in a relevant query. Implementing an Induction Engine, a type of Artificial Intelligence that proposes rules based on historic patterns is a must to improve query accuracy over time.

Next level, “Information applications” – Improved Living with Alzheimer’s

Next Ecosystem: Google..?

Business, Entertainment

Top Entrepreneurial Films – Fan Favorites

April 27, 2022 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

For my birthday, I took a look at the movies that have influenced my business decisions over the years. Here are my top entrepreneurial films for all the underdogs who could use a good, helping push up the mountain.

Moneyball (2011) – IMDb

Classic David and Goliath story told by phenomenal actors such as Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. How can a small-budget baseball team compete with the large pockets of other behemoths? Reinvent the way teams are formulated, i.e., reinvent the game… to some extent. It’s amazing to watch the actors/people react to a new process, a major disruptive process after doing things they’ve always done. These characters realize the upheaval of a new process changes the way they do business they react in somewhat surprising ways. “Adapt or Die” as the character played by Brad Pitt says.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) – IMDb

“You know, for kids. ” Brilliant performances by several well-known actors such as Paul Newman pull off a great script/story into a memorable production. Tim Robbins’s character, an “off the boat”, or shall I say bus, a recent college graduate, has a grand design and is happy to work his way up. So gullible, Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) is caught up in a scheme to have the company’s stock tank, so the board could snatch the company’s stock up for profit. To the board’s dismay, Norville does have a grandiose idea that takes the company in a profitable direction. Great to see the rise and fall of this once optimistic “new kid on the block”.

Other People’s Money (1991) – IMDb

An amazing cast, including the talented Danny Devito, with the help of a fantastic script, developed a phenomenal production. There are many lessons to be learned from this film, but I don’t want to give you any spoilers. When all hope seems lost, there is a plot twist that can only be categorized with the classic quote by Winston Churchill, “The definition of Success is moving from Failure to Failure without Loss of Enthusiasm.”

Erin Brockovich (2000) – IMDb

A woman driven by survival, a single mother, just trying to get by, manages to cling to happenstance, and ride that potential opportunity for all its worth. The system bucking Erin like a wild bull, which she manages, through the pursuit of a passion for people even more dire than her own situation, fights for her “extended family”, and one would argue, fighting for justice for those who could not.

Jerry Maguire (1996) – IMDb

Jerry transcends from Sell, Sell, Sell backed by a recognizable, affinity brand to a budding entrepreneur trying to build a relationship with his client and “keep the lights on”. Anyone think Tom Cruise got this gig because of his work on Rain Man selling Ferrari?

Joy (2015) – IMDb

A single mom within a challenging environment steps up the ladder and claws her way into a successful entrepreneur. One can only marvel at her success and note each step; each challenge was met by bold, creative solutions.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) – IMDb

The transformation from the academic to the business world was amazing. Climbing the ladder of success or falling into the pit of despair. It’s all perspective.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946 ) – IMDb

What a whimsical fantasy that delights and turns my stomach at the same time. I just want to know if the momma dollar and poppa dollar had a family after the run on the banks and the savings and loan?

AI, Business, Entertainment, Games, Information Architecture (IA), Technology, Virtual Reality

Meta, Metadata, and Information Architecture

December 21, 2021 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

Facebook’s Initial “Beyond” Concept is Virtual Reality and Other Beyond Stuff

Facebook sees the future, the beyond, as Virtual Reality (VR), where people communicate in virtual worlds for personal and business use. To that end, they are working on products outside the Facebook social apps, such as the rebranded Meta Quest, a VR immersive set of hardware and software to realize the experience. In this case, the technology is in line with the overall goal, and ties into the existing Facebook, social media platform. The new company Meta will allow for concentrated development outside social media, which is a smart move to allow for this concentration just like Alphabet/Google did. I’d imagine many of the technologies will have some tangibility to their social platform, but not necessarily so.

Meta Co., VR, and Metadata

Facebook changed its name to Meta as they build out its vision of a whole new world or multiple worlds. Within a constructed virtual world there will be “objects”, and those objects need descriptions and those descriptions should be portable beyond Meta’s Metaverse. Therefore it is essential to enhance data objects with more data, metadata. If you have a tree in the forest, what kind of a tree is it, what are all the “properties” of that tree? This exercise makes Meta worlds, our virtual world a bit more descriptive, in an organized, and portable fashion.

Portability In and Out of the Meta-verse

It’s important to be consistent in and outside [Facebook’s] Metaverse. As we define objects in the metaverse, e.g. people, trees, swords, etc. they must have consistent properties, and that’s where we apply taxonomies, The more comprehensive the metadata set, the whole universe expands. and we can also see gaps in the data as we virtually encounter them. We are experiencing Meta’s conception of a Metaverse, and if we’re not careful, it’s possible new social media platforms could be monopolized by [Facebook] Meta.

NFT Portability, and their Utility in the Metaverse

Gamers should be able to use their NFTs in virtual worlds throughout the internet. NFTs designed for online gaming use range from battle armor which integrates with the massively multiplayer online games (MMOG, or more commonly, MMO) and has utility to protect the character, for example. This type of utility NFT would require a high degree of integration, and comply with the standards of the MMO. Other NFT MMO game “objects” require less integration such as a tee-shirt, jewelry, a mug, and other non-utility items/objects.

NFT Standards Group for Gaming Consortium

Open standards are key, and industry standards committees should be formed for things like NFT properties, and other Metaverse interoperability. Meta objects from one “universe”, .e.g “Meta” should follow a convention to be passed around the “multiverse”, so to speak.

NFTs could be the transferrable objects from Avatars to Swords, what are the required NFT properties for each object type, and object type refers to any object real or factious. Information architecture (IA) focuses on organizing, structuring, and labeling content in an effective and sustainable way

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

So, a few years back, there was a really cool game called ToonTown (Disney), an MMO, massively multiplayer online game, and beyond interacting with other players, and taking on challenges, each player received their own house to decorate. Ergo, in our virtual worlds, I would like the opportunity to decorate my home with the NFT art I acquired in NFT marketplaces. Maybe even an art gallery in the city.

Advertising, Augmented Reality, Business, Economy, Games, Technology

Facebook name change: what is Meta, the meaning of new name and Metaverse – Mark Zuckerberg

December 20, 2021 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

Mark Zuckerberg surprised the world in October when he announced his company had changed its name to Meta.

The announcement came as the Facebook founder and CEO delivered a presentation showcasing Facebook’s work on virtual reality technologies and the Metaverse – a concept which some believe could become the next version of the internet.

It’s a move that echoes what Google did when it changed the name of its parent company to Alphabet in 2015 – an alteration that represented its shift beyond simply being a search engine.

Mark Zuckerberg said he had chosen it as in Greek it means ‘beyond’.

“For me, it symbolises that there’s always more to build; there’s always a next chapter to the story,” he explained.

“Beyond the constraints of screens, beyond the limits of distance and physics and towards a future where everyone can be present with each other, create new opportunities and experience new things.”

A metaverse is an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment.

This world already exists today through Meta-owned brand Oculus, which will itself be re-branded to Meta Quest in 2022, as well as Meta’s collaboration with glasses manufacturer Ray-Ban that allows users to see social media notifications via their glasses or sunglasses.

In his presentation, Mark Zuckerberg showed how his new metaverse concept ‘Horizon’ could apply to our future lives.

For example, he demonstrated how it could be used to hold realistic work meetings and help with education.

Source: Facebook name change: what is Meta, meaning of new name and Metaverse concept – and what Mark Zuckerberg said | NationalWorld

Business, Cryptocurrency, Economy, Entertainment, Sports

Bitcoin used as National Currency; Sports and NFTs; Tile Acquisition

November 29, 2021 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

I’m trying a different format with the use of video to discuss topics. Appreciate any input. Maybe next time I’ll dress for the part.

Topics of Conversation for this Episode.

Explore the recent decision of El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as their national currency
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/bitcoin-use-el-salvador-grows-setbacks-adopting-legal-tender-rcna2743
Huge opportunity for EVERYONE involved in NFTs for sports memorabilia.
https://rosemansolutions.io/2021/11/24/sweet-spot-for-digital-collectables/
Review the acquisition of Tile by Life360
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/life360-to-acquire-tile-creating-the-world-leader-in-finding-and-location-solutions-301430364.html

Augmented Reality, Business, Energy, Mobility, Science Fiction, Technology, Travel

Another Episode of “WHAT IF…” this BIZ meets that Tech

August 12, 2021 Ian Roseman Leave a comment

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The idea for the “What If…” Business and Technology series for me, comes directly out of Marvel comics. The comics ranged from “fictional” battles or plots that were so abstract yet tangent that it was nearly impossible to happen other than in a “one-off”, alternate reality, comic book in the Marvel Universe. On the same premise, I will spin several stories that will most likely not happen in the “real world”, but we will bring them to light.

Apple Adopts the Palm OS Business Model

Apple spins off its mobile hardware business and focuses on the iOS operating system. The mobile OS business unit, in theory, will have a robust and direct focus to drive revenue to their area. We may see partnerships that would have never developed if these units are continued to be tied together. Mobile iOS on OEM, 3rd party devices? Multiboot mobile hardware for Android, Linux, and Mac iOS out of the box. Competing and evolving lines, between the iOS tablets. How about mobile hardware from Motorola, Nokia, or Blackberry using iOS?

Allow Customers to Buy Gasoline as Units at Current Price on Loyalty Debit Cards

A legitimate reason IS NEEDED why in this day and age of commodities trading, storage, pipelines, trains, tankers, and trucks, why if I can buy stocks at current market value, or go on Ebay and buy 50 yards of antique bobbed wire at an auction, why can’t I go to a gas station and buy 50 UNITS of gas at the current price of gas that day? Upon return to the same brand gas station, I should be able to use my same loyalty debit card and subtract units of gas from the card, instead of the current price of gas that day.

EVs “in the field” Use Existing Home Energy Provider, with Transportation Charges Applied

Similar logic can be applied to Electric, and EVs but with a twist, incorporating the use of your home “energy provider”, and when charging ‘on the go’, only pay local “line usage/distribution” fees.

Full Article Here

Fundraising Using Public WiFi, and an UL/DL MB Meter Reading

What if commercial, public WiFi Hotspots partnered with a fundraising cause, and every MB exchanged (up and/or down), a donation of N cents would go to a charity-sponsored by you with Paypal. The business providing the WiFi would match the donation.

Greece Prosperity / Tourism: The World will Come See You in Augmented Reality (AR)

While perusing through all of the ruins, looking at the sites, watching the tour groups, and the tour guides explaining these empty ruins, I pondered, wouldn’t it be amazing to see the people of ancient times dressed in their clothing of the times, interacting with each other through the ruins as though the tourists were not even there. In effect, acting out scenes that perhaps took place thousands of years ago, echoes of the past. I thought why wouldn’t for starters, the government pays the people of the Arts and Sciences to go through scenes, such as basic interactions with a Librarian, studying in one corner, ignoring the world, and just reading and thinking, and in another corner of this library, there might be a quiet debate going on, in Greek of course, and through a translation application, any foreigner could hear their native language the interactions. It could be ancient commoners, to known ancient people of the past acting out scenes like echoes of the past, while tours just come up close and personal, pass by, even wave their hand in front of an actors hand, and he continues to act as if the tourists were not even there. All of these Greek actors would be prerecorded and play out in Augmented Reality (AR).