Microsoft Dataverse “Common data service” is a cloud-based storage space that organizations can use to store business application data.

In this article, we’re gonna learn what is Microsoft Dataverse? and the types of tables in Dataverse, and we will also know the types of relationships that we can perform on the Dataverse tables.

Table of Contents

1 What is Microsoft Dataverse?
2 Microsoft Dataverse and PowerApps
3 Why using Microsoft Dataverse?
4 Microsoft Dataverse tables types
5 Tables relationships in Microsoft Dataverse
6 Import and Export Data into Dataverse
7 Dataverse Security
8 Dataverse for Teams:
1. 8.1 Demo

What is Microsoft Dataverse?

Dataverse is a straightforward platform that you can use to begin designing your data structures, it is cloud-based storage space.
Dataverse uses Azure Active Directory identity and access management mechanisms to help ensure that only authorized users can access the environment, data, and reports.
The data within Dataverse is stored within a set of tables. A table is a set of records that used to store data, each table consists of some columns.

Microsoft Dataverse and PowerApps

Dataverse is an option of the data sources that you can use within Power Apps. So App makers can then use Dataverse to build rich applications in Power Apps.

Dataverse allows data to be integrated from multiple sources into a single store, which can then be used in Power Apps.
If you are using Power Apps, then the license will cover Dataverse so you don’t have to pay extra.
Dataverse databases can be provisioned by you, or licensed individuals in your organization.

Why using Microsoft Dataverse?

1) Easy to manage

One of these benefits is how Dataverse is easy to manage, as both the metadata and data are stored in the cloud. So Dataverse brings together your business data in one place.

2) Secure store

Dataverse is a secure, cloud-based storage space that organizations can use to store business application data. It uses Azure Active Directory identity and access management mechanisms to help ensure that only authorized users can access the environment, data, and reports.

3) Work with any type of data

Dataverse works with any type of data relational or non-relational data, it can work with files, images, or data lake, and connect to other services that contain the data for your business.

4) Work with any type of apps

Work with any type of app, Dataverse can work with any type of app, as it provides multiple ways to integrate into any type of app (mobile, web, desktop, device, system, or service).

5) Metadata

Metadata is another benefit is the rich metadata included in Dataverse. In Dataverse, the metadata is a collection of tables that describe the kinds of data stored in the database.

6) Access your Dynamics 365 data

If you use Dynamics 365, so the data from your Dynamics 365 application is also stored within Dataverse, and that allows you to quickly build apps that use your Dynamics 365 data.

7) Dataverse integrations

Microsoft Dataverse is integrated into popular tools such as Excel, Outlook, Dynamics 365 customer engagement apps, Power BI Desktop, Power Query, Azure Data Factory, Data Export Service, and SQL Server Management Studio.

8) Analytics and reporting

Dataverse has the ability to create charts and paginated reports and it can be used with Power BI to create rich, interactive reports and dashboards.

For more details, you can check this video to know more about Microsoft Dataverse.

Microsoft Dataverse tables types

There are different types of tables in Microsoft Dataverse, the most popular are standard tables, custom tables, and activity tables.

Standard tables

Microsoft Dataverse comes with a number of standard tables, that you have to be familiar with to use if they meet your business needs. They will work as you expect in your environment without additional effort.
You can edit standard tables, for example, you can change the tables and attributes display name.
You can’t delete the standard tables.

So you can use it as a base for a new table, and use standard tables if they meet your business needs.

Custom tables

If the standard tables didn’t meet your business need, you can create your own tables. These tables called custom tables.
You can create your custom table to use inside your app, but you have either a System Administrator or System Customizer security role within Dataverse to enable you to create tables.
You can edit any custom table ”edit table fields, table relationship” that you create.
You can delete custom tables.

Custom Tables ownership

User or team owned, Actions that can be performed on these records can be controlled at the user level.
Organization-owned: Access to the data is controlled at the organization level.

Activity tables

An activity table refers to any action for which an entry can be made on a calendar. And it has time dimensions that mean it has (start time, stop time, due date, and duration) to determine the action occurrence.

Activity tables ownership

Activity tables can only be owned by a user or team, they can’t be owned by an organization.

Virtual tables

The virtual table is a custom table, but What differs the most from the custom tables, is that its data is not stored in the Dataverse, instead, the data comes from another source. You will find fields that contain data from external data sources. So it has Regular table records appearance within your app, but the data is read-only and from an external source.

Virtual tables ownership

Virtual tables are always organization-owned.

So we can conclude that The purpose of Virtual tables is to provide a way to integrate data from other systems into your apps without having the data stored both in the external system and in the Dataverse.

These are the table types in Microsoft Dataverse. let’s explore the different relationships that we can perform.

Tables relationships in Microsoft Dataverse

There are three relationships in Data verse tables these types are (One-to-many, Many-to-one, and Many-to-many). The table records can be associated with records from other tables or the same table. Relationships define how rows can be related to each other in the database.

for more details about the relationships and how to perform them, please check this video,

Import and Export Data into Dataverse

There are many ways to import and export data into Common Data Service you can use these ways to import and export data:

Dataflow
Power Query,
Azure Data Factory,
Azure Logic Apps,
And Power Automate.

Dataverse Security

Dataverse has multi-level security:

Dataverse uses Azure Active Directory identity and access management mechanisms to help ensure that only authorized users have access to the environment, as well as its associated data and reports.
Dataverse uses role-based security to group together a set of privileges that can be associated directly with users, or with Dataverse teams and business units.
Dataverse has a column-level security feature to allow more granular control of security at the column, or “field” level.
Dataverse ensures data integrity and security with regular backups.
- Manual backups
- Automatic (system) backups

Dataverse for Teams:

Microsoft Data verse for Teams is a relational data storage that delivers a built-in, low-code data platform that makes it simple to create and deploy apps.
Dataverse for Teams provides a targeted collection of features for creating applications, Flows, and more inside the Teams.
The Data verse for Teams environment is used to store, manage, and share data, applications, and flows that are specific to a team.
Each team has its own environment, and all data, applications, bots, and flows developed with the Power Apps app inside that team are accessible through the Dataverse for Teams database of that team.
Each team has its own dataverse.
If the team is deleted, the Data verse for Teams environment that was created will also be deleted.
for more details youcan check diffrence between Microsoft Dataverse And Dataverse for Teams from Here

Conclusion

In conclusion, we learned that Microsoft Dataverse is a data storage and management engine that powers Microsoft’s Power Platform, Office 365, and Dynamics 365 applications. It decouples the data from the app, allowing an administrator to evaluate and report on data that was previously stored in several locations. It is built on the concepts of the Common Data Model and is enhanced with data security, business logic, and productivity capabilities. Dataverse is designed to work with any type of data and incorporates all of the major categories of data technologies that your organization needs We have explored Microsoft Dataverse, which is more than just a simple cloud-based database.

Demo

Watch this dataverse demo to know how you can use it with PowerApps.

What is Microsoft Dataverse?

What is Microsoft Dataverse?

Microsoft Dataverse and PowerApps