In this week's #PPCinFocus, Cat Schneider breaks down how the #MicrosoftMVP program helped her discover the #PowerPlatform plan designer!

AI agents can answer questions. But work isn't just questions. Meetings change decisions. Emails change priorities. One action can ripple across five systems. In this episode of Agents at Work, James Oleinik, director of product for Work IQ, joins us to break down what it actually takes to build AI agents that work inside real organizations. We talk about Work IQ and MCP: the intelligence layer that helps agents understand how work flows across people, systems, and decisions, not just what's in the prompt. You'll hear how shared context, memory, and business state in Dataverse change what teams of agents (and humans) can do together at scale. If you're building or deploying AI agents in an enterprise environment, this conversation covers: • Why Q&A-style agents fall short at work • How agents learn from real activity, memory, and signals, not static data • Coordinating multiple agents and humans on the same business process • Grounding agents in real work context across CRM, ERP, and beyond • Moving from agents that assist to agents that act as teammates 🛠️ Get started with what James showed: • Work IQ CLI and Work IQ MCP servers • Dataverse MCP server (preview) • Available in Copilot Studio and Foundry, or build with the SDK 🎥 Agents at Work features real conversations with the people building Microsoft's agent platform — focused on what actually works in practice.

Business data has been locked behind app-specific experiences. Business users context switch between Dynamics 365, Power Apps, Outlook, and Teams to piece together the full picture. What if Copilot could understand your business data the way your best people do? For business users, we’re introducing business data to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Your unified business data includes Dynamics 365 or custom apps built in Power Platform powered by Dataverse combined with Microsoft 365 data (i.e. emails, meetings, and documents) to deliver grounded, contextual answers.   That’s now happening. In March, we announced Microsoft 365 Copilot embedded as an in-app sidecar experience within Power Apps, Dynamics 365 Sales, and Dynamics 365 Customer Service. Under the hood, we introduced a reasoning layer natively integrated in Microsoft 365 Copilot, reconciling enterprise data and work signals from across your apps to power the combination of critical sources of business data and insights: Microsoft 365 apps, Dynamics 365 apps, and Power Platform. Coming soon in early June, business data will be available across Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences in Copilot App on desktop, Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  Learn more below: * Dataverse Is Your Agent Data Platform Blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/2026/05/05/dataverse-agent-data-platform/ * Frontier Transformation Blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/03/09/a-new-way-of-working-is-taking-shape-frontier-transformation/ * Business Understanding Blog: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/microsoft365dev/build-business-understanding-with-dataverse-in-microsoft-365-copilot/

For developers, we’re introducing Dataverse Plugin for coding agents. Dataverse Plugin is an open-source plugin that lets AI coding agents like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot build and manage Microsoft Dataverse solutions through natural language.   Enterprise development is shifting from writing code to directing AI agents. Developers describe intent; coding agents orchestrate the right tools over governed business data. What used to require juggling APIs, CLIs, and documentation can now be expressed as a single prompt.  The Dataverse Plugin for coding agents (in public preview) makes this real. Install one open-source plugin, and your coding agent gets full Dataverse fluency. Under the hood, the plugin packages four tools and knows which one to reach for:   * Dataverse MCP Servers for ad-hoc discovery and natural-language queries  * Dataverse CLI (in preview) for rich data plane actions * Python SDK for batch and scripted operations * PAC CLI for admin gestures like solution export and environment management No manual setup. Describe your intent; the agent handles the orchestration. See this in action! Dataverse Is Your Agent Data Platform: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/2026/05/05/dataverse-agent-data-platform/ Get started: https://github.com/microsoft/Dataverse-skills#getting-started Dataverse Plugin on Claude Marketplace: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powerplatform/dataverse-plugin-claude-marketplace/ Dataverse MCP Servers for ad-hoc discovery and natural-language queries: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/2025/07/07/dataverse-mcp/ Dataverse CLI (in preview) for rich data plane actions: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@microsoft/dataverse Python SDK for batch and scripted operations: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerPlatform-DataverseClient-Python#getting-started PAC CLI for admin gestures like solution export and environment management: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/developer/cli/introduction?tabs=windows

In this week's #MicrosoftCommunity in Focus, we speak to #MicrosoftMVP, Cat Schneider, about the advantages of joining a virtual or in-person user group! #PPCinFocus

Check out video 82 in our Power Platform “What’s New With” series, as we take a look at how you can add an agent node to an agent flow in Copilot Studio. Utilizing the agent node allows users to create more sophisticated workflows that can handle complex tasks, helping you to improve efficiency and decision-making in your business processes. Click the link below to visit Microsoft Learn and discover the steps you need to take to insert and configure an agent node in a workflow today! https://aka.ms/powershorts/mcs-agent-node And for more expert advice and opinions, click below to explore the Microsoft community website and connect with thousands of other users just like you. https://aka.ms/powershorts/joinus #PowerPlatform #Copilot #CopilotStudio #PowerApps #PowerAutomate #MicrosoftLearn #Microsoft

Hear from Cat Schneider as she explains how becoming a #MicrosoftMVP has benefitted not just her career, but also her personal life. #PPCinFocus

Today is the day, as Agent Academy Live kicks off at 8.30am PT - a one-day virtual event where you'll learn how to design, build, and deploy real world agents using Copilot Studio! Get ready to join hosts April Dunnam and Dona Sarkar, alongside a keynote from Ryan Cunningham, for this free virtual event takes place between 8.30am - 2.30pm PT. Click the link below to register for what is sure to be a great day of learning within the Microsoft community! https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/events/27042/