Azure Naming Conventions

 My Format (I simplify for smaller companies)

<Company>-<BusinessUnit>-<Region>-<Environment>-<ResourceType>-<Project>-<Instance>

GS-IT-UK-PR-RGP-Treetops-001

GS-HR-US-DV-NSG-Cloud-001

I like to enforce the same length for each part, just because it makes it easier to read in a list.  i.e. Region - Could be the 2 digit country code.  Case consistency is also important. 

Environment is my DTAP environment i.e. DV = Development, TS = Test, AS = Acceptance, PR=Production

Resource Type is the Azure Resource Type e.g. Network Security Group = NSG.   It is worth publishing a list as application services could be app or aps.

Tip: In azure sometime you can't use hyphens or need to use lowercase.  If I am forced, then I keep the same convention but merely abide by the rules of the service.

The key is just keep it consistent.  I find organisation use Tags poorly so with the naming convention, it helps replace the need for Tags or tags can easily be added as it gives the info away in the name.

Microsoft Recommends Azure naming convention:

Another example format:

<4digitApplicationName>-<2digitEnvironment>-apim-<2digitcounter> e.g. taxp-pr-apim-01 or  dvla-dv-appins-01 

I think it is just key to agree a standard format and stick to it.

I 100% ensure naming is consistently followed for resources, it's also useful to have a few tags, but I'm not dogmatic regarding tags.

Tags Examples

Env: Dev

Data Classification: Confidential

Project: Tax Treaties

Power Apps using Excel in One Drive or SharePoint

Overview:  A Canvas Power App can easily connect to Excel held with SharePoint of OneDrive.   It is great for getting values in, or for reading static values from a list.

Limitations: 

1. You need to create a table in Excel to connect from Power Apps.  The problem is the table cannot contain any formulas.  I wanted to input a value, use Excel formulas to get a calculate risk value.  It can't connect.  The work around is to build the formulas in Power Apps but for my customer complex Excel sheet I don't want to spend weeks re-engineering the logic from code.

Excel: Trying to read field B19 that reference my calculation:

Power Apps: Trying to connect to the Excel table results in the "Excel file containing formula are currently not supported" error message:

2. Size limit, max 2 MB Excel file.  This may be bigger now.

Summary:  You can't work with large data sets and you can read from calculation cells in tables o Excel is fine for inputting into an Excel document that will be used as excel but pretty useless as a data store for Power Apps.  Rather use a SharePoint list but this doesn't help if you actually want to use Excel as it contains complex logic.