What's changed: Created PL-400 Chapter 1 (domains: Create a technical design + Build solutions/ALM): technical architecture design (logic placement business rule/plug-in/Power Automate/client scripting, table types standard/virtual/elastic, DLP/security roles/teams/business units/row sharing), solution component design (canvas component/PCF code component, custom connectors, Power Fx/plug-in/custom API, integrations), and ALM (managed/unmanaged, solution layers, environment variables, Pipelines, Build Tools CI/CD).
1.3Application lifecycle management (ALM)
Understand managed/unmanaged solutions, solution dependencies and layers, environment variables, Power Platform Pipelines, and CI/CD with Build Tools.
Solutions are the unit of distribution and change management in Power Platform. Healthy ALM underpins quality and reproducibility.
1.3.1Managed vs unmanaged solutions
An unmanaged solution is editable work in a development environment—change components freely. A managed solution is the read-only (locked) artifact distributed to test/production—not edited directly. Develop unmanaged, distribute managed. When multiple solutions change the same component, solution layers stack and the top layer takes effect.
1.3.2Environment variables and dependencies
Environment variables hold per-environment values (URLs/keys/config) that are included in the solution yet set per environment, avoiding hardcoding and improving transportability. Manage solution dependencies and transport in the correct order including dependencies.
1.3.3Pipelines and CI/CD
Power Platform Pipelines automate solution transport dev→test→prod within Power Platform, integrated into the low-code experience. For more advanced automation, Power Platform Build Tools (Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions) build CI/CD pipelines automating export/import/test.
Cues: "editable work in dev" = unmanaged. "read-only distributed to prod" = managed. "per-environment values in the solution" = environment variables. "automated transport within Power Platform" = Pipelines. "CI/CD in Azure DevOps/GitHub" = Build Tools. "override precedence on same component" = solution layers.
Watch the mix-ups: (1) Managed (distribute/locked) vs unmanaged (develop/editable). (2) Do not edit unmanaged directly in production. (3) Environment variables vs solution layers are different (externalize values vs override precedence). (4) Pipelines (in-platform) vs Build Tools (Azure DevOps/GitHub).
1.3.4Section summary
- Unmanaged=editable dev / managed=locked distribution; production uses managed
- Environment variables externalize values; solution layers set override precedence; transport in dependency order
- Pipelines=in-platform automated transport / Build Tools=CI/CD in Azure DevOps-GitHub
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Quick check
(just a quick review)Q1. Which solution is the read-only, non-directly-editable one distributed to test/production?
Q2. Which solution is used to develop while freely editing components in a dev environment?
Q3. You want a per-environment API URL included in the solution yet set per environment, avoiding hardcoding. Best?
Q4. Within Power Platform, you want to automatically transport solutions dev→test→prod. Best?
Q5. You want CI/CD automating export/import/test in Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions. Best?