Microsoft Opens First Common Data Model (CDM) Preview for PowerApps

Microsoft has introduced a preview of its new Common Data Model (CDM) this week, making it available through the PowerApps preview.

The CDM is Microsoft's new "Azure-based business application model and storage mechanism," for PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and Power BI, according to PowerApps director of program management Arif Kureshy, writing in a new blog post. The first public preview delivers the following features:

• Preview versions of standard entity definitions
• Rich data type support for extending standard entities and defining custom entities
• Simple schema definition tools aimed at non-developers
• Rich control support in Microsoft PowerApps
• Integration with Microsoft Flow
• Rich Microsoft Excel integration for viewing and editing data
• Bulk data import and export capabilities

Kureshy explained how CDM has been designed to enable the building of custom apps via PowerApps that use data from across many core systems:

"[T]he CDM aims to bridge the data gap between the many business apps deployed in an enterprise. It is much more than a relational database: it has a meta-model that understands business primitives and semantics such as currency, amounts, and auto-number fields. It encapsulates core business concepts in a standard set of entities."

Over time, ...