In this issue:
Ace Aviator of the Month
May's Ace Aviator: Derek Marley
What is your role and title? What are your responsibilities associated with your position?
Integration Principal Strategist – Azure Integration Services
As an Integration Principal Strategist, I lead the charge in crafting comprehensive integration strategies tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses. With over 25 years of experience in the integration space, I bring a depth of knowledge and expertise to the table. My primary focus is on Azure Integration Services, where I excel in designing, implementing, and optimizing integration solutions.
At the heart of my role is the ability to architect robust integration frameworks that seamlessly connect disparate systems, applications, and data sources. I work closely with stakeholders to understand their objectives and translate them into actionable integration plans. From establishing integration patterns to defining API frameworks, I ensure that every aspect of the integration lifecycle is meticulously addressed.
In my capacity as a strategist, I not only devise integration roadmaps but also stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends to continuously refine and enhance our approach. I believe collaboration is key, and I thrive in cross-functional environments where I can work closely with development teams, architects, and business leaders to drive alignment and foster innovation.
Can you provide some insights into your day-to-day activities and what a typical day in your role looks like?
In my role as an Integration Principal Strategist, each day is diverse and packed with tasks aimed at optimizing integration and supporting our clients' objectives. A typical day begins with connecting with my team: reviewing goals, projects, and deadlines. When it comes to project work, I strategize with clients to grasp their integration needs, communicate these back to my team, collaborate on the design, and oversee tailored solutions. Additionally, I stay updated on industry trends, foster client relationships, and promote effective teamwork to ensure successful integration outcomes and drive business growth.
What motivates and inspires you to be an active member of the Aviators/Microsoft community?
Being an active member of the Aviators/Microsoft community is motivating and important for me. The sense of a shared purpose within the community fuels my passion for collaboration and continuous learning. The opportunity to exchange ideas, insights, and best practices with fellow professionals allows me to stay at the forefront of industry trends and enhances my skills as an Integration Strategist. Doing so makes my discussions with customers
way more pragmatic and overall, more enjoyable.
Looking back, what advice do you wish you would have been told earlier on that you would give to individuals looking to become involved in STEM/technology?
The advice I would give is this: Technology is constantly evolving, and things are always shifting, so it's key to stay flexible and willing to embrace new ideas. Connecting with mentors and communities is super valuable for learning and collaborating. And always remember, soft skills like communication and teamwork are just as vital as technology.
Imagine you had a magic wand that could create a feature in Logic Apps. What would this feature be and why?
If I had a magic wand to create a feature in Logic Apps, I'd build on the incredible potential of the Workflow Assistant/Copilot by adding organizational profiles. Imagine this: being able to input a company's unique integration standards, preferred patterns, and specific requirements
into the system. Then, when the Assistant/Copilot generates Logic Apps, it would incorporate not only the Logic App LLM Responses but also be influenced by the company-specific profile details. This feature would streamline development, ensure consistency across projects, and empower organizations to leverage their integration expertise seamlessly within the Logic Apps environment.
What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned throughout your career that surprised you?
One of the things that really caught me off guard in my career and that became an important learning lesson occurred recently – it is how quickly AI and copilots have become super relevant and incredibly important to all companies. It is hard to believe that just one year ago, we knew what was unfolding, but the speed at which these technologies evolved is surprising! It's a real eye-opener about how fast technology can change things. It reminds me how important it is to stay flexible, open-minded, and continually engrossed in learning, because one just never know what's coming next! For me, this learning has driven home awareness of that adage: we live in an age where no longer do big organizations absorb the small but rather, the fast organizations absorb slow. Incorporate AI and Copilots early, but please ensure you do in a responsible manner!
Customer Corner:
Empowering prosthetic innovation: Össur's Azure Integration Services journey
Check out this customer success story about Össur, a leading prosthetics and orthopedics manufacturer based in Iceland, who utilized Microsoft Azure and Logic Apps to enhance their manufacturing processes. By implementing Azure services, Össur improved efficiency, agility, and scalability in their production operations. Logic Apps enabled seamless integration between Össur's systems, facilitating real-time data exchange and workflow automation. This integration streamlines order processing, inventory management, and production scheduling, resulting in faster response times and reduced costs. Read more on how Azure and Logic Apps empower Össur to optimize their manufacturing operations, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and competitiveness.
News from our product group:
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!! Announcement !! Logic Apps In-app connectors for IBM Mainframe and Midranges Generally Available We are pleased to announce the General Availability of the Azure Logic Apps Built-in connectors for IBM Mainframe and Midranges. Read more about these connectors and how to get started in this article. |
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Announcing General Availability of Azure API Management Basic v2 and Standard v2 Tiers We're thrilled to announce the General Availability of Azure API Management's newest pricing tiers – Basic v2 and Standard v2. The introduction of these new tiers directly addresses common customer requests, enhancing quality-of-service and enabling businesses of all sizes to leverage API Management effectively. |
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A workbook for Logic App (standard) run history and resubmitting multiple runs. Enjoyed the sample workbook for organizing Logic Apps events e mitted to Application Insights but wanted to select and resubmit multiple runs from the workbook? Check out this article on the newly released workbook with multiple runs. |
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File Systems Connector Support on Workflow Standard Plans We recently implemented some updates that now allow Workflow Standard Plans to host Logic Apps Standard workflows that contains File System Connector. Check out more in this post. |
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TimeZone changes in Kazakhstan In Kazakhstan the local authorities have operationalized a Time Zone Change for the country, where all cities will converge to UTC+5 (and UTC+6 is getting deprecated and converging into UTC+5). See how that affects your Logic App in this post. |
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Improving the DevOps Experience for Azure Logic Apps Standard Azure Logic Apps Standard just launched a set of preview features that help you automate the steps in setting up DevOps processes for your applications. In this blog post, you will find more about these new features |
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Secure GraphQL APIs with JSON Web Token validation and Authorization rules in Azure API Management In this blog post, we walk you through how Azure API Management can effectively solve these security concerns by utilizing JWT validation, enforcing authorization rules based on the token’s claims, and deactivating introspection through the GraphQL validation policy |
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Choosing the right Azure API Management tier for your networking scenarios This blog post aims to guide you through the different options available on both the classic tiers and v2 tiers of Azure API Management, to help you decide which choice works best for your requirements. |
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Using logic app to Revoke Sign in session via REST API In this article, we will share the new way to use logic app to Revoke Sign in Session via REST API. |
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Using File Connector - Trigger Properties to filter file types in Azure Logic Apps Learn about the file connector and how you can filter out file extensions using trigger conditions in this video. |
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A workbook for Logic App (standard) run history and resubmitting multiple runs. Check out this example Azure Monitor workbook template that leverages Logic Apps enhanced telemetry data from your Logic Apps engineering team. This template allows you to filter workflow runs by Logic App name, workflow name and custom tracking ID. |
News from our community:
Getting Started with Azure Integration Services
Post by Stephen W. Thomas
Catch up on Stephen's live session here as he walks us through the history of Microsoft Integration, what you can do if you still have BizTalk Server running, review the core services of AIS, and dive into a quick demo.
Friday Fact: Workflow and Trigger expressions can help monitor your Logic Apps.
Post by Luís Rigueira
In this blog/video by Luis, we learn about the workflow() and trigger() expressions and how to use them to help your Logic App as they're great in error handling situations.
Microsoft Azure Integration Services
Post by Sebastian Meyer
Check out this podcast featuring German Aviator Sebastian Meyer as he chats about Azure Integration Services and compares it to SAP Integration Suite with the podcast host, Adam Kiwon. Don't speak German? English translated captions work great!
Harnessing the Power of Microsoft Copilots: A Guide to Copilot Extensibility Within Your Enterprise
Post by Derek Marley
Read this post by this month's Ace Aviator Derek as he dives into the three primary ways Microsoft Copilot can access data from within and outside the traditional Microsoft data sources.
My Azure Front Door experience
Post by Mark Brimble
New to Azure Front Door? Mark was too until he followed the Quickstart guide. Read about his impressions on getting started and any additional comments from a personal experience.
Friday Fact: It is possible to create an XML first-class experience inside Logic Apps.
Post by Sandro Pereira
By default, XML messages don't have a first-class experience like JSON, but that doesn't mean that you can't create that experience. Follow along with Sandro as he shows you how.
Logic App Inline Function Troubleshooting Challenge
Post by Mike Stephenson
Watch this video from Mike as he troubleshoots a problem with Logic App Standard and the Inline Function feature and gives some good tips.
Upgrading Logic App Consumption to Logic App Standard
Post by Poojith Jain
In this post, Poojith talks about why you should consider transitioning from Logic App Consumption to Logic App Standard and the key differences and any limitations when adopting the Logic App Standard approach.
Logic App Resubmit from Action
Post by Mike Stephenson
Watch this video from Mike as he talks about the Resubmit from Action feature in both Logic Apps Standard and Consumption.
Post by Luís Rigueira
Looking for a time-saving PowerShell script to simplify the preservation of Logic App details before deletion? Then read Luis' post as it applies to scenarios needing to delete important Logic Apps but still require insights into past executions.
Logic App Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks: #42 How to convert JSON into XML inside Logic Apps
Post by Sandro Pereira
While XML to JSON is a straightforward operation, JSON to XML is not but still made simple in this post by Sandro. Learn how to convert JSON messages to XML inside your workflows using out-of-the-box capabilities.