OneRecord Connector for MS Power Platform - Frankfurt365ers

Frankfurt 365ers - a comprehensive approach to low code and OneRecord
Team pitch
created shipment and response - ID shown in excel
created pieces and response - ID shown in excel
Postman: prove that shipment was created in neone OneRecord Server
Power Automate Flow Waybill
Power Automate Flow Shipment
Postman: prove that waybill has been created
waybill created - ID shown in Excel
OneRecord Power Platform Connector - Actions
OneRecord Power Platform Connector - Triggers
Power Apps - handheld app

Inspiration

We are tackling the developer experience, the open and the Cargo IQ challenge all at once.

As a team of comprehensive members participating in the air cargo supply chain we know about the daily challenges like lack of transparency, delays and additional requirements that come with manual and paper-based processes. The cargo supply chain is often fractioned and it’s participants are in highly variable stages of digital transformation and business process integration. Yet, we all know air cargo business is very time-sensitive and costly compared to other modes of transportation. OneRecord is prone to set a new standard and induces new opportunities of collaborating throughout all cargo handling and transport. However, at first glance OneRecord might seem complex and full of preconditions. We want to prove the opposite: We are challenging ourselves with a use case of enabling OneRecord technology by connecting it to the low code/ no code platform of Microsoft Power Apps and by it to one of the most popular office application suites, the Microsoft 365 universe. Thus we are lowering entry barriers to a minimum, enabling OneRecord data to be used in uncountable and easy ways - no matter the size of your IT department or whether you have complex hardware or software at hand and setting anyone up to take part. All parties involved profit from the advantages of OneRecord, encompassing any member at comparably low costs - whether you’re a small shipper, a subcontractor mostly operating on Excel templates or have been relying on long outdated data sets before. Our project tackles the developer experience, the open and the Cargo IQ challenge all at once.

What it does

The OneRecord Power Platform connector facilitates bidirectional communication between the recently released NE:ONE open source OneRecord server and Microsoft M365 Power Platform enabling all features of OneRecord, especially creating, updating and publishing logistic objects or logistic events as well as facilitating publish/subscribe mechanism. We built a middleware which makes the low code platform compatible to OneRecord and data entry to OneRecord easy. This connector can be made public by Microsoft and makes OneRecord available to the whole Power Platform community with no code knowledge offering endless possibilities. We see our solutions as an ice breaker in acceptance of and engagement with OneRecord. The middleware is written in Go and running on GoogleCloud which allows to communicate with any OneRecord server that is to be reached from the internet.

We use our generic OneRecord connector implementation to build the following use case: we target an everyday supply chain problem and allow data transparency from step 0 throughout the whole shipment lifecycle covering also the to door process. Especially freight forwarders, customs and cargo handling agents benefit as they immediately are provided with OneRecord data. We have designed Excel templates for shippers to provide piece and shipment information and publish to OneRecord by uploading to some cloud storage. This triggers Power Automate flows which engages with OneRecord Power Platform connector and also keeps Excel updated with recent events. Having the image in mind of a small to medium sized freight forwarder which uses our second provided Excel template to reference the piece and shipment information and provide the waybill. Operating OneRecord standards out of your Excel template and sharepoint or one drive environment and channel data to visualize progress to internal stakeholders like operations, controlling, administration and catch or distribute milestone updates to _ all _ external stakeholders like transportation partners, subcontractors or clients as well as customs is the elaborate problem solved. We build a PowerApp for door to door service in 10 minutes exemplifying and highlighting further synergy provided within M365. This means planned as well as actual milestones for Cargo iQ monitoring are covered for complete shipment lifecycle.

Anyone, e.g. the consignee and subcontractors can subscribe or push their own logistic event. Many companies already hold M365 licences, make the first step toward OneRecord and get ready in a day with tools you already have onboard and are familiar with. You’ll provide supply chain partners with unknown transparency, get your staff OneRecord ready at a small cost and have low technical barriers to tackle. Using the toolchain your able to build solutions for process improvements in shortest time without having time consuming software development projects.

How we built it

Power Platform is a Low-Code/No-Code platform of Microsoft and consists of following products:

Power Apps as a Low-Code/No-Code tool to build desktop and mobile apps
Power Automate as an process automation tool
Power BI as a No-Code tool to analyze data and build reports

Power Platforms is able to communicate with 3rd party software by making a Power Platform specific API available to the platform. We built a middleware which makes the logic of OneRecord compatible with the Power Platform logic. This middleware sits in-between of the communication between Microsoft Power Platform and any instance of One Record server. The middleware makes easy to use operations to create, read and update logistics objects as well create/read logistics events available to the platform, maps parameters from the Low-Code integration to One Record data models (and vice-versa) and handles the creation of subscription as well managing the created subscriptions for any user of this connector. Notifications of any kind of One Record servers are sent to middleware which holds all information to trigger Power Platform, allowing real-time data integration into Power Automate flows. Power Apps is able to use the connector in Low-Code Apps to integrate One Record data. The implementation is generic and not limited to some specific use case, leveraging the creativity and business knowledge to the whole Power Platform users to engage One Record.

For our use case of the One Record Power Platform we built two Excel templates, three Power Automate flows and one Power App. The Power Automate flows handles the integration of Excel Tables and our One Record connector, reading cells and pushing it into One Record. We also use Power Automate Flows to subscribe to logistics object updates as well new logistics events, this is based on publish/subscribe functionality of NE:ONE. With Power Apps we built a mobile app which invokes One Record server to create logistics event for a scanned shipment.

Our developed middleware has been deployed to Google Cloud and is reachable by Power Platform. The Connector is made available as Custom Connector into our Microsoft 365 development environment. Currently the custom connector is only available in this development environment, but it can be as-is made public accessible by publishing it to Power platform community. Afterwards, it will show up in every Power Platform environment.

Challenges we ran into

We faced the basic limitations defined to M365 data interchange and worked around them.
We found a way to scale back OneRecord data model and complexity to hackathon-friendly yet realistic use case that proves our approach works and fits in with everyday air freight requirements.
We faced hardships concerning JSON-LD with static and strong typed language like Go.
Aligning our ideas and designing communications in text, video and speach according to key achievements while drafting, developing and implementing was challenging yet rewarding in the end!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We have a fully functional prototype.
We are lowering entry barriers to One Record technology to a minimum.
We are compiling comprehensive data in excel and OneRecord and make it accessible anytime.
We are bringing together everyday familiar office apps and the future of air cargo communication OneRecord.
We are enabling transparency encompassing even small to medium sized shippers, consignees and other partners aiming to mend the many fractions of the air cargo supply chain and eliminating paper-based processes and intense email communication.
We are leveraging the potential of a no code/low code platform.

What we learned

We followed a detailed approach to OneRecord data model and got to the point of clearly setting logistic objects and their relations in excel tables.
We defined the best middleware approach and found solutions around limitations set by Microsoft.
We gained knowledge about power platform customizing and connectors and made it work for us.
We learned to channel OneRecord communication and transactions and showing how to encompass the many supply chain participants through Excel.