Data
Dataverse
Shared business and application data with permissions and platform semantics.
How the Microsoft automation and AI ecosystem fits together
Power Platform covers many business application and automation needs. Microsoft Foundry becomes relevant when developers need deeper model, agent, evaluation, deployment, and operational control.
Business data → Apps and workflows → Copilots and agents → Developer AI operations
Experience
Power Apps
Business application interfaces and custom operational applications.
Workflow
Power Automate
Cloud workflows, desktop automation, approvals, connectors, and business process automation.
Agent experience
Copilot Studio
Low-code creation of copilots, agents, conversational experiences, and agentic workflows.
Developer AI platform
Microsoft Foundry
Models, agents, tools, evaluations, tracing, deployment, and enterprise AI operations for custom applications.
How to choose within this ecosystem
- When Power Automate is enough
Choose it for known business flows, approvals, connectors, desktop steps, and reliable rule-based automation.
- When Copilot Studio fits
Use it when a low-code conversational or agent experience must access approved knowledge and actions while staying close to Microsoft business systems.
- When Foundry becomes necessary
Move deeper when developers need custom code, broader model choice, managed agent endpoints, systematic evaluation, tracing, security, and application operations.
- Learn first
Start with Dataverse concepts and one Power Automate flow. Add Copilot Studio only for a clear interaction need; learn Foundry after models, APIs, tools, and evaluation make sense.