Kurt Shintaku's Blog

We recently published a FREE special 10-module on-demand video training course, “DMS-4004 Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365 Use Cases”, where instructors were video-recorded for all modules.

This course enables students to perform a series of Use Case exercises that build their Copilot for Microsoft 365 skills in various business-related scenarios. Use cases include Executives, Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, HR, and Operations.

All video recorded modules for “MS-4004 Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365 Use Cases” are available below:

Playlist: MS-4004 Empower your workforce with Copilot for Microsoft 365 Use Cases

• MS-4004 Introduction (1 of 13)
• MS-4004 Copilot Introduction (2 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Executive-Business 1 (3 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Executive-Business 2 (4 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Sales (5 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario IT (6 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Marketing (7 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Finance (8 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario HR 1 (9 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario HR 2 (10 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Operations (11 of 13)
• MS-4004 Use Case Scenario Challenge Overview (12 of 13)
• MS-4004 Course Close (13 of 13)

Additionally, you may find written versions of this course located at:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/empower-workforce-copilot-use-cases/

People continue to want flexibility at work—our research shows that nearly half (48%) of global employees are likely to ask their direct manager for a more flexible work schedule or location in the next year.¹ 

But maintaining connection in flexible work takes work. Organizations that don’t actively bring people together for moments that matter put connection at risk: 43% of employees feel disconnected from their company.¹ 

The tension between flexibility and connection at work isn’t new and therefore requires an innovative solution. AI innovation is already improving how you work; improving where you work is the next opportunity.

With Microsoft Places, an app that reimagines flexible work, AI can make coordinating in-office time and connecting with coworkers even easier.

In addition to fostering improved coordination and connection, Places optimizes the effectiveness and engagement of the workplace. Importantly, Places features are accessible across surfaces you regularly use for coordination and collaboration, like Outlook and Microsoft Teams, so flexible work coordination and connection can happen within your normal flow of work.   

…

Read more at the announcement blog below:

• ANNOUNCEMENT: AI brings new life to flexible work with Microsoft Places
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2024/05/13/ai-brings-new-life-to-flexible-work-with-microsoft-places

¹May 2024 Work Trend Index survey, Microsoft.

Copilot in Planner (preview) is rolling out now!

Now that the new Microsoft Planner has fully rolled out to Microsoft Teams, we are excited to announce that starting this week Copilot in Planner (preview) is rolling out to users with a Project Plan 3 or Project Plan 5 license.

With the power of generative AI, Copilot in Planner streamlines the planning, management, and execution of your work, keeping you informed as you achieve your goals. Copilot in Planner helps teams transform the way they work and collaborate on projects together. Learn more and try it today:

• Copilot in Planner (preview) begins roll out to the new Microsoft Planner in Teams
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/planner-blog/copilot-in-planner-preview-begins-roll-out-to-the-new-microsoft/ba-p/4119094

We recently published a FREE special 20-module on-demand video training course, “DP-100 Designing and Implementing a Data Science solution on Azure”, where instructors were video-recorded for all modules.

Learn how to operate machine learning solutions at cloud scale using Azure Machine Learning. This course teaches you to leverage your existing knowledge of Python and machine learning to manage data ingestion and preparation, model training and deployment, and machine learning solution monitoring with Azure Machine Learning and MLflow.

All video recorded modules for “DP-100 Designing and Implementing a Data Science solution on Azure” are available below:

• DP-100 Course Introduction ( 1 of 20 )
• DP-100 Design a Machine Learning solution ( 2 of 20 )
• DP-100 Explore Azure Machine Learning workspace resources and assets ( 3 of 20 )
• DP-100 Explore developer tools for workspace interaction ( 4 of 20 )
• DP-100 Make data available in Azure Machine Learning ( 5 of 20 )
• DP-100 Work with compute targets in Azure Machine Learning ( 6 of 20 )
• DP-100 Work with environmnets in Azure Machine Learning ( 7 of 20 )
• DP-100 Explore data with the Azure Machine Learning Designer Train and compare models with the Azure Machine Learning Designer ( 8 of 20 )
• DP-100 Find the best classification model with Automated Machine Learning ( 9 of 20 )
• DP-100 Explore Automate Machine Learning ( 10 of 20 )
• DP-100 Track model training in Jupyter notebooks with Mlflow ( 11 of 20 )
• DP-100 Run a training script as a command job in Azure Machine Learning ( 12 of 20 )
• DP-100 Track model training with MLFlow in jobs ( 13 of 20 )
• DP-100 Run pipelines in Azure Machine Learning ( 14 of 20 )
• DP-100 Perform Hyperparameter tuning with Azure Machine Learning ( 15 of 20 )
• DP-100 Register an Mlflow model in Azure Machine Learning ( 16 of 20 )
• DP-100 Manage and compare models in Azure Machine Learning ( 17 of 20 )
• DP-100 Deploy a model to a managed online endpoint ( 18 of 20 )
• DP-100 Deploy a model to a batch endpoint ( 19 of 20 )
• DP-100 Design a machine learning (MLOps) solution ( 20 of 20 )

Additionally, you may find written versions of this course located at: Course DP-100T01-A: Designing and implementing a data science solution on Azure – Training | Microsoft Learn

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM).¹  We believe our position in the Leaders quadrant validates our vision and continued investments in Microsoft Sentinel making it a best-in-class, cloud-native SIEM solution.

In addition, we are honored to be recognized for our Completeness of Vision. We feel this reflects our deep commitment to listening and delivering on our customer’s security priorities, like the need to simplify operations, rapidly disrupt cyberthreats, and supercharge the security operations center (SOC). In a significant step, we have launched the unified security operations platform, a single experience across security information and event management (SIEM), extended detection and response (XDR), and Microsoft Copilot for Security.

Microsoft Sentinel is enriched by AI, automation, and Microsoft’s deep understanding of the threat landscape, empowering defenders to hunt and resolve critical threats at machine speed. Our comprehensive solution works seamlessly across multiple clouds, platforms, and security stacks offering many out-of-the-box connectors and customizable content to effectively protect the entire digital estate at scale. Leveraging our capabilities, customers have seen up to 234% return on investment (ROI) over a three-year period and have reduced costs as much as 44%by discontinuing legacy SIEM solutions.² 

Read about how Microsoft is on a mission to modernize security operations, enabling analysts to act swiftly and more efficiently with a robust, cost-optimized, and intuitive solution.

• Microsoft is a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/05/13/microsoft-is-again-named-a-leader-in-the-2024-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-security-information-and-event-management/

Did you know if you have a “Teams Premium” add-on license, there is a new feature that enables you to apply AI-generated backgrounds depending on your preferences?

It’s a new button that should show up under “Video effects” if your account has a Teams Premium license. Simply select “Decorate” and apply any number of AI-generated effects:

• Clean up: Tidies up your surroundings, removing clutter and creating a more streamlined and minimalistic aesthetic.
• Fancy: Incorporates lavish and elegant decorative elements, like wallpaper, candles, and chandeliers.
• Greenhouse: Adds plants and greenery into your space.
• Celebration: Includes festive decorations like balloons, streamers, and lighting.
• Surprise me: Cycles through a variety of styles and themes to transform your space, including 2D animation, underwater, a block-style design reminiscent of Minecraft, and a space shuttle theme.

For more information, read the announcement blog:

• Decorate your background – How generative AI backgrounds work, and why you might want to use them
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/decorate-your-background-how-generative-ai-backgrounds-work-and/ba-p/4132806

We recently published a FREE special 10-module on-demand video training course, “DP-203 Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure”, where instructors were video-recorded for all modules.

In this course, the student will learn how to implement and manage data engineering workloads on Microsoft Azure, using Azure services such as Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Databricks, and others. The course focuses on common data engineering tasks such as orchestrating data transfer and transformation pipelines, working with data files in a data lake, creating and loading relational data warehouses, capturing and aggregating streams of real-time data, and tracking data assets and lineage.

All video recorded modules for “DP-203 Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure” are available below:

• DP-203 Course Introduction ( 1 of 10 )
• DP-203 Getting started with Data Engineering on Azure ( 2 of 10 )
• DP-203 Build data analytics solutions using Azure Synapse Analytics serverless SQL pools ( 3 of 10 )
• DP-203 Perform data engineering with Azure Synapse Apache Spark Pools ( 4 of 10 )
• DP-203 Work with data warehouses using Azure Synapse Analytics ( 5 of 10 )
• DP-203 Transfer and transform data with Azure Synapse Analytics Pipelines ( 6 of 10 )
• DP-203 Work with hybrid transactional and analytical processing (HTAP) Solutions using Azure Synapse Analytics ( 7 of 10 )
• DP-203 Implement a data streaming solution with Azure Stream Analytics ( 8 of 10 )
• DP-203 Govern data across an enterprise ( 9 of 10 )
• DP-203 Data engineering with Azure Databricks ( 10 of 10 )

Additionally, you may find written versions of this course located at: Course DP-203T00-A: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure – Training | Microsoft Learn