A new era has dawned for Microsoft Dataverse users as the platform introduces Prompt Columns—an innovative feature that infuses generative AI directly into the heart of business data. Announced in public preview, this capability allows organizations to transform how they process, enrich, and act on data, all from within Dataverse tables. For business leaders, developers, and Power Platform enthusiasts, Prompt Columns represent a leap toward context-aware, AI-powered automation that demands no complex coding or integration with external services.
Microsoft Dataverse has steadily positioned itself as a core data backbone for Power Platform’s suite—including Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI. Trusted for its security, governance, and scalability, Dataverse’s evolution has consistently trended toward deeper integration with cutting-edge functionalities like artificial intelligence. Prompt Columns mark a significant milestone in this journey, providing a native, code-free avenue to bring generative AI to custom business applications.
As feedback from the preview is processed, future improvements are anticipated to include:
The feature’s public preview offers a unique opportunity for experimentation and feedback, shaping a future where data platforms not only store and organize information but actively assist, interpret, and drive meaningful business outcomes.
As generative AI matures and Dataverse’s intelligent capabilities deepen, the boundary between data and decision-making will continue to blur. Prompt columns ensure that AI works where your data lives—empowering every organization to make smarter, faster, and more contextually relevant decisions in an ever-accelerating digital world.
Source: Microsoft Enrich Your Dataverse Tables Using AI Prompt Columns - Microsoft Power Platform Blog
Background
Microsoft Dataverse has steadily positioned itself as a core data backbone for Power Platform’s suite—including Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI. Trusted for its security, governance, and scalability, Dataverse’s evolution has consistently trended toward deeper integration with cutting-edge functionalities like artificial intelligence. Prompt Columns mark a significant milestone in this journey, providing a native, code-free avenue to bring generative AI to custom business applications.What Is a Prompt Column?
A Prompt Column within Dataverse is a specialized data field designed to hold textual prompts for generative AI models. Each prompt column can be configured to reference other table columns, letting users dynamically build instructions such as summarizing responses, extracting entities, or generating text content based on stored records. When a prompt is executed, its input (which can reference static text or other data fields) is processed by Microsoft’s AI underlying the Power Platform, and the resulting output is stored directly into the prompt column for immediate use.Key Characteristics
- No Code Required: Prompts are written in plain language, eliminating barriers for non-developers.
- First-Class Data Integration: AI responses become directly available within your data model—usable in apps, workflows, queries, and reports.
- Customizable Business Logic: Prompts can reference one or multiple fields, making them adaptable to virtually any scenario.
- Secure and Governed: As a native Dataverse feature, prompt columns inherit Dataverse’s security, data loss prevention, and governance controls.
How Prompt Columns Transform the Data Experience
Prompt columns promise to reshape how businesses interact with their data by enabling richer, faster, and more context-aware responses. Instead of exporting data to external AI services or writing and maintaining custom scripts, organizations can now harness generative AI to deliver intelligent outputs within their existing Power Platform ecosystem.- Customer Support: Automatically generate suggested responses to customer inquiries logged in Dataverse, dramatically improving support speed and consistency.
- Content Creation: Draft marketing materials, articles, or executive summaries directly based on structured or unstructured data held within a table.
- Data Analysis: Summarize customer feedback, classify sentiment, or extract actionable insights from text-heavy records.
- Workflow Automation: Trigger business processes—such as reporting, scheduling, or even compliance checks—by leveraging AI-generated outputs as workflow inputs.
Getting Started with Prompt Columns
The public preview makes it straightforward for organizations to begin integrating prompt columns into their existing Dataverse implementations.- Access: Navigate to Power Apps Studio at make.powerapps.com.
- Table Preparation: Open or create a Dataverse table suited to your business need.
- Add the Prompt Column: Create a new column, selecting “Prompt (preview)” as the data type.
- Define the Prompt: Write the AI prompt, referencing one or more existing columns to contextualize the model’s response.
- Test and Refine: Review the AI-generated outputs and adjust prompts as necessary for improved accuracy and relevance.
Real-World Use Cases and Advantages
Customer Support Automation
Automated support responses have historically relied on rigid templates, rule-based triggers, or external AI integrations that often require costly development and complex maintenance. With prompt columns, organizations can dynamically generate, classify, or recommend replies using the customer’s actual request data in real time—directly inside Dataverse. This results in:- Faster, context-aware ticket handling
- Reduced manual effort and response errors
- Extensible AI logic, customizable by support managers or analysts
Streamlined Content Generation
For industries reliant on up-to-date communication—such as finance, marketing, or legal—prompt columns empower teams to auto-generate document drafts, product descriptions, or compliance summaries using existing business data. This expands Dataverse’s value as a central knowledge hub by:- Reducing content creation time
- Maintaining up-to-date and consistent messaging
- Allowing non-technical users to shape AI behaviors without external tools
Enhanced Data Analysis and Classification
From analyzing sentiment trends in customer feedback to classifying incident reports by urgency or extracting key data points for compliance, prompt columns provide a user-friendly interface for applying advanced AI tasks across records. Notable benefits include:- Democratizing access to AI-powered insights
- Reducing the need for machine learning expertise
- Accelerating decision-making with actionable information generated on demand
Business Workflow Integration
Whether automating status updates, drafting personalized notifications, or triggering escalations based on content analysis, prompt columns plug seamlessly into Power Platform workflows. AI-generated responses can serve as triggers, record updates, or decision points that multiply the automation value of Power Automate, reducing latency and boosting efficiency.Security, Governance, and Trust Considerations
A critical advantage of prompt columns lies in their deep integration with existing Dataverse features for security, compliance, and data governance. Organizations benefit from:- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Prompts, their inputs, and AI-generated outputs are subject to the same robust access controls as all other Dataverse data.
- Audit and Traceability: All changes—including prompt adjustments and generated outputs—can be audited for compliance, enabling transparent oversight in regulated environments.
- Consistent Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Since prompt columns are native, they respect defined DLP policies, reducing the risk of sensitive data leaks to external AI services.
Limitations and Risks in the Public Preview
The public preview phase serves to surface both the impressive capabilities and the current limits of prompt columns. As the feature is explored by real-world users, several areas warrant careful consideration:- Model Limitations: Generative AI can occasionally introduce hallucinations (incorrect or fabricated information), particularly when interpreting ambiguous prompts or data.
- Data Privacy Regulations: Organizations must assess how AI-generated content aligns with internal privacy policies and legal guidelines, especially when information is synthesized from multiple sources.
- Performance Variability: Latency and throughput may fluctuate during early stages, depending on Microsoft’s AI service loads and underlying infrastructure maturity.
- Changing API Stability: As a preview feature, prompt columns may undergo rapid changes—potentially affecting functionality, syntax, or integration points without prior notice.
Best Practices for Harnessing Prompt Columns
Success with prompt columns depends on well-considered implementation strategies. Early adopters report the following best practices yield the most value:- Start Simple: Begin with clear, unambiguous prompts to benchmark AI performance before scaling to more complex business logic.
- Iterate Quickly: Use Dataverse’s built-in feedback and test mechanisms to refine prompt performance against actual data and scenarios.
- Integrate with Existing Workflows: Leverage Power Automate to trigger downstream processes from AI-generated outputs for end-to-end automation.
- Guardrails for Sensitive Scenarios: In use cases dealing with critical business data, implement manual review steps before taking action on AI-suggested outputs.
- Involve Business Users: Allow subject matter experts to co-author prompts, bringing front-line insight into AI model configuration.
The Road Ahead: AI Native to the Power Platform
Prompt columns set the stage for more pervasive and accessible AI throughout Microsoft’s business solutions ecosystem. The Power Platform’s vision is clear: lower the technical barriers to digital transformation by embedding intelligence directly within the tools non-developers use daily.As feedback from the preview is processed, future improvements are anticipated to include:
- Broader AI model selections and options for controlling model behavior
- Deeper analytics and monitoring of AI prompt performance
- Enhanced security controls and richer auditing capabilities
- Expanded integration scenarios across Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and third-party applications
Conclusion
Microsoft’s introduction of Prompt Columns for Dataverse is a transformational move toward democratizing advanced AI across business applications. By embedding generative AI directly into the data model—without the need for coding or external services—organizations can rapidly elevate support, content creation, analysis, and automation efforts with unprecedented simplicity.The feature’s public preview offers a unique opportunity for experimentation and feedback, shaping a future where data platforms not only store and organize information but actively assist, interpret, and drive meaningful business outcomes.
As generative AI matures and Dataverse’s intelligent capabilities deepen, the boundary between data and decision-making will continue to blur. Prompt columns ensure that AI works where your data lives—empowering every organization to make smarter, faster, and more contextually relevant decisions in an ever-accelerating digital world.
Source: Microsoft Enrich Your Dataverse Tables Using AI Prompt Columns - Microsoft Power Platform Blog
