“Logic placed correctly is logic that survives its original author.”
Technical debt in a Power Platform solution is almost always a logic problem. Not because the logic was wrong at build time — it usually worked. But because it was placed where it was convenient rather than where it belonged. When the business requirement changed, the logic could not be found, understood, or safely modified.
The Logic Placement Framework
Logic belongs where it is most durable, most discoverable, and most maintainable.
Data-layer rules — validation, defaults, calculated fields — belong in Dataverse, where they are enforced at the record level regardless of which app or flow touches the data. Orchestration logic belongs in flows, where it is visible and auditable. Presentation logic belongs in the canvas app, scoped to the interface it serves. Configuration that changes between environments belongs in environment variables — never hardcoded.
What Power Platform Provides
Dataverse business rules for data-layer enforcement. Power Fx for canvas app logic. Cloud flows for process orchestration. Environment variables for configuration that varies by environment. Calculated and rollup columns for aggregate logic that belongs in the data model. Solution layers for managing logic changes through application lifecycle management without rebuilding.
The Enterprise Gap
The most common logic gap is configuration embedded in flow conditions as hardcoded values. When the configuration needs to change — a threshold, an email address, a system URL — the flow needs to be edited, tested, and redeployed. Environment variables exist precisely to avoid this.
One Action
Audit the ten most-used flows in the current estate for hardcoded configuration values. For each one found, replace it with an environment variable. This is a one-time remediation that makes every subsequent change to those flows significantly faster and safer.
Part 23 of 36 | #PowerPlatformAtScale
The full logic placement framework, including the decision guide and solution layer model, are in the book.