Andrew Welch

Field Blends is a story of the world as it is today, contemplation to the intersection of modernity, technology, culture, and the people, pasts, and communities that give each of us roots. In socially and civically trying times, Field Blends follows an odd group of twenty and thirty-somethings from around the world as they meander through Europe, dropping in and out of one another’s journeys, before returning to New York only to be faced with heartbreak that none of them expected.

Told… Show more

Field Blends is a story of the world as it is today, contemplation to the intersection of modernity, technology, culture, and the people, pasts, and communities that give each of us roots. In socially and civically trying times, Field Blends follows an odd group of twenty and thirty-somethings from around the world as they meander through Europe, dropping in and out of one another’s journeys, before returning to New York only to be faced with heartbreak that none of them expected.

Told through the eyes of those friends—and often seen through the lens of the wine they drink—in the tumult of love and self doubt, against the backdrop of an ever-changing world, Field Blends seeks reconciliation of life amongst the monuments, hideaways, and progressive thought of great American and European cities with memories of hometowns, mother countries, and family. It is both joyful of the world’s beauties and melancholy of its present failures. Show less

We're introducing some new ideas--and new ways of thinking about existing concepts--as we enter the Power Platform Adoption Framework's second year. As a "framework", we're committed to broadly applicable best practices for adoption at scale, not to being a technical manual. We're encouraging organizations to create playbooks (literally or figuratively) that complement our shared "framework" with organization-specific technical considerations.

Moving forward we will continue to focus on… Show more

We're introducing some new ideas--and new ways of thinking about existing concepts--as we enter the Power Platform Adoption Framework's second year. As a "framework", we're committed to broadly applicable best practices for adoption at scale, not to being a technical manual. We're encouraging organizations to create playbooks (literally or figuratively) that complement our shared "framework" with organization-specific technical considerations.

Moving forward we will continue to focus on openness with the community so that the framework can truly be a globally-inspired collection of best practices for adopting Power Platform at scale. This is reflected both in the ongoing work on GitHub, and in the publisher's de-emphasis on marketing branding in the official second edition white paper. We’ll honor this focus by featuring the world’s great Power Platform community cities on the cover of the official release white papers, beginning with London on the cover of the second edition.

Power Platform is a first-class citizen in the cloud transformation journey. Indeed, the platform exists alongside Azure and Microsoft 365 as one of Microsoft's "three clouds". We increasingly see this trend at forward-thinking organizations in some of the most complex or regulated sectors. They are realizing that Power Platform is an enterprise-grade platform for enterprise-grade workloads. Show less

The Power Platform Adoption Framework is the start-to-finish approach for adopting the platform at scale.

More and more organizations are transforming their business in the cloud. They are modernizing legacy enterprise applications with enterprise-grade capabilities such as Microsoft’s Common Data Service (CDS), and they are bringing rogue IT and quasi-apps out of the shadows. Organizations are empowering citizen developers to connect siloed data, engage customers, and drive return on… Show more

The Power Platform Adoption Framework is the start-to-finish approach for adopting the platform at scale.

More and more organizations are transforming their business in the cloud. They are modernizing legacy enterprise applications with enterprise-grade capabilities such as Microsoft’s Common Data Service (CDS), and they are bringing rogue IT and quasi-apps out of the shadows. Organizations are empowering citizen developers to connect siloed data, engage customers, and drive return on investment (ROI) with robust solutions in PowerApps, Power BI, Flow, the CDS, and Dynamics 365.

Mature organizations understand that rigor, discipline, and best practices are required to fully adopt the platform at scale. Show less

While COTS and high-cost / high control custom developed applications have a place in an enterprise, both are being eclipsed by a modern, best-of-both-worlds approach known as Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS). aPaaS is a modern, cloud-based construct that allows organizations to:

• Build applications iteratively
• Provision app software instantly
• Scale apps on-demand
• Integrate with other services

Microsoft has developed this aPaaS concept as the Microsoft… Show more

While COTS and high-cost / high control custom developed applications have a place in an enterprise, both are being eclipsed by a modern, best-of-both-worlds approach known as Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS). aPaaS is a modern, cloud-based construct that allows organizations to:

• Build applications iteratively
• Provision app software instantly
• Scale apps on-demand
• Integrate with other services

Microsoft has developed this aPaaS concept as the Microsoft Power Platform, an end-to-end business application platform that includes the Common Data Service, PowerApps, Power BI, and Flow technologies, and now underpins the Dynamics 365 applications (formerly called “CRM”) that many organizations already know. Together, these technologies fulfill the promises of aPaaS, enabling business and technology partners to:

• Rapidly create custom, containerized, no-code / low-code applications that meet different business and user group needs;
• Integrate all data natively on the platform – no custom components required – and make that data available to any other application;
• Employ “No Cliffs” development with tools that are easily extensible by professional developers and readily integrated with Azure cloud services. Show less

Coast to coast, AUP is actively engaged supporting Coast Guard operational administrative requirements, providing trained crews to enhance the safety of our nation's waters, and promoting and improving recreational boating safety. Students, staff, and affiliated members also work at the cutting edge of Coast Guard innovation, research and development, and high level strategic needs that make AUP one of the Coast Guard's key long-term strategic assets.

Flotilla Northern Virginia is an exceptional example of the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s passion for operational excellence, commitment to quality and shared devotion to duty. Their “shipmates” have an extraordinary story of devotion to duty in operations and mission support, standing a watch far beyond what is expected of them as volunteers, rendering assistance to over 100 of their countrymen in the last year. They are heroes. They are big, extraordinary thinkers. They are doing remarkable things.

College students Nick Zaremba and Will Singletary have much in common bond. Both are Coast Guard Auxiliarists, one is also a Coast Guard reservist. One recently graduated from one of the nation's oldest liberal arts colleges while the other enters his final year at a historic military college. Both have grown up in the Coast Guard on small boats, and both came to the service through Auxiliary University Programs (AUP). Both are pioneering leaders for the next generation of Coast Guardsmen.