As I continued building my Microsoft 365 lab environment, I wanted to move beyond administration tasks and
begin building more integrated solutions. Many of the projects I had worked on up to that point focused on
Microsoft 365, SharePoint Online, Entra ID, and Power Platform technologies. Azure Functions presented an
opportunity to extend those capabilities even further.
The goal of the project was relatively simple. I wanted a reusable service that could retrieve information
about users from Entra ID using Microsoft Graph and make that information available to other solutions,
particularly Power Automate.
The project started with the creation of an Azure Function App. Although I was familiar with the underlying
concepts, this was my first opportunity to build and deploy an Azure Function as part of a larger
solution.
Once the Function App existed, the next step was creating an application identity that could securely
communicate with Microsoft Graph. An App Registration in Microsoft Entra ID provided that identity and
allowed the Azure Function to authenticate without relying on a user account.
With the Function App and App Registration in place, I created the project using Visual Studio Code and
began building the functionality required to query Microsoft Graph for user information.
One of the valuable lessons from the project involved environment variables. Rather than hardcoding values
into the application, information such as the Tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret were stored as
configuration settings and referenced by the function when needed.
At first, it seemed like a small detail. The more I worked with the solution, however, the more I
appreciated how much easier configuration and maintenance become when sensitive values are separated from
the application code.
After configuring the required settings, the Azure Function was deployed and tested successfully. The
function authenticated to Microsoft Graph, retrieved user information, and returned the results as
expected.
The function worked, but the most interesting part of the project came afterward.
Rather than calling Microsoft Graph manually from a browser, I connected Power Automate to the
Azure Function endpoint. Power Automate could submit a request to the function and receive the user
information it needed in return.
What began as a learning exercise quickly became a reusable component that could support future automation
projects. Instead of solving a single problem, I had built something that could be used repeatedly across
multiple solutions.
That shift in thinking turned out to be one of the most valuable outcomes of the entire project.
The project provided hands-on experience with Azure Functions, App Registrations, Microsoft Graph
authentication, environment variables, deployment processes, and Power Automate integration. More
importantly, it demonstrated how these services can work together to create practical solutions.
Looking back, the individual tasks were not especially difficult. The challenge was understanding how all of
the components fit together. Azure Functions, Microsoft Graph, Entra ID, and Power Automate each make sense
independently. Connecting them into a complete solution was where the real learning occurred.
The biggest takeaway from the project wasn't that I deployed an Azure Function or connected to Microsoft
Graph.
The biggest takeaway was realizing how powerful the Microsoft ecosystem becomes once its services begin
working together. A function becomes an API. An app registration becomes a trusted identity. Power Automate
becomes a consumer of reusable services. Individual technologies become part of a larger solution.
What started as an Azure Function project ended up becoming a practical lesson in solution building,
automation, and integrating cloud services into something greater than the individual parts. 🐦🐦