DEPLOYING WINDOWS 10 APPLICATION CONTROL POLICY

by Contributed | Jun 25, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Dear IT Pros,

Today we discuss about All things about WDAC – Windows Defender Application Control.

WDAC was introduced with Windows 10 and could be applied to Windows server 2016 and later, its older name is Configurable Code Integrity (CCI). WDAC allows organizations to control which drivers and applications are allowed to run on devices.

• Windows Server 2016/2019 or anything before version 1903 only support legacy policies (aka 1 policy in place)


• Windows Server Core edition does support WDAC but some components that depends on AppLocker won’t work

WDAC policies apply to the managed computer as a whole and affects all users of the device. WDAC rules can be defined based on:

• Attributes of the codesigning certificate(s) used to sign an app and its binaries


• Attributes of the app’s binaries that come from the signed metadata for the files, such as Original Filename and version, or the hash of the file


• The reputation of the app as determined by Microsoft’s Intelligent Security Graph


• The identity of the process that initiated the installation of the app and its binaries (managed installer)


• The Folder or File path from which the app or file is launched (beginning with Windows 10 version 1903)


• The process that launched the app or binary

Multiple Policies and Supplemental Policy.

Beginning with Windows 10 version 1903, Windows server 2022, WDAC supports up to 32 active policies on a device at once. The following scenarios are supported:

• Enforce and Audit Side-by-Side


• Multiple Base Policies, users can enforce two or more base policies simultaneously in order to allow simpler policy targeting for policies with different scope/intent.


• If two base policies exist on a device, an application has to be allowed by both to run


• Supplemental Policies, users can deploy one or more supplemental policies to expand a base policy. For supplemental policies, applications that are allowed by either the base policy or its supplemental policy/policies are allowed to run

PLANNING.

Implementing application control can have unintended consequences, plan your deployment carefully.

• Decide what devices you will manage with WDAC and split them into deployment rings: Test, UAT and Prod ring, so you can control the scale of the deployment and respond if anything goes wrong.


• All WDAC policy changes should be deployed in audit mode before proceeding to enforcement. Carefully monitor events from devices where the policy has been deployed to ensure the block events you observe match your expectation before broadening the deployment to other deployment rings.


• If your organization uses Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, you can use the Advanced Hunting feature to centrally monitor WDAC-related events. Otherwise, we recommend using an event log forwarding solution to collect relevant events from your managed endpoints.


• Leverage medatada in the policies (version, policyID, description, etc) to keep track of which policies applied to what group of devices in production.

Options For WDAC Policy Creation:

The creation of an WDAC Policy depends on the level of restriction you may want to apply to your target devices. You could start with a pre-built template of Windows 10:

• You could use WDAC Wizard to view and customize the allow or deny rules applied to different applications.


• Every WDAC policy is created with audit mode enabled by default. After you have successfully deployed and tested a WDAC policy in audit mode and are ready to test the policy in enforced mode, use WDAC Wizard to turn off Audit mode this will make the WDAC Policy become Enforced mode. You also could use command in an elevated Windows PowerShell session to make WDAC Policy in Enforced mode:
  
  
  
  • Ensure that rule options 9 (“Advanced Boot Options Menu”) and 10 (“Boot Audit on Failure”) are set the way that you intend for this policy. We strongly recommend that you enable these rule options before you run any enforced policy for the first time. Enabling these options provides administrators with a pre-boot command prompt and allows Windows to start even if the WDAC policy blocks a kernel-mode driver from running. When ready for enterprise deployment, you can remove these options.
  
  
  • To ensure that these options are enabled in a policy, use Set-RuleOption as shown in the following commands. You can run these commands even if you’re not sure whether options 9 and 10 are already enabled—if so, the commands have no effect.
  
  
  
  

> Set-RuleOption -FilePath InitialCIPolicy -Option 9

> Set-RuleOption -FilePath InitialCIPolicy -Option 10                         

•  Copy the initial file to maintain an original copy:

> copy InitialCIPolicy.xml EnforcedCIPolicy.xml

• Use Set-RuleOption to delete the audit mode rule option:

> Set-RuleOption -FilePath EnforcedCIPolicy.xml -Option 3 -Delete

 Note

To enforce a WDAC policy, you delete option 3, the Audit Mode Enabled option. There is no “enforced” option in a WDAC policy.

• Use ConvertFrom-CIPolicy to convert the new WDAC policy to binary format:

> ConvertFrom-CIPolicy EnforcedCIPolicy.xml EnforcedCIPolicy.bin

• Now that this policy is in enforced mode, you can deploy it to your test computers. Rename the policy to SIPolicy.p7b and copy it to C:WindowsSystem32CodeIntegrity for testing, or deploy the policy through Group Policy by following the instructions in Deploy and manage Windows Defender Application Control with Group Policy. You can also use other client management software to deploy and manage the policy.


• Windows Defender Application Control policy – policy rule options

WDAC – policy rule options
Rule option	Description	WDAC Wizard Icon
0 Enabled:UMCI	WDAC policies restrict both kernel-mode and user-mode binaries. By default, only kernel-mode binaries are restricted. Enabling this rule option validates user mode executables and scripts.
1 Enabled:Boot Menu Protection	This option is not currently supported.
2 Required:WHQL	By default, legacy drivers that are not Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) signed are allowed to execute. Enabling this rule requires that every executed driver is WHQL signed and removes legacy driver support. Kernel drivers built for Windows 10 should be WHQL certified.
3 Enabled:Audit Mode (Default)	Instructs WDAC to log information about applications, binaries, and scripts that would have been blocked if the policy was enforced. You can use this option to identify the potential impact of your WDAC policy, and use the audit events to refine the policy before enforcement. To enforce a WDAC policy, delete this option.
4 Disabled:Flight Signing	If enabled, WDAC policies will not trust flightroot-signed binaries. This option would be used by organizations that only want to run released binaries, not pre-release Windows builds.
5 Enabled:Inherit Default Policy	This option is reserved for future use and currently has no effect.
6 Enabled:Unsigned System Integrity Policy (Default)	Allows the policy to remain unsigned. When this option is removed, the policy must be signed and the certificates that are trusted for future policy updates must be identified in the UpdatePolicySigners section.
7 Allowed:Debug Policy Augmented	This option is not currently supported.
8 Required:EV Signers	This rule requires that drivers must be WHQL signed and have been submitted by a partner with an Extended Verification (EV) certificate. All Windows 10 and later drivers will meet this requirement.
9 Enabled:Advanced Boot Options Menu	The F8 preboot menu is disabled by default for all WDAC policies. Setting this rule option allows the F8 menu to appear to physically present users.
10 Enabled:Boot Audit on Failure	Used when the WDAC policy is in enforcement mode. When a driver fails during startup, the WDAC policy will be placed in audit mode so that Windows will be able to load at boot.
11 Disabled:Script Enforcement	This option disables script enforcement options. Unsigned PowerShell scripts and interactive PowerShell are no longer restricted to Constrained Language Mode. NOTE: This option is supported on 1709, 1803, and 1809 builds with the 2019 10C LCU or higher, and on devices with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903) and higher. Using it on versions of Windows 10 without the proper update may have unintended results.
12 Required:Enforce Store Applications	WDAC policies will also apply to Universal Windows applications. (Microsoft Store App)
13 Enabled:Managed Installer	Use this option to automatically allow applications installed by a managed installer. For more information, see Authorize apps deployed with a WDAC managed installer
14 Enabled:Intelligent Security Graph Authorization	Use this option to automatically allow applications with “known good” reputation as defined by Microsoft’s Intelligent Security Graph (ISG).
15 Enabled:Invalidate EAs on Reboot	When the Intelligent Security Graph option (14) is used, WDAC sets an extended file attribute that indicates that the file was authorized to run. This option will cause WDAC to periodically revalidate the reputation for files that were authorized by the ISG upon Windows reboot.
16 Enabled:Update Policy No Reboot	Use this option to allow future WDAC policy updates to apply without requiring a system reboot. NOTE: This option is only supported on Windows 10, version 1709, and above.
17 Enabled:Allow Supplemental Policies	Use this option on a base policy to allow supplemental policies to expand it. NOTE: This option is only supported on Windows 10, version 1903, and above.
18 Disabled:Runtime FilePath Rule Protection	This option disables the default runtime check that only allows FilePath rules for paths that are only writable by an administrator. NOTE: This option is only supported on Windows 10, version 1903, and above.
19 Enabled:Dynamic Code Security	Enables policy enforcement for .NET applications and dynamically loaded libraries. NOTE: This option is only supported on Windows 10, version 1803, and above.

USING WDAC WIZARD TO CREATE POLICY

Steps to proceed with creating the WDAC Policy by Wizard:

• Download WDAC Wizard and install it.

The WDAC Wizard has 3 options for creating, modifying or merge 2 WDAC policies as shown here:

• Create WDAC policy by Wizard

You could create single base policy or multiple base policy or supplemental policies.

• To download the WDAC Wizard: Microsoft WDAC Wizard (webapp-wdac-wizard.azurewebsites.net)

• Launch the WDAC Wizard and choose Single Policy Format


• Choose the Template named “Signed and Reputable Mode” for Microsoft and 3^rd party Vendor Applications.


• Typing name for WDAC policy and directory location as shown:

• Choose the option for policy:

• Next, Adding Custom rule,
  
  
  
  • Rule type: Choose how to identify the application by publisher name, by path to application executable file or folder, by File attributes, by Packaged App, by File
  
  
  
  

Hash:

– Custom Rule by Publisher:

Enter the executable file of the related Publisher for the Wizard to collect the Publisher Sign in Code:

– Custom Rule by File Attribute

Checking the box “Use Custom Values” and Use the glider to choose the attribute as shown here

– Custom Rule by Package App (UWP)

Packaged apps, also known as Universal Windows apps, are based on a model that ensures all the files within an app package share the same identity.

• To get a list of packaged apps run on a device, run command: 

> Get-AppxPackage | ft

Typing the Package Name to the Wizard under “Package Name” and click Search button as shown:

• Custom Rule by File Hash

You could add multiple file hash separated by comma with Custom rule or use the browser button and specify the file:

• Custom Rule by Folder Path or File Path:

• Create Rule

• Make sure to let WDAC Wizard to create the binary file if you need it in Settings – “Convert policy to binary after xml creation” as shown in the following:

• Next, Wizard will build the WDAC Policy in xml format. You could close the Wizard once it finishes the task.

• Run Powershell, cd to the location of WDAC Policy


• Convert .xml policy to binary: 

> ConvertFrom-CIPolicy .SignedReputable052621.xml SignedReputable052621.bin

• Applying WDAC binary policy to targeted device by GPO or Local Group Policy:

• Result:   After reboot the windows 10 device the first time (needed only once) for WDAC Policy to be applied. We could test the access.

To Generate new WDAC Policy from current Audit Policy

While a WDAC policy is running in audit mode, any application that runs but are supposed to be  denied according to WDAC Audit Policy, is logged in the 

Applications and Services LogsMicrosoftWindowsCodeIntegrityOperational event log. Script and MSI are logged in the 

Applications and Services LogsMicrosoftWindowsAppLockerMSI and Script event log. These events can be used to generate a new WDAC policy that can be merged with the original Base policy or deployed as a separate Supplemental policy, if allowed.

You must have already deployed a WDAC audit mode policy to use this process.

• To generate new policy from current one by Powershell:

1. In an elevated PowerShell session, run the following commands to initialize variables used by this procedure. This procedure builds upon the Lamna_FullyManagedClients_Audit.xml policy introduced in Create a WDAC policy for fully managed devices and will produce a new policy called EventsPolicy.xml.

PowerShell

$PolicyName= “Lamna_FullyManagedClients_Audit”

$LamnaPolicy=$env:userprofile+”Desktop”+$PolicyName+”.xml”

$EventsPolicy=$env:userprofile+”DesktopEventsPolicy.xml”

$EventsPolicyWarnings=$env:userprofile+”DesktopEventsPolicyWarnings.txt”

2. Use New-CIPolicy to generate a new WDAC policy from logged audit events. This example uses a FilePublisher file rule level and a Hash fallback level. Warning messages are redirected to a text file EventsPolicyWarnings.txt.

PowerShell

> New-CIPolicy -FilePath $EventsPolicy -Audit -Level FilePublisher -Fallback Hash –UserPEs -Mul

More detail here.

• To generate new policy from current one by WDAC Wizard:


• Run the WDAC Wizard, Policy Editor


• Enter the Event log and click “Parse…”

• When get the prompt, click OK, Next

• Next, … and close the Wizard after policy is created.

To Create Suplemental Policy from a base policy by WDAC Wizard

• Run WDAC Wizard from Windows Start Menu.


• Choose Policy Creator mode


• Click Multiple Policy Format


• Choose Supplemental Policy


• Browse to Supplemental Policy location


• Browse to Base Policy location

• Next, Create policy and close the Wizard.

DEPLOYING WDAC POLICY

There are 4 ways to deploy WDAC:

• Deploy WDAC Policy by script

To activate the WDAC Policy binary file to WMI repository.

• Script-based deployment process for Windows 10 version 1903 and above


• Script-based deployment process for Windows 10 versions earlier than 1903

• Another option is using Github AaronLocker Script, You can easily customize rules for your specific requirements with simple text-file edits. AaronLocker includes scripts that document AppLocker and WDAC policies and capture event data into Excel workbooks that facilitate analysis and policy maintenance. AaronLocker is designed to restrict program and script execution by non-administrative users.

• Deploying WDAC Policy by GPO for Domain’s devices.

Group Policy-based deployment of WDAC policies only supports single-policy format WDAC policies. To deploy multiple policy for Windows 10 version 1903 and later, you will need to use other deploying mechanisms.

You can copy the WDAC policies to a file share to which all computer accounts have access, e.g: NYCCL1WDACAllowMSAppEnforcedV3.bin:

• Regardless of the type of policy you deploy (.bin, .p7b, or .p7), they are all converted to SIPolicy.b7p in directory WindowsSystem32CodeIntegrity when WDAC is applied to Client Windows 10

• For multiple policies, they are in {Policy GUID}.cip policy files found in the WindowsSystem32CodeIntegrityCIPoliciesActive folder once WDAC Policy is applied to Client Windows 10.

•         Deploying WDAC Policy by MECM (SCCM) for Device Collection.

An Example is shown here:

           > Adding File or Folder path as shown here:

        > Next and Close.

• Deploy WDAC Policy by MDM (Intune)

Intune includes native support for WDAC which can be a helpful starting point, but customers may find the available circle-of-trust options too limiting. To deploy a custom policy through Intune and define your own circle of trust, you can configure a profile using Custom OMA-URI.

An Example:

• OMA-URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/ApplicationControl/Policies/Policy GUID/Policy


• Data type: Base64


• Certificate file: upload your binary format policy file. You do not need to upload a Base64 file, as Intune will convert the uploaded .bin file to Base64 on your behalf.

• Result:

After the first reboot to apply the WDAC Policy, then, only Office 365 applications, and Allowed Applications ( Acrobat DC) are able to run. Others (like Chrome) will be blocked as shown here:

Also, you could download and install applications but you could not run it as shown here:

To Monitor WDAC Events

A Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policy logs events locally in Windows Event Viewer in either enforced or audit mode. These events are generated under two locations:

• Event IDs beginning with 30 appear in Applications and Services logs – Microsoft – Windows – CodeIntegrity – Operational


• Event IDs beginning with 80 appear in Applications and Services logs – Microsoft – Windows – AppLocker – MSI and Script

Microsoft Windows CodeIntegrity Operational log event IDs

Microsoft Windows Applocker MSI and Script log event IDs

Optional Intelligent Security Graph (ISG) or Managed Installer (MI) diagnostic events 3090, 3091, 3092

• The SmartLocker template which appears in the event should indicate why the binary passed/failed. Only one event is generated per binary pass/fail.


• If both ISG and MI are disabled, 3090, 3091, and 3092 events will not be generated.

Enabling ISG and MI diagnostic events

• In order to enable 3091 audit events and 3092 block events, you must create a TestFlags regkey with a value of 0x100.
  
  
  
  • reg add hklmsystemcurrentcontrolsetcontrolci -v TestFlags -t REG_DWORD -d 0x100
  
  
  
  


• In order to enable 3090 allow events as well as 3091 and 3092 events, you must instead create a TestFlags regkey with a value of 0x300.

o    reg add hklmsystemcurrentcontrolsetcontrolci -v TestFlags -t REG_DWORD -d 0x300

WDAC Tips

• Quick WDAC Policy applied to a testing Windows 10 device without GPO or Deployment Mechanism:

To apply the policy immediately,

• copy the {Policy GUID}.cip binary policy created by the WDAC Wizard location to the CodeIntergrity Active Foder in :

             WindowsSystem32CodeIntegrityCIPoliciesActive folder

• Reboot device after copying policy to the above folder.

• To Control Application Installation – Managed Installer:

• Specify managed installers by using the Managed Installer rule collection in AppLocker policy.


• Enable service enforcement in AppLocker policy.


• Enable the managed installer option in a WDAC policy.

Detailed steps as in Microsoft document “Configure a WDAC managed installer (Windows 10)”

• To prevent machine unbootable to Windows OS during WDAC testing period.

The denied rule of WDAC Policy related to system driver may cause a loss of OS on testing device.

In WDAC Wizard’ Settings, please make sure to enable “Boot Audit on Failure” feature, it will automatically switch policy mode from enforcement to audit if the system drivers failed to load due to denied rule of Policy. This will save OS from loss because of driver failure in boot procedure.

To prevent loss of OS :

• On testing device, run WDAC Wizard – Policy Editor


• Select your Policy xml file to open it


• Policy Rules, click Advanced Options as shown here:

• Click to turn on “Boot Audit on Failure”

• Next and close the Wizard.


• In WindowsSystem32CodeIntegrityCIPoliciesActive folder, replace the old .cip policy with new cip policy and reboot the device to apply new WDAC policy.

• To Generate an WDAC rule for Universal App WUA based on package name:


•  Run WDAC Wizard and Create a Custom Rule based on package App as shown here:

• Type a word related name of package e.g: F5


• Search (button)


• Create Rule

To view the name of your package if you do not know the exact name of WUA

• Go to  C:Program FilesWindowsApps


• View your WUA apps ID

      I hope the information is useful for your WDAC deployment. Then, until next time.

Reference:

• Manage packaged apps


• Use Audit Event to create WDAC Policy


• WDAC create packaged app rule


• Deploy WDAC Policy by GPO


• Merging WDAC Policies


• WDAC supplement policies


• Creating WDAC Policy by Wizard


• WDAC and Applocker overview


• Device Guard Signing Service v.2


• WDAC Rule Options


• Using Aaron Script to deploy WDAC Policy -Video


• Device Guard and Credential Guard hardware readiness tool

Disclaimer

• The sample scripts are not supported under any Microsoft standard support program or service. The sample scripts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. Microsoft further disclaims all implied warranties including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk arising out of the use or performance of the sample scripts and documentation remains with you. In no event shall Microsoft, its authors, or anyone else involved in the creation, production, or delivery of the scripts be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use the sample scripts or documentation, even if Microsoft has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

What’s New in Information Protection?

by Contributed | Jun 25, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Throughout the last several months there have been many new features, updates, and happenings in the world of Information Protection at Microsoft. As we continue to build out more of this story, we wanted to use this opportunity to connect with customers, partners, and more on some of these updates to keep you informed and provide a single pane of glass on everything we have been working on for the last several months. In addition, we hope to give you some insight into the next big things being built within MIP overall.  

Microsoft Information Protection: 

General Availability: Mandatory Labeling  

• Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) will now respect the Admin policy setting to require users to apply a label to documents and emails on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android (for the Office 365 subscription version of the apps). 


• Read more about the feature at Manage sensitivity labels in Office apps – Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs 

General Availability: Improvements for Exchange Online service side auto-labeling 

• Automatic classification with sensitivity labels emails in transit in Exchange Online 


• Improved capabilities on top of existing service-based auto-labeling include: 
  
  
  
  • Additional predicates with Exchange Online auto-labeling  
  
  
  • Encrypt only and Do Not Forward support
  
  
  • Context-based detections
  
  
  
  


• Read more about the feature at: Automatically apply a sensitivity label to content in Microsoft 365 – Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs 

Public Preview: Co-authoring

• Co-authoring and AutoSave on Microsoft Information Protection-encrypted documents 


• Client-based automatic and recommended labeling on Mac 


• Mandatory labeling requiring users to apply a label to their email and documents 


• Availability of audit label activities in Activity Explorer 


• Native support for variables and per-app content marking 


• You can leverage co-authoring using: 
  
  
  
  • Production or test tenant 
  
  
  • Microsoft 365 apps with the following versions: 
    
    
    
    • Windows – Current Channel 16.0.14026.20270+ (2105) 
    
    
    • Mac: 16.50.21061301+  
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• If AIP Unified Labeling Client Version is in use, verify that in addition to the updated Microsoft 365 app, you use version 2.10.46.0 of the Unified Labeling client. 


• PLEASE NOTE: That Co-authoring for Native/Built-In Labeling will be added in the upcoming Current Channel within 2 weeks 

Read more about the feature at Enable co-authoring for documents encrypted by sensitivity labels in Microsoft 365 – Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs 

Public Preview: AIP Audit Logs in Activity Explorer 

• Azure Information Protection client audit logs are now available in Activity Explorer for existing AIP Analytics customers and this functionality is in public preview. Azure Information Protection client audit logs are now available in Activity Explorer for existing AIP Analytics customers and this functionality is in public preview. 


• Read more about Activity Explorer audit events at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/data-classification-activity-explorer?view=o365-worldwide  


• This preview requires registration via: https://aka.ms/Register-AIPActivityExplorerPublicPreview  

General Availability: Dynamic Markings with Variables within native labeling across all platforms 

• Configure sensitivity labels for content markings by using variables in the text string for your header, footer, or watermark 


• Read more about the feature at Manage sensitivity labels in Office apps – Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs 

GA: DLP Alerts 

Microsoft announces the General Availability of the Microsoft Data Loss Prevention Alerts Dashboard. This latest addition in the Microsoft’s data loss prevention solution provides customers with the ability to holistically investigate DLP policy violations across: 

• Exchange 


• SharePoint Online 


• OneDrive 


• Teams 


• Devices 


• Cloud apps 


• On-premises file shares 

Learn more about the feature at: Learn about the data loss prevention Alerts dashboard – Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs 

Azure Information Protection: 

GA: Track and Revoke 

• Document tracking provides information for administrators about when a protected document was accessed.  


• If necessary, both admins and users can revoke document access for protected tracked documents. 


• This feature is available for AIP UL client version 2.9.111.0 or later 

Public Preview: DLP On-Prem 

• The DLP on-premises scanner crawls on-premises data-at-rest in file shares and SharePoint document libraries and folders for sensitive items that, if leaked, would pose a risk to your organization or pose a risk of compliance policy violation  


• This gives you the visibility and control you need to ensure that sensitive items are used and protected properly, and to help prevent risky behavior that might compromise them 


• You need to leverage the Scanner binaries from AIP UL Client Version 2.10.43.0 

[Guest Blog] Hypotheses and High Hopes: How 'empower everyone' can really mean everyone

by Contributed | Jun 25, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

This blog was written by MVP, Paul Culmsee. Paul explains how he came to guide many non IT people into Power Platform experts, and what he has learnt along the way. Paul has a proven track record of developing world-class Power Platform talent through mentorship.

My name is Paul Culmsee and I run a consultancy called Seven Sigma in Perth, Western Australia.

I’m starting my story at the time when a startup that I had poured my heart, soul (and cash) into failed. Why it failed doesn’t actually matter, but amongst the pain felt at the time came the learning of some lessons. One in particular that really rearranged my mental molecules was finally understanding what it means to formulate a hypothesis, test it as quick as you can to see if you are right, and adjust if you are not. This principle has served me very well ever since, and as you will see has delivered some awesome outcomes that we never could have predicted.

So as you read my story, see if you can spot all my hypotheses, and how I tested them.

“Can this be used for audits?”

I think it was late 2016 or early 2017 when I built my first simple Power App for capturing lessons learnt on projects and was surprised at how quick and easy it was. I showed it to a team member, a Safety Manager, who took the phone, used the app for a few moments, then asked two questions: 1) “Is PowerApps any good?” and; 2) “Can this be used for audits?”

I found it interesting that he had little interest in the problem my app was trying to solve, but quickly connected the concept to one of his business’ own problems. In the past, when introducing tools like SharePoint or Teams, I was used to having to explain the intent and benefits to users.

Anyway, at that time, I did not know the answers, so I said, “I honestly don’t know if it’s any good, but would you be willing to fund a few days to build a prototype? Worst case is it sucks, and you can give a real prototype to IT to get done by real developers.”

Five days later, the app was delivered and yes, Power Apps seemed good. It was surprisingly easy, and I suggested it could be taught to anyone. They took me up on it which led to conducting what I suspect is the world’s first Hackathon-style training session on Power Apps to a group of non-IT users. I taught them how to build their own audit apps. I will never forget the best comment of the day that is the essence of citizen development…

“We are a bunch of electricians, welders and fitters and here we are, building apps!”

On daughters and hackathons

Word spread of that session and in true FOMO style, I ended up doing six more sessions with different teams at that company. I began to suspect Power Apps was going to be mega huge in the future, and it would initially be driven by citizen developers before IT departments would start to notice. I had proven that hackathon training worked at small scale, but that was all members of the same company and teams. What about folks from different organisations with different use-cases?

To test this hypothesis, I called up my old friend, Debbie Ireland, in New Zealand, who runs a training company and after a couple of conversations, numbers and dates were set for public Power Apps hackathons in New Zealand. The experiment continued…

Around this time, my teenage daughter, Ashlee, was struggling with anxiety and depression, something that had affected her for some time. She has already told this story, but the quick version is she agreed to my offer to teach her Power Apps for the same money she was getting in a dead-end job. She learnt it blazingly fast, and early on, when I asked her if she liked it, she answered, “Well, I don’t hate it!” (I took that as a yes!).

Ashlee did well with Power Apps – very well. Such was the positive change in her, I asked her to come to New Zealand with me to help run the hackathons. Not only were the sessions all sold out, but we also learnt that hackathon-style training works for diverse groups too. More importantly for me was how it transformed Ashlee. At times, we would swap roles, and she would present. For someone who was too terrified to put her hand up at school, she was now taking centre stage. In fact, when she came home, she designed and ran youth hackathons and I was relegated to the assistant role.

The world-first Power Platform Youth Hackathon in 2018

Early success

While all of this was happening, we were proving the power of citizen development at one of our major clients – an internationally known Australian company. What started out as me helping a citizen maker put the finishing touches off an app that managed logistics at a port, led to the IT department taking note, asking me 1) for help to govern the platform; and 2) to prove that citizen development could be the basis for that governance via a mentored and end-to-end project.

On the latter challenge, I spent 12 half-day sessions over three months mentoring Ada and Tram, two geoscientists by profession, to build and launch that particular app. It was a success, was enhanced from its scope and as I type these words, is being re-engineered as a whole-of-organisation solution. The success of these type of stories meant that this organisation was one of the earliest to sign an enterprise deal with Microsoft to unlock the broader Power Platform stack.

On the governance side, I worked with Nichole – a former Executive Assistant with no formal IT background, who was the inaugural member of the Power Apps team. I mentored her as not only an app maker, but on how to govern, manage and grow the Power Platform. Together, we designed a vision, service model, and guardrails for Power Platform, and she manages it to this day (and is my top coffee buddy).

I still work with Nichole and have many fond memories. At the very start, she came in completely green, so not only was she tasked with governance, but inherited some Power Apps work performed by someone else. Talk about diving in the deep end! In our first session I remember her asking me “What is a variable?” Yet, she embraced the learning curve with such grit that within a short time, she had built and deployed various apps, trained users and developed a deep understanding of the whole platform, and how to manage it.

By the way, much of the early work Nichole and I did can now be found in the dashboards of the Power Platform Centre of Excellence Starter Kit.

One of the many dashboards we developed now in Power Platform CoE Starter Kit

The three-month challenge…

I would be remiss not to mention another Culmsee here – my wife, Terrie. Even before Ashlee started her journey, Terrie could see value and learnt how to build apps as well. A nurse in her early career, Terrie has a lot of other strings to her bow and is a natural when it comes to User Experience and Design-Thinking. In a wonderful feedback loop, her deep working knowledge of Power Apps means she now mentors everyone in our team (including me) to the point that when we design our apps, we always ask each-other “What would Terrie make us change here!”

Learning from Terrie, Ashlee, Ada, Tram, Nichole, and by now a very large number of hackathons, I felt we could now take someone with no experience, get them building apps in a week, get them good in a month, and get them really good within three months.

To prove this, we took on two trainees at my company – Tahlia and Woong. Both were students who came in with no prior Power Apps experience, and both worked in the Power Platform team at my client with Nichole and myself. They did not just perform app development either. Both had to engage with users directly, envision the solution, learn to estimate well, develop User Experience skills, train users, and learn how to structure projects. Both Tahlia and Woong exceeded our expectations by light-years, remain full-time at my company, and along with Ashlee, are now senior members of our team and highly regarded by clients. I am so proud of them all – they give me the energy to keep going!

Onwards and upwards

I think we have done our bit to prove that citizen development is real, is desirable, and most importantly, does a lot more than teach some app development skills. As you can see by my stories, people have learnt much more than how to open Power Apps studio. They have truly embraced the promise of Digital Transformation.

I semi-jokingly tell people that while Microsoft’s mission is to “Empower everyone”, Seven Sigma’s mission is to “prove that Microsoft is not lying”. So, have we proved all we set out to prove? No! The next step in our plans is to take on more trainees, but have Tahlia, Ashlee and Woong mentor them, to prove that a virtuous cycle of world-class mentoring can be created and sustained.

Ten years ago, websites used to cost many thousands of dollars to build and maintain, yet these days hugely rich sites can be built by anyone, using monthly online services at a fraction of that original cost. I believe apps are now on that same trajectory and the opportunity is huge for organisations. The paradigm is changing before our very eyes.

Whether you agree with my assertion about the future of apps or not, I get disillusioned when I hear people lament about a lack of local skills/talent, but then exacerbate the problem by defaulting to offshore development. It is my sincere hope that more organisations, as they recognise the paradigm of citizen development and low code, give local folks opportunities to shine.

We, at Seven Sigma, have proven it can be done. What about your company?

Introducing HoloLens 2 Mixed Reality Production for Unreal Engine

by Contributed | Jun 25, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We’re proud to announce HoloLens 2 Mixed Reality Production for Unreal Engine, a free course built in collaboration with our friends at Epic Games. You don’t need to already know how to use Unreal Engine or develop for the HoloLens — this course will take you from zero to expert! It covers every topic you’ll need to know to build complex full-featured AR apps, from gestural controls to mapping the 3D world around you using mesh tracking and Azure Spatial Anchors, all using Unreal’s Blueprints system rather than requiring you to write C++ code. While the course will help you get a HoloLens 2 device set up for development if you have one, you can also use the HoloLens Simulator or the Unreal Play in Editor feature without needing an AR headset. 

Today, we’re excited to launch the first four courses of the learning path.  

In “Prepare Unreal Engine for Mixed Reality Development”, you’ll learn how to set up your development environment, setting up both Unreal Engine 4 and the HoloLens development kit to successfully build and deploy projects to a physical HoloLens device or the HoloLens simulator. 

In “Gaze and Head Interactions”, you’ll learn all about the HoloLens’ gaze and head tracking capabilities, and explore best practices for designing experiences that use head and gaze position. 

A sample app you’ll be building with a 3D world

In “Incorporate Hand Interactions with UX Tools”, you’ll learn how to integrate hand tracking into your apps, including complex manipulation of objects in your scene with tricks like snapping to a world mesh. 

Finally, “Implement UI with UX Tools and Unreal Motion Graphics” will show you how to create delightful user interfaces in both 2D and 3D using Unreal Motion Graphics and the UX Tools library. 

Designing interactions that use the real world

There will be 7 more courses coming soon covering more advanced topics like world mapping, spatial audio, voice recognition, performance optimization, and multi-device networking, but these first few courses will give you a solid foundation to start building exciting experiences for the HoloLens with Unreal Engine 4! 

The course is completely free and available here.