Mastering Microsoft’s Power Platform Naming Conventions: A Guide for Developers

Mastering Microsoft’s Naming Conventions for Power Platform: Best Practices for Developers

For Power Platform developers, consistency is key. Using clear, standardized naming conventions not only enhances readability but also helps teams scale and maintain their solutions efficiently. Microsoft has laid out detailed naming conventions and guidelines designed to make solutions more manageable, understandable, and secure.

General Rules

When it comes to naming conventions in Power Platform, simplicity and clarity are key. Microsoft’s best practices suggest following a few general rules to make component names intuitive and consistent across your team:

• Use Camel Case or Pascal Case: Avoid spaces and special characters by adopting CamelCase (e.g., totalRevenue) or PascalCase (e.g., TotalRevenue). This keeps names compact and avoids syntax errors, especially in formula-heavy environments.
• Single Words Without Special Characters: Whenever possible, use single descriptive words without underscores or other symbols, making it easy for anyone to scan and understand your components at a glance.
• Be Descriptive but Concise: Keep names short but meaningful—names should communicate purpose without unnecessary words. For example, instead of ButtonForSubmittingForms, use btnSubmit.

Here’s a quick guide to some of these best practices, drawing on Microsoft’s recommendations for Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Dataverse.

1. Power Apps Naming Conventions

In Power Apps, naming conventions focus on clarity and purpose, making it easy for developers to understand and work with controls, variables, and collections at a glance.

• Screens and Controls: Start with a prefix that describes the object type, such as scr for screens and btn for buttons. For example:scrHome for a home screenbtnSubmit for a submit buttontxtUserName for a text box to enter a username
• Variables and Collections: Prefix variables and collections with clear identifiers for readability and troubleshooting.var for single-instance variables, e.g., varUserIDcol for collections, e.g., colUserData
• Functions and Formulas: Keep formulas simple and readable by naming your variables based on their function. Avoid using nested formulas whenever possible and break them into logical parts.

2. Power Automate Naming Conventions

Naming conventions in Power Automate (Flow) help keep workflows manageable and organized, especially as the number of flows grows.

• Flow Names: Use a descriptive name for each flow, structured as [Action] - [Target]. For example:
• Triggers and Actions: Each action within a flow should have a name that specifies what it does, making it easier to follow complex flows. Avoid default names like “Compose 1” or “Apply to Each 2.”
• Environment Labels: If flows are used across environments (e.g., development, testing, production), include the environment in the flow name. For example:

3. Power BI Naming Conventions

For Power BI, the naming guidelines are aimed at keeping datasets, visuals, and tables organized, especially in collaborative environments where reports are shared across teams.

• Datasets and Tables: Use concise and descriptive names for tables, and avoid abbreviations that might be unclear to others.
• Columns and Measures: Name columns and measures clearly to reflect their purpose. This is especially important for calculated columns and measures, where names can provide context.
• Visuals and Page Titles: Give visuals and report pages meaningful names to guide users. A report page named “Revenue Breakdown” is clearer than “Page 1.”

4. Dataverse Naming Conventions

Dataverse (formerly Common Data Service) provides a structured way to manage data, and naming conventions are essential for consistent entity and field names.

• Entities (Tables): Microsoft recommends using PascalCase for entity names and making them singular. Always use meaningful names that describe the data held within the table.
• Fields (Columns): Field names should be clear and reflect the data type or purpose.
• Relationships and Lookups: When creating relationships, name lookups in a way that indicates the purpose of the relationship.

5. General Best Practices for Naming

Across all components of the Power Platform, these general best practices can help you keep solutions organized and consistent:

• Avoid Spaces and Special Characters: Use CamelCase or underscores (_) instead of spaces to avoid syntax errors, especially when working with code.
• Prefix for Clarity: Use prefixes that indicate the component type, such as tbl for tables, fld for fields, or scr for screens.
• Limit Abbreviations: Avoid abbreviations unless they are widely understood within your team or organization. Abbreviations can make it difficult for new developers to understand your solution quickly.

6. Documentation and Consistency

Microsoft emphasizes the importance of documenting your naming conventions and ensuring consistency across your team. A shared document that outlines these standards can serve as a valuable reference for everyone involved in solution development. Consider adding:

• Examples of preferred naming conventions for each component.
• Commonly used prefixes and patterns.
• Guidelines on when to apply certain conventions (e.g., when to add environment labels).

Final Thoughts

Microsoft’s naming conventions and guidelines for the Power Platform aren’t just about keeping things neat—they’re about fostering efficient, scalable solutions that can be easily understood, maintained, and evolved. By following these best practices, Power Platform developers can ensure that their solutions remain manageable as they grow and adapt to changing business needs.

Adopting a consistent naming approach may seem like a small detail, but it makes a significant difference in how teams collaborate, troubleshoot, and scale Power Platform solutions over time.

Learn more resources:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/ready/azure-best-practices/resource-naming
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/design-guidelines/general-naming-conventions
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/design-guidelines/naming-guidelines
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/guidance/coding-guidelines/code-readability

Kim Brian

Modern Applications and Power Platform Solutions Architect at Velrada .

Technical Consultant Helping organizations unlock the full potential of their Microsoft efficiency tools.

Feel free to share your thoughts or connect with me to discuss AI or Microsoft efficiencies.