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Note
This article forms part of the Microsoft Fabric adoption roadmap series of articles. For an overview of the series, see Microsoft Fabric adoption roadmap.
A community of practice is a group of people with a common interest that interacts with, and helps, each other on a voluntary basis. Using a tool such as Microsoft Fabric to produce effective analytics is a common interest that can bring people together across an organization.
The following diagram provides an overview of an internal community.
The above diagram shows the following:
Champions are the smallest group among creators and SMEs. Self-service content creators and SMEs represent a larger number of people. Content consumers represent the largest number of people in most organizations.
Note
All references to the Fabric community in this adoption series of articles refer to internal users, unless explicitly stated otherwise. There's an active and vibrant worldwide community of bloggers and presenters who produce a wealth of knowledge about Fabric. However, internal users are the focus of this article.
For information about related topics including resources, documentation, and training provided for the Fabric community, see the Mentoring and user enablement article.
One important part of a community of practice is its champions. A champion is a self-service content creator who works in a business unit that engages with the COE. A champion is recognized by their peers as the go-to expert. A champion continually builds and shares their knowledge even if it's not an official part of their job role. Champions influence and help their colleagues in many ways including solution development, learning, skills improvement, troubleshooting, and keeping up to date.
Champions emerge as leaders of the community of practice who:
Tip
To add an element of fun, some organizations refer to their champions network as ambassadors, Jedis, ninjas, or rangers. Microsoft has an internal community called BI Champs.
Often, people aren't directly asked to become champions. Commonly, champions are identified by the COE and recognized for the activities they're already doing, such as frequently answering questions on an internal discussion channel or participating in lunch and learn sessions.
Different approaches will be more effective for different organizations, and each organization will find what works best for them as their maturity level increases.
Important
Someone very well might be acting in the role of a champion without even knowing it, and without any formal recognition. The COE should always be on the lookout for champions. COE members should actively monitor the discussion channel to see who is particularly helpful. The COE should deliberately encourage and support potential champions, and when appropriate, invite them into a champions network to make the recognition formal.
The overriding objective of a community of practice is to facilitate knowledge sharing among colleagues and across organizational boundaries. There are many ways knowledge sharing occurs. It could be during the normal course of work. Or, it could be during a more structured activity, such as:
Activity | Description |
---|---|
Discussion channel | A Q&A forum where anyone in the community can post and view messages. Often used for help and announcements. For more information, see the User support article. |
Lunch and learn sessions | Regularly scheduled sessions where someone presents a short session about something they've learned or a solution they've created. The goal is to get a variety of presenters involved, because it's a powerful message to hear firsthand what colleagues have achieved. |
Office hours with the COE | Regularly scheduled times when COE experts are available so the community can engage with them. Community users can receive assistance with minimal process overhead. For more information, see the Mentoring and user enablement article. |
Internal blog posts or wiki posts | Short blog posts, usually covering technical how-to topics. |
Internal analytics user group | A subset of the community that chooses to meet as a group on a regularly scheduled basis. User group members often take turns presenting to each other to share knowledge and improve their presentation skills. |
Book club | A subset of the community select a book to read on a schedule. They discuss what they've learned and share their thoughts with each other. |
Internal analytics conferences or events | An annual or semi-annual internal conference that delivers a series of sessions focused on the needs of self-service content creators, subject matter experts, and stakeholders. |
Tip
Inviting an external presenter can reduce the effort level and bring a fresh viewpoint for learning and knowledge sharing.
A lot of effort goes into forming and sustaining a successful community. It's advantageous to everyone to empower and reward users who work for the benefit of the community.
Incentives that the entire community (including champions) find particularly rewarding can include:
Different types of incentives will appeal to different types of people. Some community members will be highly motivated by praise and feedback. Some will be inspired by gamification and a bit of fun. Others will highly value the opportunity to improve their level of knowledge.
Incentives that champions find particularly rewarding can include:
Communication with the community occurs through various types of communication channels. Common communication channels include:
The most critical communication objectives include ensuring your community members know that:
Tip
Consider requiring a simple quiz before a user is granted a Power BI or Fabric license. This quiz is a misnomer because it doesn't focus on any technical skills. Rather, it's a short series of questions to verify that the user knows where to find help and resources. It sets them up for success. It's also a great opportunity to have users acknowledge any governance policies or data privacy and protection agreements you need them to be aware of. For more information, see the System oversight article.
There are generally four types of communication to plan for:
Tip
One-way communication to the user community is important. Don't forget to also include bidirectional communication options to ensure the user community has an opportunity to provide feedback.
Resources for the internal community, such as documentation, templates, and training, are critical for adoption success. For more information about resources, see the Mentoring and user enablement article.
Checklist - Considerations and key actions you can take for the community of practice follow.
Initiate, grow, and sustain your champions network:
Improve knowledge sharing:
Introduce incentives:
Improve communications:
Use questions like those found below to assess the community of practice.
The following maturity levels will help you assess the current state of your community of practice.
Level | State of the community of practice |
---|---|
100: Initial | • Some self-service content creators are doing great work throughout the organization. However, their efforts aren't recognized. • Efforts to purposefully share knowledge across the organizational boundaries are rare and unstructured. • Communication is inconsistent, without a purposeful plan. |
200: Repeatable | • The first set of champions are identified. • The goals for a champions network are identified. • Knowledge sharing practices are gaining traction. |
300: Defined | • Knowledge sharing in multiple forms is a normal occurrence. Information sharing happens frequently and purposefully. • Goals for transparent communication with the user community are defined. |
400: Capable | • Champions are identified for all business units. They actively support colleagues in their self-service efforts. • Incentives to recognize and reward knowledge sharing efforts are a common occurrence. • Regular and frequent communication occurs based on a predefined communication plan. |
500: Efficient | • Bidirectional feedback loops exist between the champions network and the COE. • Key performance indicators measure community engagement and satisfaction. • Automation is in place when it adds direct value to the user experience (for example, automatic access to a group that provides community resources). |
In the next article in the Microsoft Fabric adoption roadmap series, learn about user support.
Events
Power BI DataViz World Championships
Feb 14, 4 PM - Mar 31, 4 PM
With 4 chances to enter, you could win a conference package and make it to the LIVE Grand Finale in Las Vegas
Learn moreTraining
Module
Onboard and empower your employees to use Microsoft 365 Copilot efficiently - Training
Learn about the second phase, Onboard, in the Microsoft 365 adoption framework and how to empower your employees to use Copilot for Microsoft 365 effectively and efficiently.
Certification
Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate - Certifications
Demonstrate the use of Microsoft Power Platform solutions to simplify, automate, and empower business processes for organizations in the role of a Functional Consultant.
Documentation
Microsoft Fabric adoption roadmap: Mentoring and user enablement - Power BI
Mentor users to drive strong and successful adoption of Microsoft Fabric.
Microsoft Fabric adoption roadmap: Center of Excellence - Power BI
Establish a Center of Excellence (COE) to drive strong and successful adoption of Microsoft Fabric.
Microsoft Fabric adoption roadmap: Change management - Power BI
Learn about effective change management for Microsoft Fabric.