Use predefined tables in Dataverse
The User table holds information for users in your active directory, which uses Dataverse and works for a business unit. For more information on the User table, see User and team tables. For the Expense Report app, this table holds information for the traveler who is filling out the expense report.
As part of Common Data Model, the User table has many different columns. This unit focuses on the columns that are outlined in the following table.
| Column name | Description |
|---|---|
| systemuserid | An autogenerated global unique identifier (GUID). This column contains a string of letters, numbers, and dashes, which might appear to be nonsense; however, it helps the system classify individual records or items in the table. Each table has a primary key such as this one. In some data sources, that column is a number, but in Dataverse, it's a GUID. |
| firstname | A text column that stores the first name of the user. |
| lastname | A text column that stores the last name of the user. (You can also use fullname instead of first and last.) |
| internalemailaddress | A text column that stores the email address of the user. |
| mobilephone | A phone type column that stores the mobile phone number of the user. Not all databases allow you to designate a phone number as a column type, but Dataverse does. In most data sources, you would use a text field for a phone number. |
To explore columns in the User table, follow these steps:
Access the User table by going to https://make.powerapps.com and then signing in with your Microsoft credentials. From the left navigation menu, select Tables. If you don't see the Tables on the left, you can select More then in the flyout menu find and select Tables.
If no one in your organization has created tables, predefined tables display automatically to ensure that you're only viewing tables from Common Data Model.
Select the column titled Managed, then select Filter by, select the second dropdown, and select the checkbox next to Yes.
Now, you can explore all tables in Common Data Model.
Scroll down and select User to view the columns in that table.
Dataverse shows which columns are in your table, including some information about each column. You might notice that each column has two names. One column is named Display name, or what you would typically call the column. The other column is listed as Name and contains no spaces or capitalization, has only some symbols, and will be used frequently in building your application. Dataverse is designed to be user-friendly, so it doesn't place all restrictions that some databases place on column naming.
You can also view the data type, whether the field is required, and other information.
Under the User columns and data you can see a preview of items stored in this table along with a few columns. To view more of the data stored in this table, at the bottom, select Add more rows. Depending on the number of items in your table, you may need to repeat this as the data is loaded in batches. Or you could also select the Edit icon, which opens a new tab displaying all the data and is easily editable.
At first, only a couple columns might display.
To view the more columns and details in this table, select the +124 more dropdown, below the Edit pencil icon, and then select (Select All).
You can add custom columns to existing tables, but this action is unnecessary for this scenario. Next, you learn how to create a new table.