https://thejpanda.com/blog/Practical articles on automation, RPA, Power Platform, AI and Python by Jacqui Muller.en-za https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/24/centralised-industry-collaboration-function-ict-higher-education/https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/24/centralised-industry-collaboration-function-ict-higher-education/Thu, 24 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMTEt al.Ad hoc internships and handshake sponsorships aren't enough. A governance-oriented framework for linking employability, mentorship, POPIA compliance and innovation in ICT higher education. https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/21/from-side-hustle-to-main-gig-with-ai/https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/21/from-side-hustle-to-main-gig-with-ai/Mon, 21 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMTEt al.Six steps from idea to running business for about R150: a one-pager, an AI-built website, getting found, getting paid, analytics and knowing when not to trust AI. https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/21/ai-for-africa-by-africa-inclusion-diversity-innovation/https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/21/ai-for-africa-by-africa-inclusion-diversity-innovation/Mon, 21 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMTEt al.Whom should AI serve, and who does it leave out? From my TICON Africa 2026 talk: why AI is being built without us, where Africa already leads, and three actions to start this week. https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/07/ai-copilot-studio-agent-lifecycle-from-studio-to-production/https://thejpanda.com/2026/09/07/ai-copilot-studio-agent-lifecycle-from-studio-to-production/Mon, 07 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMTAI & AgentsA seven-stage lifecycle for taking a Copilot Studio agent from idea to production: design, testing, governance, publishing step by step, ALM and the Copilot Credits bill. https://thejpanda.com/2026/07/25/building-a-business-with-ai-panda-penguin-sanctuary/https://thejpanda.com/2026/07/25/building-a-business-with-ai-panda-penguin-sanctuary/Sat, 25 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMTAI & AgentsUsing a penguin sanctuary as the worked example: defining the idea, building the company profile and website with AI, and getting the business found online. https://thejpanda.com/2026/07/22/emerging-trends-ai-intelligent-automation-technology-leadership/https://thejpanda.com/2026/07/22/emerging-trends-ai-intelligent-automation-technology-leadership/Wed, 22 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMTAI & AgentsAgentic AI, edge, 6G, quantum and AI governance aren't separate trends – they're one system. What that means for technology leaders, with a three-horizon roadmap. https://thejpanda.com/2025/10/07/data-analytics-and-rpa-in-digital-marketing/https://thejpanda.com/2025/10/07/data-analytics-and-rpa-in-digital-marketing/Tue, 07 Oct 2025 08:00:00 GMTBusiness IntelligenceHow marketing teams can move from insights to value: the data lifecycle, choosing the right analysis and visuals, and where RPA and agentic automation fit in. https://thejpanda.com/2025/10/07/ai-practical-implementation-of-multi-agent-systems/https://thejpanda.com/2025/10/07/ai-practical-implementation-of-multi-agent-systems/Tue, 07 Oct 2025 08:00:00 GMTAI & AgentsWhen to go multi-agent (and when not to), the ten principles of multi-agency, and a step-by-step Copilot Studio build from single agents to an orchestrating Travel Planner. https://thejpanda.com/2025/09/20/automation-using-uipath-and-aws-for-automated-assessment/https://thejpanda.com/2025/09/20/automation-using-uipath-and-aws-for-automated-assessment/Sat, 20 Sep 2025 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationHow an instructor-driven automated assessment assistant built with UiPath and AWS cut around 50 days of manual marking, from rubrics to at-risk students. https://thejpanda.com/2025/05/02/ai-hitchhikers-guide-to-context-grounding-your-copilot/https://thejpanda.com/2025/05/02/ai-hitchhikers-guide-to-context-grounding-your-copilot/Fri, 02 May 2025 08:00:00 GMTAI & AgentsWhat Deep Thought and the number 42 can teach us about grounding copilots in the right context, setting healthy data boundaries, and turning chatbots into useful agents. https://thejpanda.com/2025/04/09/future-of-rpa-is-agentic-robotic-and-agentic-process-automation/https://thejpanda.com/2025/04/09/future-of-rpa-is-agentic-robotic-and-agentic-process-automation/Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationRPA isn't dead – it got a clever new colleague. Why the future of process automation is both robotic and agentic, and how to pick the right processes. https://thejpanda.com/2025/04/09/building-a-career-in-ai-and-automation-skills-communities-learning/https://thejpanda.com/2025/04/09/building-a-career-in-ai-and-automation-skills-communities-learning/Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:00:00 GMTEt al.Career paths, technical and soft skills, free learning resources, building a portfolio and the communities worth joining if you want to get into AI and automation. https://thejpanda.com/2025/03/13/automation-getting-data-from-the-new-github-projects/https://thejpanda.com/2025/03/13/automation-getting-data-from-the-new-github-projects/Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMTAutomationThe new GitHub Projects API is not quite there yet, so this post shows how to scrape project views, columns, item data and charts with Python and Beautiful Soup. https://thejpanda.com/2025/03/12/power-automate-bulk-batch-sharepoint-operations-bypass-item-limits/https://thejpanda.com/2025/03/12/power-automate-bulk-batch-sharepoint-operations-bypass-item-limits/Wed, 12 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformTurn thousands of SharePoint calls into a handful: batch REST requests in Power Automate and load past the 2 000 item limit in Power Apps. https://thejpanda.com/2025/03/07/mapping-a-career-in-ai-and-automation/https://thejpanda.com/2025/03/07/mapping-a-career-in-ai-and-automation/Fri, 07 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMTEt al.Four maps for starting a career in AI and automation: the landscape and its tools, the roles, the skills worth building, and the five steps to your first job. https://thejpanda.com/2025/02/11/power-platform-the-ultimate-guide-to-learning-power-platform/https://thejpanda.com/2025/02/11/power-platform-the-ultimate-guide-to-learning-power-platform/Tue, 11 Feb 2025 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformWhere to start with Power Platform: the product landscape, the Power Platform roadmap on roadmap.sh, and a free GitHub learning repo. https://thejpanda.com/2024/11/18/power-automate-getting-unique-records-or-items-from-an-excel-table/https://thejpanda.com/2024/11/18/power-automate-getting-unique-records-or-items-from-an-excel-table/Mon, 18 Nov 2024 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to get a distinct list of values from an Excel table in Power Automate using Select and union(), illustrated with mailing hackathon teams and cc'ing every team member. https://thejpanda.com/2024/03/15/low-code-development-trends-in-2024/https://thejpanda.com/2024/03/15/low-code-development-trends-in-2024/Fri, 15 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMTLow-Code SolutionsExploring the latest trends in low-code development and how they're transforming business applications. https://thejpanda.com/2024/03/08/digital-transformation-consulting-guide/https://thejpanda.com/2024/03/08/digital-transformation-consulting-guide/Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMTDigital TransformationNavigate your digital transformation journey with expert consulting guidance and proven strategies. https://thejpanda.com/2024/03/05/power-automate-ensuring-center-of-excellence-coe-control-of-apps-and-automate-flows/https://thejpanda.com/2024/03/05/power-automate-ensuring-center-of-excellence-coe-control-of-apps-and-automate-flows/Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to avoid orphaned Power Apps and Power Automate flows by using a scheduled flow, built with standard connectors, to assign a CoE user group or service account as owner of every app and flow in an environment. https://thejpanda.com/2024/02/28/custom-training-programmes-for-success/https://thejpanda.com/2024/02/28/custom-training-programmes-for-success/Wed, 28 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMTTraining & DevelopmentHow to design and implement technology training programmes that deliver measurable results for your organisation. https://thejpanda.com/2023/11/18/power-automate-asynchronous-processing-and-concurrency-in-flows/https://thejpanda.com/2023/11/18/power-automate-asynchronous-processing-and-concurrency-in-flows/Sat, 18 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformA look at asynchronous processing and Apply to each concurrency in Power Automate: the real pros and cons, and why shared variables can jumble your results when concurrency is on. https://thejpanda.com/2023/11/18/automation-unit-testing-in-power-automate-flows/https://thejpanda.com/2023/11/18/automation-unit-testing-in-power-automate-flows/Sat, 18 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformAn introduction to unit testing in Power Automate: what unit testing is, how child flows can be tested as units, and the benefits of a standardised, data-driven test framework for your flows. https://thejpanda.com/2023/10/21/power-apps-working-with-sharepoint-lookup-columns-in-lists-through-power-apps/https://thejpanda.com/2023/10/21/power-apps-working-with-sharepoint-lookup-columns-in-lists-through-power-apps/Sat, 21 Oct 2023 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to use Patch in Power Apps to create SharePoint list items with a lookup column, and how to clear that lookup link later, plus a few patterns for reading and filtering lookups. https://thejpanda.com/2023/09/22/power-apps-creating-a-full-outer-join-between-collections-in-canvas-app/https://thejpanda.com/2023/09/22/power-apps-creating-a-full-outer-join-between-collections-in-canvas-app/Fri, 22 Sep 2023 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to combine two Power Apps collections into one joined collection using ForAll and Filter – the canvas app equivalent of a SQL full outer join – with conditional columns and tips for avoiding common pitfalls. https://thejpanda.com/2023/07/12/power-automate-exporting-a-power-bi-report-page-as-an-image-and-embedding-it-into-a-word-document/https://thejpanda.com/2023/07/12/power-automate-exporting-a-power-bi-report-page-as-an-image-and-embedding-it-into-a-word-document/Wed, 12 Jul 2023 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to use Power Automate to export a Power BI report page as a PNG image and embed it into a Word document using a picture content control and the Populate a Microsoft Word Template action. https://thejpanda.com/2023/01/11/automation-integrating-with-the-musicmaker-bot-on-discord-using-uipath/https://thejpanda.com/2023/01/11/automation-integrating-with-the-musicmaker-bot-on-discord-using-uipath/Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationAn attended UiPath solution that drives the MusicMaker bot on Discord: adding the bot to a server, creating a playlist, filling it from a YouTube playlist and playing it. https://thejpanda.com/2023/01/05/et-al-understanding-uipath-licensing-compared-to-power-platform-licensing/https://thejpanda.com/2023/01/05/et-al-understanding-uipath-licensing-compared-to-power-platform-licensing/Thu, 05 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMTEt al.Unpacks UiPath and Power Platform licensing side by side – Power Automate, Power Apps and Power BI plans, performance profiles, Dataverse capacity and request limits, and UiPath's Free, Pro and Enterprise plans. https://thejpanda.com/2023/01/05/automation-download-files-from-google-drive-in-c/https://thejpanda.com/2023/01/05/automation-download-files-from-google-drive-in-c/Thu, 05 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMTAutomationThe simplest way to download a shared Google Drive file in C# using HttpClient and a direct download link, plus how to get the file ID, handle larger files and know when to use the Drive API instead. https://thejpanda.com/2022/08/18/rpa-scalable-solutions-uipath-orchestrator/https://thejpanda.com/2022/08/18/rpa-scalable-solutions-uipath-orchestrator/Thu, 18 Aug 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationBuild enterprise-scale RPA solutions with UiPath Orchestrator. Master deployment strategies, resource management, monitoring, and governance for large-scale automation implementations across your organization. https://thejpanda.com/2022/08/08/uipath-setting-up-a-power-bi-custom-connector-for-uipath-data-service/https://thejpanda.com/2022/08/08/uipath-setting-up-a-power-bi-custom-connector-for-uipath-data-service/Mon, 08 Aug 2022 08:00:00 GMTBusiness IntelligenceHow to pull UiPath Data Service entities into Power BI Desktop using a Power Query custom connector, including setting up the UiPath external application and Power BI security settings. https://thejpanda.com/2022/07/12/power-bi-advanced-data-modeling-enterprise/https://thejpanda.com/2022/07/12/power-bi-advanced-data-modeling-enterprise/Tue, 12 Jul 2022 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformMaster advanced Power BI data modeling techniques for enterprise-scale analytics. Learn dimensional modeling, DAX optimization, performance tuning, and best practices for large-scale business intelligence solutions. https://thejpanda.com/2022/05/04/automation-basic-exception-handling-in-power-automate-cloud-flows/https://thejpanda.com/2022/05/04/automation-basic-exception-handling-in-power-automate-cloud-flows/Wed, 04 May 2022 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to implement try, catch and finally style exception handling in Power Automate cloud flows using scopes and Configure Run After, including capturing error details. https://thejpanda.com/2022/04/24/uipath-creating-a-uipath-data-services-entity-record-from-uipath-studio/https://thejpanda.com/2022/04/24/uipath-creating-a-uipath-data-services-entity-record-from-uipath-studio/Sun, 24 Apr 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationA step-by-step guide to enabling UiPath Data Services, creating an entity and populating it with records from UiPath Studio using the Create Entity Record activity. https://thejpanda.com/2022/04/06/uipath-task-capture-good-practices/https://thejpanda.com/2022/04/06/uipath-task-capture-good-practices/Wed, 06 Apr 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationGood practices for UiPath Task Capture: using swimlanes, flagging business exceptions, naming steps well, grouping steps logically and working with PDD and Studio solution templates. https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/31/uipath-preparing-for-the-uipath-advanced-rpa-developer-uiard-certification-exam/https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/31/uipath-preparing-for-the-uipath-advanced-rpa-developer-uiard-certification-exam/Thu, 31 Mar 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationThe approach that got me through the UiPath Advanced RPA Developer (UiARD) exam: a theory cheat sheet, the practise exam, the UiPath Academy learning path, a second practise run and tips for exam day. https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/24/uipath-uploading-files-to-uipath-storage-buckets/https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/24/uipath-uploading-files-to-uipath-storage-buckets/Thu, 24 Mar 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationHow to create a storage bucket in UiPath Orchestrator and upload files to it from UiPath Studio, including how to fix the 403 Forbidden error caused by missing permissions. https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/24/automation-github-including-enterprise-api-versus-azure-devops-api/https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/24/automation-github-including-enterprise-api-versus-azure-devops-api/Thu, 24 Mar 2022 08:00:00 GMTAutomationA comparison of GitHub (including Enterprise) and Azure DevOps for automation projects, looking at how each is structured, how they are priced and what their APIs and libraries offer for UiPath integration. https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/09/automation-azure-cognitive-services-power-automate/https://thejpanda.com/2022/03/09/automation-azure-cognitive-services-power-automate/Wed, 09 Mar 2022 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformDiscover how to leverage Azure Cognitive Services within Power Automate for intelligent automation workflows. Learn to integrate AI capabilities like text analysis, image recognition, and sentiment analysis into your business processes. https://thejpanda.com/2022/02/24/rpa-publishing-test-cases-from-studio-to-uipath-test-manager/https://thejpanda.com/2022/02/24/rpa-publishing-test-cases-from-studio-to-uipath-test-manager/Thu, 24 Feb 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationHow to connect UiPath Studio to UiPath Test Manager, publish and link test cases, then run test cases and test sets and monitor their results in Orchestrator. https://thejpanda.com/2022/02/03/python-scraping-context-categories-topics-and-entities-from-websites-using-textrazor-and-python/https://thejpanda.com/2022/02/03/python-scraping-context-categories-topics-and-entities-from-websites-using-textrazor-and-python/Thu, 03 Feb 2022 08:00:00 GMTPython AutomationHow to use the TextRazor API and Python to extract the entities, topics and categories that describe the content of a website. https://thejpanda.com/2022/01/31/automation-making-a-soap-api-call-in-python-using-a-session-key/https://thejpanda.com/2022/01/31/automation-making-a-soap-api-call-in-python-using-a-session-key/Mon, 31 Jan 2022 08:00:00 GMTPython AutomationHow to call a legacy SOAP API in Python with the zeep library using session keys, closing the session safely and loading the response into a pandas dataframe. https://thejpanda.com/2022/01/04/automation-starting-a-k2-workflow-from-uipath/https://thejpanda.com/2022/01/04/automation-starting-a-k2-workflow-from-uipath/Tue, 04 Jan 2022 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationA workaround for starting a K2 workflow from UiPath by calling the K2 Workflow REST API with an HTTP Request activity and a templated JSON request body. https://thejpanda.com/2021/11/19/automation-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-my-first-power-automate-rpa-implementation/https://thejpanda.com/2021/11/19/automation-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-my-first-power-automate-rpa-implementation/Fri, 19 Nov 2021 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformLessons learnt from a first enterprise Power Automate implementation: service accounts, default resolution, API limits, licensing, exception logging, optimisation and AI Builder. https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/22/automation-using-power-automate-as-a-data-integration-tool-with-excel-for-bulk-processing/https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/22/automation-using-power-automate-as-a-data-integration-tool-with-excel-for-bulk-processing/Fri, 22 Oct 2021 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformHow to use Power Automate to integrate SharePoint with an Azure Function for bulk Excel processing, using the HTTP action and saving the returned file to SharePoint. https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/21/automation-retrieving-a-list-of-mail-senders-from-a-shared-mailbox-using-outlook-and-python/https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/21/automation-retrieving-a-list-of-mail-senders-from-a-shared-mailbox-using-outlook-and-python/Thu, 21 Oct 2021 08:00:00 GMTPython AutomationA Python script that uses Outlook (win32com) to pull sender names and email addresses from a shared mailbox and write them to Excel with pandas. https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/10/automation-working-with-sql-transactions-in-uipath/https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/10/automation-working-with-sql-transactions-in-uipath/Sun, 10 Oct 2021 08:00:00 GMTRPA & AutomationA comparison of SQL transactions and the UiPath Start Transaction activity, showing why errors don't always roll back in UiPath and why handling the transaction in a SQL stored procedure works better. https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/06/business-intelligence-connecting-a-google-sheet-to-power-bi-as-a-data-source/https://thejpanda.com/2021/10/06/business-intelligence-connecting-a-google-sheet-to-power-bi-as-a-data-source/Wed, 06 Oct 2021 08:00:00 GMTBusiness IntelligenceHow to publish a Google Sheet to the web and connect it to Power BI as a data source using the Web connector, then shape the data in Power Query. https://thejpanda.com/2021/09/28/automation-10-tips-for-optimising-power-automate-flows/https://thejpanda.com/2021/09/28/automation-10-tips-for-optimising-power-automate-flows/Tue, 28 Sep 2021 08:00:00 GMTPower PlatformTen practical tips for reducing the run time of Power Automate Desktop and Cloud flows, from removing disabled actions and waits to reworking nested loops and reusing sub-flows. https://thejpanda.com/2021/09/27/automation-a-comparison-between-uipath-and-power-automate/https://thejpanda.com/2021/09/27/automation-a-comparison-between-uipath-and-power-automate/Mon, 27 Sep 2021 08:00:00 GMTAutomationA detailed comparison of UiPath and Power Automate, updated for 2026 with agentic automation, closed functionality gaps and new licensing, plus the original analysis of functionality, ease of use, development time, monitoring, scalability and cost.