Solution Checker: Bridging the Gap Between Low-Code and Pro-Code Quality

Solution Checker is a built-in quality assurance and analysis tool in Microsoft Power Platform that helps evaluate Dataverse solutions against Microsoft’s recommended best practices. It scans solution components such as plugins, JavaScript, Power Automate flows, apps, tables, and security roles to identify potential issues related to performance, security, reliability, and maintainability. By using rule-based and static code analysis, Solution Checker highlights risks early in the development lifecycle, helping teams fix problems before deployment. It is widely used by developers, architects, and release teams to improve code quality, reduce technical debt, prevent production issues, and ensure solutions are scalable, secure, and upgrade-ready across environments.

Rule-based analysis checks “what rules you broke”, while static code analysis checks “what could go wrong in your code without running it”.

What is Solution Checker?

Solution Checker is a built-in quality and health check tool in Power Platform. It scans your Dataverse solution and tells you what is wrong, risky, or not following Microsoft best practices.

Think of it like:

A code reviewer + architect + security auditor combined

Definition

Solution Checker is a static analysis tool that validates Dataverse solutions against Microsoft-recommended rules for:

• Performance
• Security
• Reliability
• Maintainability
• Upgrade readiness 

Microsoft introduced Solution Checker to help organizations build high-quality, secure, and maintainable Power Platform and Dataverse solutions—before those solutions reach production.

As Power Platform grew, many solutions:

• Worked correctly ❌ but performed poorly
• Passed testing ❌ but failed in production
• Were hard to maintain ❌ after go-live

Microsoft introduced Solution Checker to:

Catch problems early, enforce best practices, and prevent risky designs.

It acts like an automatic quality inspector for Power Platform solutions.

Why Microsoft Introduced Solution Checker

Microsoft introduced Solution Checker to:

• Reduce production failures
• Improve solution quality
• Enforce platform best practices
• Support enterprise-scale development
• Prevent technical debt

Many Dataverse issues are not functional bugs but design problems—Solution Checker catches these early.

How It Fits into the Power Platform Ecosystem

Solution Checker is part of:

• Power Apps Maker Portal
• Dataverse ALM (Application Lifecycle Management)
• CI/CD pipelines
• Governance and quality controls

It complements:

• Code reviews
• Testing
• Solution packaging
• Release management

Integration with Platform Components

Solution Checker works with:

• Power Apps (Canvas & Model-driven)
• Power Automate flows
• Dataverse tables
• Dynamics 365 apps
• Plugins & Custom APIs

Who Should Use Solution Checker?

Developers

• Improve code quality
• Catch plugin & JavaScript issues
• Reduce rework

Solution Architects

• Validate architecture decisions
• Enforce standards
• Reduce long-term risk

QA Teams

• Identify technical issues early
• Support release readiness

DevOps / Release Managers

• Gate deployments
• Automate quality checks
• Reduce failed releases

Best value comes when all roles use it together

When Should Solution Checker Be Used?

During Development

• After major changes
• Before merging features

Before Solution Export

• Mandatory for production-ready solutions

Before Deployment to Higher Environments

• Dev → Test
• Test → UAT
• UAT → Production

As Part of CI/CD Pipelines

• Automated quality gates
• Fail builds on critical issues

Why Do I Need to Use Solution Checker?

Risks of Not Using It

• Poor performance
• Security vulnerabilities
• Upgrade failures
• Unsupported customizations
• High maintenance cost

Common Issues It Prevents

• Blocking synchronous plugins
• Hardcoded values
• Inefficient queries
• Insecure JavaScript
• Poor security role design

How Does Solution Checker Work Internally?

Rule-Based Validation

• Microsoft-defined rules
• Continuously updated
• Based on real-world incidents

Static Code Analysis

• Plugins (C#)
• JavaScript
• Flows
• App definitions
• No runtime execution – it analyzes structure and logic.

Best Practice Enforcement

Examples:

• Plugin stage validation
• Avoid synchronous heavy operations
• Secure API usage
• Naming conventions

Security & Performance Checks

• Role misconfigurations
• Inefficient queries
• Blocking UI operations

How to Use Solution Checker (Step-by-Step)

UI-Based Steps (Power Apps Maker Portal)

• Go to make.powerapps.com
• Select Environment
• Open Solutions
• Select your solution
• Click Run Solution Checker
• Review results

Manual Run

• Run anytime during development
• Recommended after major changes

Run During Solution Export

• Automatically triggered
• Can block export if critical issues exist

Reading the Report

Reports include:

• Severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
• Affected component
• Rule description
• Fix recommendation

What Components Are Checked?

Plugins

• Execution stage
• Performance risks
• Exception handling

Custom APIs

• Parameter definitions
• Security exposure
• Usage patterns

JavaScript

• Deprecated APIs
• Form context misuse
• Performance issues

Workflows & Power Automate

• Infinite loops
• Inefficient triggers
• Bad conditions

Security Roles

• Excessive privileges
• Missing dependencies

Tables & Relationships

• Poor schema design
• Missing relationships
• Incorrect data types

Canvas & Model-Driven Apps

• Performance bottlenecks
• Unsupported patterns

Conclusion:

Solution Checker plays a critical role in ensuring the overall quality, stability, and sustainability of Power Platform and Dataverse solutions. As organizations increasingly rely on low-code and pro-code development to deliver business applications at scale, the risk of performance issues, security gaps, and unsupported customizations also increases. Solution Checker addresses these challenges by providing an automated, Microsoft-backed validation mechanism that evaluates solutions against proven best practices and platform standards.

By identifying potential issues early in the development lifecycle, Solution Checker helps teams shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive quality assurance. Developers benefit from clear guidance on improving plugins, JavaScript, flows, and app designs, while architects gain confidence that solutions align with enterprise architecture principles, governance policies, and long-term maintainability goals. QA and release teams can use Solution Checker reports as objective quality gates, reducing deployment risks and minimizing post-production incidents.

From a business perspective, Solution Checker directly contributes to faster releases, reduced technical debt, lower support costs, and improved system reliability. It strengthens security posture, enhances performance, and ensures that solutions remain upgrade-safe as Microsoft continues to evolve the Power Platform. When integrated into regular development practices and CI/CD pipelines, Solution Checker becomes not just a validation tool, but a foundation for disciplined application lifecycle management.

In summary, Solution Checker is an essential tool for any organization building serious, scalable, and enterprise-grade solutions on Dataverse. It bridges the gap between speed and quality, empowers teams with actionable insights, and ensures that Power Platform solutions are built right the first time—and remain robust well into the future.