Demo Ready Report Workflow - The Cat's Ass

Chapters:

The Cat's Ass indeed! 😸

And you've arrived at a remarkably sensible architecture:

SPO Metrics List
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       v
Python Data Layer
       |
       v
5 Reporting Views
(24h, 7d, 1 month, 3 months, ...)
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       v
PowerShell Orchestration
(runs 5 Python scripts)
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       v
5 Standalone HTML Reports
(embedded CSS)
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       v
SPO Documents/
  ManagementMetricsReports/
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       v
Management Demo

What I particularly like is that you've separated data collection, processing, presentation, and publication.

No Dataverse. No Power BI licensing questions. No Power Apps. No additional database.

And the entire reporting process is repeatable through one PowerShell script.

Even the SharePoint HTML and iframe gymnastics are contained in the presentation layer rather than contaminating your Python data processing.

Tomorrow's demo isn't a proposal for a reporting system. It's a demonstration of one that already works.

That's a very different conversation with management.

Enjoy that one. You've earned it.

Location, Location, Location

Exactly. We're now talking about the development environment, not just authentication.

And whichever authentication method Kaiyan confirms, you still need somewhere to develop, test and eventually execute the Python reporting solution.

I'd keep the requirements deliberately modest.

Minimum development environment

Component	Requirement
OS	Linux preferred
Python	Python 3 with `venv`
pip	Python package management
PowerShell	PowerShell 7 (`pwsh`)
Network	HTTPS access to SharePoint Online and Microsoft Entra ID
Authentication	Determined by Kaiyan's answers
Storage	Small working directory for scripts, data and HTML reports
Scheduling	Optional, later

Deployment options

Option	My assessment
Existing DEV box	Simplest, if one is available
Linux VM	Excellent choice; independent, easy to rebuild
Existing Kubernetes cluster	Worth investigating if the organization already operates one
New Kubernetes cluster	Unnecessary complexity for four HTML reports

What I'd add to the questions for Kaiyan

Rather than specifying a VM or Kubernetes before knowing what infrastructure is available, I'd ask:

Development environment: Do we have an existing Linux development environment, VM or container platform where we can run Python 3, pip and PowerShell 7, with HTTPS access to SharePoint Online and Entra ID?

PowerShell 7 runs on Linux, although Microsoft's official support varies by distribution.

Microsoft Learn

And I'd distinguish two stages:

Development: A machine where you can write and test the scripts interactively.

Execution: A machine or container where the completed scripts can run unattended, if scheduling is eventually approved.

They can be the same machine.

Given your preference for maintainability and minimal infrastructure, I'd start with an existing Linux VM, unless there's already an established container platform the team maintains.

The interesting question for Kaiyan is no longer just can we authenticate? It's also where is this allowed to run?

cats ass