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Boxcurve Unity: Installation & Initial Setup

This guide is for the IT and deployment teams responsible for installing Boxcurve Unity into your organisation's Microsoft Power Platform environment. It covers what is delivered, what you must prepare, how the application is brought into your environment, the connections it relies on, how access is granted, how the licensing check is completed, and the configuration required to make the application usable after installation.

Boxcurve Unity is an accountability-mapping application delivered as a Microsoft Power Platform solution. It maps operational processes and accountability across your projects and operations, using whichever responsibility format your organisation works in, for example RACI, RASCI, RATSI, DACI, DCI or MOCHA. It is installed and run entirely inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant: your organisation administers the environment it runs in, and Boxcurve supplies the application. The application contains no custom code components.

Responsibility boundary

This guide separates what Boxcurve provides from what your organisation is responsible for configuring and operating. Installation mechanics, importing a solution, creating connections, assigning security roles and sharing an app, are standard Microsoft Power Platform operations. Where a step is general platform behaviour, this guide points you to Microsoft's official documentation rather than restating it.

1. What is delivered​

Boxcurve Unity is delivered as a single Power Platform managed solution. The solution packages the complete application as one unit. It contains:

  • The Unity application (shown to users with the name Unity) that is the interface your users open to work with accountability maps, tasks, stakeholders and project administration.
  • Application data tables, the Microsoft Dataverse tables that hold Unity's records (for example projects, accountability maps, tasks, stakeholders, departments, task packs, comments, notifications, change-log history, error logs, and user/application settings). The data these tables hold is described in the Data Held & Handling guide.
  • Automated processes, the background processes that carry out work such as first-time setup, project administration, task import and export, integration with Microsoft Planner and other services, notifications, and change logging.
  • Security roles, five application security roles that govern what each user can do inside Unity (see Section 6).

The application is delivered for the EMEA Power Platform region.

Version

Read the in-force version directly from the managed solution as it appears in your Power Platform environment after import, and record that value in your change records. Boxcurve also states the version of each package it supplies to you. How Boxcurve versions and ships managed releases is covered in the Updates & Change Management guide.

Artificial intelligence

Boxcurve Unity as delivered does not include an AI or generative-AI feature. AI is Not Applicable to this installation.

2. Delivery as a managed solution​

Boxcurve Unity is delivered to your organisation as a managed solution. After import, the application is locked down: its components are not editable directly in your environment and are changed only by importing a new version supplied by Boxcurve. This is the intended state for a production installation and protects the application from accidental modification.

Boxcurve produces, tests and ships each production release to you as a managed package; you deploy that package rather than building it yourself. Boxcurve coordinates the timing of each release with you, and you apply it on your own schedule. The level of release detail relevant to your change-management records is set out in the Updates & Change Management guide.

Platform mechanic, managed solutions

The behaviour of managed Power Platform solutions (locked components, version-on-import upgrade) is standard platform behaviour documented by Microsoft: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/alm/solution-concepts-alm

3. Prerequisites in your environment​

To install and run Boxcurve Unity your organisation needs:

  • A Microsoft Power Platform environment with Microsoft Dataverse, into which the solution will be imported. This is the environment Unity's tables and application live in.
  • Permission to import a solution into that environment, and permission to create the connections the application uses. These are Power Platform administrative permissions held by your environment administrators.
  • Microsoft 365 accounts for the people who will use Unity, so that they can be assigned Unity's security roles and granted access to the application.

Licensing requirements (for Power Platform, Dataverse capacity, and any connectors used) are determined by Microsoft and by how your organisation is licensed. Boxcurve Unity does not define or override Microsoft licensing.

Platform topic, licensing

Power Platform and connector licensing are governed by Microsoft. See Microsoft's documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/admin/pricing-billing-skus

Confirm any specific minimum capacity or connector licence tiers with Boxcurve as part of onboarding, before you schedule the import.

4. Installing the application​

Boxcurve Unity is installed by importing the Boxcurve Unity managed solution into your chosen Power Platform environment. You can obtain it from Microsoft AppSource through the Boxcurve Unity listing, or directly from Boxcurve.

Platform mechanic, importing a solution

Importing a Power Platform solution is a standard platform operation performed by an environment administrator. The general procedure (uploading the solution package and completing the import) is the same for any Power Platform solution and is documented by Microsoft: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/alm/import-update-export-solutions

5. Connections the application requires​

Boxcurve Unity works with several Microsoft 365 services. During or after installation, an administrator must establish a connection for each service the application uses, so that Unity is authorised to act against those services within your tenant. The application relies on connections to the following Microsoft services:

Service Unity connects toWhat Unity uses it for
Microsoft DataverseStoring and reading Unity's own application records.
Office 365 OutlookSending application email (for example, notifications).
Office 365 GroupsWorking with Microsoft 365 groups (for example, adding users in high-responsibility roles as group owners).
Office 365 UsersLooking up user details from your directory.
OneDrive for BusinessExporting task data to a file.
Microsoft PlannerCreating and synchronising tasks with Microsoft Planner.
Microsoft TeamsReading team membership used to determine each user's role in Unity.
Azure DevOpsCreating tasks on an Azure DevOps board.

Each connection is created with a Microsoft 365 account that has the necessary permissions for that service. The specific account used, and the permissions it carries, determine what Unity can do through that connection. Your organisation owns and operates these connections; Boxcurve does not preset any connection values for your environment.

Establish these connections before you begin first-time setup. First-time setup checks that the service connections above are in place before it allows setup to continue (see Section 8).

Note, the Microsoft Teams connection is a data connection

The Microsoft Teams connection listed above lets Unity read team membership in order to help determine each user's role in the application. It does not make Unity run inside Microsoft Teams. Surfacing the Unity app as a Teams personal app or channel tab is a separate, optional activity covered in Section 7.

Platform topic, creating and managing connections

Creating, owning, and sharing Power Platform connections is a standard platform activity. See Microsoft's documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-apps/maker/canvas-apps/add-manage-connections

6. Publish Unity to your users: roles and app access​

For Boxcurve Unity to be usable by a person, that person needs two things. Granting one without the other is not enough:

  1. A Boxcurve Unity security role, which governs what they can do with Unity's data.
  2. The Unity application shared with them, which makes the app appear in their list of available Power Apps so they can open it.

A security role on its own does not make the application visible; sharing the application on its own does not grant access to the data behind it. Both are required.

Assign a Boxcurve Unity security role​

Boxcurve Unity defines five application security roles. Each user who needs Unity must be assigned the role appropriate to what they will do in the application:

RoleIntended for
AdministratorApplication administrators with the broadest control over Unity.
Operations ManagerOperations-management responsibilities within Unity.
Project ManagerManaging projects within Unity.
Team ManagerManaging a team within Unity.
UserStandard end users of Unity.

Role names in the application

In the application these roles are labelled with a "RACI" prefix, for example the Administrator role appears as RACI Administrator. This guide uses the functional names.

The exact capabilities each role grants are described in the Identity & Access Control guide. Assign the least-privileged role that allows each person to do their work.

Platform mechanic, assigning security roles

Assigning Dataverse security roles to users is a standard platform operation. See Microsoft's documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/admin/assign-security-roles

Share the Unity application​

Share the Unity application with the people who will use it, so that it appears in their list of available apps and they can open it. You can share with individual users or with a group; sharing with a group is convenient where membership changes over time.

Platform mechanic, sharing an app

Sharing a canvas app with users or a group is a standard Power Platform operation. See Microsoft's documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-apps/maker/canvas-apps/share-app

7. Make Unity available in Microsoft Teams (optional)​

If you want your users to open Boxcurve Unity from inside Microsoft Teams, the Unity application can be surfaced in Teams using the standard Power Apps capability to add an existing canvas app to Teams. This is optional, Unity does not require it to run. You can present Unity in Teams as:

  • A personal app, which appears for the user on the Teams left rail and is available wherever they are working in Teams.
  • A channel tab, which adds Unity to a specific team and channel.

You can use either or both. The app owner does this from Power Apps using the application's More actions (…) menu and the Add to Teams action.

Two separate things, do not conflate them

Adding Unity to Teams (this section) places the Unity app inside Microsoft Teams as a place to open it. This is entirely separate from the Microsoft Teams connection in Section 5, which only lets Unity read team membership to help determine each user's role. One controls where users open Unity; the other is a data connection. Boxcurve Unity does not ship a packaged Teams app; this uses the generic Power Apps capability to add an existing canvas app to Teams.

Access is unchanged by adding Unity to Teams

Adding Unity to Teams changes only where a person opens the application, not who may use it. Each user still needs both a Boxcurve Unity security role and the Unity application shared with them, as described in Section 6.

Platform mechanic, embedding an app in Teams

Adding an existing canvas app to Microsoft Teams (as a personal app or a channel tab) is a standard Power Apps capability. Allowing custom or shared Power Apps to be added to Teams is controlled by your organisation's Teams and Power Platform administrators through platform settings; configure those per your governance policy. See Microsoft's documentation:

8. Run first-time setup inside the application​

Boxcurve Unity includes a first-time setup process that prepares the initial application structure. Start it from within the Unity application, it does not run automatically on import. First-time setup:

  • Checks the required connections. The application verifies that the connections to the Microsoft services listed in Section 5 are in place before allowing setup to proceed.
  • Prompts you to activate the application's automated processes. Microsoft requires certain automated processes to be turned on manually after a solution is installed. First-time setup lists the processes that need activation and provides a way to browse to and turn them on. This is a one-time action carried out by an administrator after import.
  • Establishes the starting project structure and assigns the first set of administrators, operations managers and users, so that the application is ready to use.

Only a user with the System Administrator role in the environment can complete first-time setup.

Platform mechanic, turning on flows

Manually turning on a Power Platform automated process (flow) after a managed-solution import is standard platform behaviour. See Microsoft's documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-automate/error-checker

9. Complete the licensing check​

When Boxcurve Unity starts, it performs a licensing check: it contacts a Boxcurve licensing service to retrieve the licence plan that applies to your organisation, and uses the result to determine which capabilities are available to each user.

Key points for your security and procurement teams:

  • Access is not blocked by the check. Users are routed into the application based on their stakeholder and role assignment; the licence result governs which premium capabilities are unlocked, not whether the application opens. Premium task packs and similar premium features are gated by the licence level returned.
  • What the licence call transmits. The licensing call identifies your environment and reports aggregate usage information so that Boxcurve can return the correct plan; it does not transmit your accountability-map content. The specific identifiers and data transmitted are described in the Data Residency & Tenant Isolation guide, which you should consult for the authoritative detail.
  • Licensing is provisioned through Microsoft AppSource. Boxcurve Unity is available as a free listing, Boxcurve Unity, with paid plans provided through the Boxcurve Unity licensing listing.

Confirm the licence-activation procedure with Boxcurve as part of onboarding, including how your plan is assigned to your organisation.

10. Enable optional integrations (as needed)​

Boxcurve Unity can integrate with Microsoft services such as Microsoft Planner and Azure DevOps, and can import and export task data. Whether you enable each integration depends on how your organisation intends to use Unity. The connections in Section 5 must be in place for the corresponding Microsoft integration to function.

The application also supports two optional, customer-configured integrations with services outside Microsoft 365:

  • monday.com, importing tasks from monday.com boards into Unity.
  • Task pack import, importing a task list (task pack) from Boxcurve's task pack repository.

These optional integrations are not required to install or run Unity. If your organisation chooses to use them, you must supply your own credential (such as an API key or access token) for the external service; Boxcurve does not provide these credentials on your behalf.

Configuration of each integration is described in the Integrations & Connections guide.

11. Where responsibility sits​

AreaBoxcurve providesYour organisation is responsible for
The applicationThe Boxcurve Unity managed solution (app, tables, processes, roles) and its updates.Importing it into your environment and keeping it current via the updates Boxcurve supplies.
EnvironmentNoneProviding and administering the Power Platform environment and its Dataverse capacity.
ConnectionsThe set of services Unity connects to.Creating and owning the connections with appropriately permissioned accounts.
AccessThe five Unity security roles.Assigning roles to users and sharing the Unity app (both are required for a user to use Unity).
Availability in TeamsThe generic Power Apps capability to add the Unity canvas app to Teams.Deciding whether to add Unity to Teams and configuring the platform settings that allow it.
LicensingA Boxcurve licensing plan and the in-app licensing check.Holding the Microsoft licences required for Power Platform and the connectors in use, and completing licence activation with Boxcurve.
Optional integrationsSupport for monday.com and Boxcurve task pack import.Deciding whether to enable them and supplying the required credentials.
  • Identity & Access Control, what each Unity security role can do.
  • Integrations & Connections, configuring Planner, Azure DevOps, monday.com, the Boxcurve task pack repository and import/export.
  • Data Residency & Tenant Isolation, what the licensing check transmits, in detail.
  • Updates & Change Management, how Boxcurve versions and ships application updates.
  • Data Held & Handling, the data Unity stores and processes.