Create a Power Platform Environment

Purpose

Treat each environment like a course section: its own roster, rules, and gradebook. Isolating apps and data per solution lets you govern access and — crucially — bill cleanly later with Pay-as-you-Go (PAYG).

Prerequisites

None. You already have permission to create environments!

Steps

  1. Open the Power Platform admin center.
  2. Go to Manage → Environments → New.
    In the admin center, select Manage, choose Environments, then select New.
    Navigation path to create a new environment.
New environment dialog showing fields for Name, Region, Type, and a Save button.
Required fields in the New environment dialog.

Complete the fields

  1. Name — Enter a clear, recognizable name for the environment.
  2. Region — Choose a service geo like “United States” (Default selection).
  3. Type — Select Sandbox (build/test) or Production (live).
  4. Save — Provisioning may take a few minutes.

Gotchas

  • Power Platform environment regions (service geos) are not the same as Azure regions. Choose the Power Platform region for where your users/data live; you’ll link to Azure for billing later.

FAQ

Q: Do I need to match Azure and Power Platform regions?
A: No. Power Platform uses service geos (e.g., United States); Azure uses datacenter regions (e.g., East US).

Q: Where will costs show up after enabling PAYG?
A: In Azure Cost Management under the Power Platform account resource tied to your billing plan.

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