Problem Statement

The tenant-level storage capacity summary in the Power Platform Admin Center calculates entitled capacity based solely on purchased license SKUs. This creates a blind spot: tenants that operate exclusively through Microsoft 365 licensing (Business Basic, Business Standard, Office 365 E1/E3) receive 0 GB of Dataverse File, Database, and Log entitlement on the summary page, despite the fact that every default environment is provisioned with a built-in storage quota.

Per Microsoft Learn: 

"The default environment has the following included storage capacity: 3 GB Dataverse database capacity, 3 GB Dataverse file capacity, and 1 GB Dataverse log capacity."

The automated capacity alert system uses the license-based entitlement figure, not the real available capacity, to calculate threshold breaches. The result is false-positive over-capacity warnings.

Example

A small business using Microsoft 365 Business Standard licenses has one default Dataverse environment. They use two Canvas apps and a few Power Automate flows, accumulating 1.67 GB of file storage (mainly from platform-managed web resources and note attachments). Their tenant-level summary shows:

TypeEntitledUsedStatusFile0.00 GB1.67 GB100% Over-Capacity

The admin receives a weekly email: "You're out of File capacity. Your tenant has used 100 percent of available File storage. Please act immediately to continue operating without disruptions."

In reality, the default environment holds a 3 GB included file quota. Actual usage is only 56% of the true limit. No operational risk exists. The customer opens a support case, only to learn the alert was a cosmetic overstatement.

This is not an edge but the standard experience for every M365-only tenant that uses Dataverse in a default environment.

Why This Happens

The reason behind this is a data presentation gap between two layers:

1. License layer (entitlement engine): Calculates capacity from license SKUs. M365 SKUs like Business Basic and Office 365 E1 grant CDS Lite capacity for Teams environments but contribute 0 GB to the standard Dataverse capacity pools. The entitlement engine correctly reports 0 GB - these licenses genuinely do not purchase standalone Dataverse capacity.
2. Environment layer (included quota): Every default environment is allocated 3 GB DB / 3 GB file / 1 GB log at provisioning time, independent of licensing. This quota is visible only when drilling into the environment-level details view. The tenant-level summary does not aggregate it.

The alert pipeline reads from layer 1. The real capacity exists in layer 2. The disconnect produces warnings that are technically accurate at the license level but meaningless for customers who operate within the included quota.

Suggestion

Include the default environment's built-in quota in the tenant-level capacity calculation. Specifically:

1. Summary tab: Add a "Default environment included capacity" row under "Storage capacity, by source" - alongside "Org (tenant) default", "User licenses", and "Additional storage". This shows the 3/3/1 GB allocation transparently.
2. Alert threshold calculation: Factor the default environment's included quota into the over-capacity check. A tenant using 1.67 GB of file storage with a 3 GB default quota should show 56% usage, not 100%.
3. Alert email wording: When a tenant's overage is driven entirely by the absence of license-based entitlement rather than actual consumption exceeding the included quota, the email could state: "Your default environment's included storage is being used. If your usage exceeds the included 3 GB, consider purchasing additional capacity add-ons."

What This Would Not Change

• The StorageDriven capacity model and overflow rules would remain intact.
• Tenants whose usage genuinely exceeds the 3 GB included quota would continue to receive over-capacity notifications as they do today.
• Tenants with paid Dataverse capacity add-ons would see no change.
• The default environment list view behavior (showing only consumption beyond included quota) would remain unchanged - this suggestion addresses the summary-level presentation only.

Additional Consideration

The same gap likely affects the environment creation capacity check. Per the documentation: "The capacity check conducted before creating new environments excludes the default environment's included storage capacity when calculating whether you have sufficient capacity." If a tenant has 0 GB license-based capacity, the included quota is already factored into the new-environment check - but the summary page does not show this deduction, creating an inconsistency between what the admin sees and what the platform enforces.

The fix would bring the summary presentation in line with the provisioning logic that already accounts for the included quota.