OK this appears to be due to a very confusing set of bugs that are currently deployed as the PowerApps offering:
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/create-a-database-with-the-latest-version-of-common-data-...
- The PowerApps Plan 2 Trial user is shown as having Plan 2 access in their profile when it should say "Plan 2 Trial". Even as such, the impression/implication of a Trial is that you can try all things within a production/final/offered product.
- The PowerApps Create Environment user interface provides the "Production" option in its creation dialog, when in fact this is actually not an option at all. So the user is presented with an invalid/unauthorized option which should never be presented to them in the first place. This is why the weird resulting message is presented to the user when an attempt is made to create an environment/feature they are not authorized to create.
My wholehearted recommendation is to remove the Production/Trial dropdown selection altogether and simply create the environment based on the user's current paying status. If they are paying the $40/mo, then make it an actual Production environment. Otherwise, make it a Trial environment. That way you are still counting against the two amount allowed (2) and the user is none the wiser and never knows that particular detail at all.
Of course, this begs the question: If I create a Trial environment and put 30 days' worth of effort into building out its schema and data... is there a way to easily "upgrade" it to an actual Production environment once I have paid into the actual Plan 2? Or (even better) does it automatically upgrade into a Production environment once I fork over my hard-earned cash? 🙂
