diff --git a/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/lab-defaults.json b/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/lab-defaults.json
index 984780656..e8c1fe20e 100644
--- a/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/lab-defaults.json
+++ b/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/lab-defaults.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "groups": ["GHCPUsers"],
   "deploymentType": "resourcegroup-with-subscriptionowner",
   "labsPerSubscription": 5,
-  "preferredLocation": "swedencentral, francecentral, eastus2, germanywestcentral",
+  "preferredLocation": "francecentral, germanywestcentral, eastus2, swedencentral",
   "estimatedDailyCostsUsd": 8.0,
   "estimatedSharedDeploymentDailyCostsUsd": 0.0
 }
diff --git a/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/main.bicep b/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/main.bicep
index 946f7e250..4325f1562 100644
--- a/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/main.bicep
+++ b/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/labautomation/main.bicep
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ var cognitiveServicesUserRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorizatio
 var searchServiceContributorRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', '7ca78c08-252a-4471-8644-bb5ff32d4ba0')
 var searchIndexDataReaderRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', '1407120a-92aa-4202-b7e9-c0e197c71c8f')
 var monitoringReaderRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', '43d0d8ad-25c7-4714-9337-8ba259a9fe05')
+var logAnalyticsReaderRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', '73c42c96-874c-492b-b04d-ab87d138a893')
 var foundryUserRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', '53ca6127-db72-4b80-b1b0-d745d6d5456d')
 var openAiContributorRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', 'a001fd3d-188f-4b5d-821b-7da978bf7442')
 var storageBlobDataContributorRoleId = subscriptionResourceId('Microsoft.Authorization/roleDefinitions', 'ba92f5b4-2d11-453d-a403-e96b0029c9fe')
@@ -256,6 +257,24 @@ resource aiProject 'Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts/projects@2025-04-01-pre
   ]
 }
 
+resource aiProjectAppInsightsConnection 'Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts/projects/connections@2025-04-01-preview' = {
+  parent: aiProject
+  name: applicationInsightsName
+  properties: {
+    authType: 'ApiKey'
+    category: 'AppInsights'
+    target: applicationInsights.id
+    isSharedToAll: true
+    credentials: {
+      key: applicationInsights.properties.ConnectionString
+    }
+    metadata: {
+      ApiType: 'Azure'
+      ResourceId: applicationInsights.id
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 resource gpt5_4MiniDeployment 'Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts/deployments@2025-04-01-preview' = {
   parent: aiFoundry
   name: 'gpt-5.4-mini'
@@ -360,6 +379,16 @@ resource appInsightsMonitoringReaderForProject 'Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssi
   }
 }
 
+resource appInsightsLogAnalyticsReaderForProject 'Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments@2022-04-01' = {
+  scope: applicationInsights
+  name: guid(applicationInsights.id, aiProject.id, logAnalyticsReaderRoleId)
+  properties: {
+    roleDefinitionId: logAnalyticsReaderRoleId
+    principalId: aiProject.identity.principalId
+    principalType: 'ServicePrincipal'
+  }
+}
+
 resource searchCognitiveServicesUserForFoundry 'Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments@2022-04-01' = {
   scope: aiFoundry
   name: guid(searchService.id, aiFoundry.id, cognitiveServicesUserRoleId, 'search-to-cognitive')
diff --git a/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/scripts/test-deploy.ps1 b/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/scripts/test-deploy.ps1
index 0705060c1..cf78f6e82 100755
--- a/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/scripts/test-deploy.ps1
+++ b/03-Azure/01-04-AI/08_Predictive_Maintenance/scripts/test-deploy.ps1
@@ -104,6 +104,9 @@ if (-not (Get-Command Invoke-MhhDeploymentWithRegionFallback -ErrorAction Silent
         } else {
             az group create --name $ResourceGroupName --location $chosenLocation --output none
         }
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+            throw "Could not create or update resource group '$ResourceGroupName' (Azure CLI exit code $LASTEXITCODE)."
+        }
         
         # Build parameter arguments for az deployment
         $paramArgs = @()
@@ -122,8 +125,16 @@ if (-not (Get-Command Invoke-MhhDeploymentWithRegionFallback -ErrorAction Silent
             --parameters $paramArgs `
             --query "{outputs: properties.outputs}" `
             --output json
-            
+
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+            throw "Deployment '$deploymentName' failed in resource group '$ResourceGroupName' (Azure CLI exit code $LASTEXITCODE). Data seeding will not run. See the Azure CLI error above."
+        }
+
         $parsed = $jsonResult | ConvertFrom-Json
+
+        if (-not $parsed.outputs) {
+            throw "Deployment '$deploymentName' returned no outputs. Data seeding will not run."
+        }
         
         # Flatten outputs: { "name": { "value": "val" } } -> { "name": "val" }
         $flatOutputs = @{}