Microsoft Power Apps Platform and how is it useful for you?

We started our new year with the launch of Power Apps training course. Our Microsoft Certified trainers are excited to help people unlock the potential of Microsoft’s easy-to-use App building platform. This blog is dedicated to users who want to understand what Power Apps is and how it is useful for them.

What is Power Apps?

Power Apps is a no-code/low-code platform for building apps. It allows you to develop and use custom business apps that connect to your data and work across the web and mobile without the time and expense of custom software development.

If you can envision an app to solve a business problem, then you can use your existing skills to build an app in Power Apps. By using Power Apps, you can quickly build custom business apps that connect to your business data that is stored in various online and on-premises data sources like Microsoft Dataverse, SharePoint Online, Excel, SAP, SalesForce, SQL Server etc. Also, you don’t have to choose just one data source. Power Apps easily supports multiple data connections allowing you to bring data together from many platforms into a single app.

What Power Apps can do for you?

Do you have inefficient or legacy business processes that you would like to modernize? Are you still moving information around using paper or even a shared Excel workbook? Do you want to be able to perform these business processes from different devices like PCs or mobile phones? Then you need Power Apps.

Apps that are built using Power Apps provide rich business logic and workflow capabilities to transform your manual business processes to digital, automated processes. Power Apps simplifies the custom business app building experience by enabling users to build feature-rich apps without writing code.

Different types of Power Apps

Power Apps can create three types of apps: canvas, model-driven, and portals. Each is suited to different scenarios and end users,

Canvas App:

Canvas apps is a great option when you want to build an app from a blank canvas. You start by choosing the screen size: tablet or mobile, then you have a blank screen from which to build. You can interact with data in your app by adding data sources. Drag and drop various controls and add the desired functionality by writing Excel style formulas. Canvas apps provide you complete flexibility when building your apps.

Below is an example of a canvas app for Mountaineering & Camping equipment in tablet layout:

Model-driven App:

Model-driven apps are mainly built from data in Microsoft Dataverse. Power Apps will build you a great looking, fully functional app to act upon and interact with this data. With model-driven apps, there is no need to worry about choosing the app size; it is responsive, meaning it works on mobile or tablet without requiring extra work. You define the relationships, forms, views, business rules, and more at the data layer, inside of the Dataverse, giving you enough control to get your business result without writing all of the formulas yourself. Model-driven apps has introduced new custom page feature which enables developers to build canvas screens inside Model-driven app and can connect to different data sources like Power Apps Canvas app.  

Below is an example of a Model-driven app for Mountaineering & Camping equipment:

Portal:

Portals bring the power of no-code solutions to building externally facing websites. Through the Power Apps interface, you can build an anonymous or authenticated website that allows users to interact with data held in Dataverse. The same drag and drop experience you enjoy when building apps is available to build these rich, interactive websites.

Below is an example of Power Apps Portal for Mountaineering & Camping equipment:

Connectors and data sources in Power Apps

When modernizing a paper-based process, there are likely systems in your organization with data you can leverage. With Power Apps, you have choices. With over 275 connectors you can easily connect to data, using Microsoft Dataverse or a multitude of online and on-premises data sources. Some common data sources include:

• Dataverse
• SharePoint
• Dynamics 365
• SQL Server and Azure SQL
• Office 365
• SAP
• SalesForce
• Twitter

You don’t have to choose just one data source. Power Apps easily supports multiple data connections allowing you to bring data together from many platforms into a single app.

Conclusion:

Power Apps is a no code/low-code app development platform by Microsoft. It is easy to use tool which can be used to build an end-to-end business app. Power apps have the workflow capability to convert a legacy business process into a digitalized automated solution. The three types of Power Apps are canvas app, model driven app and portal app. Power Apps can be connected to a wide range of data sources.