What Are PowerApps?
PowerApps for Office 365 is a software or a suite of tools, services, connectors, apps, and data platforms that allows you to build and develop customized apps for your business requirements. This software is included in most Office 365 subscription plans and is a feature like many others that Office 365 provides, such as OneDrive.
Using PowerApps for Office 365 lets you build apps without knowing coding or app development and connect them to your business data.
The apps you build by PowerApps will provide you with rich business-related features and a workflow that will enhance your manual business processes to automated digital processes. Moreover, these apps will have a responsive design that will run seamlessly on various browsers or mobile devices, be it a tablet or a phone.
Types of PowerApps
There are four main types of PowerApps which many use for app development:
Model-Driven Apps
With this app, you can enter data and information, automatically controlling the layout of the app you build and develop. The kind of data you enter will usually determine the type of layout for the app. This app is generally approached and used when you want to develop a complex app for your business.
Power Apps Portal
PowerApps Portal is generally used to create web portals or websites that you can share internally and externally. This allows all the users and your employees to interact securely with the data safely stored in the Common Data Service.
Canvas Apps
To work with Canvas apps, you have to start with all the data sources of the app you are building. After that, you add the workflows and eventually create the design of the app. These apps offer more flexibility than Model-Driven apps and are easy to operate.
Dataverse
Dataverse is a data platform that PowerApps for Office 365 provides to store and sort out business data. Other Microsoft products also extensively use this data platform, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Customer Insights. This app allows you to store and manage data with custom tables, rows, and a set of standards safely and securely.
How to Run PowerApps
To complete tasks, you do not need to perform them manually. With PowerApps, you can create customized apps that can do all the work for you through an automation process. Once you have built a customized app, you can also share it with others in your business.
You can use the Canvas App to design your app. This app gives you control over the User Interface of the app. It provides you with templates to choose from and then either customize them or use them whole.
The Model-Driven apps use a Unified Interface to create responsive and aesthetic designs for your app. You can decide whether or not your app will run on browsers or mobile devices through these apps. Model-Driven apps also allow you to create the dashboard, charts, forms, and other components for your app.
The other apps, i.e., Power Apps Portal and Dataverse, are mainly used after the app is built and developed and require a bit of technical work that can prove tricky for you. Hence, it is recommended to hire professional app developers to assist you in this process.
Benefits of PowerApps for Office 365
No Coding or Programming Required
With PowerApps, anyone can build, develop, and design an app, even if that person does not have any prior experience related to app development. Unless you are an expert app developer, you should use PowerApps to build and design apps from scratch with the most straightforward tools available.
Security
With PowerApps, you will have complete control of the apps that your business is using. Users and employees will be able to save their works on their apps, control options, and manage data. Furthermore, any apps built from PowerApps will be saved and connected to the administrative account of your business. The administrative account will also be able to apply security policies to all the devices, apps, and users.
Seamless App Development
While most companies will have typical app developers or a team of them to build apps manually, your business will develop and design apps with utter ease. As these apps will require no coding, the development of the app will be streamlined and seamless. PowerApps will provide you with all the tools, apps, and services, and you will have to implement them smartly to create a customized app according to your business needs.
Easy-to-Use Data Connectors
One of the most complex parts of developing an app for your company is integrating and connecting all the data. You may have used easy drag-and-drop tools to create your customized app, but integrating data requires much technical work. Thanks to PowerApps’ many available connectors, you can easily connect your standardized data with your newly built app. PowerApps also offers drag-and-drop features and templates to make accessing data much more effortless.
Low Cost
Another benefit is PowerApps cost. PowerApps pricing starts at $10 per month for two apps or $40 for an unlimited number of apps. Having an Office 365 license or app licenses makes it even easier to buy PowerApps. You can contact Microsoft for further details regarding subscription plans. You can also contact them if you want PowerApps licensing or general app licensing.
Limitations of Office 365 PowerApps
Performance Problems
With the number of users using PowerApps increasing, the load on the software rises as well, which results in a decrease in its performance rate. PowerApps faces some trouble while processing many changes that the users are making, making it difficult for the software to handle big loads. Also, time taken to build a general App.
Limited Capabilities
Power Apps is generally famous for providing quick app development services. Its app customization, though, is a little bit limited. You can only use specific blocks that are predefined on a platform. This may especially be a problem if you already have planned particular customizations for your app, as these blocks may not provide you with the required features or freedom.
Latest Update – New Powerful Feature
Like many other Office 365 products, PowerApps also gets regular updates with many new features. Notably, the latest update features an AI Builder that enables PowerApps to use Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence technology and Machine Learning to help you build and develop advanced and more innovative apps.
You can analyze and categorize your customer feedback through the AI Builder to take specific actions, improving your customer services and market automation.
How Can I Use PowerApps?
The Office 365 PowerApps can be used for various business processes, such as data visualization, reporting, work automation, and collaboration. This software can be used by teams, employees, management, or solo workers. Its uses usually range from simple tasks to complex and technical processes.
You can use PowerApps on mobile devices, on a web browser, or within the Office 365 tools, for example, Microsoft Teams.
Checking Out Sample Apps
After you log in to your Power Apps account, you will see several sample apps. You can use these sample apps on the web browser or the mobile device to see how they function. This will give you a clear idea of how these apps operate and how you can take advantage of them to improve your business.
You will see multiple samples apps for specific purposes, such as managing a budget, tracking performance rates, and inspecting a website. The data in these sample apps will be purely fictitious so that they can inspire your thinking.
Building Your App
To start building your first app, you will have to download PowerApps Studio for Windows. From this, you can connect all the data sources that your app will require and start designing apps with a visual designer, which will not need any programming.
An excellent way to start building your first app is to create an app from your own data sources. To do that, enter the data sources in PowerApps and spectate as PowerApps spontaneously creates an app with three screens for analyzing detailed data and information. After this, you can begin customizing your app according to your business requirements.
Another great way to create an app is to build an app from a ready-made template. These templates resemble the sample apps, and they use fictitious information and data to assist you in understanding more about the app’s functions. Opening the template in PowerApps Studio for Windows will allow you to see precisely how the app is built.
Conclusion
By using Microsoft Office 365 PowerApps, you can create business-level apps with ease. This software makes it easier than ever for businesses to develop customized apps that can benefit their business. For PowerApps pricing, you can contact the company for a detailed view of the subscription plans. You can also book a free demo to explore its features and understand it better.
