Microsoft Power Apps are described as apps that you can develop yourself without any knowledge of complex code.
Still, if you're building a Power App for the first time, you might feel a little overwhelmed. That's because there are quite a few things you only figure out once you're already halfway through building it.
Under the motto ‘Well begun is half done,’ here are 10 tips to help you develop your first Power App.
1. Learn about the different types of Power Apps
Not all Power Apps are the same. There are three different types, which we’d like to explain briefly:
- Canvas apps: These apps are used to automate or digitize a part of a business process. Using drag-and-drop, you can build your own interface and connect to no fewer than 200 data sources of your choice. Consider, for example, an app that allows your sales team to create leads from people they speak with at a trade show, with those leads then being uploaded directly into your CRM.
- Model-Driven Apps: For processes based on a data model (such as an employee training program), it’s better to build model-driven apps. Another advantage is that these types of apps can run alongside or in sync with your current applications.
- Portals: Create an external website where users can sign up
2. It's okay to copy!
To get an idea of what’s possible with Microsoft Power Apps or why a Power App might be useful for your business, it’s a good idea to explore existing apps and sample apps. These sample apps are usually developed for a specific purpose, such as budget management. You can also build your app using a template. When you open a template in Power Apps Studio, you can see, step by step, how that app is put together.
3. Put your app and the process in writing
It's very tempting to start building your Power App right away, but if you do, you might end up creating something the end user doesn't actually want. So, start by sketching out the app screens and the process so you can fine-tune it with your users.
It also helps you as you build the solution and serves as technical documentation.
4. For which device and under what circumstances am I building my app?
Before you start building your app, you need to consider the circumstances in which it will be used. Will it be opened directly on a computer, or more likely on the job site?
In the first case, the app is used with a mouse, and you always have an internet connection. In the second case, the app is used on a phone, so you need to account for a touchscreen, and you can’t be sure that an internet connection will always be available. Keep this in mind while building the app, because it’s difficult to adjust the format later on.
Does your app need to run on both tablets and laptops? If so, that will take a little extra time, since a responsive design requires more work.
5. Do everything in English
And by that, we don’t mean that users should see the app in English, but rather that you should set Microsoft Power Apps to English during development. There are two reasons for this: if you search the internet for examples, you’ll find plenty of communities that can help, but most of them are in English. Examples and formulas found online are also often phrased differently in English than in Dutch. And it just so happens that those English-language formulas are usually the ones you can find most easily online.
6. Share your Power App in full-screen mode
If you send a user the link to your Microsoft Power App and they open it in a web browser, the familiar Office 365 bar will appear at the top. This, of course, makes it feel nothing like a standalone app. However, you can easily remove this bar.
7. Share your app with the right users
Once your app is fully up and running, you can decide who to share it with. You can simply share your app with ‘everyone’ in the company, but keep in mind that if everyone shares with everyone else, 50 apps will appear on the Power Apps home screen.
These days, it's also possible to use Power Apps to share with external users.
8. Move your Power Apps to a service account
Your app is a hit and is used by a large number of people. Great! But what if you, as the app’s developer, decide to move on to other projects?
If you created a Power App under your own account and then leave the company, unfortunately, it will no longer work. This is because the Power App and the connections within the app are registered under your name.
It’s better to move your app to a dedicated Service Account. That way, your apps will continue to work, and you can easily manage them from a single account. You can also easily add new owners to the app using the ‘Share’ feature.
9. Re-publish your apps regularly
The Microsoft platform is constantly evolving, and so is Power Apps. New features and options are added or updated on a monthly—and sometimes weekly—basis.
So try to republish your Power Apps at regular intervals (for example, every 6 months). Doing so ensures that the app remains compatible with the latest version of Power Apps.
10. Rename all components
All the components you add to your app initially have default names. This can make navigating between them very difficult. So our tenth tip is to be sure to give all components logical names.
Not sure? Let us guide you.
Power Apps As mentioned, it doesn't require extensive coding knowledge and allows you to develop functional mobile apps that support your business needs. It can also communicate and integrate with other Microsoft 365 services, such as Power Automate, SharePoint, Power BI and Exchange Online.
Despite the appeal of Power Apps, developers and/or content managers may have concerns about certain issues, such as security or UX/UI and design. It is therefore certainly not a bad idea to to bring in experts that will guide you through the process of building Power Apps the right way.
