Today, the business world relies heavily on mobile technology. We don’t just work from cubicles, offices and desktop computers; we work from subways and taxis, coffee shops, and basically anywhere that we are. We have the luxury of being able to tackle nearly any work-related task from our phones.
It’s not unheard of, however, that some business tasks still have to be done on computers. Mobile apps for business tasks have lagged behind. Those apps that do exist have not always been as comprehensive or accessible as desktop solutions.
Microsoft saw this issue and presented a remedy: Microsoft PowerApps, which is part of Microsoft Dynamics 365.
But what is PowerApps? Essentially, it’s a simple way for the average person to create the apps they, specifically, need, while leveraging the rich and diverse data sets that are provided with the Dynamics 365 Business and Enterprise Editions.
Developers and other employees alike can quickly create the apps they need with data they already have, be it on-premises or cloud-based.
PowerApps will appear within the app menu of Office 365. Upon logging in for the first time, users will be met with a couple things. In addition to a popup window explaining, in the simplest of terms, what PowerApps can do, there will be several short videos and images showing the user how to go about getting started. In the bottom left corner of the screen, there is a New app button. Click this button, then choose one of the two options that appear: PowerApps Studio for Windows or PowerApps Studio for web. If you aren’t running Windows 8 or 10, you’ll want to choose the web version.
If you’ve chosen PowerApps for Windows, click Get when the page appears, then click Launch once PowerApps has downloaded. If you’ve chosen the web version, you can skip that step.
Within the New tab, choose to either start with your data, or start with a blank canvas or template. For this example, we’ll start with existing data. Click Phone layout for the desired data connection.
Choose the desired dataset from the list that appears
Choose the desired table, then click Connect
The page that appears will allow you to design the app; you’ll choose what order you want data to appear, whether or not to include images, and more. After designing the app, you can share it with any desired individuals.
Don’t think you’re stuck because you don’t have an app that does what you need; PowerApps makes it not only possible, but easy, to create the apps you need in just a few minutes.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you need help with PowerApps or have additional questions.