My “five” learnings with Power Apps

Who would have thought! Many colleagues and people in my network did not expect that my knowledge of the Power Platform was still in its early days.

Sure, I have the “theoretical knowledge” of what the Power Platform is, and maybe partly which scenarios the different apps can help with. But to be honest, that was it!

I am not a jack of all trades and certainly not the god of Microsoft 365 – that would be far too utopian. But I keep trying my hand at new topics. My partner is not always thrilled about that, because it steals a minute or two of precious family time even in the evening.

Many users and key users are surely at exactly this point! New topics always mean feeling your way forward and trying things out, and that takes time. Time that is not always there in everyday work, or that the daily business needs. Still, I think it is important to consciously make that time, because there are often quite good opportunities hidden in it!

About 60% of my approach to new topics is “just do it” – a bit like trial and error. But it helps me learn new topics, and in the end it is not just bare theory; something usable often comes out of it.

How I go about it and what I learned, you will find out in this and the upcoming posts.

Like so many others, I took my first steps in the Power Platform with Power Apps and Power Automate. Because of a customer requirement and certain bottlenecks, in June/July 2022 I dug a little deeper into Power Apps for the first time.

In short: I got to build a Power App. Something completely new, because my strong suit was designing the concept rather than the implementation. But what could possibly go wrong? No sooner said than done, I started building my first Power App. It can’t be that hard.

I don’t want to keep my five most important learnings and experiences from building my first own Power App from you.

1. Which kind of app should it be, and what should the design be based on?

The first questions come up as soon as you create it! Should it be a so-called “canvas app” or a “model-driven” app? You can imagine that this is where the first question mark appeared in my head. What is the actual difference, and what does it mean?

This is what I found out for myself:

Canvas app:

The visual “canvas” – which is exactly what canvas means. The result is visible from the moment you open and start creating it. Somehow the canvas app has something in common with PowerPoint. It is very easy to use and first results show up very quickly. No programming knowledge is required, but it helps. A true low-code application.

Model-driven app

Model-driven apps are well suited to complex and demanding business applications; they follow a kind of “data first” approach. Building a model-driven app calls for a high level of technical know-how, because the foundation is always a data model rather than the visual side.

As if that weren’t enough when creating the app, the next question follows right away: should the app be built for a tablet or a smartphone? You are wondering what my question was here?

Quite simple: I thought, why can’t Power Apps just do both? Why might I have to build two apps depending on the requirement? I would have expected something different from a vendor as big as Microsoft. But once you look into web design, it quickly becomes clear why this distinction exists. Building a website that works on every device and browser is not easy.

What I take away: in future, whenever customers have requirements in this area, I will ask which device the app should run on. In the end it affects both handling and the commercial budget.

2. Naming elements

A Power App always consists of at least one screen and, depending on the use case, of so-called controls, images and much more. That “much more” should not be underestimated, because each requirement gets its own individual assembly.

For everyone who hasn’t worked with Power Apps yet: think of it as a toolbox. There are lots of tools, and for each area of requirements you decide whether to take the paintbrush or the chainsaw.

Which of course doesn’t make it easy! Especially when something doesn’t work or you are looking for something, it gets confusing very quickly. That is why I recommend giving each element a name.

I have clearly defined it for myself: nothing goes without a name any more. Images, for example, always start with img_(image name), a button always with btn_(name). That is the only way to keep track and find solutions quickly when there is a problem.

3. Data sources and limits

Power Apps can use different data sources. A data source can be a database such as SQL, for example, or a SharePoint list. Two topics matter here:

1. Limits
2. Costs

Limits include, for example, how much data you can retrieve at once. In SharePoint you can retrieve 2,000 items at once; after that you have to think about splitting the data. With an SQL table or Dataverse, that would be different.

Besides the limits, always look at the cost model as well. SharePoint as a data source is available free of charge for the Power Platform in Microsoft 365. Dataverse and SQL, on the other hand, are premium connectors and therefore cost extra.

My tip:

For smaller amounts of data, use SharePoint as the source. For larger amounts of data, look towards Dataverse.

4. Logic

Logic here means automated processes – in other words, business sequences. If you need a calculation, for example to add up numbers, that logic is possible in Power Apps. For more complex topics such as multi-stage approval flows, you should definitely use another application such as Power Automate to back the Power App.

Tips for admins:
Try to keep as much as possible in one application. The more applications, the more complex the administration becomes.

5. Less is more

Especially when we are getting into new topics, we shouldn’t set the bar at the very top. Maybe the first steps start at an altitude of 10,000 metres. After the first experiences, a lower altitude (“step by step”) makes sense.

In short: to get started with Power Apps, don’t pick a complex topic or a complex requirement, but something small and simple with low complexity. In my experience, that increases the learning and reduces frustration and demotivation enormously.