Microsoft Power Apps is a low-code/no-code solution that allows professional developers and non-IT professionals to create powerful applications much faster than with regularly developed applications. In this course, we will look at the core capabilities of Power Apps and how they help businesses automate and enhance repetitive, mundane, and time-consuming tasks.
We will cover canvas apps, model-driven apps, and portals, as well as their use cases and the differences between them. We'll also walk you through how to build each one. Finally, we'll take a look at the Power Apps Component Framework and how this allows developers to add even more functionality to standard Power Apps.
Learning Objectives
- Get a foundational understanding of canvas apps, model-driven apps, and portals, including their use cases and features
- Use data sources, controls, and formulas to build, share, and publish your own canvas apps
- Plan, build, share, and publish model-driven apps
- Create and customize your own portal and monitor user behavior on your portal
- Learn about the Power Apps Framework and how it can enhance the user experience of your apps
Intended Audience
This course is intended for both IT professionals and non-technical professionals looking to automate and enhance business processes for mobile and desktop users.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course but any computer coding knowledge and even basic Excel knowledge would be beneficial when learning about Power Apps.
Portals, as I just mentioned, are external facing. Which, if you don't remember, means that they can allow external users or users from outside of your organization to use them. Because of this feature, there are many great use cases for them. But, most if not all of these use cases are going to be simple data viewing or entry. Complex use cases such as an online banking system would of course be better built using another tool and by a person or team of professional developers.
That being said, there's still so much you can accomplish using portals. Here are a few ideas of great use cases:
- Submitting customer support or help tickets
- General questions from customers or potential customers, and appointment booking
Other use cases could include scenarios where you want your business partners to be able to add or view specific data and have access to specific business processes. But I'm sure you can think of lots more. In the next lecture group, we'll be building your first Canvas application.
Ben is a Power Apps and Power Automate Specialist for Sovereign SP and has been using Power Apps, Power Automate, and SharePoint since 2017. Since then, he has built 100+ solutions using these amazing Microsoft tools. He loves helping others realize what technology can do and how it helps automate and enhance business processes. Most of all, though, he loves how these tools help make people’s jobs easier. The phrase, “This will make things so much easier!” is why he's in the IT business.
Ben Fetters lives in South Ogden, Utah, with his amazing wife and brand-new baby girl. A Weber State University Business Administration graduate, he loves to create businesses and help current businesses improve.