Developing apps is often seen as complex, costly, and time consuming. However, using an innovative approach known as low-code development, anyone can create powerful business apps without requiring traditional coding skills.
The low-code approach is simple enough for beginners to build high-value apps—and sophisticated enough to meet the needs of professional developers tackling complex challenges. In both scenarios, it dramatically reduces the amount of work involved in getting an app up and running. Through a simple user interface, you can create apps that digitize paper processes, collect and share important data, and streamline the workday—without learning to code.
Microsoft Power Apps, part of the Microsoft Power Platform, provides a complete low-code app development solution. In this blog, we’ll share tips for entry-level Power Apps users to get started building their first business apps.
Power Apps helps you turn ideas into organisational solutions by enabling you to build custom apps that solve business challenges. If you’re familiar with tools such as PowerPoint, Excel, or SharePoint, you’ve already got a head start—you’ll find working with Power Apps to be a similar experience.
With Power Apps, you can easily create useful business applications through a user-friendly interface, no coding required.
When building your first app, smaller is better. Choose a well-defined task for your app to perform and get clear on what success looks like. Creating a solution is a lot easier when you have a clear idea of what the problem is. This will allow you to dive in and start exploring while staying focused. For example, an app that displays information from a
spreadsheet or a SharePoint list is easy to build and customize.
Understanding the problem you’re going to solve and the data you’re going to use are important first steps to creating a great app. The final piece of the puzzle is knowing who is going to use your app and how. By starting with a challenge that you’ve experienced yourself, this process is made much simpler.
If you and your team will be the users, it’s easy to figure out whether you’re more likely to access the application through a mobile phone or a tablet, for example. Choices like these will influence how you build your app.
If you are not the target audience for your application, take some time to understand the needs of those who are. What devices do they use? What’s their day like? What value will your solution provide? Putting yourself in their shoes will help your app be more successful.
Familiarizing yourself with the fundamentals will help you get off to a great start. Microsoft has created clearly defined learning paths for Power Apps that start with the simplest concepts and work up to more advanced capabilities. The best place to start is with the learning path called “Create a Canvas App in Power Apps.” It will guide you from Power Apps fundamentals through creating and customizing a sample app in just a couple of hours.
Power Apps is designed to work seamlessly with Office 365, Dynamics 365, and many external apps and data sources. When you’re first starting out, it pays to build your solution based on something you know well.
Your Microsoft Office 365 skills will come in handy when building on Power Apps. The design interface is like PowerPoint, using a drag-and-drop approach to build the user experience. Plus, adding functionality to your app uses formulas like those in Excel.
When you use Power Apps, you’re building on a highly secure and governed platform created by Microsoft. It is designed for enterprise use, with built-in controls governing data access, security, and compliance. Microsoft is a trusted partner to IT departments. Nevertheless, it’s important to consider whether any of the data captured or displayed by your app could be considered sensitive or proprietary and to take appropriate precautions. Talk to your IT department if you need help navigating this aspect of your application.
It’s exciting to learn how many people just like you have made big improvements in their organisations using Power Apps. They can also provide inspiring ideas and helpful guidance as you begin your journey Watch their stories and discover what you can accomplish.
Using Microsoft Power Apps, Spanish Point will help you connect your data from the Cloud & develop Business Applications that work on any phone, tablet and browser without writing any code.
Microsoft Power Apps is a result-driven business application maker that aids organisations in pushing solutions to customers. Spanish Point implement Power Apps to allow companies answer problems in the form of web or mobile applications. Learn More
