Empowering the Business with PowerApps and FlowMartin Abbott

https://au.linkedin.com/in/mjabbott

Empowering your business with PowerApps and Flow

Martin Abbott@martinabbott

Who am I?• Husband to one, father to three, brother to one, friend

to many• Microsoft MVP for Azure• Member of Admin team for Global Azure Bootcamp• Member of Admin team for Global Integration Bootcamp• Organiser of Perth MS Cloud Computing User Group• Co-author Robust Cloud Integration with Azure• Keen but sadly extremely average athlete

What are PowerApps?• Part of Office 365 and Dynamics 365• If you know Excel, you know PowerApps• Environments create separation• Governance• Simple application model

• Add data sources• Create screens• Add controls and bind to data• Wire up navigation• Formulas to provide logic• Publish and share

• Common Data Service• Extensible canonical data model• Data storage in PowerApps environment

If ( IsBlank ( TextBox1.Text ), TextBox1.Text = “Default”, TextBox1.Text = Account.GivenName ) )

Collect ( Details, { FirstName: “Martin”, LastName: “Abbott” } )

UpdateContext ( { SortDescending1: !SortDescending1 } )

f(x) = Filter ( Account, Enabled = true )

Navigate ( DetailScreen, None, { ID: 4 } )

The basics of a PowerApp

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Meet Katie, an events co-ordinatorTransform your tools

Demo

Flow to control your processes• Part of Office 365 and Dynamics 365• Free tier• Many templates to provide a starting point• Similar to IFTTT and Zapier• Create complex business flows• Consume connections, trigger events• Synchronise data• Make decisions• No (limited) code

The basics of a FlowTrigger

Action

Condition

Do Until

Demo

Meet John, customer service representativeTransform your productivity

Traditional development cycle• Business analysis• Business case• Approval to proceed• RFP• Vendor selection• Custom development• Testing• Fixing• Warranty• Maintenance • Enhancements• Decommissioning

> 6 months

Power to the people• IT creates the connections to data, and governs access• Skilled business users build the apps• Apps are deployed and shared in to environments• Mobile and tablet ready out of the box

Demo

Summary• PowerApps• Removes the barrier to IT change by putting the tools in the

hands of skilled business users• Provides a just-in-time approach to application delivery• IT worries about connections and security, the business

worries about the business applications they need• Flow• Next generation business process modelling• Low barrier to entry, no or very limited code required• Approval workflows, SaaS connections, templated solutions