Low Code Development with PowerApps and Flow

Low Code Development is the concept of building software applications without a programming language. This isn't a new concept, a variety of Lower Code Development tools have been with us for many years, everything from Microsoft Excel, InfoPath forms, 4GL tools, custom ERP form designers, and desktop databases including Microsoft Access fit this category.

Low Code Development is often done outside of the IT Department or Professional Software Development teams by 'Citizen Developers'. A Citizen Developer is often someone in the business with more complex business needs, who is empowered to build their own solutions. Business Analysts, Finance, Engineering and R&D teams are often candidates for the unofficial title of Citizen Developer.

Low Code Development has many benefits including:

• Empowering the business user to solve their own problems
• Lower development effort / cost means smaller business problems can be solved
• Automating paper form processes
• Rapid prototyping / proof of concept development
• Help driving innovation and business process improvement

 There are some downsides to any Low Code Development that should be considered:

• Citizen Developers tend to learn as they go and often find a way that works rather doing something the 'right' way
• Once built, someone needs to support the solution
• Lack of source control and release management tools
• IT departments can feel they lack control and may not be willing or able to help with issues

Why PowerApps and Flow?

Microsoft PowerApps is acknowledged as a leading Low Code Development platform by Gartner. PowerApps gets this accolade for ease of use, powerful features and ability to deploy apps to Android, iOS and Web users seamlessly. PowerApps extends the capabilities of Office 365 and Dynamics 365. Combined with Microsoft Flow, citizen developers can build powerful Form and Workflow solutions integrating systems and streamlining business process.

The biggest benefit of using PowerApps and Flow is the integration Office 365 and Dynamics 365. PowerApps and Flow provide the tools for building applications and processes that integrate data and workflows across the Microsoft Cloud and beyond. PowerApps support a wide range of data sources including Dynamics, SharePoint Lists and Azure SQL and on-premises SQL server via the Data Management Gateway.

PowerApps are being used to solve a wide range of business problems. Examples include mobile pricing books for distributed sales teams, incident reporting forms, employee induction, field data capture, employee self-assessments, forecasting models and event planning tools. SharePoint includes a PowerApp web-part and the ability to customise list forms with PowerApps, a great way to build business processes into your Intranet.

Before you begin

PowerApps is a great platform but it does have limitations. PowerApps are intended for internal use and not public or customer apps. There are also technical limitations when working with larger datasets that may mean a professional software development approach is a better fit. Make sure requirements are understood before choosing the right toolset to solve the problem.

Another concern is governance and support of PowerApps. These are legitimate concerns and you should consider development standards, security requirements, business requirements (not every problem should be solved with PowerApps), documentation, and sustainability of the solution if the Citizen Developer leaves.

Example PowerApp

I have created an example PowerApp to give you a taste of the capabilities. The demo is a simple Job Tracker using SharePoint Online as a data source.

PowerApps and Flow licenses are included in Office 365 and Dynamics 365 subscriptions. In addition to the base version their are advanced subscription options for heavy users. Microsoft also provides a range of premium data connectors for third-party applications including SalesForce.

At the start of this article I mentioned Low Code, so can you really build an application in PowerApps without code? The answer is almost...PowerApps uses functions similar to Excel and it is necessary to use these to create useful functionality. In my opinion it's a power user tool and a basic understanding of software development concepts will help with the learning curve.

New Zealand has it's own PowerApps User Group, this is a great place to learn about free community run events and discuss anything related to PowerApps.

Are you interested in learning more about PowerApps? I run regular PowerApps kick-starter days where you get the opportunity to build an app from the ground up to automate a business process using PowerApps, Flow and SharePoint. This is a great way to get started and learn more about the capabilities of PowerApps.