Building Your Power App - A Systematic Guide: 1, #1

By M365Global, Alice Frances Wickham and Joanne Ruocco

Unlock the Full Potential of Your App-Building Skills

Master the Art of Power App Development with Build Your Power App Like A Boss - The Ultimate Guide to Creating Powerful Apps

 

5 Steps to App-Building Success:

1. Understand your users' needs
2. Secure your data structure
3, Design a sleek User Interface
4. Test core app functionality
5. Refine your app for the ultimate end-user experience

 

Let Eddie be your guide through the entire power app creation process. With clear instructions and practical use-case scenarios, you'll understand the app development process and stay organized.

This comprehensive guide covers essential topics such as gathering end-user requirements, writing precise specifications, selecting the right tools, designing a great user experience, crafting app logic, and planning testing strategies. By following this concise guide, you'll maximize the potential of your Power App while avoiding common mistakes. It's a must-have for any aspiring developer.

Create Powerful, Efficient Apps with our Systematic Guide. Eddie's easy-to-follow guide will show you exactly how to build your power app from start to finish. With step-by-step instructions and handy user scenarios for each process, you'll grow your understanding of the entire development process ensuring organizational success.

Chapter topics include:

- Writing precise specifications
- Selecting the right tools for your needs
- Designing a quality user experience
- Robust testing strategies

This book provides step-by-step instructions for creating a robust, efficient, and highly successful power application. You can develop custom tools and services that increase productivity and ensure long-term success in just a few simple steps. The book also covers fundamental concepts like code organization, debugging strategies, and testing considerations. It's a must-have resource for creating successful power applications. Gain the advantage of a systematic approach when building your power application.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M365Global
• Release date: Jul 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223327066

M365Global

Co-writer Joanne Ruocco-Newbery is an IT Change Management Consultant with 20 years of experience in global transformation programs. She has worked in diverse business sectors such as Insurance, Banking, and Global Energy. Joanne is passionate about applying solid ITIL principles to the change and release process.

Book preview

BUILD YOUR POWER APP LIKE A BOSS

A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO PLANNING AND BUILDING YOUR POWER APP

Small dedication

To colleagues, friends, and everyone we’ve worked alongside in those many IT Change and Transformation programs. Thanks for the teamwork and the laughter along the way.

Contents

BUILD YOUR POWER APP LIKE A BOSS

INTRODUCTION

BENEFITS OF BEING SYSTEMATIC

FOUR KEYS TO UNLOCKING THE POWER APP WITHIN

GATHERING USER REQUIREMENTS

UNLEASHING YOUR INNER (DATA) ARCHITECT

ELEMENTS OF STRUCTURE

THE DATAVERSE

COMMON DATA CONCERNS

USER INTERFACE DESIGN

LOGIC

RECAP OF THE FOUR KEYS

USER ACCEPTANCE TESTING

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ABOUT M365 GLOBAL

BOOKS ON POWER APPS

MICROSOFT RESOURCES

MICROSOFT LEARN

A FAVOR

COPYRIGHT

INTRODUCTION

So what is this guide about?

First things first. This guide is not a ‘how to’ manual on making canvas or model-driven apps. It assumes you already know how to spin up an app. Instead, the guide focuses on planning and strategizing your entire app creation. You’ll find practices and principles for laying down your app development blueprint. We investigate things like gathering user requirements for the app-making assignment, setting up your data structure, working out the logic and functionality of your app, and that timeworn recipe for success– testing your app with your stakeholder community.

You can apply these principles to any app development or IT transformation project.

In addition, we’ll look at how to avoid common pitfalls when designing and planning your app solution through to testing your app’s first ‘final’ version with your business stakeholders.

So, let’s think about planning and preparing your Power App and design fundamentals. We’ll examine best practices for data organization, UI (User Interface) design, testing, and improvements. We’ll apply a systematic and organized approach to building, testing, and refining your Power App–going above and beyond to meet those end-user expectations.

Follow these step-by-step procedures and feel confident setting out on your Power App-building journey. In future guides, we’ll delve into the nuts and bolts of specific Power App components, for instance, working with Solutions in Power Platform, app lifecycle management, and a deeper dive into the principles of effective UI.

Eddie will be your guide throughout the app-development journey. He is a powerhouse for sure, but behind that powerhouse image, Eddie is a sweet, friendly, personable chap. He’s the sort of guy you’d like to depend on when starting a new job. He’ll take you to the coffee bar, buy you a skinny latte, and calm those initial app-building nerves. Eddie knows what it feels like to start on a complex assignment. He’s been there, and he can show you the ropes.

Working with Eddie, let’s build your confidence so that by the time you’re on your second latte, you'll know just where to begin your app-building adventure.

Eddie’s systematic approach will underpin your app-building process. You and he will use an organized roadmap to keep your Power App journey on track. You’ll be confident and secure in producing high-quality apps to delight your app user community or your boss using Eddie's roadmap.

Who could benefit from reading this guide?

Digital or IT Project Managers

Citizen Developers

Power App Developers or teams of developers starting on their app development journey

Power App / Power Platform students

BENEFITS OF BEING SYSTEMATIC

Have you ever tried building a Power App without preparation? That’s like putting together IKEA furniture without those little hex wrenches. But don’t worry. Planning and preparation will get the job done.

Before we begin, just what is a Power App? Many of you already have a Power App out there shaking hands in the Kingdom of apps, but if you’re new to Power apps, be it canvas or model-driven apps, this guide will help you to find your way through the maze.

So, the overall purpose of this guide is to outline the principles and procedures of app building, but as mentioned in the introduction, it’s not a ‘how to’ on making a Power App.

And let’s talk about potential pitfalls. Building a Power App without a systematic approach is being on the stadium wearing platform boots, with the stage lights blaring. One wrong step, and BOOM! Your glam rock performance goes up in smoke, leaving you with a disgruntled audience. However, if you plan, you can avoid those unwelcome events. My grandma always said, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Or, in this case, a ton of error messages and unhappy stakeholders.

Good planning makes good team dynamics

With a plan in place, it’s like having your private pit crew. You won’t be scrambling for tools or fighting over the last roll of duct tape, and your app will run like a well-oiled machine.

Let me put it another way, a clear and well-defined plan is like having the perfect playlist for a road trip. It keeps everyone coordinated, sets the mood, and makes for a memorable journey. In the app-development world, that’s a recipe for success– and sure, let’s have some fun along the way.

Before we begin, let’s check out the various apps available to Power App makers on Power Platform.

Canvas Apps

Canvas apps are where creativity and functionality intertwine, like the twisty mustache of a Victorian gent.

Picture a blank canvas–a digital playground where you can craft mind-blowing applications. Or imagine a playful Lego set for grown-ups, where you assemble building blocks and bring your ideas to life. With Canvas apps, there’s no need to dive into the depths of programming. Instead, you can use your digital paintbrush to get started on your vision right away.

Choose from a collection of ready-made pieces, like buttons, text boxes, and images, each with special powers. Feel free to pluck those items from the toolbox and arrange them to your liking, like Salvador Dali.

Now, let’s load some logic into our app with Power Fx, bringing our creation to life. Let’s say you want a button to make the text box sing, Abracadabra! No need to summon a team of coding geniuses. Connect the submit button to the text box and whisper, When the button is clicked, make the text box say Abracadabra!" Voila! Your app now has a touch of enhancement as well as enchantment.

Let’s explore the digital realm and integrate our app with other available forces—databases, spreadsheets, or other apps. You can go ahead and summon these sources to display on your canvas. Or you can send data from your app back to