Viva Connections Experience: Merging Power Cards & Power Apps

Key insights

• Integrating Power Apps and Power Cards into Microsoft Viva Connections enhances employee experiences by providing seamless access to essential tools and information within a unified platform.


• Power Apps Integration: Allows the creation of custom applications tailored to organizational needs, enabling employees to access these apps directly from the Viva Connections dashboard without leaving their primary workspace.


• Power Cards Integration: Provides lightweight, interactive cards that can be rendered directly in the Viva Connections dashboard for quick access to essential information and actions, improving workflow efficiency.


• Viva Connections is a gateway to a modern employee experience, offering a curated destination with relevant news, conversations, and resources all in one place, reinforcing an organization's identity with custom branding.


• The platform pulls content from Microsoft 365 services like SharePoint and Teams into a consolidated "single pane," giving employees tools for success through personalized dashboards and resource areas.


• Viva Engage: Acts as the social layer where employees can engage with communities, share stories, attend virtual events, and find belonging at work while ensuring privacy and security through Microsoft's intelligent security framework.

Introduction to Viva Connections and Power Platform Integration

The integration of Power Cards and Power Apps into Microsoft Viva Connections marks a significant advancement in enhancing employee experiences. This development allows organizations to embed lightweight, interactive applications directly into the Viva Connections dashboard, streamlining workflows and improving accessibility. The recent demonstration from the Microsoft 365 & Power Platform weekly call on November 12, 2024, showcased practical techniques for building engaging and dynamic intranet solutions with seamless Power Platform integration.

Understanding Power Apps Integration

Power Apps is a powerful tool that enables the creation of custom applications tailored to meet specific organizational needs. By integrating these apps into Viva Connections, employees gain direct access to essential tools without leaving their primary workspace. This integration supports various tasks, such as checking daily sales numbers, managing vacation requests, or tracking shipment statuses. The process of adding a Power App to the Viva Connections dashboard involves several steps:

• Create the App: Develop your application using Power Apps.
• Enable for Viva Connections: In Power Apps, select the option to enable the app as a card in Viva Connections.
• Add to Dashboard: In the Viva Connections dashboard editor, add a new card and select the Power Apps card type.
• Configure the Card: Paste the app’s URL, set the desired card size, and configure other properties as needed.

This integration not only enhances accessibility but also fosters a more cohesive digital workplace, ultimately boosting employee engagement and productivity.

Exploring Power Cards Integration

Power Cards serve as an extensibility option within Power Apps, allowing for the creation of lightweight, interactive cards. These cards can be rendered directly in the Viva Connections dashboard, providing quick access to essential information and actions without redirecting users away from their current context. This feature is particularly useful for form-based scenarios, such as submitting expense reports or approving requests. The integration process for Power Cards includes:

• Design the Card: Use Power Apps to create the desired card experience.
• Enable for Viva Connections: Once the card is ready, enable it to be available in Viva Connections.
• Add to Dashboard: Include the new Power Card in the Viva Connections dashboard and associate it with the appropriate functionality for end users.

By leveraging these integrations, organizations can create a more cohesive and efficient digital workplace, enhancing employee engagement and productivity.

The Role of Viva Connections in Employee Experience

Viva Connections acts as the gateway to a modern employee experience, helping organizations stay engaged and informed through seamless information sharing. It provides employees with a curated experience that includes relevant news, conversations, and other resources—all in one place. Moreover, Viva Connections offers a single curated employee destination to reinforce an organization’s identity with custom branding. It is personalized and appears in the apps employees already use daily, such as Teams. Organizations can deploy Viva Connections with minimal effort by building on existing capabilities in Microsoft 365, like SharePoint and Viva Engage (Yammer). It also provides quick access to the rest of the Viva applications that they are licensed to use, making navigation across different applications easy. Viva Connections pulls content from Microsoft 365 services—including SharePoint, Teams, Viva Engage, and Stream—and turns it into a consolidated and customizable “single pane” for every employee.

Challenges and Tradeoffs in Integration

While the integration of Power Cards and Power Apps into Viva Connections offers numerous benefits, it also presents certain challenges and tradeoffs. One of the primary challenges is ensuring seamless integration without disrupting existing workflows. Organizations must carefully plan and execute the integration process to avoid potential disruptions to employee productivity. Another challenge lies in balancing customization with standardization. While customization allows organizations to tailor the employee experience to their specific needs, it can also lead to complexity and inconsistency if not managed properly. Therefore, organizations must find the right balance between providing a personalized experience and maintaining a standardized platform that is easy to manage and navigate. Additionally, organizations must consider the security implications of integrating third-party applications into their intranet solutions. Ensuring data privacy and security is paramount, and organizations must implement robust security measures to protect sensitive information.

Conclusion: A Unified Digital Workplace

In conclusion, the integration of Power Cards and Power Apps into Microsoft Viva Connections represents a significant step forward in creating a unified digital workplace. By providing employees with seamless access to essential tools and information within a single platform, organizations can enhance employee engagement and productivity. While there are challenges and tradeoffs involved in this integration, the benefits of a more cohesive and efficient digital workplace far outweigh the potential drawbacks. As organizations continue to embrace digital transformation, the integration of Power Platform solutions into Viva Connections will play a crucial role in shaping the future of work.

Keywords

Power Cards integration, Power Apps Viva Connections, employee experience enhancement, Microsoft Viva tools, digital workplace solutions, Power Platform features, enterprise collaboration apps, modern intranet development