Optimize Data Collection with Power Apps Intakes

Key insights

• Intake plays a crucial role as a 'Stop/Go' stage to ensure solutions meet the business value and are cost-effective.
• Power Apps projects involve multiple stages including reviews, analysis, and development, emphasizing the importance of the initial intake process.
• Integrating various LowCode and ProCode technologies can provide multiple solutions, highlighting the need for well-informed decisions.
• Determining the business value during the intake helps assess if a project is worth the development time and costs involved.
• The production journey involves key reviews such as Architecture, Security, and Design to ensure scalable and governance-compliant solutions.

Exploring the Power Apps Production Journey

The production journey in Power Apps development is a comprehensive process that starts with the very crucial Intake stage. This is where stakeholders come together to define the problem rather than jumping straight into solutions. It sets the stage for a collaborative approach involving various teams, including solution owners, development teams, and platform teams. This collaborative approach is vital in exploring various technologies, including LowCode platforms like Power Apps and Power BI, as well as ProCode solutions, to find the most effective solution.

The journey involves several critical reviews to ensure the solution is scalable, secure, and aligns with the organization's governance. These reviews assess architecture, security, design, and code aspects of the solution. Each review aims to pinpoint potential issues early in the development process, saving time and resources in the long run. A well-informed decision at the intake stage regarding technology integration and solution viability can tremendously affect the project's success and sustainability.

Moreover, understanding the business value is a fundamental aspect of the Intake stage, guiding decision-making regarding the project's feasibility from a cost and benefit perspective. By carefully analyzing factors like development time, licensing, and support costs, teams can ensure that solutions bring genuine value and efficiency improvements. This stage is vital in preventing unnecessary expenditures and focusing resources on projects with real potential. The Power Apps production journey thus emphasizes a structured and informed approach to solution development, ensuring effectiveness and alignment with business goals.

Read the full article Power Apps - Intakes

Power Apps - Intakes. The production journey can be a long one, and with LowCode it is often longer than the time taken to design and build the solution. What is the production journey you may ask? Well, it's the end-to-end journey of taking a customer request through to a stable, scalable solution that meets the customer's requirements and the organization's governance.

The journey requires multiple stages of reviews, analysis, testing, approvals, support setup, and development. All of these stages are key, particularly the reviews. The key ones are:

• Intake
• Architecture Review
• Security Review
• Design Review
• Code Review

There are optional stages like Impact (focusing on systems impacted by the solution) but they are often specific to the type e.g., Impact is generally more for RPA and integrations. I have spoken about the other stages, so today, I want to complete the journey with the first step, Intake. The Intake is the opening meeting for the solution owner, development team, and platform team, to showcase what the problem is.

If possible, you would roll up all of your possible delivery platforms into one Intake, allowing each team to explain if it is possible on their platform. A great example would be combining Power Apps and Power BI, as the business may be thinking of an App when actually a Dashboard would be a better solution. This could scale out to include other LowCode technology like Blue Prism and Dell Boomi, or full ProCode solutions built from the ground up.

Another key aspect of the Intake is to get an understanding of the business value. This way the platform teams can give a rough estimate and determine if it's worth the development time. LowCode platforms like Power Apps definitely lower the cost and therefore increase opportunities, but there are still many costs to consider:

• Development time
• Licenses (Premium App, AI Builder)
• Storage costs (Dataverse, Azure)
• Support Desk (training, documentation, % staffing)
• Support Reviews (Arch, Security, Snr Dev time)

This is why the Intake is what I call a 'Stop/Go' stage, as these reviews decide if the project should go ahead. The Intake helps set the path for the solution. This will help set out who will support from each different team (e.g., which Architect) and help with estimating timelines. The Intake is fundamental to a good production process. It ensures resources are allocated in the right place and the journey is mapped out to ensure the solution is right and delivered at pace.

Understanding the Process of Developing Solutions with Power Apps

Developing effective solutions in today's business environment requires not only innovative thinking but also a detailed process to guide the development journey from idea to implementation. Power Apps, and similar platforms, provide a LowCode approach to solution development, enabling businesses to create applications rapidly to meet their changing needs.

The process outlined above emphasizes the importance of a structured approach, starting with the Intake stage. This initial step is essential for understanding the problem at hand and ensuring that the solution aligns with both customer requirements and organizational governance. It bridges the gap between what the business thinks it needs and what it truly needs, advocating for a strategy that begins with a problem, not a preconceived solution.

As we delve deeper into the complexities of developing solutions, the significance of thorough reviews at each stage of the production journey cannot be overstated. These reviews ensure that the solution is secure, scalable, and aligns with architectural and design standards. Moreover, this process underscores the importance of considering all possible delivery platforms, encouraging collaboration amongst platform teams to identify the best possible solution.

Finally, understanding the business value of a proposed solution is crucial. It helps in determining whether the investment in development time and resources is justified. The cost-benefit analysis, integral to the Intake stage, guides decision-makers on whether to proceed with the development. In essence, this structured approach not only facilitates the efficient development of solutions but also ensures that they deliver tangible business value.

People also ask

What are the three types of Power Apps?

Within the Power Apps suite, users can access three distinct app types: Canvas, Model-driven, and Power Pages. Canvas apps offer rich graphical control and an intuitive user interface, allowing for easy integration with data sources. Meanwhile, Model-driven apps streamline the creation process by automating forms, views, and other components based on your data model. Power Pages, previously integrated within Power Apps, now stands as a separate service, enhancing the capability for enterprise-level app development.

What are the cons of Power Apps?

Despite its robust features, Power Apps also comes with certain downsides. These include a degree of limitation in terms of customization, possible additional costs, and occasional performance hiccups. Moreover, its functionality heavily relies on integration within the Microsoft ecosystem. Therefore, the effectiveness and suitability of Power Apps strongly depend on the specific requirements and circumstances of your organization.

Is Power Apps per app or per user plan?

The Power Apps per user plan is designed to offer flexibility and ease for administrators, who can assign user licenses via the management console at https://admin.microsoft.com. Upon assignment, the licensed individual gains the capability to access and utilize any number of apps developed through Power Apps, offering significant scalability and versatility in app usage.

How does Power Apps licensing work?

When it comes to understanding the licensing structure of Power Apps, it's noteworthy that the Premium plan operates on a per-user basis. This model permits the licensed individual to engage in the development, modernization, and operational deployment of an unlimited tally of custom applications. Furthermore, this arrangement includes unrestricted access to various websites, with pricing set at $20 per user, per month. For organizations requiring over 2,000 new user licenses, a discounted rate of $12 per user, per month is available, presenting a cost-effective solution for extensive enterprise needs.

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