Have you caught yourself daydreaming about
working in a business with modern and efficient processes? Imagine if someone told you that you could
achieve this dream without the time, expertise or budget needed for
custom software development. That's where Microsoft Power Apps comes
in, whether you have little background in computer science and coding or
are a seasoned developer. Power Apps can help you build apps that
meet your business needs with ease. If you can imagine an app to solve
a business problem, with Power Apps, you can use your existing skills and
knowledge to build solutions. By the end of this lesson you will be
able to, explain what Power Apps is and the business value it creates,
discuss how one of the world's largest airports is using
power apps to digitize its processes. And recall some of the options for creating your very own
app using Power Apps. So what is Power Apps? Power Apps is a no code or
low code platform for building apps. It builds off concepts like formulas in
an Excel workbook, such as sum and text. The apps you build on the Power Apps,
platform live in the cloud. This means you can easily share and run
business processes from different devices, including pcs, laptops,
tablets, and mobile phones. You may build simple solutions
like vehicle inspection forums and status reports or more complex ones for purchasing processes and
inventory management. Power Apps also makes building your
app easier by being aware that your organization likely already has systems
in place with data you can use. In fact, with over 275 connectors, you can easily connect to your
existing data wherever it lives. You can connect to data using
the underlying data service and app platform Microsoft Dataverse or
many online and on-premises data sources, such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365,
SQL server and Azure SQL, and Office 365. And the good news is you don't have
to choose just one data source. Power Apps easily supports
multiple data connections, allowing you to bring data together
from many platforms into a single app. Now that you know more about Power Apps, you may be wondering what kind of Power
Apps you can create using the service? Well, there are three types of apps you
can build using Power Apps, canvas apps, model-driven apps, and portals. Each is suited to different scenarios and
end users, let's take a closer look at each of them. The first type, our canvas apps, canvas apps are a great option when you
want to build an app from a blank canvas. You start by choosing the screen size,
tablet or mobile, and then you have a blank
screen from which to build. You can interact with data in
your app by adding data sources. You can also drag and
drop various controls and add the desired functionality
by writing Excel style formulas. Canvas apps provide you with complete
flexibility when building your apps. Next up are model-driven apps, these apps
build from data in Microsoft Dataverse. Power Apps will build you a great looking,
fully functional app to act upon and interact with this data. Model-driven apps are responsive, which means they adjust to different
screen sizes with no extra work by you. You get to define the relationships,
forms, views, business rules and more at the data layer
inside of the data verse. This gives you enough control to get your
business results without having to write all the formulas yourself. Lastly, there are portals, portals
bring the power of no code solutions to building externally facing websites. Through the Power Apps interface,
you can build an anonymous or authenticated website that allows users
to interact with data held in Dataverse. The same drag and drop experience
you enjoy when building apps is available to build these
rich interactive websites. Now you know what Power Apps is and the kind of apps you can
build using this platform. Remember that, with Power Apps, even the
most entry level users can easily build apps while staying within the rules and
requirements set by IT.