Microsoft Power Apps

What differentiates Microsoft Power Apps from other similar products?

Allows for the rapid development and expansion of current Office 365 functionality. Easy implementation and integration Friendly to Business Users (software development experience can be helpful but is NOT required to achieve results)

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Don't pass up this choice if you already use Microsoft's Office 365 licencing. It has been extremely advantageous to be able to quickly create and modify applications in response to altering business needs. We can now complete tasks that used to take months in days or weeks, and if your apps don't require a common data service or premium connectors, you should be able to accomplish much more than you anticipated without the need for extra licencing. (SharePoint lists can be a backend for apps, and work extremely well for most tasks with moderate utilization, and apps that use them can be built and deployed with no "new" costs).

What do you dislike most about this product?

Some functions are locked behind licencing requirements, and occasionally in completely illogical ways. (Dataverse, a core component of the platform, has a licensing structure designed so that cost scales with the number of apps and users, rather than capacity or usage, which can be extremely expensive on large-scale deployments) Additional licencing is now required because some previously standard connections have been upgraded to premium versions. Strong emphasis on centralization restricts the choices available to individual developers in favour of platform oversight and administration, which is understandable.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Instead of waiting until there was a pressing need and trying to learn and solve at the same time, I would have started using it much sooner. In addition, rather than beginning with individual solutions, I would have focused first on building internal support systems. It pays off greatly to plan how you're going to configure and assign environments, security roles, DLP, etc. before you even begin building if you choose premium features like Dataverse, third party connectors, or Pages (the externally facing web portal version of Power Apps). Although it isn't required, starting there will allow for a quicker rollout.

What differentiates Microsoft Power Apps from other similar products?

Breadth of Capabilities

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Customization of app development.

What do you dislike most about this product?

Extremely Steep Learning Curve. Hard to just build a basic app to collect data without first thinking 10 steps ahead to ensure data integrity, performance of app, etc. Also, there are limitations on what items are automated and what require manual maintenance. Between the two, there are limitations on what functions and formulas can be applied. Also, the best practices of App Dev aren't in place such as Dev & Prod environments, having ability for multiple users working on different components of the app, etc. Pricing is constantly changing so I'd add about 20% on top of whatever the current price is to account for future price changes.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Do your due diligence and work with a certified professional who can either help in the due diligence process and/or get your team up to speed on development or else they will be fumbling around trying to figure out the best approach. If you don't, you'll wind up having to redesign the app down the road and likely spend twice the amount of time and loss in productivity. Another consideration is that currently (as of 2022) only one person can edit a single app a time so if you have teams, this will be a constraint to the dev process. Finally, there isn't a way to create a Dev & Prod version of the app due to PowerApps auto generating each URL.