With the advanced development of the Microsoft product world, the opportunities to connect individual services and solutions are also increasing more and more. For example, Microsoft Flow simplifies the workflows between preferentially used cloud-based apps and services. Additionally own apps can be generated, adapted and shared with other users by PowerApps.
By Microsoft Flow, users are able to set up automated workflows between their preferred services and apps, to synchronise files, to collect data and to receive messages accordingly. Templates are already contained in Flow for this purpose; however, the user is also free to create his own workflows that correspond to his own work processes and process requirements. Essentially, Microsoft Flow includes the following features:
- Delivery of a message as soon as a folder or file has been updated.
- Automatic collection and organisation of business data.
- Continuous synchronisation of data so that all folders are always up-to-date.
- Automation of approvals, e.g. by means of immediate messages via e-mail, Yammer or Twitter.
By connecting the various apps and services, automatic workflows, for example, can be created between Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Office 365, SharePoint, Outlook, Dynamics 365, Yammer and many other applications. In concrete use cases, for example, e-mail attachments could be saved in a SharePoint library, automatic Yammer postings could be created when a new CRM sales opportunity is created, important Outlook e-mails could be copied into OneNote, Dynamics CRM leads could be created from Excel tables, and much more. The interactions between the individual applications are almost unlimited. You can see an example of the creation of a workflow with data from Dynamics NAV 2017 in the following video:
Creating own apps with Microsoft PowerApps
Moreover, the mentioned services and apps (Dynamics NAV, Office 365, SharePoint, etc.) can also be connected to the Microsoft PowerApps service – the optimal solution for creating user own apps without any programming skills. PowerApps provides numerous templates for this purpose; however, the user also has the opportunity to design new applications from scratch. Subsequently, the apps can be adapted to the individual business requirements in a visual designer – without having to write code for this purpose. In addition to the mentioned applications, the business data platform Common Data Service, integrated into PowerApps, can also be used as a data resource. PowerApps supports the user in generating a customized solution for different business problems. Examples of apps that can be created are apps for budget control, apps for cost estimation and apps for object indexing (e.g. real estate property). Finally, the finished applications can be published, used and shared with other users on the web or on mobile devices.
