Are you starting the journey of building low code business applications with PowerApps but unsure of its true potential? Then check out the video below for real world Canvas Powerapps examples of how other organisations are getting the most value from Power Platform.
This PowerApp reminds me of the choose your own ending story books that I used to read as a child.
The concept is to provide a guided pathway through frequently asked questions.
This application was being used by a company wishing to give information to their employees about copyright.
The challenge they were facing was having a large volume of inbound emails and calls.
Often asking the same questions about how to re-use materials without running into legal copyright issues.
They wanted to ensure that their employees continued to be supported with these questions.
However, they wished to reduce the amount of time required for each interaction.
Using Microsoft Canvas PowerApps employees could be guided through their question to a relevant answer.
The answer could either tell them what they were doing was fine to proceed.
But it could also provide a warning or told them to completely stop what they are doing.
The application could also then create a call back request ticket for any high risk questions.
The legal team could then follow up with afterwards.
As this application was built using Canvas PowerApps it can be accessed via different devices.
Devices including desktop computers, tablets such as iPad or mobile phones.
It can be accessed via the dedicated Microsoft PowerApps application.
This is available to install through the devices app store.
This PowerApps example was built for a client trying to replace RecordPoint.
The client has a large volume of paper based records that they keep in multiple warehouses.
Some of the records date back hundreds of years and require a digital system to properly manage them over a period of time.
The data that was stored in RecordPoint required migrating from an on-premise version of SharePoint into SharePoint Online.
This option was much more cost effective that migrating to Records365 the cloud option of RecordPoint.
Using Canvas PowerApps we built a system that would track the physical file record and the box it lived in.
We used a Power Automate workflow to automate certain business processes.
This included automating notifications when a specific record was up for review.
The PowerApp would allow a user to search for either a box or a file.
Search with a combination of information such as the ID number, shelf, warehouse location and more.
Once a box or record has been found the user can then carry out a series of actions against it.
Actions included creating a new box, creating a new file, archiving to another location or marking the item to be destroyed.
The act of destroying the item would then be turned into a destruction record.
This would then be a replacement of the physical record.
The demonstration of this PowerApp is very simplistic within the video above.
However, this is because it is a conceptual piece of functionality that could be used in so many different settings.
The objective of the Canvas PowerApp is to use the GPS location tracking of the device.
it is being used on employee devices to provide the exact location of the user of the PoweApp within a 4×4 meter radius.
This could be used for so many different scenarios within a workplace.
Such as a security guard that needs to prove that they have been doing their nightshift walk around the premises.
They can periodically check in within the app to show that they have checked each of the warehouses.
It could be used by those front line workers of medical care providers.
Those that are going out into service users homes, that could potentially be in a vulnerable situation.
If they were to check in at the service users house and if we knew on average how long they should be there, lets say 45 minutes.
If after 60 minutes they have not checked out again we could automate a urgent notification to their line manager to do a welfare check.
Another example of how this technology has been used is to replace a physical clock in and out system at the door of an office for your employees.
Not only does it know the location but it knows to store the data of who checked in, the date and time of the check in or out.
However, these are just some of the examples of how we have seen this GPS location tracking feature work within Canvas PowerApps.
There is so many other potentials of how you could use this within your own business.
The above is just three out of the ten examples that we cover off within our video at the top of this page.
Watch the full video to discover more of my favourite Canvas PowerApps examples.
I hope you found this article useful, if you are interested in getting some assistance with SharePoint Online or PowerApps, please feel free to contact me with any questions using our contact us form.
You might also be interested to read What is the Best Database for your Microsoft PowerApps in 2022 (valto.co.uk)
Dougie Wood
Solutions Architect
A Consultant’s Overview of SharePoint Framework (SPFX)
