Learn how to convert your ideas to solutions with Power Platform

Do you want to use Power Apps to solve a business problem but don’t know where to start? Are you a pro developer looking for the best practices for planning and delivering a Power Apps project? Or are you a Power Platform expert on your team who wants to help other people in your organization thoughtfully plan and execute a project with Power Platform?

Today is your day! We have just launched a new set of documents to help people convert ideas to solutions with Power Platform – https://aka.ms/IdeasToPowerPlatform.

Whether you’re a businessperson who has never participated in a software project before, or you’re a “full stack” developer who wants to use Power Apps to speed up development – this set of articles is for everyone who wants to learn or upgrade their methodology for rapid low-code development.

In these new articles, you’ll learn about the five basic steps of making apps with Power Apps, using the best practices and knowledge from Power Platform CAT (Customer Advisory team) and the Business Applications Customer Success team. The articles focus on the non-technical aspects of using Power Apps, such as how to plan your Power Apps project, how to design an app, how to assess business value, etc.

We recommend that you start from the introduction and read through the document step by step. Or, you can jump to one of the five main sections as described below.

Planning Phase

This section focuses on gathering important pieces of information, getting requirements for the business process you want to automate, and planning a software project. There are also business aspects covered, such as optimizing business processes and executing business value assessments. These best practices have been documented directly from our Customer Success teams. Link to the planning phase

Designing phase

This section is split to two sections: Conceptual design, which covers the grand design of the app prior to working on the technical aspects of the design. Architectural design, which covers the fundamental information about how to handle different types of data, work with different systems, set up logic, etc. Link to the designing phase

Making phase

The section guides you to the relevant documentation for making canvas apps and model-driven apps, with some tips for developing solutions collaboratively when multiple app makers are going to be working on the same app. Link to the making phase

Testing phase

This section covers the different types of tests to be conducted, such as the User Acceptance tests and Unit tests, as well as how to create test cases and scenarios. Some tools to help with testing canvas apps and model-driven apps are also provided. Link to the testing phase

Deploying and refining phase

Lastly, this section covers how to make sure the apps you created are used, ensuring users have the right visibility to the apps, and making sure feedback is collected so you can enhance the app in future. Link to the deploying and refining phase