Introduction
Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of apps, services, connectors, and a data platform that provides you with an opportunity to build custom apps for your business needs. Microsoft Power Platform consists of four key products: Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Microsoft Copilot Studio.
This module focuses on Power Apps and explains how you can use it together with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service. This module doesn't explain in detail how to create tables or build apps. The summary unit of this module provides links to other learning modules for the building of apps in Power Apps.
Microsoft Power Apps provides a rapid, low-code development environment for building custom apps for business needs. It has services, connectors, and a scalable data service and app platform, Microsoft Dataverse, which can help you with simple integration and interaction with existing data. Power Apps enables you to create web and mobile applications that run on all devices.
People use apps in their daily lives, and the business context should be no exception. Most out-of-the-box solutions don't meet all business needs or integrate effortlessly with other business programs. Power Apps eases users into app development with a simple interface so that every business user or pro developer can build custom apps.
Microsoft Dataverse
Microsoft Dataverse is a cloud-based, low-code data service and app platform that helps you take advantage of the security and connectivity of Microsoft services. Dataverse connects to all aspects of Microsoft Power Platform so that you can fully control, automate, and strengthen your business. With standard tables and columns, and with the ability to define relationships between your data, Dataverse was built for powerful, scalable solutions.
Dataverse is designed to be your central data repository for business data, and you might even be using it already. Behind the scenes, it powers many Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions such as Field Service, Customer Insights - Journeys, Customer Service, and Sales. It is also available as part of Power Apps and Microsoft Power Automate with native connectivity built in.
The following visualization shows the many offerings of Microsoft Dataverse.
Microsoft Dataverse offers extensive functionality and provides the following features:
Security - Dataverse handles authentication with Microsoft Entra ID to allow for conditional access and multifactor authentication. It supports authorization, down to the row and column level, and provides rich auditing capabilities.
Logic - Dataverse allows you to apply business logic at the data level. Regardless of how a user interacts with the data, the same rules apply. These rules could be related to duplicate detection, business rules, workflows, or more.
Data - Dataverse offers you the control to shape your data, allowing you to discover, model, validate, and report on your data. This control ensures that your data looks how you want, regardless of how it is used.
Storage - Dataverse stores your physical data in the Azure cloud. This cloud-based storage removes the burden of worrying about where your data lives or how it scales. These concerns are handled for you.
Integration - Dataverse connects in different ways to support your business needs. APIs, webhooks, eventing, and data exports give you flexibility to get data in and out.
Connectors
Microsoft Power Platform uses data across many platforms. To do so, the components of Microsoft Power Platform use connectors. Consider connectors as a bridge from your data source to an app or workflow, which allows information to be conveyed back and forth. Connectors allow you to extend your business solutions across platforms and add functionality for your users.
Microsoft Dataverse is one such connector. Through the Microsoft Dataverse connector, Power Apps can access the data that is used in Dynamics 365 Field Service.
Power Apps and Dynamics 365 Field Service
By using the Microsoft Dataverse connector, Power Apps can connect to Dynamics 365 applications, including Dynamics 365 Field Service apps.
The tables and columns that are used to store Field Service data are created automatically in Dataverse when you deploy Dynamics 365 Field Service. You can use these tables and columns in Power Apps. Additionally, you can create custom tables and columns in Dataverse to meet specific requirements that are not met by Dynamics 365 Field Service.
With the native functionality of Dynamics 365 Field Service apps, you can embed Power Apps. This functionality allows organizations to use Field Service apps, combined with Power Apps, to fit the needs of the business without major customization. Moreover, this functionality allows you to connect to other services and data sources without needing development experience.
Different types of apps in Power Apps
Power Apps Studio includes two types of apps: canvas and model-driven. You can use both to build apps in Power Apps that solve business problems for task and role-specific scenarios.
Canvas apps start with the user experience, crafting a highly tailored interface with the power of a blank canvas and connecting it to your choice of 500+ data sources. One of those data sources is Microsoft Dataverse, where you can build apps connected on Dynamics 365 data.
You can build canvas apps for web, mobile, and tablet applications, designing the app by dragging and dropping elements onto a canvas, similar to when you are designing a slide in PowerPoint. Canvas apps aren't replacements for all customizations in Dynamics 365, but they do extend your possibilities, especially when you want to create task-oriented apps.
Model-driven apps start with your data model. Model-driven apps build up from the shape of your core business data and processes within Microsoft Dataverse to model forms, views, and other components.
Unlike canvas app development where the designer has complete control over the app layout, with model-driven apps, much of the layout is determined for you and designated by the components that you add to the app. By using model-driven apps, you can automatically generate great UI that is responsive across devices, and this UI will be used by Dynamics 365 Field Service apps. Model-driven app design is a component-focused approach to app development and its design doesn't require code. Model-driven apps can be simple or complex.
Note
Dynamics 365 Field Service apps are model-driven apps that use Microsoft Dataverse for its data store.
Portal apps are external-facing web applications that allow users outside of the organizations to sign in with various identities and view and create data in Dataverse.
Internal and external users of portal apps can secure access to your data anonymously. Alternatively, they can gain access through commercial authentication providers, such as LinkedIn, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, or through enterprise providers such as Azure AD B2C. Power Pages also allow you to set authentication requirements, customize data for each user, and allow users to submit their information privately with straightforward admin controls.
Portal apps use Microsoft Dataverse to hold their configuration, and you can add webpages and change content of the portal website without needing a web developer.
Templates are available for different scenarios, including a customer experiences portal that is used with Dynamics 365 Field Service.