In this session, René will shed some light on PowerApps from an integration perspective. This session will start of with a general introduction to PowerApps and how this platform tries to address the "business app innovation gap". Once these basics are out of the way, we will have a closer look at the design mistakes which are bound to happen, leading to tightly coupled business apps, and how we as integration specialist can help prevent them from happening.
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Power Apps - With great power comes great responsibility
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PowerApps, with great power comes great
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René Brauwers
http://www.twitter.com/ReneBrauwers
https://au.linkedin.com/in/renebrauwers
3. Solutions Architect @ MOQdigital
Azure Advisor
@ReneBrauwers
www.integrationofthings.com
rbrauwers@moqdigital.com.au
WHO AM I
4. The business APP gap
How Microsoft tries to fill this gap
Demo
Responsibilities
AGENDA
5. BUSINESS APP GAP
We are living in a Cloud First, Mobile First world and we
are more mobile than ever before.
6. BUSINESS APP GAP
Hard to develop
Cross platform development
Keeping up with technology changes
Not enough skilled mobile developers
7. BUSINESS APP GAP
Disparate data source
Difficult to connect to and consume related data
Security & Single Sign on
Data stored on premise and in the cloud
8. BUSINESS APP GAP
App distribution (deployment)
Combining this data
Making apps available outside the enterprise
IT Governance
10. MICROSOFT POWERAPPS
Create Mobile business apps with Clicks , ‘not Code’
Runs on every deviceExcel like tooling
Connects to everywhere,
securely
Bring your own data Easy to deploy
14. MICROSOFT POWERAPPS
Architectural overview
APPService Environment
PowerApps Clients Web Clients Mobile Clients
Desktop clients and
other LOB clients
APIs
Web Apps API Apps
Logic
Apps
Mobile
Apps
Other cloud and SAAS services On premise systems
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Integration Architecture
Solutions Architect
MOQdigital
PowerApps general introduction, covering:
Different versions available (Free, Standard, Enterprise)
Differences between these versions
Business App innovation gap
Creating a basic powerapp (demo)
Designer
Logic Flows
Connections
Excel like language
List the pro’s and con’s of the current preview version
Business APP GAP
Consumer apps are available a plenty, ranging from wine rating apps like vivino; gamified apps such as SWARM, Untapped and so on.
But ‘real’ business productivity apps are lagging behind,
Off course we have mobile apps which enhance mobile productivity such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EverNote, OneNote, Skype for business etc.
But where are the real business apps, which unleash the power of the apps available within a enterprise. Unlocking that customer or product information stored in a legacy system somewhere.
So why do we have this gap; Microsoft states it has identified 3 reasons for this, being
TALENT, ACCESS AND AGILITY
TALENT
How many of you have tried writing / creating mobile business apps.
Creating mobile apps is hard, as we have to keep up with technology changes or new features. It needs to run on multiple platforms.
Taking this into account and the fact that there are not enough skilled mobile developers, it is not surprising that creating mobile business apps takes up time and thus money.
ACCESS
Data is spanned both on premise as well as in the cloud (stored in SaaS applications), accessing this data and integrating these systems is usually a challenge.
IT agility and app sharing. Mobile app distribution typically happens through app stores, or through mobile device management, governed by IT. This creates inherent friction in getting apps onto employee phones.
Making internal apps available outside the enterprise
* Side loading
* App stored
* Mobile Device Management
By the way Microsoft has a very compelling story regarding Mobile Device Management. Real differentiator. But that’s a story to tell another time
What are is Microsoft PowerApps?
PowerApps is Microsoft’s answer to address the business app gap
it does so by offering a platform including tooling to enable employees, developers, and integrators to create and share mobile business apps
These apps run on virtually any mobile platform,
Can connect to disparate data sources both spanning on-prem and cloud in a secure way.
When I first heard of PowerApps / Project Sienna, the first thing which popped up in my mind was Visual Studio Lightswitch.
Let’s have a closer look at the PowerApps Target Audience
Information Workers & Business optimisers
Familiar tooling - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, SharePoint
“Slogan” : Create Mobile business apps with Clicks , ‘not Code’
Pro Developers / Integration Specialist
Familiar tooling – Visual Studio .Net , Azure Portal.
Familiar technology – .Net languages, Business Process Modelling, SOA, API design
“Slogan” : Do more with the things we are already used to
Clients connect through API’s, or an existing backend to different cloud and on premise systems.
App Service Environment
- Dedicated environment / Shared
- Virtual network support for better connectivity and security to on-prem system
Tons of OOB APIs ready to use
Expose your OWN API, hosted anywhere
AAD Authentication
Advanced User/Group based authorisation
API definition discovery
Free & Standard
limited data sources (however using http + swagger, custom API can be called)
Enterprise functionality can be mimicked, by being creative (but I doubt it will be cheaper or better)
Enterprise
Another benefit of a dedicated environment consists of the fact that no limits (throttling, number of messages etc) are imposed
Granular security, control APP permission with AAD
Manage all APIs – from on-premises to the cloud
Manage and Monitor API Access
Sample Application
Subcontractor onboaring
Current process is in SharePoint, where new contractors are registered.
APP to Approve / Reject an onboarding request.
SalesForce contractors app which will assign an account id if approved
K.I.S.S
PowerApps is promising, and most definitely the more basic business apps can be realised fairly fast.
However we need to ask ourselves; do we want to build ‘Complex Business Apps‘, If so is PowerApps the right platform.
I reckon initially it will be used for the more basic business apps, which don’t do more than displaying information and allow non business critical mutations.
Nevertheless, nothing is stopping us to create complex business apps. However, if we do so; just keep in mind that doing it in the right way costs time and money.
If we go down the lane regarding complex business apps. I feel it will be our responsibility to ensure:
Authorisation
Lock down CRUD rights
API/APP Jungle
More apps / api’s almost all the same. Needs some Quality Control in place
Enforce a publish / release policy. Just to check compliance (security, dev standards)
EAI & Hybrid
Use patterns and tools we are familiar with (Service bus)
Based on my initial experience during I’ve noticed that PowerApps indeed is very powerful, however special thought needs to be put in regarding access rights (authorisation rules). Make sure that a user does not have too many, nor too less of rights