Both consumers and businesses use applications in their daily life and operations. Business applications are central to the success of companies, from supporting the organization and productivity of internal teams to facilitating seamless and efficient interactions with customers.
With the advancement of low code/no code applications, businesses no longer rely on software developers to impact their business. In fact, low code/no code technology is accelerating the rate of digital transformation in businesses.
With Microsoft Power Platform and Power Apps, businesses can use low code/no code technology to develop custom applications that fit their organizational needs. To understand the potential behind Power Apps and the entire Microsoft Power Platform, let’s look at Enavate’s experience with Power Apps in a real-life situation.
Our Challenge: Tracking Information with Team Members in Ukraine
Ukraine is home to a large Microsoft Dynamics community. When the war began, our number one priority was learning about the safety of team members in Ukraine and how we could help them.
Employee availability and location information was logged into an Excel spreadsheet by our practice leaders in Ukraine after email or phone calls with their team members. This method of tracking information presented many challenges, including:
- Knowing the last contact with a team member
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- In Excel, you can’t see when previous edits were made to the sheet making it hard for our practice leaders to know the last time a team member’s information was updated.
- Dependence on practice leaders
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- If any of the practice leaders were experiencing connectivity issues, no cell service or internet connection, then they could not update the sheet.
We needed to find a way to allow team members to update their information while keeping information private to the team member and practice leader.
Our Solution: A Custom Power App to Support Secure, Efficient Information Sharing
The team at Enavate made a quick decision to look into the Microsoft Power Platform and see how it could benefit our internal team. With Power Apps, we built a low code/no code application within three days to provide a platform for our team members to safely, efficiently and accurately share their information.
Power Platform with Power Apps allowed us to design a custom application that focused on the immediate needs of our teams in Ukraine. This included providing team members a way to securely share their location and work availability so personal information wasn’t exposed.
The Outcomes: Seamless Information Sharing and More
With the development of our Power App, our teams achieved more than expected.
Quick Implementation
Our internal team was able to plan and execute the development of our Power App within just three days. The quick turnaround allowed our Ukraine team to immediately benefit from the updated process without interrupting their workflow for testing and troubleshooting.
User-controlled Data Entry Process
Our team members could now enter location, work availability and contact information.
The personal information of the team members has been redacted from this screenshot.
Central Location for Data
Practice leads could see the information their team members shared in a central, easy-to-access location. The app also included historical data of where team members previously were and time stamps of when their information was last updated.
The personal information of the team members has been redacted from this screenshot.
Seamless Updates and Integration
When issues or concerns arose with the application, our internal team promptly fixed them and rolled out the update without forcing users to pause work or exit the application.
As we added new team members, we could automatically add them to the application. Enavate had established a process flow that added a new team member to the spreadsheet automatically once they showed up in Office 365.
Power Platform tools such as Power BI helped us use the data we had to provide impactful updates.
Increased Client Trust
When the war started, clients assigned to our teams in Ukraine could have decided not to partner with Enavate any longer. However, with the data available, we could communicate our work capacities with clients in real-time, building trust and communication to strengthen our partnerships.
Gain firsthand insight from our client, Time4Advice, on what it was like working with our team as the war first began and throughout the ever-changing landscape in their client success story with us.
With the success of this application, Enavate has begun to develop different applications throughout our company to increase efficiency and productivity. Our HR and sales departments are currently in the process of developing apps specifically designed for their needs.
We Don’t Just Talk the Talk— We Know the Power of Power Platform
Through the power of the Microsoft Power Platform, we successfully created an application that assisted our team members in Ukraine. At Enavate, we are dedicated to ensuring that our partners successfully achieve their goals with Microsoft products. We go beyond just providing the expertise needed to deliver excellent support. Our team has personal experience using and developing the very products we support. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your team leverage the power of Power Platforms to enhance your business.
