Create apps from Power Apps

  • 8 minutes

Certain requirements for field service operations might not be met in the out-of-the-box features of Dynamics 365 Field Service. Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform offer several options for customizing and extending Dynamics 365 Field Service to meet such requirements.

For example, you can use Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform to:

  • Use the logic features in Dataverse to validate data.

  • Create Power Automate cloud flows to integrate with other systems.

  • Use Dataverse workflows to update statuses and send emails.

  • Create Power Apps component framework controls to create rich, UI experiences.

  • Build plug-ins to perform business logic.

Note

Customizing and extending with Microsoft Power Platform are covered by the Exam: PL-200 and Exam: PL-400 certifications.

In many scenarios, you might find it beneficial to create new apps by using Power Apps rather than customizing the Dynamics 365 Field Service app. For example, in scenarios when the functionality that you require isn't provided by the Dynamics 365 Field Service app, you can build a new app that shares data through Microsoft Dataverse with Dynamics 365 Field Service.

Example scenario

Consider the ensuing scenario, where an organization performs health and safety training at customer locations. While the Field Service mobile app can manage the bookings for the trainer, and inspections can perform basic question and responses, the Field Service app might not include functionality for the required processing and scoring for the training evaluations. In the office, users validate the results and then generate certificates and failures, which then need to be processed and retested.

A possible solution for this requirement might include:

  • Custom tables and columns within Microsoft Dataverse.

  • Relationships from the custom tables to the work order table and to the contact table.

  • A canvas app to capture the health and safety evaluation results against the work order.

  • A model-driven app to view the evaluation results.

  • A Power Automate cloud flow to generate certificates.

  • A business process flow to manage the steps in the process for failures.

  • A Microsoft Power BI dashboard to show trends in evaluations and allow management to analyze scores.

  • Power Automate cloud flows to notify of failures and handle approvals of retesting.

Canvas apps

Building a canvas app on tables that are held in Dataverse is straightforward. You can create task-based apps, such as capturing evaluation results, that save data to Microsoft Dataverse.

The following screenshot shows a simple canvas app that captures this data.

Screenshot displaying a sample canvas app.

Model-driven apps

The following screenshot shows a simple model-driven app that manages the evaluation business process.

Screenshot showing a sample model-driven app.

Embed a canvas app on a model-driven form

With embedded canvas apps, you can bring the flexibility of canvas apps to model-driven forms. For instance, by using an embedded canvas app, you can:

  • Display data from various sources next to data from Microsoft Dataverse.

  • Use and update data from other data sources.

  • Interact with the data in fields on the model-driven app form.

  • Trigger Power Automate flows from buttons in the embedded canvas app.

  • Perform complex logic that isn't possible in model-driven app forms without requiring coding.

  • Create a wizard-like user interface to guide the user through a complex set of decisions based on data.

Screenshot of an embedded canvas app on a model-driven app form.