In the current context, there is a prevailing need for specialists in the development of applications to be able to carry out the digital transformation of companies. The vast majority of them are high-code developers, develop under source code, require specific technical knowledge and long periods of time for the development of applications. However, there is still another alternative to explore: low-code.

Given the high need in the development of applications, thanks to low-code it is possible to meet this demand, analyze data, create customized solutions and automate processes through the appropriate technology, such as the Power Platform, and with other profiles, such as the so-called ‘Citizen Developers’ according to Microsoft. These users do not need to know programming for application development and Power Platform allows you to accelerate the business, since it reduces by 80% the time needed for traditional software development. In this sense, Microsoft points out that 65% of application development will be low-code and will be carried out under Power Platform technology in 2024.

In addition, the use of low-code requires less effort than the development of traditional solutions to build workflows, automation reduces human error by 27.4% in the introduction of information and is much faster to implement than other similar solutions, according to Forrester.

Where Power Platform applies

  • Personal, departmental or team productivity
  • Simple processes with clear use cases
  • Complex data processes and structures
  • Mission critical processes
  • Broad initiatives that affect the entire organization

Solution and integration keys

When extending any of the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations applications with Power Platform, the database of this platform, called Dataverse, is essential. Therefore, to carry out this integration, the first thing will be to migrate our data to the Dataverse platform. There are three different types of integrations and all of them can be combined with each other:

  • End-to-end integration: it is the one that takes more time and is done from the Power Platform through templates that execute a series of packages programmed between two platforms. It would not apply for real-time integrations.
  • Dual Write integration: writes data in real time to both Dataverse and F&O.
  • Virtual integration: Data can be virtualized within Dataverse by installing a number of Power Platform components. To move the data and if the volume of these is not very high, an integration by connectors could be executed.

Scenarios where you apply Power Apps with Finance and Operations

  • Many users (licenses) and functionality that do not need a strictly online synchronization with F&O, for example, through Dataverse
  • Online/offline functionality that requires mobility (smartphone, tablet)
  • A lot of core functionality not included in F&O and with minimal integration, for example, for billing
  • Customer, supplier, service or employee portals
  • Dynamics 365 Sales, Marketing, Field Service integrated with Finance

Scenarios where you apply Power Automate with Finance and Operations

  • Integrate information from outside: websites, legacy applications, other solutions
  • Export information out for F&O status changes, insertions or changes
  • Automate notifications in Teams, email, etc.
  • Automate repetitive processes: UATs, data migrations, etc.
  • Automate approval processes: invoices, payments, orders, etc.
  • Attach information (documents) received by any means: FTP, OneDrive, email, SharePoint, etc.
  • Tag PDFs, images, collect the information and archive it in F&O

We encourage you to access our webinar through which the team of professionals in Prodware’s Power Platform ecosystem will show you how to turn your ideas into applications from two cutting-edge technologies and through three practical demonstrations on the platform itself. Low-code, in short, is a strategy or safe bet towards the digital transformation of companies.