By: Linda Rosencrance
In the latest series of updates to PowerApps and Flow, Microsoft has updated integrations, enhanced workflow tools, and provided easier connection to the Common Data Service. Contextual use of Flow and PowerApps from within SharePoint Online has resulted in “soaring adoption”, according to Kees Hertogh, senior director of product marketing, in a new blog post.
Microsoft Flow now connects with SharePoint document libraries, and users can run Flows on-demand from SharePoint. And Flow is adding new approval process capabilities, plus the ability to tie Flows to the real world. increasingly sophisticated SharePoint integration and growing list of connectors to third party applications.
“Now, tapping into large SharePoint lists to filter through data where it originates is providing PowerApps creators the ability to deliver apps with increasing complexity, and across large enterprise systems,” Hertogh stated. Professional developers and Microsoft partners can also integrate their own services with Microsoft PowerApps and Microsoft Flow.
In addition to the 100 out-of-the box connectors, developers can expose any REST-based end-point using custom APIs that power users can leverage, Hertogh stated. And new developer services make it easier to register Azure functions and app services.
Microsoft Flow has also rolled out modernized approval processes for businesses, enabling them to create an approval process in seconds using rich templates and the ability to approve or reject requests on the go. Flow can also surface actions directly in other Microsoft products, such as Outlook, according to Hertogh.
Other new features to support team productivity are also being added, including shareable digital button triggers and physical buttons that connect Flow to the real world to enable faster, richer flows, Hertogh stated. And collaborative flow creation and management is being released today.
With recent enhancements to Microsoft PowerApps, users can now just point and click to easily create more advanced applications connected to the Common Data Service with the new entity forms feature, Hertogh stated. Customers can also embed PowerApps in Power BI dashboards, embed streaming video and deliver in-app push notifications, he added.