I've started to notice a pattern, and it goes like this:

• Someone finds Power Automate or Power Apps
• They build something amazing
• They want to use their awesome new skills
• They find a problem and make it a Power Automate or Power App problem

And there is definite logic to this, if you know how to build a flow why would you learn/out source a Dell Boomi just because it scores higher on the requirements. You have to work with the tools you have, but here's the thing, you have a lot more tools.

And here's the thing, the development is just a small part of the lifecycle of the app/flow. What about:

• Deployments
• Bug Fixes
• New Features
• Support
• Scalability
• Stability

So when thinking of the right tool you really need to think about the whole package and look for the simplest solution, not necessarily the most exciting:

If you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler one
Occam’s Razor / Principle of Parsimony

So lets look at other cool tools you should be considering first.

Data Gathering

I see this probably the most, someone wants to gather information, the spin up a Power App that gets the data and saves it to SharePoint. The key strengths and USP of Power Apps is 2 way data connections (Not just create but modify and delete), complex dynamic inputs (questions related to previous values or logged in user) and rich connectivity (cameras, gps, etc). So in our case there simpler alternatives:

A Simple SharePoint Form

That's right just use the built in functionality of SharePoint, that removes all the complexity. With the recent updates it has nice UI and can gather any type of data.

Microsoft Forms

If you need branching logic or want it pre-populated good old MS Forms has you covered.

Canvas App SharePoint Form

You can have 80% of the functionality but with 90% less complexity. It has all the requirements and only loses out from a UI side, as without some bodging it is designed as a side panel.

Data Notifications

Using SharePoint to store data is now almost as ubiquitous as Excel now, and with Data storage we want alerts when the data is modified. The go to for most is Power Automate, but out of the box SharePoint has something called rules. They allow you to trigger by action (create/update/delete) and by conditions on the row.

Data Visualisation

Power Apps is not a data visualisation tool. It has some basic charts and can imbed Power BI tiles, but it is not visualisation tool. Guess what is, Power BI, and its dam good at it and relatively easy to learn. Yes Power Apps can show complimentary charts etc as part of the app, but that should be an additional benefit, not the key purpose of the app.

And then there is the elephant in the room, the one we love to hate, Excel. No matter what you say, Excel is a powerful visualisation tool, add in Power Query and Office Scripts and it can do nearly everything you need.

Project Management/Ticketing

If you want an all singing and dancing project management system then Power Apps is a good solution, but do you need an all singing and dancing system? Planner covers most of your basic needs, and with a little Power Automate integration it covers even more. Additionally we now have Loop in the equation that has potential to manage tasks and projects.

Mailbox Automation

Long before Power Automate was even just Flow there was Outlook rules. There is some powerful functionality built right into Outlook, this removes all of that complexity around working over 2 systems and life cycle management.

Some examples where rules should rule (😎)

• Moving Emails by condition
• Deleting Emails by condition
• Forwarding/replying by condition

And this is just the begining, Micrsoft love to launch new products, and it loves to canabalise its own tools, so expect more overlap, as example Im excited for Copilot actions which will be another solution to data gathering / notifications / Mailbox Automations / etc.

Having a robust Intake process to help establish 'the right tool for the right job', good training/documentation, is key to ensuring your organisation doesnt end up being wasteful just when its focusing on efficiency.