MUSIC! I love MUSIC! Music always keeps me inspired and motivated. If I’m feeling blue and want to chill, I’ll also listen to music. As for the genre I’m listening to, it really depends. It depends on what I am doing like when I am currently on the train traveling for work, running in the park, or having dinner with my loved ones, all differs depending on what I feel at that moment. That’s how I select the genre of my music.
You may wonder what it has to do with Power Apps and Microsoft Forms. Well, you may always ask yourself, especially end-users, the common question, “What tools to use?” Is it Power Apps or Microsoft Forms? It depends.
A few days ago, I had a fun conversation with Stacy Deere-Strole and Sharon Oswald, hosted by Christian Buckley, AvePoint. (Link will be provided soon)
Power Apps is one of the components of Power Platform. You can quickly build a low-code application and use it to customize forms in SharePoint. When building the application, you use Power FX or Excel-like formula. Connect your application with a wide variety of data sources with up to 300+ connectors.
Microsoft Forms use for quizzes, surveys, and polls. It’s a lightweight form of collecting data and feedback.
When selecting the platform, these are my checklists and things I learned during our conversation: You can add more.
- Licenses
- Sharing
- Complexity
- Governance
Licenses
Anyone with Microsoft 365 License can create Forms. For the Power Apps, you need to have an E3 and E5 license for the Microsoft 365 Licenses. Power Apps also has standalone licenses; you can check the licenses you need here.
Sharing
In MS Forms, you can share it with anyone, only people in your organization, or share it with specific people in your organization. With or without a license, they can access the forms.
As for Power Apps, you can share the canvas app with the guest user, but you need to add the guest user to your Active Directory and have a Power Apps license. All users needing access to your app or customized forms need a Power Apps license.
Complexity
Another thing that you need to check is the complexity of the forms. If it is quick surveys or questionnaires, you use Forms. You can add different question types like Choice, Text, Rating, or Date questions, and when you select the dropdown, you will have Ranking, Likert (use to have an option for your questions), Upload File, Net Promoter Score, and Section.
As for the Power Apps, you have a variety of control to choose from, and you can change the UI of the app or forms that you want to build. You can also control the properties with the use of Power FX. From Text Input, Label, Gallery, and Data tables to AI Builder and Mixed Reality that you can add.
You have limited control for the UI for the MS Forms, and as for the Power Apps, you can arrange, enhance the form and rearrange the control with what you have in your requirements.
Governance
What will happen when the creator or owner of the forms and the app leave the company? This is a common concern of IT.
If you build a form using MS Forms and everyone in your organization utilizes it, you need to transfer the ownership of the forms. The owner needs to reach out to the Global Admin or the Office Application Administrator to transfer it to another owner. They need to transfer it within 30 days when an account is deleted. If not, you will lose the forms.
For Power Apps, the Microsoft Power Platform (CoE) Starter Kit is essential as the Admin could quickly transfer the app’s ownership to a different owner if the maker is no longer available in the organization. The Administrator can easily add the new Owner, Editor, or Viewer to the app. The canvas app used in the CoE Kit is the Set App Permission.
Summary
Many new technologies have been built to help business users be more productive easily, but the question is, what are the right tools? It goes down to your objective and why you need these tools. Make sure to check your requirements before you build.
What are your tips? 😊