The Brands

PowerApps enables users to build business-centric apps, allowing for streamlined business tasks and efficient work processes.  The program allows users to build their own web-based apps and mobile apps, which can also be used within other Microsoft programs.

Let’s take a look at some of PowerApps’ best-known customers, and how they succeed in their problem solving with PowerApps.

American Red Cross

PowerApps enables the American Red Cross to solve complex problems faster by efficiently utilising their volunteer network in a way that wasn’t possible before.

Before PowerApps, the team were using paper forms for ordering important supplies such as defibrillators, masks, wipes, gloves and more.  With only a paper form, there was no visibility of the order status available for team members, so teams weren’t able to tell if their order was received or when they'd be receiving it.  This also meant that knowing how many orders were filled each month and what supplies were used most was very difficult to track.  As well as this, some orders were lost altogether and unaccounted for.

Using PowerApps, an instructor created a shopping cart app and connected it to SharePoint lists.  The app allowed instructors to add supplies to the shopping cart, provide a shipping address and then check-out.  In the end, their order life-cycle was reduced from a 3-4 week period to just 4-5 business days, and team members were able to receive regular updates on the progress of their orders.

Virgin Atlantic

As part of Virgin Atlantic’s Engineering department, the compliance team needed to find a way to review audit findings, take action, view trends and identify improvements.  The engineers filling out these audit forms needed an audit process that was simple and quick to use, without taking them away from their work environment.

Before PowerApps, engineers filled in paper forms to report on their findings, such as whether or not safe systems of work were being followed, if there was access to the correct equipment and if personal protective equipment was available and used correctly.

With the paper form, there was no dashboard to visualise the findings and no automation, so the team built a working PowerApps application and Power BI dashboard to meet their custom requirements for the auditing process.  Now engineers use the PowerApp to perform ad-hoc and scheduled audits.  They can view what audits are scheduled for them and review audit questions all from an iPad.  Upon completing an audit, any negative answers are highlighted and followed with a pop-up to allow the engineer to record a finding and assign a follow-up task to a manager.  Compliance managers can then use the PowerApp integrated with SharePoint to review completed audits, and view all findings in one place.

 

To learn more about how to use PowerApps for your business, check out our Power Apps training courses.

 

References:

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/americanredcross/

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/virgin-atlantic-drives-agile-wins-for-mobile-workforce-with-the-power-platform/