There are more tools than ever in the Microsoft Office 365 stack to handle the intake of data. How do you know what tool to use when? In this session, we will evaluate PowerApps, Microsoft Forms, SharePoint Lists and Flow and how each tool fits into the forms landscape.

1. Which Tool to Use When
PowerApps, Forms, and Flow, oh my!

2. About Me –
April Dunnam
• Microsoft MVP
• Owner & Lead Developer at ThriveFast
• Active blogger and speaker
• President of Oklahoma PowerApps & Flow User Group
• Concert junkie and karaoke queen
• You can find me at :
Twitter: @aprildunnam
Blog: www.SharePointSiren.com
April.Dunnam@thrivefast.com

3. Agenda
• Features
• Gaps
Overview of PowerApps, Forms & Flow
• Use Cases
Which Tool to Use When

4. Terrific Trio of Business Apps

5. Good For:
Feedback/Signup Forms, Surveys,
Quizzes
Good For:
Robust Desktop & Mobile Applications
Good For:
Simple Input Forms with workflow
requirement, extending and automating
Forms and PowerApps

6. Forms
• Quick Forms, Surveys, Polls
• Branching, Likert Scales
• Azure Web App Front End, Azure SQL Back End
• Data is encrypted
• SOC & GDPR Compliant
• 50k + Responses
• Anonymous
• Can embed in Teams, SharePoint

7. Forms Gaps
No Calculated Field Options
No Field validation (emails, phone #’s, etc)
No attachment capability
User’s can’t come back and edit or update. 1 time only
100 question limit
4k character max in user responses
Limited branding/styling capability

8. Forms Pro
• New! – Released in February
• All the features of Forms plus
• Additional insights and dashboards to analyze
responses
• Ability to distribute forms via Flow
• Embed a Forms Pro form in PowerApps

9. PowerApps
Rapid Application
Development Tool
Connect to over 200+
services
Build & use custom
connectors
Embed Forms in
SharePoint & Teams
Can use to customize
SharePoint list Forms
Advanced capability:
File Upload, Camera,
Barcode Scanning,
Location Data, etc

10. PowerApps
Gaps
No Anonymous/Guest Access (yet) -
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-
Ideas/Share-with-external-users/idi-p/4114
No printing (yet) -
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-
Ideas/Printing/idi-p/846
Plan 1 or 2 required for advanced functionality like
CDS, Custom Connectors, etc.

11. Flow
Work Less, Do More!
Automation
Processes
Connect to over 200+
Data Sources
Streamline Approvals
Flow Buttons with
Input Forms
Bring additional
functionality to
Forms & PowerApps

12. Flow Button
Gaps
Limited to 20 inputs
Only supports Text, Boolean, Drop-Down,
Number, Date and Attachment field types
No branching or conditional logic
Cannot embed in SharePoint or Teams.
Only accessible via Flow app.
No Anonymous/Guest Access

13. Scenario 1: Employee
Feedback Form
• Requirements:
• Input form with 5 – 10 questions
• Need mixture of text inputs, multiple
choice and Likert scale options
• Want entries to be anonymous
• Want to be able to embed the form in a
SharePoint page
• Users only need to be able to submit an
entry, do not want to allow them to go
back in and change their feedback

14. Scenario 2: Contact
Management Solution
• Requirements:
• Need an efficient way to quickly add a new
Contact
• Will require a form to enter name, phone, email,
etc. Possibly a way to upload a picture of the
contact’s business card
• Need to be able to input a new Contact from a
mobile device
• When a contact is inputted in the form, want to
automatically add that contact as a contact in
Outlook and into a SharePoint contacts list

15. Scenario 3: Company Store
App
• Requirements:
• Need an app to allow users to browse list of items,
add items to a chart and go through a checkout
process.
• Users need to be able to go back into the app to
either start another order or track the status of
existing orders
• Will need to access via both desktop and mobile
• Want the data stored in a SharePoint list
• Bonus: Need a workflow to route orders to
manager for approval and update user on order
status

16. Questions?