CREATING A POWER APPS BY USING FIN & OPS APPS (DYNAMICS 365) CONNECTOR
CONTENT Introduction Why Power App? Power App creation Summary |
INTRODUCTION
Microsoft Power Apps provides a powerful platform for building low-code, custom applications that integrate with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O). By leveraging the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations connector, organizations can create tailored solutions that provide users with direct access to critical ERP data—without requiring them to navigate the complexities of the ERP system.
This article focuses on using the Finance and Operations connector to create a Power App designed to interact with your Dynamics 365 environment. Whether you’re building an app to display purchase order details, manage inventory, or analyze financial data, the connector acts as a bridge between your Power App and the robust functionality of F&O.
This article guides you through the key steps of creating a Power App, including:
- Setting up the connector to fetch data from Dynamics 365 F&O.
- Designing a user-friendly interface tailored to your business needs.
- Configuring the app to enable secure and efficient data retrieval.
By the end of this article, you'll have the foundation needed to build a Power App that enhances accessibility, streamlines processes, and reduces reliance on ERP access for occasional users—all while maintaining compliance and security.
In this article, we will build a canvas app from scratch. This app will fetch and display open purchase order lines for a selected item using data from D365FO. The goal is to demonstrate how to use the Fin & Ops Apps connector effectively for data inquiries, streamlining workflows, and enhancing decision-making.
WHY POWER APP
Power Apps is a user-friendly platform for extending the capabilities of Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. Here’s why it’s the ideal choice for building applications:
1. Accessibility Without ERP Complexity
Power Apps offers a simplified interface for users who only need to perform specific tasks, such as querying open purchase orders, without requiring them to navigate the complexities of the ERP system. This makes it an excellent tool for non-technical users or those who only need occasional data access.
2. Cost-Efficiency in Licensing
With flexible licensing options, Power Apps eliminates the need to assign expensive Dynamics 365 F&O licenses to every user. Occasional users, such as auditors, suppliers, or project managers, can access the data they need through a lightweight Power App, significantly reducing costs.
3. Empowering Specialized Roles
Power Apps can be tailored to the needs of specific roles, such as:
- Procurement specialists negotiating with suppliers.
- Warehouse staff managing incoming shipments.
- Project managers tracking pending orders for critical items.
- This ensures that each role gets a purpose-built tool for their exact requirements.
4. Enhanced Mobility and Flexibility
Designed with mobile users in mind, Power Apps allows employees to access ERP data on-the-go, whether on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. This flexibility is invaluable for roles like field technicians or buyers in supplier meetings.
5. Security and Governance
Power Apps integrates seamlessly with the Dynamics 365 ecosystem, leveraging built-in security features such as role-based access control and audit trails. This ensures that sensitive data remains protected, even when accessed outside the ERP system.
6. Rapid Development and Customization
With its low-code environment, Power Apps enables rapid development and deployment of custom solutions. Apps can be easily modified as business needs evolve, providing long-term adaptability without extensive development costs.
By combining these benefits, Power Apps empowers organizations to extend their Dynamics 365 capabilities, improve accessibility, and optimize costs—all while maintaining robust security and governance.
POWER APP CREATION
With these advantages in mind, let’s explore how to create a Power App that connects to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations to provide a user-friendly interface for inquiring about open purchase order lines.
We will build a canvas app from scratch. This app will fetch and display open purchase order lines for a selected item using data from D365FO.
Let's get started.
Access Power Apps Studio by going to https://make.powerapps.com/
Click + Create and select Blank app.
Select Blank Canvas app and click Create.
Enter application's name, in our example, it's D365FO Open purchase order lines.
Select Phone for vertical design and click Create.
You will see blank app page. Click Skip.
Let's start creating app components.
Let's add a header first.
Click + (plus) and select Text label.
Type the app title, D365FO Open purchase order lines.
Next is the most important part. The body of the app!
Click Vertical gallery.
System automatically adds it and asks for a data resource.
Type "Fin" in order to find Fin & Ops Apps (Dynamics 365) connector and select it.
System automatically asks you to select related D365FO environment.
Select the environment that will be used as database.
Now we need to select the tables to be used in this Power Apps.
Select the first component of vertical gallery, title3. Note that 'Template ID' field is displayed here.
Let's change it to 'Purchase order'.
Let's do the same and change 'Sub-BOM' to 'Item number'.
We can get rid of the arrow icon.
Next element is a dropdown list that contains item numbers for filtering.
Click + (plus) >> Input >> Dropdown
Note that system adds the element automatically.
Let's now change the dropdown content to item numbers (Released products).
Note that Released products doesn't show up as an option. That means that we need to add Released products table to our app.
Click Add data and search for Fin Ops connector.
Add the table ReleasedProductsV2 and connect it.
Now we can select ReleasedProductsV2 as datasource of the dropdown list.
Note that dropdowns content is now ReleasedProductsV2.
There is still something that needs to be done since nothing is displayed in the dropdown.
Click the dropdown box and switch to display tab on the right panel.
Change the value to 'Item number'.
Now we can see the item number in the dropdown.
Next is the most important part. We want gallery to show only open order lines of the selected item in the dropdown.
Select the gallery and clear the formula bar.
Filter(PurchaseOrderLinesV2,'Item number'=Dropdown1.Selected.'Item number' && 'Line status'= "1")
The language in this Power Platform example is Power Fx, a low-code, declarative language used within Microsoft Power Apps to define behavior, logic, and data manipulation. It is heavily inspired by Excel formulas and is used in canvas apps for creating expressions and filtering data.
Here's a breakdown of the code:
- Filter: A function in Power Fx that narrows down a table of data based on one or more conditions.
- PurchaseOrderLinesV2: Table containing purchase order lines.
- 'Item number': Table column.
- Dropdown1.Selected.'Item number': Refers to the value of the "Item number" field selected in a dropdown control named Dropdown1.
- 'Line status' = "1": Filters rows where the Line status column equals the string "1". One means open order.
This formula filters the PurchaseOrderLinesV2 data source to return only rows where:
- The Item number matches the value selected in Dropdown1.
- The Line status is "1".
Time to test the app!
Click Play button.
Select an item and see the open purchase order lines of the item.
Find the item in the released products and click Open purchase order lines button.
The results match the Power Apps results! Excellent!
Enter the user's email.
Note that this user can use the app only.
Click on Share.
User gets a notification that includes Power Apps link.
SUMMARY
This Power App provides a user-friendly interface for querying and displaying open purchase order lines from Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, making it ideal for procurement, warehouse, and finance teams who need quick access to specific data without navigating the complexities of the ERP system. By integrating the Finance and Operations Apps connector, the app enables secure data retrieval, and cost-efficient access for occasional users.
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