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Inspection App with many inspection types

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Posted on 16 Aug 2023 20:28:39 by ClayCollins

I posted here initially, but realized that thread was marked as resolved, so it may not have been the best place to post my question. But here's the original: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Power-Apps/Add-a-new-column-to-the-sharepoint-list-from-powerapps/td-p/1248518

I'm trying to create an app with many inspection types (30 different inspection types), and quite a few have many data points (over 200 different questions). In building just one of these inspections has been a lot of work, and I'm about halfway through the 3rd of 30. But now I've started to wonder if I'm going about it the best way.

My basic approach thus far:

I've created a SharePoint List for each inspection, with each column being one of the data points to track (with abbreviated names). Obviously this is quite tedious to create 200+ columns. Then, in the Edit Form side, I'm using DataCards and customizing the names to be more clear as to the question.

And I'm creating a different Form, depending on which Inspection type was selected from the drop-down.

With Delegation concerns in mind I'm also following this approach when answering the questions. ( https://www.practicalpowerapps.com/delegation/power-apps-delegation-sharepoint/ )

Since Building a SharePoint List from importing an Excel table makes for further PowerApps building a nightmare (it doesn't call the columns what you named them in Excel, but rather they're referenced as "field_01", "field_02", etc) I thought maybe some approach wherein the questions are based off a SharePoint List would be time efficient (since you can be copy and paste from Excel to SP List, when in Edit Grid View, without issues like above).

I went through the tutorial today to learn about making a dynamic form as described here: https://www.matthewdevaney.com/power-apps-dynamic-forms-generate-forms-from-a-questions-list/

But I'm wondering if this is going to be effective for recording an inspection, since it looks like each answer gets placed on a separate line of the SP List. So would that mean that each inspection performed would need its own SP List??

Please any input on this would be appreciated, and a little more direction about whether Parent -> Child setup is best practice here. And if so, what resources you'd recommend to help me comprehend and implement.

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ronaldwalcott 3,548 on 14 Nov 2024 at 23:11:01

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Inspection App with many inspection types

Would need more details but straight away would probably not use SharePoint and would definitely not create a list and form for each inspection type.

I'm trying to create an app with many inspection types (30 different inspection types), and quite a few have many data points (over 200 different questions).

I would create

InspectionTypeTable - InspectionTypeCode, InspectionTypeName, InspectionTypeDescription - Parent

InspectionDataPoints - InspectionDataPointCode, DataPointQuestion, DataPointSequenceNumber, InspectionTypeCode - Child

When an inspection needs to be done I can select a button New Inspection of Type X which would read this data and generate records in new Parent - Child

tables.

MyInspectionsTable - MyInspectionsIdentifyingCode, InspectionDate, Inspector, InspectionDescription

MyInpectionsDetails - MyInspectionsDetailsCode, InspectionDataPointCode, MyInspectionDataPointQuestion (these values are created from reading the tables above), DataPointResponse, MyInspectionsIdentifyingCode

The user could then add responses in a gallery, in edit mode as the questions are generated, or navigate from one question to the other, on separate screens, as you would know how many questions there are.

The data can then be aggregated in a bunch of different ways.

That is how I would approach it based on the details which you provided.
Michael Chadbourne 4 on 14 Nov 2024 at 13:15:22

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Inspection App with many inspection types

Hi

This is a surprisingly important question asked by @ClayCollins and I can think of a multiple real scenarios where "long" audit type question and answers need to be performed by all types of businesses (including ours). Is there a solution to this question using Microsoft PowerApp native components?
ClayCollins 61 on 18 Aug 2023 at 14:22:42

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Re: Inspection App with many inspection types

@EddieE
I would need to access the data again, since I use it later to create a QR Code, as described here
So I don't think putting the data into a static form/document would suffice. Although, getting it into a document is also a goal, the data would need to remain dynamic. I appreciate the link to the column limitations, as that was insightful.
Any other thoughts on how this could be built?
@mdevaney
EddieE 4,641 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 17 Aug 2023 at 04:14:50

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Re: Inspection App with many inspection types

@ClayCollins

Maybe have a think about the data you need to collect for each form. Do yo7 need to collect every question as data or could you collect, say 10 data fields like

FormName | Inspector | InspectionDate | … ( up to maybe 10 fields)

then just store this in a SharePoint Document Library with a PDF of the form and all the other questions answered?

If you had commonality across the various forms for these 10 fields then you could just use 1 library. You could then use a form platform like Cognito Forms to build out your forms and use it with Power Automate to collect the data. Cognito has a Standard Power Automate connector which doesn’t require a premium licence.

Another issue you may run into is the column limit in SharePoint. It’s based on the column types used but you can check it out here

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/install/software-boundaries-limits-2019#column-limits

These are just a few tips but I could give you a few more if these are what you are looking for?