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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Apps / PowerApps Architecture...
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PowerApps Architecture Best Practice

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Posted on by Microsoft Employee

Hi,

 

I have the immediate requirements to generate two mobile form data capture apps (offline and online capture), publish to a central repository and report off this data using PowerBI and a website. Initially only 2 apps and 10 users but would scale out to 100 apps and 500 users

 

So I have been looking at using PowerApps but as its quite new I am yet to see a best practice on architecting an end - end solution.

 

Utilising powerapps on the front end is a no brainer but what to connect to. Connecting directly to the CDS looks to be the no-code solution but then can a server side website connect to the same data and run powerBI over this?

 

Suppose I could connect to a customAPI which uses a SQL Server behind the scenes. That way I have the flexibility but it would prevent power users creating their own apps (Might be a good thing)

 

I have a developer background so code is not an issue but as powerapps is changing at a rapid rate I need to ensure logging, security versioning of apps and stability are taken into account.

 

Any suggestions/links  appreciated.

Cheers

JM

 

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I have the same question (0)
  • v-micsh-msft Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    Hi @Anonymous,

     

    PowerApps could connect to On-premise SQL Server directly. But currently there are some limitations:

    Connect from Microsoft PowerApps to SQL Server

    Specially for delegation:

    Undersrtand delegation in PowerApps

    PowerApps connecring to data source is similar to Power BI.

     

    Also, if you would like to do some deleloping, take a look at custom connectors in PowerApps:

    Register and use custom connectors in PowerApps

     

    Regards,

    Michael

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    Hi Michael,

     

    I have actually already followed the article you linked regarding the custom connector. What the author fails to go into is what are some of the reasons you would choose a custom connector over the CDS.

     

    Cheers

    Jeremy

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