Business Applications
Power Platform
Low code, built properly.
Power Apps and Power Automate make it possible to put a working business application in front of your team in weeks rather than months. That speed is also the risk, because an app built quickly without a plan soon becomes the next system nobody can maintain.
We treat the Power Platform as a professional development platform and bring the same discipline we apply to any build. You get the speed of low code without inheriting a tangle of apps and flows that only one person understands.
What the Power Platform is for
Every business has processes that fall between its core systems. They are too specific for an off-the-shelf product and too important to leave in a spreadsheet, so they end up in inboxes, shared drives or someone's head. The Power Platform is built to bridge exactly that gap.
Power Apps
Gives a process its own model-driven application on Dataverse, from a single team's workflow to a full process-driven system for a whole department.
Power Automate
Takes the repeatable work off people's desks, such as approvals, reminders, document generation and data moving between systems.
Power Pages
Can open part of a process to customers, suppliers or partners through a secure portal, although most external-facing applications we build are standalone web applications over the same data.
Underneath it sits Dataverse, the same governed data platform behind Dynamics 365. An app built on the Power Platform therefore has enterprise-grade security from day one and a clear path to grow into something larger.
When it is the right choice
and when it is not
The Power Platform is at its best when a process needs to be systemised quickly, when it extends something you already run in Dynamics 365 or Microsoft 365 or when a manual routine can be automated away. It is not the answer to everything. Very high volumes, complex user interfaces and heavy integration can push a low-code app beyond what it does well and that is usually where Dynamics 365 or a custom application is the better fit.
We will always tell you which option is best for you because we build all three and have no reason to steer you towards one option over the others.
We follow a principle we call Code Only If Necessary. Every solution starts with what the platform provides as standard and we only write code where configuration genuinely cannot deliver. Where a team needs more than a standard screen, we now build coded front ends and PCF controls over the same Dataverse data rather than canvas apps, as they give users a better experience and are easier to support. Canvas apps we have built in the past remain fully supported.
How we build on it
Low code changes how quickly something can be built. It does not change what makes an application last, so every Power Platform solution we deliver is built to the same standards.
A proper data model
Designed in Dataverse rather than an Excel file or SharePoint list pressed into service as a database.
Separate environments
Development, testing and production kept apart, with changes moved between them as managed solutions rather than edited live.
Governance from the outset
Data loss prevention policies, a sensible approach to connectors and clear ownership, so the platform does not sprawl as more people start building.
Room to grow
Designed with the next stage in mind, whether that is more users, more processes or a move to Dynamics 365 or a custom front end.
We are also regularly asked to look at Power Platform estates that have grown on their own. Apps built by enthusiastic colleagues often do a real job but have outgrown their original design. We review what is there, keep what works and rebuild what does not, without losing the knowledge that went into it.
The stack behind it
Microsoft Dataverse
The governed data platform shared with Dynamics 365, with security and audit built in
Microsoft Excel
Often the starting point, as the spreadsheet a process outgrew becomes the blueprint for the app
Microsoft Power Apps
Model-driven applications built around a specific process
Microsoft Power Automate
Approvals, notifications, documents and data flows that run without anyone chasing them
Microsoft Power Pages
Secure portals for people outside your organisation, where a portal is the right fit
Microsoft SharePoint
Where generated documents are stored, so the whole business can find them
Microsoft Teams
Where apps and approvals appear, so people work where they already are
PCF Controls
Reusable components, including our own grid and process controls, that give users more than the standard screens
Sound familiar?
We tend to be the right call when:
Between the systems
A process falls between your core systems and runs on spreadsheets and email.
Chasing approvals
People spend their day chasing approvals, reminders and sign-offs.
Outgrown its design
A Power Apps solution has grown well beyond its original design.
Nobody owns it
Apps and flows have multiplied and nobody is quite sure who owns what.
Some of these have names. If one is hitting home, this is where it leads:
Excel Hell
Business-critical work is trapped in spreadsheets that long ago outgrew the job.
See the pain →Swivel Chair Syndrome
People re-key the same data between systems that will not talk to each other.
See the pain →Platform Pain
A platform is already in place, but it fights your team instead of helping them.
See the pain →What it unlocks
Get the foundations right and this is what becomes possible:
It rarely stops at Power Platform
A real solution usually pulls in more than one of our skills. We will not steer you towards one product over another, we build what the process needs.
Business applications
Dynamics 365
Process-matching applications on Microsoft's own business platform.
Explore →Bespoke development
Custom Applications
For when nothing off-the-shelf fits how your people really work.
Explore →Integration
Integration & Automation
Systems that talk, so your people do not have to.
Explore →Experience you can trust, see what our clients say
Read the latest thoughts from our team
Start with a conversation
Show us the spreadsheet, the inbox or the app that has outgrown itself. We will help you work out whether low code is the right answer and what it would take to build it properly.
Book a Call
Or call 03333 209 969 · enquiries@circyl.co.uk