Tech Ideas & Best Practices

In the digital age, the way businesses operate is constantly evolving. Two key players in this evolution are Power Apps and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Together, they're reshaping the future of business applications.

Power Apps: A Game-Changer in App Development

Power Apps, part of Microsoft's Power Platform, is a low-code development platform. It empowers everyone, from professional developers to tech-savvy business users, to create custom business applications. For instance, a retail company can use Power Apps to create a custom inventory management app, streamlining their stock control process. With Power Apps, the tedious, time-consuming coding process is replaced by a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface. This democratization of app development accelerates digital transformation, making it accessible to all.

The Rise of AI in Business Applications

AI has been a buzzword for some time now. But it's more than just a trend; it's a revolution. AI's ability to learn, reason, and understand makes it a powerful tool in various business applications. For example, a healthcare provider can use AI to analyze patient data and predict health risks. From predictive analytics to customer service, AI is making its mark.

Power Apps and AI: A Powerful Combination

When Power Apps and AI come together, the possibilities are endless. But what exactly is Power Apps AI and how does it work? PowerApps AI refers to the integration of AI capabilities within the Power Apps platform. This integration allows users to leverage AI's capabilities without needing extensive coding knowledge.

Understanding Power Apps AI Builder

So, what is PowerApps AI Builder? AI Builder is a feature integrated with Power Apps that allows users to leverage AI's capabilities without needing extensive coding knowledge. It provides pre-built AI models in Power Apps that can be used directly in your apps, or you can build and train your custom models based on your data.

The Use of AI in Power Apps

What is the use of AI in Power Apps? AI in Power Apps is used to enhance the functionality and efficiency of business applications. For instance, a logistics company can use AI Builder in Power Apps to create a Power App that predicts delivery times based on traffic data. This not only improves the efficiency of delivery processes but also enhances customer satisfaction by providing accurate delivery estimates. This integration brings AI's power to the masses, making it a key player in the future of business applications.

Transforming Business Processes with Power Apps and AI

Power Apps and AI can streamline and automate business processes. For instance, a manufacturing company can use AI to predict equipment failures based on historical data. Power Apps can then use these insights to automate maintenance scheduling. This combination not only boosts efficiency but also enables data-driven decision-making.

Enhancing Customer Experience with Power Apps and AI

In today's customer-centric world, providing a personalized experience is crucial. Power Apps and AI can help businesses achieve this. A telecom company, for instance, can use AI to analyze customer data to gain insights into behavior and preferences. Power Apps can then use these insights to tailor the customer experience, such as recommending personalized data plans, boosting satisfaction and loyalty.

The Future of Power Apps and AI

The future of business applications lies in the convergence of Power Apps and AI. As AI technology advances and Power Apps continues to democratize app development, businesses can expect more sophisticated, personalized, and efficient applications. This fusion of Power Apps and AI is not just the future of business applications; it's the future of business itself.

Conclusion

The integration of Power Apps and AI is revolutionizing the way businesses operate. By democratizing app development and leveraging AI's capabilities, businesses can transform their processes, enhance customer experience, and make data-driven decisions. As we look to the future, the synergy of Power Apps and AI will continue to redefine the landscape of business applications. The future is here, and it's powered by Power Apps and AI.

What are PowerApps?

Power apps is a low code development platform created to be used by citizen developers. It has an array of apps, connectors, services and data platform that provides an immediate application development environment to build custom apps for your following business requirements. Well, by using power apps, you can immediately create custom apps that connect to your business data that has been stored in the underlying data platforms, which is the standard data service for the apps on-premises or in various data sources. 

Creating apps using Microsoft power apps enriches the business with logic and workflow capabilities to transform your business from manual to digital automated procedures. Furthermore, apps developed and power apps users using PowerApps have flexible and seamless designs, which enables you to use them on your mobile devices, tablets or browser. PowerApps helps you work according to your desire; it also makes your user experience feature-rich without writing the code and with proper content management.

Well, when the power apps hit the market, creators assumed it was a basic tool for users with varying tiers of technical expertise. It was mainly an app power platform concentrated on facilitating users to build interactive apps for assorted businesses and their process management or personal strategies. Nevertheless, the platform took off, and the assurance of its success is its proficiency to deal with common challenges that organizations face.

Furthermore, Microsoft PowerApps presented an apps portal as well as model-driven apps. It’s the new canvas app, which in fact enables users to build apps without code being written in standard programming languages, and stay flexible in designing and customizing different designs. These capabilities enable a broad range of apps that contribute more functionality for businesses with Power apps.

Top 10 Use Cases for PowerApps for your Different Development Needs

There are 3 different types of PowerApps solutions that can be used. To access them, go to make.powerapps.com and click on the Apps icon on the left navigation bar. Click on the new app button to select canvas apps, model-driven apps, or websites.

1.Web Portals

Click New app -> Select Website to start creating web portals.

This feature is applicable for creating websites that can be accessed internally and externally, facilitating end users to connect securely with all the data stored in the CDS.    

2.Canvas Apps

Click New app -> Select Canvas to start creating canvas apps from blank.

Developers can start building apps by adding workflows to your existing data source and then designing a custom app that delivers more flexibility than model-driven apps. This feature is ideal for business users that want to work from a blank canvas. 

3.Model-Driven Apps

Click New app -> Select Model-driven to start creating model driven apps.

This feature is excellent for business processes that require complex logic. With power apps, the designs are effectively governed by the connected data sources and rely on the information you feed in the app. Well, now that you know what Microsoft power apps are and how it enriches your business, let's dive into their top 10 power apps use cases that you can implement in your business/organization.

Top 10 use cases for Microsoft PowerApps

1.Enables you to build Customized Business Apps

If your business comes across a specific challenge or has a notion for an innovative solution that could give you a great edge, you can build a custom app through power apps to tick all these boxes for you.  

The most significant advantage of using power apps is that anyone can create a custom app without requiring coding knowledge or technical expertise. Customized power apps enable you to run and operate your business according to your desire. It caters to practical business tools which enhance your company's service or product, broaden the customer base and boost efficiency. 

2.Precise Business Planning

 Planning holds an important place in any successful business. It's one of the key features which enable you to work on time with all discipline. Power apps are a spectacular choice for you to make your planning more aesthetically pleasing and convenient. Power apps promote rapid development, designing, and customization; thus, you can precisely plan accordingly to your wish! 

3.On-Site Inspection

The on-site inspection application enables you to refer to all instances with pictures, site details, and location pins. Whether you are in real estate, insurance, property management, or any other business, this tool is helpful for your work. It will make your work more accessible and inspection superior. The recorded information is reserved in the back end and can be utilized when detailed reporting or analysis is required.

4.Helps With Expenditure Approval

 There is no argument that expense approval is a tiresome job involving many processes and submissions. But, by using Microsoft power apps, users can build a mobile application for seamless and effortless expense approval. An employee can assert an expense by submitting a proposal with proper proof. Then, a manager can also reject or approve the request through notifications and the app can be well-integrated with the existing human resources system.

5.Fonts

Building a custom theme for your Power apps is essential. The fonts, colors, icons and styles you use for all types of controls like date-downs, text inputs, etc., define and embed an app's unique look and feel. 

6.Seamless Integration With Office 365 Tools

 The numerous benefits of Power apps for Office 365 make your overall process very comfortable. From no coding or programming required to complete security, and seamless app development to easy-to-use data connectors and low cost, it caters for everything! 

Furthermore, like numerous other Office 365 products, Power apps obtain regular updates with many unique features. Notably, the latest update features an AI Builder that facilitates Power apps to operate Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence technology and Machine Learning to assist you in building and developing advanced and more imaginative apps. 

7.Quick Quote Generator

Sharing customized quotes with the consumers has constantly been a hassle as it consumes a lot of time to develop custom-create manual sections and templates and send them to consumers, then follow them until they are in! 

But, with Power apps, business users can entirely automate the customized proposals generation process, wherein pre-defined templates immediately generate quotes based on the values documented in the application and automatically sends personalized mail to the customer. 

8.Image Processing Tools

Power apps can incorporate camera-enabled devices, so companies can create apps that offer picture-processing functionalities. For example, construction companies, healthcare providers and retail providers can capture photos of their products and other commodities during inspections with a mobile devices camera and the data accumulated from its GPS. A customized examination app stocks some data within SharePoint or the standard data service layer, pretending to be a hosted database. 

9.Offline Working Capability

In Power apps, you can search, manipulate consistently, filter, aggregate, and sort, even though the data source doesn't exist. Sources range from in-memory arrays in the app to list and create, using Microsoft lists, data-verse, and SQL databases. 

10.Approval

 Power apps designer use the approval pattern to allow stakeholders or multiple stakeholders to examine data, decisions, and records all at once or in series. Even though the approval pattern can be beneficial, it's often integrated with other patterns, particularly the audit and inspection pattern. Authorizations can be smoothly carried out with Power Automate authorization workflows, but they can also be executed with the ability you develop into your app.

Benefits of using power apps

1. Hassle-Free Delivery

Undoubtedly, it takes an extended amount of time and multiple cycles to design and build new software. Wherein, power apps accelerate the speed of the same and are way simple to learn for new employees as well!

2. Cost Efficient

Software management and development lifecycle can be one of the intricate and budget-breaking business processes. In addition, Power apps seamlessly integrate and allow real-time collaboration among team members. It also provides you with apps that are more mobile-friendly or even agree with tablet and desktop versions at the same time. 

3. Versatile

Power apps are appropriate in remote storage connections, data servers on-site, and cloud-based environments. The connection and the flow of information is effectively constant. Furthermore, security protocols are driven faultlessly to assure data flow is safe between all areas. 

4. Total Security

The custom apps users built through Power Apps are exceptionally secure. These applications and workflows bind into the Azure Active Directory and other Microsoft security keys like the Common Data Services (CDS) which caters to a role-based safety model.

You can regulate permissions at the data and application levels, which tells end-users only to see what’s appropriate for them without portraying internal profiles and follows all the company policies. Furthermore, apps created on the Common Data Services (CDS) are also automatically GDPR-compliant.

5. Solve Unique Business Challenges

If your business encounters a specific challenge, has to fulfil a unique need, or has a notion for an imaginative solution that could give you a competitive advantage, you can indeed assemble a custom app through Power apps to tick all the requirements for you.

From, running data analytics, tracking employee expenses, automating communications and integrating AI functionality into your processes, changes can be done easily through Power apps. In addition, as it’s customized, you can contemplate any inefficiencies or extraordinary processes present and make your app totally fit your business.

6. Saves You Money

Well, no doubt that the time you save by using Power apps will depict productivity gain and money saved. Nevertheless, one of the other key advantages of Power apps is the expenditure entry to start with.

Indeed, off-the-shelf software goes on high price range and often has functionality that may not fit an organisation’s desires. Wherein, the custom Power apps are low-code, more cost-effective and significantly they’re quicker to create. In turn, organisations can accomplish their return on investment (ROI) as well, and that too faster.

 7. Boosts Business Transformation

Building custom apps can perhaps take months or even years. However, when your organisation is evolving, you ought to take actions quickly and intensify your digital transformation. A Power app, personalized to precisely the way your company works, can be assembled in few days or even less.

While a few organisations won’t be certain where, to begin with, that notion, you don’t have to worry at all. Pick one province of your procedures that isn’t functioning as well as it could be. Break down the duties involved and you’ll usually find one assignment that takes much lengthier time than it should.

Lastly, to know how SharePoint designs enable effortless invoice tracking with the power apps, visit the link for a clear idea. In the coming years, the necessity for apps will persist as businesses look for methods to simplify processes, determine new and unique ways to cut costs and improve employee productivity and efficiency. Furthermore, contact us, and you will indeed love the next new app we create for you! 

Frequently Asked Questions

1.What are the 6 major components of power apps?

Answer-

• Gallery
• Screen
• Control
• Card
• Property
• Function

2.Can Power apps work offline?

Answer- Yes, you can definitely run it offline on your PC on a mobile device.

3.How many companies are using Microsoft power apps?

Answer- Approximately 771 companies are using it.

4.What are the 4 components of a power platform?

Answer- Power Automate, Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Virtual Agents.

5.Do you need Office 365 to use Microsoft power apps?

Answer- Yes. You cannot use powerapps without office 365.

Reference Links

Ways build power apps

Designing Power Apps app

Top 10 best use cases for power automate

Microsoft Power Automate offers a variety of powerful flows that streamline workflows and enhance productivity. With Power Automate, you can automate repetitive tasks, connect different applications, and create custom flows. Its versatility and ease of use make it the best choice for automating processes. Power Automate Desktop provides numerous examples, showcasing its capabilities, such as data integration, email automation, and document processing.

Power Automate is one of the most powerful automation tools available in the market today. It allows you to automate tasks and make them repeatable, while also giving you control over when they get done. This makes it an ideal solution for businesses that want to improve their efficiency while reducing costs through automation. The best part? You don’t need any coding experience or expertise just need some data!

Monitor files and folders in your cloud storage that need attention.

Power Automate can monitor files and folders in your cloud storage that need attention. You can monitor specific files or folders in your cloud storage, for example, you can monitor for a specific file type like an image file or even a specific size like 10mb. You can also specify whether you want to be alerted when there are changes made to this folder by any user other than yourself.

You have the option of setting up Power Automate so that it will only notify you when something happens on these monitored locations but not alert others unless they access them as well - meaning they won't get any unnecessary notifications about what happened if they aren't interested in finding out themselves!

Automate expense approval processes.

Expense approval is a manual process that involves many people and can be difficult to manage. A company's employees are spread across multiple departments, each of which handles their own expenses separately. With an automated expense approval process, you can streamline the process so that it’s easier for all employees to approve expenses without having to contact each other individually or wait until after hours when someone else might be available at the right time.

Benefits of automation include:

• Reduced costs by eliminating manual tasks like filing receipts.
• Increased efficiency through fewer errors
• Improved communication between departments

for example, if there's an incident with supplies or equipment then everyone will know immediately instead of waiting months later when someone discovers it themselves.

Route HR forms to the right people for approval and processing.

If you’re a human resources manager, it’s likely that your team is overwhelmed with forms. You may have hundreds of them to process, and they can be lost or misplaced. Or worse still, some of the people who need to fill out certain forms may not have access to the information necessary for completing them (for example, if someone has left the company). And even if you do everything right and send the form off on time and then again later when someone else needs something from it. there's still no guarantee that all relevant data will be collected before being sent off again!

Coordinate tasks and keep notes at every step when you onboard new hires.

As you know, onboarding is a critical part of any new hire's journey. And it's important to make sure the process goes smoothly and efficiently so that everyone can start working together effectively as soon as possible.

With Power Automate, you can automate the onboarding process by creating tasks for each step in your employee's career path: filling out a form, uploading their resume or portfolio etc., scheduling interviews with managers or HR representatives etc., reviewing answers from previous rounds of interviews after they've already been conducted (and making changes if necessary). You'll also be able to collect feedback from your employees on how they feel about these steps by using surveys or polls, which will help you identify problems with your current system!

Track compliance requirements and make sure they come before any project goes live automatically!

Compliance is a big deal. It’s the foundation of any well-run business, and it can be easily forgotten when you have other things to do. We all know what happens when something goes wrong: you get blamed, or worse yet, you lose clients because of your poor judgment or lack of foresight. So how do we ensure that our compliance requirements are met before our projects go live? With Power Automate!

Streamline human-led processes that involve repetitive tasks that are not standardized.

One of the best use cases for Power Automate is when you have a process that is not standardized. A good example of this is when your company has multiple subsidiaries, each with its own business processes and procedures. The goal here is to ensure that everyone follows the same standards in order to create a consistent brand image across all departments.

The first step in streamlining this type of human-led process involves creating an environment where everyone understands their role within the organization and what they need from others in order to perform their jobs effectively. This can be achieved through creating standard operating procedures (SOPs) or creating business processes based on customer needs so that every employee knows how he or she should work with other departments within your organization.

Build automated workflows to connect your files, data and processes across your entire organization.

• Build automated workflows to connect your files, data and processes across your entire organization.
• The Power Automate Platform empowers you to build workflows that connect your files, data and processes across your entire organization.

Automate and streamline document processing using computer vision technologies, including optical character recognition (OCR)

• Automate and streamline document processing using computer vision technologies, including optical character recognition (OCR)
• Extract text from images in a variety of formats

OCR is the process of extracting text from an image. With OCR, you can extract any type of information from images such as barcodes, QR codes and more. The technology has been widely used in industries such as retail management where it helps identify product prices in store shelves for better inventory control; however, it can also be used for other purposes like automatically detecting handwritten numbers on documents to prevent frauds.

Document automation is particularly useful in the United States, where Power Automate simplifies the creation and management of documents. When combined with Power BI, Microsoft's powerful business intelligence tool, Power Automate flows become even more impactful, enabling data-driven decision-making and enhancing organizational efficiency.

Access data and workflows right from where you work with Power Automate in your favorite apps like Microsoft Teams.

Power Automate is available as a web app, so you can access it from any device. You can also use the Power Automate Connector for Microsoft Teams to access your data and workflows right from where you work with Microsoft Teams.

Keep your team in sync by providing notifications and alerts when something changes.

• Send notifications and alerts to your team in Microsoft Teams, Slack or any other channel.
• Power Automate can send notifications and alerts via email or text message.
• You can use Power Automate to create a single place where you can manage all of these notifications and alerts.

Automate approval and approval-like processes

One of the best Power Automate examples is automating email notifications. With a simple flow, you can receive real-time alerts for critical emails.

With Power Automate's robotic process automation capabilities, businesses can automate repetitive tasks, freeing up time for employees to focus on value-added activities. Embracing Power Automate ensures efficient business process automation and boosts productivity.

Automation is a great way to reduce the amount of human effort required for approval processes. With Power Automate, you can automate approval and approval-like processes with ease.

One example of an automated process would be the ability to approve a purchase order on behalf of your customer without having any involvement from them at all! Another example would be if you wanted to create a new product or service offering, this would require multiple approvals from various departments within your company before it could go live.

With Power Automate’s extensive feature set, there are many ways that you can automate existing business processes by using its Predictive Intelligence capabilities as well as its built-in Workflows feature which enables users to build complex workflows simply by dragging and dropping fields onto their form elements (or adding more advanced rules).

Getting started with Power Automate is easy, so what are you waiting for?

If you're new to Power Automate, there's a good chance you've heard about it. But if not,

here's what it is:

Power Automate is a cloud-based platform that helps businesses run more efficiently and effectively by streamlining their business processes with AI technology. It uses predictive analytics to identify problems in your organization's processes before they happen and then automatically solves them. For example, if your sales team misses their targets or sends too many emails per day (which would be bad), Power Automate can tell them this so they can improve next time around!

You can also integrate Power Automate with SharePoint, streamlining document approval processes and improving collaboration. When it comes to the best Power Automate Services, Microsoft offers an extensive range, including connectors for popular apps like Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, and more.

Conclusion

I hope this article has given you some ideas about how Power Automate can help your organization. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to learn more!

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Ways build power apps

If creating power apps app has always been on your mind but you didn't know where to start, then you have come to the right place. Power Apps is a versatile platform that empowers users to create mobile and web apps with ease. One of the great starting point is Free SharePoint templates. Whether you need a mobile app for on-the-go productivity or a web app for broader accessibility, Power Apps and SharePoint have got you covered.

In this blog you can learn how to create an app from free PowerApps templates, a blank canvas, and a data source. We will focus on canvas apps, which give you the flexibility to arrange the user experience and interface the way that you want it.

What is Power Apps?

Power Apps, part of the Microsoft Power Platform, allows you to build three types of apps:

• Canvas Apps: Highly flexible, drag-and-drop design for both mobile and desktop.
• Model-Driven Apps: Component-based apps with dashboards, forms, views, and charts.
• Portal Apps: External-facing apps for customers, partners, or vendors.

Creating power apps mobile app becomes a seamless process. Its intuitive interface allows users to design custom mobile apps tailored to their specific needs. You can get started in many different ways; however, for all of the options, you will use the Power Apps Studio features and functionality to build your app.

1. Create an App from a Template

A quick way to learn Power Apps is to start with templates. Templates come with sample data, letting you explore functionality and design before building your own.

Popular Power Apps Templates: (H4)

1. Budget Tracker Template

For example, you can use PowerApps budget tracker template to create an app that helps you track the budget for projects and events with custom categories, simple data entry, and visuals that highlight expenditures for an effortless inspection.

2. Issue Tracker Template

PowerApps issue tracker template to keep track of different issues, assign owners, and update statuses.

3. Knowledge Base Template

Centralize policies, troubleshooting guides, and training content. Optimized for mobile, so your team can access knowledge anytime, anywhere. Equip your team with the tools to find the information they need quickly and effectively. Embrace the future of workplace learning with our Power Apps Knowledge Base Template.  

2. Create an App from a Data Source

Another great option is to build directly from your own data. Power Apps connect seamlessly to multiple data sources, including:

• Microsoft SharePoint lists
• Dataverse (formerly CDS)
• SQL, Excel, and many others

When you point Power Apps at a data source, it automatically generates a three-screen app that lets you:

• Browse records
• View item details
• Create, edit, or delete records

Power Apps + SharePoint Lists

SharePoint lists and Power Apps integrate tightly. You can:

• Build an app directly from a SharePoint site
• Customize modern list forms inside Power Apps

Read our guide: How to Build a Power Apps App from a SharePoint List

3. Build from a Blank Canvas

If you want complete creative control, you can start from scratch with a blank canvas. This option lets you:

• Add screens, forms, and layouts as you go
• Design custom user experiences
• Use connectors to link to multiple data sources

Think of this as freeform app creation perfect if you have a unique use case or want to experiment.

4. Explore Model-Driven Apps

For more structured, data-first applications, Power Apps offers Model-Driven Apps. These are ideal when you need:

• Dashboards with real-time insights
• Predefined business rules
• Components like charts, forms, and workflows

Examples of sample project templates in Power Platform include:

• Asset Checkout
• Innovation Challenge
• Fundraise

Why Power Apps is a Game-Changer

Power Apps isn’t just about making apps. it’s about transforming business productivity.

• No-code/low-code design - Empower non-developers to build solutions.
• Integration-ready - Works seamlessly with SharePoint, Teams, Office 365, and 400+ connectors.
• Mobile-friendly - Apps run smoothly across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re:

• Starting with a template,
• Connecting to a data source, or
• Designing from a blank canvas

Power Apps make custom app development simple and accessible.

For organizations using SharePoint, it’s an especially powerful way to turn lists and processes into mobile-first, automated solutions.

4 Easy-to-Implement SharePoint Design Examples

SharePoint Designs, as the name suggests we are all about creating aesthetically pleasing, innovative, clean and modern designs. We are committed to providing our clients with a world-class experience using our unique designs.

Not all designs have to be complicated and time consuming, some of the designs are very easy to do using the out of the box webparts provided by SharePoint.

Here we are presenting you 4 Best SharePoint design Examples for free which can be achieved easily with no or very minimal coding knowledge.

SharePoint Design Example 1

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SharePoint Design Example 2

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SharePoint Design Example 3

SharePoint Design Example 4

Power Automate is a cloud-based service that allows users to create automated processes in Microsoft

Create a new flow

You can use Power Automate to automate any process that requires input from a user. This includes creating emails, sending messages, scheduling meetings, and more.

Add a task‍

Once you add a task, you can choose what type of task you want to create. There are three options available: Create a new email, send an existing email, or schedule a meeting.

Add a webhook

‍You can also use a webhook to trigger actions when something happens on your website. This allows you to automate things like sending emails, updating a database, or even creating a new document.

Add a trigger

‍A trigger is a piece of code that tells Power Automate what to do when certain events occur. Triggers are triggered by different events, such as when a user visits a webpage, clicks a button, or submits a form.

Add a workflow

‍Once you’ve added triggers to your flow, you can add actions to them. Actions are pieces of code that tell Power Automate how to perform a task. You can use actions to automate any process, whether it’s sending out emails, creating reports, or performing other tasks.

SharePoint is Microsoft's web content management system (CMS). It allows users to easily manage information across an organization's intranet or extranet sites. When it comes to examples of good SharePoint intranet sites, there are plenty of impressive ones to draw inspiration from. In this blog we provide you some samples of our SharePoint Intranet templates that  can be leveraged to create engaging and interactive intranet portals that improve communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing within organizations. These free designs provide a great starting point for building your intranet site and offer basic functionalities to get you up and running quickly.

If you're looking to buy SharePoint intranet examples, there are numerous options available that can enhance your SharePoint intranet site. These design examples can be easily downloaded and customized to fit your organization's needs. They provide a solid foundation for building a visually appealing and functional intranet site, saving you time and effort in development. These intranet design examples include a variety of features that allow you to customize the look and feel of your site.

A SharePoint Site is a collection of pages, lists, libraries, apps, web parts, configurations, features, content types, and sub-sites. Examples of Site templates in SharePoint include collaboration (team) sites, communication sites, organization sites, wiki sites, blank sites, and publishing sites.

The two main type of SharePoint intranet sites are:

Team Site

A SharePoint team site connects you and your team to shared content and resources. Use team sites to store and collaborate on files or to create and manage lists of information as well as:

• Track and stay updated on project status
• Organize and co-author shared content
• Connect to a Microsoft 365 group to access team resources

Communication Site

A SharePoint communication site is a great place to broadcast information to others. Share news, reports, status updates, and more in a visually appealing format. Use communication sites to engage and inform broad audiences.

• Create portals, department, or project-specific sites.
• Share company news, announcements, and events.
• Engage dozens, or thousands, of viewers.

Here are some of the SharePoint site design examples for free so you can kickstart your SharePoint intranet journey!

Intranet Home Page Design

Here is a SharePoint design example for a basic intranet site:

SharePoint Intranet Business Portal Design

‍A business portal is a website that provides employees with access to company news and services. It can help companies improve productivity by providing employees with easy access to information and tools.

SharePoint Intranet Collaboration Portal Design

This SharePoint intranet template includes a  collaboration team site that allows users to share files, collaborate on documents, and communicate online.

Knowledge Base Portal Design

This template includes a knowledge base portal with an easy navigation menu, search box, and categories. It's perfect for any organization that wants to provide its employees with access to company information.

In conclusion, whether you choose to buy SharePoint templates, download free solutions, or explore Office 365 intranet templates, SharePoint offers a wide range of options to create impressive intranet sites. With its web parts, site templates, and integration capabilities, SharePoint online is a versatile tool that can be tailored to meet your organization's specific requirements. Contact us today so we can explore the best template that can get you started right away. We promise we can deliver a custom intranet site in as early as 2 days!!! So, what are you waiting for?

About the Client

Magick Woods Export Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Magick Woods Ltd., Canada - one of the top manufacturers and pioneers of quality bath vanities and kitchen cabinets. Some of their customers include Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, Rona, and Home Hardware.

Project challenges

• Lack of a quality check process at the end of the production line to ensure delivery of products that meet world-class standards
• An ineffective manual tracking system involving QC inspectors - due to the unavailability of a defect identification system
• No one-stop report repository in place for the management to review the number of open defects and statuses of defects

Our Solution

SharePoint Designs developed a QC form to update the defects in the system instantly. Equipped with a camera feature, the QC Inspector could upload or capture the images of defective items. The data stored in the back-end could be used for further analysis. Furthermore, the form could be easily accessed through handheld devices like mobiles or tabs. Using Power BI, a summarised report of the defects and their status was made available for quick reviews.

Our experience in working with different MS applications like Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI played a major role in the quick roll-out.

Business Benefits

• Power to instantly reject defective products and eliminating any of their chances of reaching the end customer
• Vast reduction of worker hours involved in updating, correcting, and verifying the documents
• Ability of the QC form to captures the total defects recorded in a day
• Easy-to-interpret Power BI-based reports that facilitates a smooth management review process

About the client

‍Daikin, a global air conditioning manufacturing company, has its employee base spread across countries and was looking for solution to reach the employees in their native language.

Challenges

‍The Intranet is a connecting tool for employees located across the world. The user-friendly intranet might fail to serve its purpose if it does not have a personal touch with the users.  Giving the option to the users to read the content in the language they prefer, is an added advantage.

Our Solution

We used Azure translation services and configured 7 languages (Japanese, Mandarin, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese). The translator tool was added as an extension, so the user can translate from anywhere on the site. Entire site contents except attachments are translated. The user is able comprehend the business in their own native language which brings real collaboration among the employees. The discussion board has a separate language option. The users can choose to comment using their preferred language and others can read it using translation tool similar to social networking tools.  

Technologies used

‍Azure Translation services

Intranet, a powerful tool in the modern age helps to stay connected virtually with colleagues across the world. With the right design and content, an organization can use the intranet as an effective tool for communication. It isn’t just sharing news, business information, or management messages. Intranet can do more for business than we all imagine. 

Here, we are elaborating on how Daikin, a global air conditioner manufacturing company uses the intranet as a tool to reach out to its employees. Daikin approached SharePoint Designs to redesign its intranet into an informational and engaging one. 

The Home Page Contents  

As we always say, we love to design SharePoint sites. Our very creative design team came up with multiple design ideas to keep the Intranet home page informative and lively. Here are the contents on the Home Page 

• Unique top navigation bar: A custom extension was developed to display the top navigation bar across the site. The option consists of the Home Page, Discussion Board, Upload form, and other folder names. This allows the user to navigate across the site from any location. The top navigation displays the count of new uploads for the day.
• Welcome banner: A Personalized Welcome banner greets the logged-in user and displays the current date and time. It also provides quick links for manuals and contact details.   
• Upload Form:  A custom-developed upload form, using which users can create site pages. All files related to the site pages are stored in a unique folder in the document library that can be located easily. 
• Discussion Board: The latest three discussion topics along with a brief description appear on the home page. Clicking on the     title navigates to the discussion topic.
• Latest Uploads & Press Release: The recent four press release items and recent five uploads in all other folders are displayed on the Home Page – Press release & latest upload sections.
• Advanced search: The custom search bar is available throughout the site. The search results are refined to display results only from the site pages library. The users can easily find the information they are looking for with either a keyword search or use filters on the search bar. The results page is neatly designed with more filter options.
• Recommended Read corner: Select and featured articles are displayed in this section. This space can be utilized to display the Most viewed or liked site page for the month, announce contest winners, etc. 
• Translator: To support the employee base across various countries, the intranet was designed with a translator tool. Reading the content in a language the user is comfortable has its advantages. Azure translation services are utilized and the employees can choose from the  eight language options. The entire site contents, except the files, use  azure translation services.  
• Subscribe to periodic emails: Though the Home page is full of information, users might miss reading any important updates on the intranet. The new “Subscribe” feature allows users to stay in touch with what is happening around them. On each folder page, a subscribe option is available that the user can activate to receive an instant, daily or weekly summary of the uploads done. Using Power Automate flow, automated emails are sent to users based on their subscription frequency.

A well-built intranet plays a vital role in connecting remote teams, share knowledge and business updates. SharePoint Designs, understands the business values and envisions the complete solution. From design to deployment, we carefully plan and deliver outstanding intranets that help businesses engage with each other.  

About the client

Daikin, a global air conditioning manufacturing company was looking for an innovative approach to collaborating and conducting interactive discussion topics among employees across the globe. 

Challenges

An interactive and engaging platform for employees to discuss various topics that include industry-related, People related Hobbies, or other interests. Employees should be able to comment, view others' posts, and post likes. The discussion board should be as simple as using a social networking forum.

Our Solution

Though SharePoint has a default discussion board, we at SharePoint Designs built a custom webpart including Power Automate flows provides all the below features and gives the best user experience.

Discussion post owner and admin privileges

• Using a custom form, any user who has access to SharePoint can initiate a discussion topic and attach files to the discussion post and notify others through an automated email when the discussion is created. 
• The discussion post owner can edit or delete his post.
• The Post owner will get notified when other users post like or comment on the discussion topic.
• Ability to close or reopen each discussion.
• Admin can Pin topics so that users can view them on the top on the discussion board page.‍

Discussion post users

• All users can like, comment and tag other SharePoint users or user groups on the discussion board post. Users will be able to edit or delete their comments.
• Tagged users get notified through an automated email. 
• Users can view and download the attachments on the discussion post.
• Ability to Pin topics of their choice, search with keywords, share the discussion post link, and translate the contents.

Benefits

A very innovative and interactive tool that engages employees to actively participate in discussions, and contests. The organization that values their employees' feedback are always ahead in the competition. Discussion Board acts as an open forum to discuss with many people at a time. 

Technologies

SPFx, Power Automate

About the client: Daikin, a global air conditioning manufacturing company, was looking for an innovative approach to collaborate and share knowledge with its employees across the globe.  

Challenges

• A Proper document management system that classifies information based on pre-defined categories and allows users to access documents across the site
• A user-friendly site page so users can preview the documents attached, download, comment & tag other users.
• Enable users to click and search pre-defined categories on the site pages
• Restrict other users from viewing sensitive or confidential documents
• There should be an option to delete pages automatically based on the expiry date.

Our Solution

• SharePoint Designs understood the requirements and captured them as detailed user stories. As a first step, an upload form captured all the information required to create the site page in the SharePoint library. Each field in the upload form was metadata on the site page for search. 
• The user who creates the page updates the mandatory information and need-to-know information on the upload form. Using the upload form, the user can upload any files and folder up to 5GB. The user has an option to notify users regarding the page upload through the upload form. Using Power Automate Flow, an automatic email with the brief content of the upload is sent to the users immediately.
• The user is also allowed to restrict access to all employees by using the “Who can access” field. The site page will be visible only to those user groups mentioned in the form.
• The created site page is detailed and allows users to like, comment, and tag other users. Tagged users will receive an automated email containing the link to the site page. 
• The site page contains metadata, which allows the user to click and search the site pages library. 
• Automatic page deletion is enabled through Power Automate flow based on the expiry date updated on the upload form.
• All users are enabled to download the files without opening them.
• The person who created the site page can delete his page without navigating to the site page library
• Using Power Automate, a flow is executed to identify any expired site pages and gets deleted on the mentioned date.

Admin Features

The site admins are provided with additional features to perform the below functions

• Option to edit or delete the site page of other users. 
• Manage permissions by restricting or providing access even after the page is published
• Edit and delete other user comments‍

Benefits

The site page is power packed with so many details in a well-planned design and layout that the reader finds it very smooth to navigate to each segment of the page, click and search metadata and move on to the following pages in the chosen folder. Anyone who wants to share knowledge with other colleagues can use the upload form & share information.

Technologies Used:

SPFx custom webpart, Power Automate