Tech Ideas & Best Practices

Microsoft Power Apps works with other technologies to help you build powerful apps for your organization. Some of these technologies include:

• Data sources - Without data, you don't have a business. Data sources bring cloud and on-premises data into your apps. You access data through built-in connections, custom connectors, and gateways.
• Common Data Service - A compliant and scalable data service that's integrated into Power Apps.
• Power Automate - Allows you to build automated workflows to receive notifications, run processes, collect data, and more.

Data sources, connections, and gateways

In Power Apps, most canvas apps use external information that is stored in Data Sources. A common example is a table in an Excel file that is stored in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint. Apps access these data sources by using connections. Some connections allow Power Apps to read and write stored data. In Power Apps, you can add many data sources to your apps through built-in or custom connectors. Some of the most popular data sources are shown in the following figure.

Many data sources are cloud services, like Salesforce. Even Twitter can be a data source if, for example, you're tracking your company's hashtags. Connectors might not seem like the most exciting part of app development; however, they're essential when you work with data that you, your colleagues, and your customers care about. When an app shows up with your data source for the first time, you might suddenly find that they are, in fact, exciting.

For data that's stored on-premises instead of in the cloud, you can use a gateway to provide a reliable connection between Power Apps and your data source. The gateway sits on an on-premises computer and communicates with Power Apps.

An advantage of building your business apps in Power Apps is being able to connect to many data sources in a single app. With the connectors in Power Apps, you can connect to where your data lives. To learn more about data sources in Power Apps, refer to the Working With Data learning path.

Common Data Service

An important data source option to explore further is the Common Data Service. Common Data Service lets you store and manage data that's used by business applications. Data within Common Data Service is stored within a set of entities. An entity is a set of records that are used to store data, similar to how a table stores data within a database. Common Data Service includes a base set of standard entities that cover typical scenarios, but you can also create custom entities that are specific to your organization and then populate them with data by using Power Query. App makers can then use Power Apps to build rich applications by using this data.

For information on purchasing a plan to use Common Data Service, refer to the License and Pricing information pages.

Reasons to use Common Data Service

Standard and custom entities within Common Data Service provide a cloud-based storage option for your data. Entities let you create a business-focused definition of your organization's data for use within apps. If you're unsure if entities are your best option, consider the following benefits:

• Simple to manage - Both the metadata and data are stored in the cloud. You don't need to worry about the details of how they're stored.
• Helps to secure data - Data is stored so that users can see it only if you grant them access. Role-based security allows you to control access to entities for different users within your organization.
• Access your Dynamics 365 Data - Data from your Dynamics 365 applications is also stored within the Common Data Service, which allows you to quickly build apps that use your Dynamics 365 data and extend your apps by using Power Apps.
• Rich metadata - Data types and relationships are used directly within Power Apps.
• Logic and validation - Define calculated fields, business rules, workflows, and business process flows to ensure data quality and drive business processes.
• Productivity tools - Entities are available within the add-ins for Microsoft Excel to increase productivity and ensure data accessibility.

Related Power Platform technologies

As you continue developing your application, you may want to consider implementing additional Power Apps related technologies such as Power Automate and or Power BI. For example, you may have a simple Expense Report App that requires an approval before an item can be purchased. With Power Automate, you can create a simple Flow to make this happen. Or maybe you want to display your data with custom charts and graphs giving your users a more visual look into the data, which can often be useful. In this section, you will learn more about some of the other Power Platform technologies and how you could apply them in your own Power Apps solution. Keep in mind, if you decide to implement these Power Apps related technologies you should also review their licensing structure and associated costs.

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Power Automate

Power Automate brings automation to your business. This can be traditional workflows via flow, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for automating legacy systems via UI Flows, or business process automation via Business Process Flows. Each of these capabilities increases your productivity to connect disjointed systems to build the business solution you need and make your app more powerful.

You can use Power Automate to create logic that performs one or more tasks when an event occurs in a canvas app. For example, configure a button to execute a flow to do one of the following: create an item in a SharePoint list, send an email or meeting request, or add a file to OneDrive. The button could be configured to do all of those in a single Power Automate flow. You can configure any control in the app to start the flow, which continues to run even if you close Power Apps. Below is an example using Power Automate to send a flow:

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Identify Flows in your Solution

Now that you have a general overview of Power Automate, how do you determine if the solution you’re building requires a Flow? There are a number of simple functions Power Apps can do, like sending an email when a button is pressed in your application. This email generated from Power Apps can also contain dynamic/specific information and be sent to any email address you would like. Often, customers will use Power Automate to create this same functionality even though Power Apps can do this out of the box. Power Automate should be used for more complex solutions, such as the approval workflows. With Power Automate you can run an approval when a button is pressed, on a schedule, when an item is created or modified, and so on.

For many Power Apps solutions Power Automate is used to handle complex business logic. Do you need a way to make sure someone acted on the incident report that was generated by your app? Or, do you need a process to kick off every time new data is created in another system so Power Apps will have the data it needs? Do you need to check each morning to see if an inspection is due that day and then send an email with a link to your Power Apps inspection form? These are great uses of Power Automate to transform your app from a point solution to a fully featured business solution.

Power BI

Power BI is an analytics tool within the Power Platform suite. Power BI connects data from multiple sources and transforms the data into graphical visualizations to gain insights. It allows business users to utilize a number of different visualizations to build comprehensive reports and dashboards. When creating Power BI reports to view and analyze your app data, you have the ability to customize them for personal use and will only be accessible by you, providing you with a more unique and custom experience. If you need to share the report with others, you and each of the report consumer will need a Power BI Pro license. This license allows you to not only share the content but also control what others are able to do with the shared report or dashboard.

While Power Apps has capabilities to include simple graphs or tables, many solutions would be better served with a visualization provided by Power BI. Power Apps and Power BI have two options for seamless integration:

Embed a Power BI tile in a Power Apps app

By embedding a Power BI tile in a Power Apps solution, you are able to bring valuable visualizations into the app to allow the user to consume that data within the context of the app.

In the example below, you will see a simple Power BI Tile embedded in a Sales Planning app built in Power Apps. The visual is displaying the Profit and Gross Sales and the Power Apps form allows the user to enter sales predictions.

Embed a Power Apps app in a Power BI Dashboard

Another integration between these two applications, is to embed a Power Apps app in your Power BI report. This allows the user to act on data while never leaving the dashboard resulting in a better user experience. Consider an inventory management dashboard for a manufacturing facility. Without leaving the dashboard, the user can submit to purchasing an order for additional material. While the solution may have been utilizing both the Power Apps and Power BI platforms, the user simply experiences a complete end to end solution in one window on their desktop.

In the example below, we are analyzing the Sale Price and Profit by Country and Segment. Notice once you have embedded your Power App in a Power BI Dashboard you can navigate between screens.

In this next screenshot, still working with the same data as the previous example, you can utilize the native Power Apps features like Search with Power BI data.

In this last screenshot, for this example, you will see the embedded Power App is filtered by the Power BI selection.

Translating needs to the appropriate technology

To build the best solution, think through the use cases and determine how you want to collect the data, use the data, and analyze the data. Once you have determined how the solution will be used in each one of those cases, you can begin to select the right technology to execute each function.

It would be difficult to cover every use case and decision point, but to help you understand the decision-making process let’s explore sending an email via Power Automate versus sending an email via Power Apps. First consider the look and feel of the email, does your solution require special formatting of the email? To format the text of your email in Power Apps, like adding italics or bold text, you would need to write HTML. In Power Automate though, this functionality can be implemented by using the simple Design Interface that is provided out of the box.

Below are examples of the formulas to execute sending an email via Power Apps versus via Power Automate.

Send an Email via Power Apps

Send an Email via Power Automate

Also, the number of steps in your solution/process will aid you in determining which technology best suits your needs. Power Apps is great for performing simple solutions with minimal steps but as your solutions become more complex and requires multiple steps, Power Automate would be the better solution.

Again for this particular example, both technologies can provide the same solution, but there are little nuances that should be considered and thoroughly discussed during the design process to determine your requirements and help you choose the best product for your solution.

Let's not forget about discussing Power Apps and Power BI, and when to use one vs. the other. When deciding whether to use the basic charts, graphs, and visuals that come with Power Apps out of the box or to utilize a more powerful software like Power BI it really depends on your business solution and requirements. For example, if in your solution, you are wanting to add some basic graphs and charts to improve the apps overall look and feel while adding some visual flair for your users, Power Apps has you covered.

Here is a quick look at one of the simple, out of the box Power Apps charts.

Simple and minimal design above, nothing crazy but it gets the job done.

On the other hand, if your solution requires in-depth analysis of your data, and robust visuals, Power BI will be the best product for your solution. Keep in mind, with Power BI, each app user will need an additional license on top of the Power Apps license. This is a small price to pay though if our solution relies on intuitive dashboards, charts, graphs, and several other features to help you get the most out of your solution.

By identifying the needs of related Power Apps technologies in your solution and strategically implementing them, you will be able to provide your users with a better overall experience when using the solution.

Reference Links:

Ways build power apps

Designing Power Apps app

Top 10 best use cases for power automate

Virtual meetings are now a core part of how modern teams work. With remote and hybrid work becoming the norm, leaders rely on online meetings to communicate, collaborate, and make decisions often across time zones.

While virtual meetings solve distance challenges, they also come with real issues: low engagement, distractions, technical problems, and meetings that run longer than they should. Leading effective virtual meetings requires more than just starting a call, it requires intention, structure, and the right tools.

Here are 5 practical ways to lead effective virtual meetings with remote teams and keep them productive, focused, and impactful.

1. Keep Cameras on to Improve Focus and Engagement

Video meetings are far more effective than audio-only calls. When people are on camera, they are naturally more attentive and present.

Keeping cameras on:

• Reduces multitasking
• Improves communication through body language and expressions
• Helps participants feel more connected

Encourage video participation whenever possible. A video-first culture leads to better engagement and more productive discussions.

2. Lead With Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

Virtual meetings can easily feel transactional or disconnected. Great leaders bring empathy and emotional intelligence into every interaction.

Simple actions make a big difference:

• Acknowledge participants by name
• Check in briefly before starting the agenda
• Be mindful of different time zones and workloads

Create a respectful space where everyone feels comfortable speaking. When people feel valued, participation and collaboration improve naturally.

3. Ask If Your Team Has What They Need

Not every remote employee has the same work-from-home setup. Some may struggle with poor internet, background noise, or limited hardware.

Ask your team:

• Do you have a proper headset or microphone?
• Are you using a laptop or mobile device?
• Is anything making meetings harder for you?

Providing basic equipment or clear recommendations can significantly improve meeting quality and reduce frustration.

4. Give Everyone a Chance to Share

One common issue in virtual meetings is uneven participation. Some voices dominate, while others stay quiet.

As the meeting facilitator:

• Invite quieter team members to share their thoughts
• Allocate short time slots for updates or questions
• Gently redirect the conversation when needed

This approach ensures better idea sharing, inclusivity, and engagement across the entire team.

5. Set a Clear Agenda and Manage Time

Effective virtual meetings start before the call begins.

Always:

• Share an agenda in advance
• Outline discussion topics and time limits
• Appoint a timekeeper if needed

A clear agenda keeps meetings focused, prevents unnecessary discussions, and respects everyone’s time especially important for remote teams juggling multiple meetings.

Why Virtual Meetings Still Matter

While in-person meetings have their advantages, virtual meetings allow organizations to collaborate across locations, regions, and global teams. When led effectively, they can be just as productive sometimes even more so.

By applying these five strategies, leaders can turn virtual meetings into valuable working sessions instead of time-consuming check-ins.

Quick Summary

Effective virtual meetings improve remote team productivity by increasing engagement, encouraging participation, and reducing distractions. By keeping cameras on, leading with empathy, setting clear agendas, and using tools like Microsoft Teams, leaders can run focused and inclusive virtual meetings for remote teams.

Final Thoughts

Virtual meetings are here to stay but ineffective meetings don’t have to be. With the right structure, empathy, and tools, leaders can create virtual meetings that are engaging, inclusive, and productive for remote teams.

Start small: turn cameras on, set clear agendas, invite participation, and support your team with the right setup. Over time, these habits lead to better communication, stronger collaboration, and more focused work.

Ready to Improve Your Remote Team Collaboration?

Explore modern digital workplace solutions and collaboration tools that help teams communicate better, meet smarter, and work more efficiently no matter where they’re located.

Book a Free Consultation

You may also refer:
   How Microsoft Teams works with SharePoint intranets
   How modern intranets improve collaboration
   How modern intranets like SharePoint boosting teamwork  

Team messaging tools like Slack, Flock, and Microsoft Teams have completely transformed workplace communication. Quick decisions, brainstorming sessions, and urgent problem-solving now happen in real timeoften within minutes.

But while team messengers improve speed and collaboration, they also come with a challenge: poor messaging etiquette can quickly lead to confusion, distractions, or awkward situations at work.

To help you communicate more effectively, here are 5 things to avoid when using a team messenger in the workplace.

1. Don’t Bring Up Irrelevant Topics

One major advantage of team messengers is instant access to colleagues. However, this convenience can quickly become a distraction if conversations drift off-topic.

Avoid:

• Turning work channels into casual chat rooms
• Starting discussions unrelated to the task or agenda
• Letting side conversations grow into long threads

Why it matters:

Irrelevant messages reduce focus and clutter important work-related conversations, especially in busy channels.

2. Don’t Stay Silent in Group Conversations

If you’re part of a team channel, there’s a reason for it. Staying completely silent can slow decision-making and give the impression of disengagement.

Do this instead:

• Acknowledge messages when required
• Share brief updates or feedback
• Ask clarifying questions when needed

Active participation helps teams collaborate better and keeps communication flowing smoothly.

3. Avoid Messaging at Odd or Inappropriate Hours

Team messengers make it easy to contact anyone at any time but that doesn’t mean you should.

Best practices:

• Know the difference between urgent and important
• Respect working hours and time zones
• Use delayed or scheduled messages if available

Unless it’s critical, avoid messaging colleagues late at night or early in the morning. Team messengers are work tools not social chat apps.

4. Be Careful with Your Choice of Words

Written messages can easily be misunderstood. Without tone or facial expressions, even a harmless message can come across the wrong way.

Avoid:

• Informal or inappropriate language
• Messages that sound aggressive or dismissive
• Emotional responses typed in haste

Always read your message once before sending. Professional, clear language helps prevent confusion and conflict.

5. Don’t Get Too Personal

Instant messaging feels informal, which can cause conversations to become overly personal very quickly.

Remember:

• Keep discussions professional
• Avoid personal opinions or sensitive topics
• Stay focused on work-related communication

Maintaining professional boundaries ensures respectful and productive collaboration across teams.

Why Messaging Etiquette Matters?

When used correctly, team messengers improve collaboration, speed up decisions, and reduce unnecessary meetings. When misused, they can become distracting and counterproductive.

Platforms like Microsoft Teams work best when paired with clear communication norms and good etiquette especially in remote and hybrid work environments.

Quick Summary

Using team messengers effectively requires focus, professionalism, and respect for boundaries. Avoid irrelevant conversations, silence, poor timing, careless wording, and overly personal messages especially when using tools like Microsoft Teams for daily work communication.

Explore modern digital workplace solutions that help teams communicate better, collaborate smarter, and stay aligned no matter where they work from.

You've just arrived at the office, booted up your computer or laptop, and filled your first cup of coffee. You sit back down, take a sip, and what do you see? Chances are it's a login screen. Hastily, you type in your username and password and get on with a productive day.

At least that was the idea, until you remember you forgot to send Karen from HR your vacation request form. You try to reach her by email but to no avail, so you boot up the informal messenger that everyone in the office uses because the legacy messenger set up years ago crashes when you send so much as an emoji. But of course, you once again need to type in your login info, only to see that Janice is not online. So ultimately you end up making two trips to HR (on the first trip, you forgot to staple your vacation balance because the document is stored in a separate internal SharePoint) to finally get your vacation approved. Ready to throw your computer out a window yet? We don't blame you.

This scenario may seem comical, but it's a reality that thousands of employees must endure thanks to the lack of a single, unified digital workspace. Preferably one that can be implemented across your entire organization and serve as a hub for all documents and teams to collaborate, within and across projects.

After reading this infographic, you'll learn how each department within your business can utilize Microsoft Teams to become more efficient, store documents securely, and collaborate seamlessly with any peer or colleague.

Microsoft Teams helps businesses become more efficient by enabling improved collaboration, horizontal work methods, and organized, easily accessible information. It also helps them to accelerate decision making by sharing information in the moment and with context, empowering people to quickly make well-informed choices.

Read below to learn how all your departments can use Teams to deliver organization-wide value.

Human Resources

HR departments can use Teams to effectively manage recruitment, training, and reviews across administrative areas, as well as to establish meetings with candidates and peers.

Sales

Teams is a crucial tool for sales reps to communicate when in the field or during meetings and deliver real-time reporting on customer cases from anywhere in the world.

Marketing

Teams provides a creative hub where creative ideas and strategies can evolve into revenue-generating initiatives.

Finance

Financial departments benefit greatly from Teams’ security and integration features, which helps their information remain safe and easily accessible whenever they need it.

Engineering

Teams can allow engineering departments to move quickly between ideation, development and deployment phases, as well as easily integrate developer tools.

Project Management

PMs can effectively use Teams to manage stakeholders, tools, budgets, project reviews, and feedback.

Information Technology

Teams increases the efficiency of IT departments and allows them to focus on their organization’s digital transformation and technological innovation.

Ready to streamline your business processes and foster a collaborative workspace that is efficient, secure, and user-friendly? It's time to revolutionize the way your teams work together.

Reach out to a Microsoft Teams Expert today to start leveraging the unmatched capabilities of integrated, intelligent collaboration tools in your business landscape.

Microsoft Teams is no longer just a chat tool. For many organizations, it has become the central workspace for collaboration, communication, and information sharing. As Teams becomes the primary workspace for many organizations, it often connects back to how internal sites and content are structured. Understanding how a SharePoint site is created helps teams design a smoother experience between Teams and their intranet.

When used effectively, Microsoft Teams helps teams reduce app switching, improve meeting efficiency, and keep work flowing without friction. Instead of juggling emails, documents, meetings, and third-party tools, everything comes together in one place.

This guide explains how Microsoft Teams helps streamline solutions, why it saves time, and how organizations can get real value from it.

Why Microsoft Teams Is the Hub for Modern Work

The biggest challenge at work today isn’t lack of tools.
It’s too many tools.

Microsoft Teams addresses this by acting as a single workspace where people can:

• Communicate in real time

• Collaborate on documents

• Meet, chat, and share updates

• Access apps and workflows without switching platforms

This shift alone has a measurable impact on productivity.

How Microsoft Teams Saves Time Every Day

1. Fewer App Switches, More Focus

Context switching is one of the biggest productivity killers. Moving between apps breaks concentration and slows progress.

With Microsoft Teams:

• Chats, meetings, files, and apps live together

• Documents open directly inside Teams

• Conversations stay connected to the work itself

Result: Less time searching, more time doing.

2. Real Productivity Gains for Information Workers

Studies and real-world usage show clear time savings.

For an information worker, Microsoft Teams helps save:

• Around 5 minutes per day by reducing app switching

• 1.1 to 8 hours per user per week through more efficient meetings, faster access to information, and better collaboration

Those minutes add up quickly across teams and departments.

3. More Efficient Meetings (That Actually End on Time)

Meetings often run long because people:

• Can’t find the right files

• Join without context

• Follow up in separate tools later

Microsoft Teams improves meetings by:

• Keeping agendas, notes, and files in one place

• Allowing real-time collaboration during calls

• Storing meeting recordings and chat automatically

Meetings become part of the workflow, not a disruption to it.

Collaboration Without Friction

Microsoft Teams fosters a collaborative culture by making sharing effortless.

Instead of emailing files back and forth:

• Teams work on the same document together

• Feedback happens in context

• Decisions are visible to everyone involved

This kind of frictionless collaboration often turns good ideas into exceptional outcomes, simply because teams can move faster and stay aligned.

Microsoft Teams as a Central Solution Hub

Teams is most powerful when it becomes the entry point for daily work.

Organizations use Microsoft Teams to:

• Centralize internal communication

• Surface key documents and resources

• Integrate business apps and workflows

• Support remote and hybrid collaboration

This is why many companies combine Microsoft Teams with SharePoint-based intranets and digital workplaces.  

Streamlining Information Sharing with Teams + SharePoint

Microsoft Teams and SharePoint work best together when paired with a well-structured intranet.  

• Teams handles conversations and collaboration

• SharePoint manages structured content and sites

When combined properly:

• Employees find information faster

• Content stays organized

• Teams becomes the front door to knowledge

Looking at modern SharePoint intranet templates can give a clearer picture of how content, navigation, and collaboration fit together.

Best Practices to Get Real Value from Microsoft Teams

To truly streamline solutions with Microsoft Teams:

• Keep channels purpose-driven and clearly named

• Store files in the right Teams and folders

• Reduce duplicate apps and tabs

• Integrate Teams into daily workflows, not just meetings

• Review and clean up unused Teams regularly

Teams works best when it’s intentional, not cluttered. Just like Teams channels, intranet content needs regular attention. A simple SharePoint intranet maintenance checklist can help keep information accurate, relevant, and easy to trust over time.

Why Microsoft Teams Fits the Future of Work

As work becomes more digital, distributed, and fast-moving, tools need to:

• Reduce friction

• Improve visibility

• Support collaboration without complexity

Microsoft Teams does this by bringing people, content, and conversations together—helping teams focus on outcomes instead of tools.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft Teams helps organizations save time, collaborate better, and simplify work by acting as a single, connected workspace.

The biggest value doesn’t come from using more features.
It comes from using Teams as the central place where work happens.

When communication, information, and collaboration live together, productivity naturally follows.

Microsoft plans to roll out an updated meeting experience, which will enable users to have conversations and calls in separate Windows during Teams meetings. In a Microsoft 365 Roadmap document, Microsoft confirmed that the feature is now timed for roll out beginning in June:

Multi-window experiences are coming to Teams meetings and calling. Users will have the ability to pop out meetings and calling into separate windows to help them optimize their workflow. These experiences can be turned on directly within Teams for PC and Mac clients.

In addition, Microsoft says that the upcoming Teams update will allow you to pin meeting controls such as mute, video, chat, leave, and others to the top of your screen. With this change, the Redmond giant aims to ensure that the meeting and call controls never block the underlying content.

1.Click on Avatar on top right of Teams and click Settings.

2.Check the Turn on new calling and meetings experiences check box and then restart the Teams client.

While the existing current meeting experience will be retired later this year, Microsoft has provided a timeline as to  when we should expect the new experiences to be enabled:

• June – New experiences are available and users can enable through settings.
• July – Experiences are enabled by default and users can disable through settings.
• August – Experiences are enabled by default and user controls are no longer available.

This infographic lists the many ways you can use Microsoft Teams to drive workplace collaboration. It also provides statistics on the success and popularity of Microsoft Teams.

Drive workplace collaboration through one digital hub where teams can meet, call, and chat. Use Microsoft Teams to have instant conversations with members of your staff or guests outside your organization.
You can also make phone calls, host meetings, and share files.

• 20M+ daily active users
• 5,00,000+ organizations use teams
• 91 Fortune 100 companies use teams
• Teams is in 181 markets with support for 53 languages(and growing)
• 200+ organizations have 10,000+ active Teams users

Before we transitioned to remote working, we had approximately 30 Teams meetings a day. Now it’s up to 500 a day. We’re all working better together to continue to provide amazing customer support and simplify health services for our members in a challenging time.     

Dennis Armstrong, Enterprise Messaging Engineer                                                                                
Premera Blue Cross

Are you tired of wasting your time with manual processes? Want a flexible workflow platform to automate communications and document management at your firm?

At the most basic level, the workflow platform has to be user-friendly and light to load in order for the stakeholders to use it on a daily basis. The platform should send out alerts and notifications to all the users, have easy log-in processes, integrate and work harmoniously with other softwares, manage and track documents, and provide analytics on the content that’s stored in it.

SharePoint Designs prides in taking up one-off novel projects that have challenging pain points and require a completely innovative business solution through Microsoft Office 365, especially SharePoint and Azure.

Problem

Conveyance firms act as a liaison between law firms and customers that want to buy properties. Conveyancing, for decades, has been a service that involves a colossal amount of manual labour. This legal process of buying and selling properties involves document, contract, and physical property verifications. The most important of all is managing the back and forth communication between customers, sellers, bankers, middlemen, legal advisors, and other third-party vendors.  

One such conveyancing firm wanted a solution to leverage technology, and automate most of this tasks for all the stakeholders involved. This way, customers could engage in remote transactions instead of having to meet everyone in person. The technological solution could save time, efforts, and energy for all the individuals involved.  

Solution

SharePoint Design’s team came up with a SaaS solution for the client where we designed a personalised cloud-based workflow platform using Microsoft Office 365. We were able to deliver the project to the client within one and a half months!

As opposed to Google’s SaaS and PaaS solutions, Microsoft’s solutions are more integrated. Therefore, using Office 365, we could build a workflow that allowed staff to create their log-in identities, authenticated them, stored all the company documents, gave a server space to host the workflow platform, and automated the organization of work emails in different folders on Outlook as well. We also built an Outlook plugin, a pop-up reminder for employees, asking them to organize emails into various folders if they were not already sorted automatically.

Technology

The team at SharePoint Designs used Angular 6.0, Graph API and Outlook API to come up with a fresh solution for the client.

You can build mobile and web applications with Angular. Add to that Microsoft’s Graph API, you have good productivity apps and workflow platforms. With Graph API, you can integrate these platforms seamlessly with other Microsoft products like Excel or Outlook, create calendars, retrieve and analyze data, organize documents, analyze user patterns and send out alerts, and do business forecasts in real time. Combined with the Outlook API, you could link your workflow platform to Outlook to send and receive emails. Whatever messages you send through your workflow platform automatically gets organized in various folders on Outlook as well.

Finally,

If you are looking to automate and scale up your business, we at SharePoint Designs provide PaaS and SaaS solutions. Leave it to a good integrated-technology platform that can do the job for you. Using SharePoint, businesses can achieve advanced technological feats.

Want efficiency, productivity, and smooth collaborations? Office 365 is the best integrated solution provided by Microsoft for all your business needs. Microsoft’s products have a competitive advantage over Google and  IBM products as they can be integrated with one another seamlessly to build customized business solutions.

Your current document management system (DMS) is not up to your expectations: there is still a lot of manual work involved to organize, search or retrieve files. Your important files are getting overwritten, and you are unable to keep the version history intact. Interdepartmental collaborations are a total mess. Your staff’s productivity takes a hit because they are busy sorting and organizing files most of the time. The server keeps failing and the current DMS is wasting your time and the company’s money.

Do not lose hope yet...

At SharePoint Designs we would like to share a case study on how we helped an accounting firm with a DMS that combines Microsoft's SharePoint technology with artificial intelligence (AI).

Problem

The account firm wanted several years worth of hard copy documents digitized, organized and placed in various folders. They files needed to be named appropriately with the corresponding dates of creation, organization name etc., for easy search and retrieval.

This was usually a manual task where in the staff, after scanning the documents, creates appropriate folders and subfolders to organize them. Then, the individual renames each of the files based on its type, the client it belongs to, date of creation, and version history. The documents could belong to a miscellaneous collection of financial, legal, letter, collateral, or other types. This strenuous process is not feasible or efficient for large firms that need hard copies digitized for various procedures.

Solution

SharePoint Design’s team arrived at a simple solution to automate this manual task by leveraging technology to create an AI metadata recognition system. For instance, the AI software reads the scanned documents line by line. It recognizes the unique elements in the document as instructed by a software code like date, organization’s name, logo, type of document, etc.

Accordingly, it creates tags based on keywords like date, document type, and organizational name to create folders and subfolders to rename the files and save them correspondingly. If there are different versions of the same file, the software retains the version history as well.

For instance, at the most basic level, this customized solution can do the following for you. Let’s assume that there are there are various edited versions of an invoice billed to an ABC Company. The AI software would create a folder for the company and subfolders for the year and month. Under these folders, there may be a subfolder named “invoices”. In this folder, the software may save the corresponding invoices by giving names such as “ABC. 3.9.2019. Invoice-1”, “ABC. 3.9.2019. Invoice-2,” etc.

More commonly, the accounting staff at various firms are usually indecisive about how to structure various documents, especially if the clientele is massive. In fact,  the templates and formats of various documents would have changed over the years as well. Leave it to AI to do such immensely complicated tasks with ease. Years of machine learning and robust research with software codes has equipped the AI software to recognize documents even if they have extremely modified templates.

Technology

Our firm has combined SharePoint DMS platform with Azure Search API and Azure Cognitive Services to bring about a tailored solution for our client’s problem.

The SharePoint platform has multiple products that can be integrated with one another to get hybrid solutions for your most complex business problems. You can store and access files in a well-organized fashion.It works on multiple devices, let’s you collaborate with multiple users who can have a single log-in to access all apps.

With seamless workflows, user permissions and zero server problems, you can maintain document security, confidentiality and compliances. You could also do data analysis and reporting on all the content you have stored on SharePoint. It is extendable and its scope is expandable for you to build customized solutions for your unique business needs.

Azure is a cloud-solutions service that hosts all your data, applications, softwares, tools with a cloud or hybrid server. No need to set up expensive hardware anymore. All you have to do is just pay a monthly subscription to manage everything through Azure. Azure’s cognitive services help build intelligent applications with features like facial and speech recognition, visual detection, intuitive search solutions, etc. With the help of Azure AI, all your data can be read and analyzed without hassles to bring out the correct business outcomes for you.

So, free yourself from manual labor and become a decision-making authority to give your company that outstanding competitive edge in the market.

Microsoft flow is a cloud-based workflow engine, Using Flow end users can create cross application workflows (no code workflows).  Flow is a part of office 365 E3 suite. It is a successor of SharePoint designer workflows. Complex level Flows can be promoted to an Azure logic app.

Microsoft Flows Vs SharePoint Designer Workflows

Anatomy of Microsoft Flow

• Flow Designer
• Connectors, Triggers & Actions
• Variables & Data Flow
• Expressions
• Branching, Error Handling & Scopes

Flow Designer – Create a Flow from Browser or Mobile Application

Desktop Version

• Go to https://flow.Microsoft.com
• Sign-in with Office 365 Account
• Start from existing template or import from disk or create from scratch (both in desktop & mobile browsers)

Mobile Version

• Install flow mobile app, sign in
• Create new flow (template or from scratch).

Connectors

Connectors Wrapper around an API that allows Flow to talk with other services.It exposes Triggers & Actions.

Standard Connectors – included as part of E3

• Microsoft Connectors (SharePoint, Azure Blob storage, SQL Server.)
• Non-Microsoft Connectors (Twitter, Slack.)
• https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=standard

Premium Connectors – additional cost

• Microsoft Connectors (HTTP with Azure AD.)
• Other Connectors (Salesforce, MySQL.)
• https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=premium

Custom Connectors – additional cost , development

• ISV, System Integrators, End users can create custom connectors to integrate any system/application/service.
• https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/?filter=&category=custom

Triggers

Run based on user action or event

• From other apps in office 365 – PowerApps, SharePoint, etc.
• From SQL
• From dedicated Flow button

Run on a schedule

• Flow also run based on time schedule, From every minute to 1 am on Days.

Run by HTTP GET/POST to URL generated by flow

• Call another Flow
• Call from any application/service/agent that can make HTTP calls

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Scenarios & Types of Triggers

Triggers - Scenarios

• Simple: Flows start with a Trigger.
• Advanced: Flows can have more than 1 trigger (async actions)
• Custom: Flows can have custom triggers

Types

Polling Trigger

• Periodically checks the service
• Checks count as executions

Push Triggers

• Listen for data on an endpoint or wait for event.

Actions

• Execute CRUD operations with workflow context
• SharePoint: Create Item, Delete Item, Create File.
• SQL: Insert Row, Update Row, Delete Row, Get Row.

• Transform Data
• Inline – using expressions (e.g. string operations, math operations.)
• Other services – Html to text.

Send Notification

• Send mobile notification, send email notification etc.

Call other Flow

• Chain Flows to create complex Flows.

Variables

• Use Variables connector*
• Initialize & then set value
• Supported value types (Boolean, String, Object, Array, Float).

Variables are NOT always necessary!

Why variables are not always necessary?

• Data Flows from each step and is available for all later steps
• ‘Add Dynamic Content’ allows us to select outputs from previous steps
• Certain outputs show up based on the types of the inputs and outputs.

Expressions

• Expressions can be used in most of the fields to transform data inline
• IntelliSense available as you type

Branching

• If-then-else

• Switch

For-Each

• By default, parallel
• Parallel (20 exec)
• Supports sequential

Do-Until

• Emulate State machines
• Help in approvals & more

• Parallel branches

Error Handling

• Actions can be set to run if previous action fails/times out.

Scopes

• Logically group actions
• Allow advanced error handling for a group of actions
• Scope boxes are in brown boxes.

Flow Template Overview

Flow templates are prepacked reusable flows for various business scenarios. Here is the link to  View default templates already available  in Microsoft Flow.

• From existing template in the public template gallery
• Search against the public template gallery
• Access this gallery from Modern SharePoint List/Library
• Filter & Embed the gallery in any page or application
• From existing template in a private template gallery
• Not available. Idea available in user voice.
• Discover flow templates

Discover Flow Templates from Template Gallery

There was one of many built in templates to build your flow from scratch for example Sending email to manager, send remainders to myself, Get weather of the current location, and lot more…

Navigate to templates and take a look at it choose your template customize it Save and run your flow with no code.

Templates – Discover from Modern User Interface (SharePoint)

In SharePoint user are able to create a flow from the modern UI with the help of flow button it suggest the default templates already available in the template gallery.

Templates – Discover (From Classic Page)

• Filter & embed the gallery in any application (not just in SharePoint or Office 365)
• Send the context of the current component (e.g. list name, library etc.) to the gallery

Microsoft Provides the SDK  and use embedded IFrame source to integrate the Flow button in SharePoint list classic view. It works same as modern User Interface like able to pick the flow templates from classic window.

Templates – Create and Monitor the Flows

Create a flow that performs one or more tasks automatically after it's triggered by an event. We can create a Flow without using the default templates.

Below we created the simple approval flow template from the blank template. It triggers the flow when the SharePoint list item has been created then send email to the approve and capture the approval status send it to the initiator who create the item.

Templates – Publish

A flow which has run successfully can be published to public template gallery

• Sends the flow for review with Microsoft
• Takes days to weeks.
• Only generic use cases are usually accepted

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With software apps across desktops and mobile devices on the rise, it is critical for an organization to chose a right platform. We should also be wise to choose a development platform that grows along with the latest technology.

Of late, entrepreneurs are on the lookout for applications that are not dependent on the troublesome wired networks. Companies want to access their application from home, office, and also during travel. A desktop app or a mobile app does have these limitations. This has led to developing applications that are not only independent of local networks but also easily accessible from everywhere.

Can an organization use a fully functional web application for its entire system?

No wonder you have seen a recent trend where developers starting making web app versions for their desktop apps. We see more features in a standalone application than a web application. So why do organizations prefer a web-based model?

Here is why -

• No boring installation of an app on countless devices as web apps can be accessed from a browser
• No pain during software updates on a device, which is hardware dependent.
• Features on a desktop app differ from a mobile app.

Increasing trend of web apps for corporate needs:

Traditional desktop applications are limited by hardware on which they run. More organizations, to facilitate day to day operations, are moving towards a browser-based application. Considering the usability benefits of secure document management, web apps are in high demand. For instance, Skype is available as a standalone desktop app as well as a web application. Popular notes taking app OneNote, storage apps like Microsoft One Drive and other Google apps are all web-based. Web-based apps always require a live internet connection to access files all the time.

However, developers have proactively addressed this shortcoming by making the files available offline.

• It provides an interactive user interface for a flawless experience
• It has constant updates that do not bother an end user
• Users will have the access, edit, upload, and download the documents from any place and device
• It is highly secured and provides different methods of user authentication
• Web apps are inexpensive to develop when compared to standalone software
• It is easy for to maintain and perform updates in the back-end

As organizations grow, leadership attention is often pulled toward brand building, customer acquisition, and revenue growth. Startups focus on visibility. Enterprises focus on scale.

But there’s one critical area that often gets overlooked how employees work, collaborate, and access information internally.

This is where a well-designed intranet can quietly but powerfully transform your business.

An intranet isn’t just an internal website. When done right, it becomes the digital backbone of your organization, supporting productivity, communication, and operational efficiency.

Why Modern Businesses Need an Intranet?

As teams expand across locations, departments, and time zones, common challenges start to surface:

• Information scattered across tools
• Time wasted searching for documents
• Manual processes slowing decisions
• Disconnected teams and poor visibility

An intranet solves these problems by creating a single, structured digital workplace where people, content, and processes come together.

Why Use SharePoint for Your Intranet?

Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most widely adopted intranet platforms globally and for good reason.

It’s trusted by enterprises and fast-growing organizations alike because it combines security, flexibility, and scalability.

SharePoint enables organizations to:

• Centralize information securely
• Enable collaboration across teams
• Automate business processes
• Improve internal communication
• Maintain governance and compliance

At SharePoint Designs, we’ve seen firsthand how organizations unlock real business value when SharePoint is implemented strategically not just deployed.

Explore Top SharePoint Features

How an Intranet Built on SharePoint Leverages Your Business?

1. Centralized & Secure Document Management

In today’s digital-first workplace, information is created constantly in multiple formats and locations.

A SharePoint intranet allows you to:

• Store documents securely in one place
• Control access with permissions
• Maintain version history and compliance
• Access files from anywhere, on any device

This ensures employees always work with the right information at the right time, without compromising security.

2. Seamless Collaboration Across Teams

As organizations scale, collaboration becomes harder especially with remote or hybrid teams.

SharePoint enables:

• Real-time document collaboration
• Team-based workspaces
• Integration with Microsoft Teams
• Easy sharing without email overload

Instead of silos, teams work together in a connected digital environment that supports faster execution.

3. Workflow Automation That Saves Time

Many businesses lose productivity to repetitive, manual tasks.

With a SharePoint intranet, you can:

• Automate approvals and requests
• Standardize business processes
• Reduce manual errors
• Speed up decision-making

By putting routine operations on autopilot, employees can focus on high-impact, strategic work instead of administrative overhead.

4. Stronger Internal Communication

Internal communication often breaks down as companies grow.

A SharePoint intranet becomes a central communication hub where you can:

• Publish company news and announcements
• Share HR updates and policies
• Enable leadership communication
• Keep everyone aligned and informed

Employee profiles, groups, and updates also give leadership visibility into what’s happening across teams without micromanagement.

5. Better Project Visibility and Control

Project management is one of the most practical intranet use cases.

Using SharePoint, teams can:

• Assign and track tasks
• Monitor project progress
• Share documents and updates
• Maintain transparency across stakeholders

Project managers gain clearer insights, while teams stay aligned on goals, timelines, and responsibilities.

6. Improved Employee Engagement

An intranet isn’t just about processes, it’s about people.

When designed well, it:

• Makes work easier
• Reduces frustration
• Encourages collaboration
• Builds a sense of belonging

Engaged employees are more productive, more informed, and more invested in business outcomes.

Real-World Example: How a SharePoint Intranet Delivered Business Impact?

Theory is useful, but real results matter more.

At SharePoint Designs, we’ve helped global organizations transform SharePoint into a high-performing intranet that employees actually use at scale.

For example, in our Daikin SharePoint intranet case study, the organization was facing several challenges:

• Fragmented systems with limited integration across regions
• Employees struggling to locate key documents and company updates
• Low engagement due to lack of multilingual support
• An outdated intranet with poor mobile accessibility
• Limited visibility into leadership communications

By redesigning Daikin’s intranet on SharePoint, we delivered a modern, global collaboration hub that addressed these gaps:

• Centralized document management with version control and advanced search, reducing document retrieval time by 45%
• A custom, site-wide navigation and personalized homepage that improved content visibility by 40%
• Departmental micro-sites and discussion boards that increased collaboration and engagement by 25%
• Multilingual intranet experience supporting 8 languages, improving inclusivity across regions by 50%
• Automated email subscriptions and mobile-first design, driving a 60% increase in recurring intranet engagement

This transformation helped Daikin create a scalable, employee-centric intranet one that improved discoverability, strengthened leadership communication, and connected teams across regions and devices.

Read the full case study

This kind of real-world implementation demonstrates how an intranet doesn’t just support work it actively drives business efficiency.

Why SharePoint Intranets Deliver Long-Term Business Value?

Organizations that invest in a structured intranet experience see measurable benefits:

• Faster onboarding
• Reduced operational costs
• Higher employee adoption of digital tools
• Better alignment between teams and leadership
• Stronger governance and compliance

This is why SharePoint remains the intranet platform of choice for both enterprises and fast-growing startups.

Expertise Matters: Intranet Success is in the Design

Simply having SharePoint isn’t enough.

The real impact comes from:

• Thoughtful information architecture
• User-centric design
• Clear navigation
• Role-based experiences
• Ongoing optimization

At SharePoint Designs, we specialize in creating intranets that don’t just exist but actively support business growth.

Final Thoughts: Let Your Intranet Work for Your Business

An intranet should never feel like “extra work.”

When built strategically, a SharePoint intranet:

• Simplifies daily operations
• Improves collaboration
• Strengthens communication
• Frees teams to focus on what matters most

If your goal is to focus on core business outcomes while reducing operational friction, a well-designed SharePoint intranet is one of the smartest investments you can make.

Talk to our SharePoint intranet experts