All of us take time off at some point. Some because vacations, some because sick leave. So, if I want to know if my team is available for the next days, I can just call them or create a application able to let me know where my team is or will be in the next days.
So, that´s what we did. We created a list in Microsoft SharePoint, created a approval system with Microsoft Flow and a mobile application with Microsoft PowerApps to have all that info not only in the web, but in our device, anytime, anywhere.
When we created the list in SharePoint, we had to provide all kind of information to the people who was going to use the application: day of the leave, reason of the leave, comments, who is going to approve the leave and the status of the request. Then, using the calendar ability of Microsoft SharePoint, we were able to get a quick picture of the availability of the people.
Then, we moved forward with the approval system. To manage approvals, we built quite complex flow. The flow had to know if it as as vacation, a sick leave and what to do in everycase. Lots of ramifications because we need the flow to understand what to do in everycase.
So, we got the list, we got the flow, and we got the info about wherever my team is available or not. Every resource will be able to see only their records using SharePoint permissions and a small group of people will be able to see all the records.
At this point, we only see the data if you login in SharePoint. So we built a .NET application with Xamarin and another application with PowerApps. The first one, took us one week. The second one, PowerApps, just a couple of days. Here is the first lesson we learned. PowerApps is faster, cheaper and you don´t need to pay Apple or Google to develop your corporation applications.
With PowerApps, the security is managed by Microsoft. One thing less to worry about. But let´s go to our PowerApps application. Once logged, I will see my records, my pending approvals and an option to create a new record. Also, I am able to know who is available and when.
Probably is not the best application of the world to manage your teams absences but, it is easy, cheap and fast to deploy. Next time they ask you for custom development to create a business application, think about PowerApps.
Do you want to know more about PowerApps, SharePoint and Flow, contact us at Info@redcomc.es
