There is a lot of excitement about PowerApps and how it is designed for non-programs to build apps.   Yes, it can create basis phone apps based on SharePoint list, however I am a little disappointed in the features available with project online.  That is what this blog is about. I wanted to see what I can do for me when using Project Online.  In a word, I believe it is weak and doesn’t provide many useful features.  However, I am optimist that Microsoft will be adding to the Power App library for project online.

My initial reason for digging deeper inside the PowerApp tool was that I had a client who wanted the project online time sheet feature setup with Power Apps. Project online  was being evaluated and several other competitors and admit the competitors user interface was much easier to work with however they didn’t have all the powerful features found in project online.  I assume Power Apps could build an interface to to project online time sheets. As I explored Power Apps capability, I realized that it wasn’t there.  Paul Mather blog provides a work around for export PWA into SharePoint list and then building power apps from the list.  Very clever, however updates do not go back into PWA database

PowerApps usually start with a home page.   Figure 1 shows the basic functionality provided when using project online. The basic features are 1) List projects, 2) Create project, 3) Create Resources, 4) Listing tasks, 5) check in and publish projects and 6) checkout projects.  Displaying Power Bi reports is a supper feature but it is really just a standard Power App.

Figure 2 shows a simple list of projects.  Project list provides a pathway for listing tasks once a project is found and selected from list.  Project List page is create by using ProjectOnline.ListProject function which is a connection function for retrieving list of projects.

Figure 1. PowerApp home page     Figure 2. Project List

The next two functions that are available is CreateResource and CreateProject. As it can be seen in Figure 3 and 4, there are few parameters that are based to project online.  I am not seeing a whole lot of value at this point in time, however I believe the number of fields and functions will grow in the future.

Figure 3. Create Project            Figure 4. Create Resource

Figure 5 shows Task List feature listing all the tasks for a project. The feature doesn’t provide a method for updating task in the field.  Again, maybe in a future release but not much for now.  Figure 6 shows Power BI reporting page and I see a lot of potential with this aspect of a project PowerApp.

Figure 5 List Tasks                         Figure 6 Power BI reports

All-in-all it looks like a good first step and look forward to seeing Microsoft building many more function calls that will enable developers bring project online closer to the PMO fingers tips.