Greetings fellows D365 and Power Platform master chefs!
In the world of app development, ensuring a great user experience is like preparing a gourmet meal. Looking back at the early days of the model-driven apps, they were perceived merely as “containers” for data input and display, lacking the flavour of thoughtful design.
However, as the model-driven apps framework matured, the call for delectable UX grew louder, stirring up more consideration in that area. In my previous blog post, I explored a variety of ingredients to enhance UX.
Having previously served up almost ten savoury suggestions, I’m going to add some more to the mix. Thanks to a combination of some further thinking, input from my readers and recently discovered content, I am exploring a few more enhancements to add to your app recipe.
1. Icon(ic) Ingredients
The out-of-the-box tables come with icons as standard. However, when a custom table is created, by default it will have a puzzle icon. Therefore, when creating a custom table, always aim to update the icon. It might be considered a tiny detail, but for me, it does add an accent that enhances the overall user experience and adds consistency.
What is more, the icons do not necessarily need to be black – you can use colour icons. You can either find them online or create your own using PowerPoint.
Do not know how? Watch my latest video where I demo it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeLVfOFrWSk&t=8s
However, do remember that colour icons might not be suited for all the customer’s apps. If you want to explore that avenue, make sure that the icons will correspond with the company’s colours and branding. When adding a splash of colour to the icons for custom tables, do change the standard ones for consistency as well. Avoid a mix of black and colour icons as that will not translate into good UI and might negatively affect the overall UX.
Also, be aware that if you are testing the “new look” (MS Fluent UI) in your model-driven apps, the custom icons will not display properly – or at least they don’t for me!
2. Quick Create Forms Fusion
Some of the forms in your app might have multiple mandatory fields and it can take some time to create a record. However, think about a situation when a user wants to quickly record only a few details as they don’t have time to fill out a full form. To help e.g. a salesman to quickly create leads or opportunities, allow for the quick create forms to be used. That will help them with a positive perception of the app, where they can quickly capture something on the go and re-visit it later, once they have more time for admin tasks.
However, do set something in the system that will help them to remember to provide the additional details to the records. That can either be a dashboard, or some automation to create follow-up tasks or show in-app notifications. When optimising the UX, do not allow to jeopardise the data quality!
Also, there is more to the quick-create forms than just the timesaving. When users create a record from a subgrid on a form, a new quick-create form window will open and it will be docked on the right. Thanks to that, the users will still be able to see the main record in the background to give them context. Additionally, if the users are creating a record via a subgrid on another table form, some fields will be pre-populated for them.
For example, when creating a Case via an Account record, any fields that are mapped between the 2 tables, will be populated on the form. Technically, the same result would be achieved when creating a new record from a subgrid on another record without a quick-create form. However, this experience gives a user reassurance that the data is mapped correctly as they can see the values before saving a record as shown below.
Additionally, quick create forms can be accessed easily from the navigation bar on the top right with the "+" icon (show below):
Few things to remember when using quick create forms:
1. Enable the table for the quick-create via the table settings (shown below)
2. Create the quick-create form for the table
3. Include the form in the app
3. Canvas app blend
Although you are building a model-driven app, you can think about embedding some canvas apps within it. The recent scenario I worked with, was a canvas app to give users a better experience of search functionality of Case records. However, the use cases are unlimited – from creating new records to displaying data from different sources and databases.
4. Reference Panel
Reference Panel allows to add multiple subgrids to a single section on a form. The subgrids are accessed by clicking on the tab icons located on the right side of the Reference Panel. This is a convenient way for users to access related records that minimises the need to scroll or navigate to different tabs. Reference Panel comes pre-built with some of the out-of-the-box entity forms, like Account or Case as shown below.
However, good news is that it can also be added to the custom tables in model-driven apps! Would you like to know how to achieve a similar experience for users and add a Reference Panel to a form?
You can only do it via the classic interface and not via makePowerApps.
Watch my video where I demo that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-RbqteEZ_s
5. AI Infusion
What is more, don’t be afraid to add a pinch of AI when making your app. Do you wonder how the user experience can be enhanced by AI? I am not talking about straight-in-to-the-user-face bots (erm… Copilots I meant…)
There are some subtle ways you can do it without the end users even knowing they are being supported by artificial intelligence… You can help users by giving them suggestions on how to fill out a form or summarise multiple records for them to make it easier for them to digest extensive information.
The best example I have seen recently was demoed by Isaac Missingham on the Nathan’s Rose YouTube channel. See it for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxjRR9eWuQ
So are you ready to add some fl-AI-vours to your model-driven app?
Just remember, there is no need to overload your app with AI. My golden rule is “everything in moderation”.
Conclusion
As we continue to explore the ever-evolving landscape of D365 and Power Platform, let's remember that excellence lies not only in what we build, but in how our application will engage and empower the end users.
When building a model-driven app, start with data and functionality. However, do not forget the importance of the user experience. Optimising UX is about (inter alia) introducing similar patterns and consistency and simplifying the system to improve usability. To achieve that, you can incorporate multiple different components into your apps to create more intuitive experiences that resonate with users.
Cheers to the journey of perpetual enhancement and innovation!
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