Getting started with Power Apps: A practical engineering recap of Paul Bilcsik’s (Eviden) session

Why Power Apps matters right now

From our DevJobs.at editorial seat, “Getting started with Power Apps” lands as a grounded, hands-on introduction aimed squarely at engineers and tech practitioners. Paul Bilcsik (Eviden) works daily with Dynamics and the Power Platform, and he frames the value proposition without hype. He opens with the question teams actually ask: why use Power Apps at all?

His answers are pragmatic:

• “You could build an app quickly by using the skills that you already have and connect to the cloud services and data sources that you are already using.”
• “It is also possible to share apps instantly so that co-workers can use them on their phones and tablets.”
• “You do not have to have a profound knowledge about coding or programming … the entry barrier is fairly low.”

For engineering teams, that combination—speed to value, native connectivity to existing data, and a low barrier to entry—is what makes a platform stick. The session is intentionally no-frills: it demonstrates the shortest credible path from data to working app and keeps the focus on fundamentals that recur across projects.

The core building blocks: homepage, studio, mobile, admin

Paul organizes the Power Apps landscape into four building blocks that map well to day-to-day work:

• Power Apps homepage: your launchpad to create apps from data, a sample, or a blank canvas.
• Power Apps Studio: where development happens—connect to data, compose UIs, and build formulas.
• Power Apps Mobile: run your apps on Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS, and Google Android.
• Admin Center: manage environments and components as your app portfolio grows.

The message is straightforward: the homepage accelerates starts, the studio gives control, the mobile app delivers reach, and the admin center underpins governance.

Three ways to start: template, from data, or blank canvas

Paul identifies three on-ramps for your first app:

1. Create from a template.
2. Create from a data source (the path he demos).
3. Build from a blank canvas.

If your organization already has structured data, “from data” is a force multiplier. The session shows how a simple Excel file in OneDrive for Business can become a usable app—lists, forms, and search included—in minutes.

Demo walkthrough: from Excel to a working app in minutes

The live demo is intentionally minimal but illustrative: an Excel spreadsheet for a fictional flooring company. The table includes the following columns:

• name
• category
• price
• image
• overview
• Power App ID (auto-generated for the database and stored there; Paul suggests not editing it)

Here’s how Paul turns that into a working app.

Step 1: Sign in and connect the data source

• Go to makepowerapps.com and sign in with your organization credentials.
• Choose “Excel spreadsheet” as the data source.
• Select OneDrive for Business.
• Navigate to the “sample Power App data source” folder.
• Pick the prepared Excel spreadsheet.
• Choose the table (referred to in the talk as “Flowing Estimates”) and connect.

Immediately, Power Apps scaffolds a multi-screen app. This is the key productivity leap: you don’t start from scratch; you start from a usable baseline.

Step 2: Explore the generated app

Inside the studio you see:

• Several auto-generated screens.
• A components pane to add UI elements.
• Zoom controls for layout work.

The flooring products populate a list—carpet, wood, and more—ready to browse.

Step 3: Try core interactions—edit and search

Paul clicks “Play,” opens the first record, changes the price—“the price is now $27”—and saves. He then uses search to locate “Bolivian rosewood.”

His takeaway is crisp: “This was in three minutes achieved, so it's pretty easy to get started.” The essentials—view, edit, search—are available out of the box with no extra scaffolding.

A practical guardrail: don’t edit the Power App ID

The demo includes a helpful governance note: the “Power App ID” is auto-generated and stored in the database. Paul’s advice is to leave it alone. For teams that mix Excel-based maintenance with app usage, respecting this boundary preserves integrity.

Mobile rollout: install, sign in, tap to run

Getting the app onto phones and tablets is refreshingly simple:

• Install the official PowerApps app.
• Sign in with your organization credentials.
• Your own apps and those shared by colleagues appear.
• Tap to start—“we’re good to go.”

This aligns with the session’s early promise: instant sharing to mobile without extra distribution steps.

Data sources, connectors, and gateways: the backbone

Paul positions Power Apps as a frontend over existing data: “Most Canvas apps use external information that is stored in data sources.” A few important points he underlines:

• Apps access data via connections; some connections allow reading and writing.
• You can add many data sources using built-in or custom connectors.
• “A few of the more popular data sources are, for example, SharePoint, SQL Server, Dynamics 365 for Dropbox. 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.”
• For data stored on-premises, use a gateway: “The gateway sits on an on-premises computer and communicates with Power Apps.”

The technical thesis is explicit: “An advantage of building your business apps in Power Apps is being able to connect to many data sources in a single app.” Build the UI and interactions in Power Apps; let the data remain where it already lives.

Dataverse: a first-class data option for business apps

Paul dedicates a substantial segment to Dataverse and why it’s worth exploring:

• Dataverse stores and manages data used by business applications.
• Data lives in tables (sets of records), comparable to tables in a simple database.
• It ships with standard tables for common scenarios; you can create custom tables and populate them using Power Query.
• App makers can directly build applications in Power Apps using this data.

He compiles clear reasons to use Dataverse:

• Both metadata and data are stored in the cloud—“you don't need to worry about details of how they're stored.”
• Role-based security controls table access—“users can see it only if you grant them access.”
• Dynamics 365 data is stored in Dataverse, enabling you to quickly build apps that use Dynamics 365 data and extend those apps with Power Apps.
• Data types and relationships are directly usable in Power Apps; you can define calculated columns, business rules, workflows, and business process flows to ensure data quality and drive processes.
• Tables are available via the Microsoft Excel add-in “to increase productivity and ensure data accessibility.”

For engineering teams, the message is: when your needs grow beyond a quick start, Dataverse provides a consistent model with built-in security and business semantics.

Architectural lens: low-code frontends over distributed data

The talk implicitly sketches a practical architecture that we see often in the field:

• UI and interaction layer: Canvas apps built in Power Apps.
• Data access: connections via built-in or custom connectors to cloud and on-prem sources; gateway for on-premises.
• Data storage: existing services (SharePoint, SQL Server, Salesforce, Twitter, etc.) or Dataverse as a structured, governed store for business data.
• Delivery: Power Apps Mobile on iOS/Android/Windows, authenticated via your organization’s credentials.
• Administration: central control in the Admin Center for environments and components.

The strength is repeatability: you can go from “we have data” to “we have an app” without rebuilding primitives, then iterate where it matters—UI, formulas, and validation.

Practical lessons for engineers

Several concrete patterns emerge from Paul’s walkthrough and commentary:

• Start small, validate fast: A simple Excel table is enough to exercise list, detail, edit, and search—and to gather stakeholder feedback early.
• Lead with the data: Power Apps shines when your sources are well-defined. The connection is the centerpiece—whether SharePoint, SQL Server, Dynamics 365 for Dropbox, Salesforce, or Twitter.
• Guard data integrity: Don’t manually edit auto-generated identifiers like the “Power App ID.” Use role-based security in Dataverse to control visibility.
• Respect environments and admin controls: While the talk lightly touches administration, scaling success depends on clear environments and management practices.
• Mobile as a default: The official PowerApps app gives you mobile distribution by default—install, sign in, run. Ideal for pilots in the field.
• Evaluate Dataverse as your app matures: As relationships, calculations, business rules, workflows, and process flows become important, Dataverse pays dividends.

What the session does—and doesn’t—cover

Paul stays anchored to fundamentals. There are no deep dives into complex formulas or advanced deployment setups. Instead, he demonstrates the shortest path to results: pick a data source, generate the app, edit, search, share.

That restraint is a strength. For teams skeptical about low-code, this session shows how to turn existing data into a useful app in minutes—without a bootcamp and without specialist skills.

Reproduce the demo: a step-by-step checklist

• Prepare an Excel file with columns like name, category, price, image, overview, and an auto-managed ID.
• Store the file in OneDrive for Business.
• Open makepowerapps.com and sign in with your organization credentials.
• Create a new app from the “Excel spreadsheet” data source; choose OneDrive for Business; select the file and table.
• Inspect the generated app in the studio: list, detail, and edit screens are scaffolded.
• Test interactions: edit a record (e.g., change the price), and use search (e.g., “Bolivian rosewood”).
• Save and share the app; on your phone, install the official PowerApps app, sign in, and launch it.

Closing: a credible, repeatable path from data to app

“Getting started with Power Apps” by Paul Bilcsik (Eviden) presents the platform the way we prefer to see it in engineering contexts: as a reliable bridge from existing data to a working app—on desktop and mobile—within minutes.

The takeaways we’ll carry forward: start from your existing sources, let Power Apps generate the baseline, keep governance in mind (IDs, role-based access, environments), and consider Dataverse when your model and rules grow. The rest is practice—and this session is a solid invitation to begin.