A business case for Power Apps needs to show the process you want to fix, what that process costs you today, what the app will cost to build and license, and how long it will take before people are using it. If you can put a number on the time the current process wastes and set it against licensing and build costs, the decision usually becomes straightforward for whoever signs it off.
Power Apps is the low-code app builder in Microsoft's Power Platform. Organisations use it for anything from simple service request forms to full systems, such as the defect management system we built in Power Apps for CalMac, which you can read about in our case studies. The steps below are the ones we work through with clients when they need to get a Power Apps project approved.
A business case for Power Apps should cover six things:
Pick one process that is clearly manual and clearly costly rather than a long list of possibilities. Good candidates tend to be processes run on spreadsheets, paper forms or email chains, such as employee onboarding, inspections, approvals, equipment requests or capturing customer information in the field.
Then put a figure on it. Work out how long the task takes, how many times a week it happens, how many people are involved and what goes wrong when data is re-keyed by hand. Ten minutes saved on a task done 200 times a week is over 33 hours a week, and that is the kind of number a finance director will read.
Tailor this to who is reading. If your sponsor cares most about cost, lead with time and money; if they care about risk, lead with errors, audit trails and compliance.
Describe what the app will do, who will use it, where the data will live and what it connects to. Power Apps works with SharePoint lists, Dataverse, Microsoft 365 and a large library of connectors to other systems, and it sits alongside Power Automate for the workflows and approvals behind the app and Power BI for reporting on the data it collects.
It is also worth saying why Power Apps rather than an off-the-shelf product or custom development. The usual answers are that it runs inside the Microsoft 365 tenant you already have, uses the same security and sign-in, and can be changed quickly as the process changes. Copilot in Power Apps can now draft an app from a plain description of what you need, which helps with early prototypes, although a production app still needs proper design and testing.
There are two parts to the cost, licensing and the work to build and look after the app.
On licensing, Microsoft offers per user plans (Power Apps Premium), per app plans and a pay-as-you-go option billed through Azure. Many Microsoft 365 licences already include the right to use Power Apps with standard connectors and SharePoint data, so a simple app may need no extra licences at all. Apps that use Dataverse or premium connectors need premium licences. Microsoft changes its pricing from time to time, so check current list prices with Microsoft or your licensing partner before you put figures in the business case.
On the build side, include design, development, testing, training and ongoing support. Do not forget the time your own people will spend in workshops and testing. If you do not have the skills in-house to maintain apps once they are live, our Power Platform managed service covers support and improvements on a monthly basis.
List the measurable benefits first:
Then add the less tangible ones, such as better data for decisions, a clear audit trail and staff spending less time on admin. Keep these short, as decision-makers give them less weight than the numbers.
A simple app built on SharePoint lists can be live in a few weeks, whilst a larger system with Dataverse, integrations and several user roles takes longer. Set expectations on when you will have a working prototype, when users will test it and when it goes live, and when you expect to see the savings come through.
If this is one of several apps you are planning, a Power Platform strategy is worth doing first, so environments, data loss prevention policies and who is allowed to build what are agreed before apps start appearing across the business.
Show that you have thought about how people will move from the old process to the new one. Involve the people who do the task now in designing the app, as they know where the current process breaks, and give them short training sessions before go-live. We use the ADKAR model for change management on our projects, which covers awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement, and including a plan like this in the business case reassures sponsors that the app will actually get used.
Partly. Many Microsoft 365 licences include Power Apps for apps that use standard connectors such as SharePoint, but apps using Dataverse or premium connectors need a Power Apps Premium, per app or pay-as-you-go licence.
Not for simple apps, which people in the business can build themselves. Larger apps with integrations, complex data models or many users benefit from experienced Power Platform developers and proper governance.
A single, well understood manual process that happens often, affects a defined group of users and has data you can measure before and after, such as an approval, request or inspection process.
For more on what we build, see our Power Apps page, or contact us to talk through your business case.