Crisis Communication Power App available to combat COVID 19

11 March 2020

As a direct response to the global Coronavirus Covid-19, Microsoft have released a template for Power Apps. This will enable organisations to manage communications in a time of crisis, and help faciliate remote working. Its a tribute to Microsoft that were able to respond to this and push out this template after just 48 hours. 

Key features include:

• Employees can report their work status (e.g., working from home) and make requests. This helps managers coordinate across their teams and helps central response teams track status across an organization.
• Admins can use the app to push news, updates, and content specific to their organization, and can provide emergency contacts specific to different locations.
• The app includes the ability to add RSS feeds of up-to-date information from reputable sources such as WHO, CDC, or a local authority.

In addition,  Microsoft have said that Power Apps users will have temporary access to a premium feature, Power Apps Push Notifications, so you won’t need any premium licenses to use Power Apps to push information to users. Microsoft have reclassified Push Notifications as a standard connector for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. 

If you would like to implement this solution, you can find the instructions at Microsoft's documentation site. 

We think this is a brilliant initiative, and it is a prime demonstration of how Power Apps can be used to quickly be leveraged to develop applications that need to be pushed out to users for a very specific need. It also shows that Microsoft are leading in terms of leveraging its infrastructure to support the global community and producing a service for the public good.

Daniel Norris

Daniel Norris is the communications manager for Serversys. His role is to bring you the latest updates, tips, news and guides on Dynamics 365.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us at communications@serversys.com