Best Practices for Building and Managing Power Apps

As Power Apps becomes a cornerstone for building custom business applications, it's vital to follow best practices that ensure your apps are user-friendly, scalable, and maintainable. Whether you are developing your first app or managing a suite of enterprise-grade solutions, these practices will help you create effective, secure, and high performing application.

Use Descriptive Naming Conventions

• Give meaningful names for controls, variables, collections, and screens to make the app easier to understand and maintain. 
• This helps in quickly identifying functionality and managing the app more efficiently later. 

• Follow this document for Proper Naming Conventions - Power Apps Naming Conventions

App Ownership & Permissions

• Add at least one Co-Owner to the app with edit permissions. 
• Confirm there is at least one Environment Admin in Power Platform Admin Center. 

Backup & Recovery Planning

• Regularly export app package (.msapp) as a backup. 
• Save backup in secure location (e.g., OneDrive, SharePoint). 
• Maintain versioning information (release notes, dates). 

Use Environment Variables

• Store configuration values like SharePoint site URLs, list/library names, email addresses, or connection strings in environment variables. 
• This reduces the need to update hardcoded values during deployment or migration and simplifies maintenance. 

• Changing the value in one place automatically reflects across all flows using that variable. 

Security & Access Control

• Ensure all users (viewers/editors) are added with proper access. 
• Use roles or security groups for access control (not individual users). 

• Ensure all data sources (SharePoint, Dataverse, etc.) have backup access owners. 

Ownership Transfer Planning

• Document steps to transfer ownership using Power Platform Admin Center or PowerShell. 
• Ensure Environment Admin has full access to apps and flows. 

Use Comments

• Use comments to explain complex logic, expressions, or steps, making the App easier to understand for others.