Is it possible to build Power App in such a way as to limit visibility of information in shared spreadsheet to only 1 row

[greggpowell]

Have a challenge. We have a spreadsheet that contains over 1000 rows of essentially IT related employee information. Each row consists of multiple fields over about 20 columns. The information is sensitive in nature in that, we do not want someone to just copy the spreadsheet and steal all the information - from a security perspective, and also in order to limit information available to competitors.  I am trying to think of a way to limit a users ability to see only 1 row at a time.  In addition to users needing the ability to view information/records (ideally limited to 1 row at a time) - they also need the ability to edit information, and to create new records.

My idea was to build a power app that presents to non-admin users in the tenant the information as described above, in such a way that, they are provided two fields in the app where they can type either a name or an e-mail in one or the other field, and the app returns only the one record (all information in a row) on that one individual. The User would also have the ability to edit the information in the row - and update the spreadsheet record/row, or, the user could create a new record - which would add a new row to the spreadsheet. 

The one troublesome piece to this that I can't see a way around is, in order to give a user access to the app, they would also need access to the spreadsheet - the only way to limit access would be thru obscurity.... which is not an acceptable approach. 

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on how best to solve the challenge?

Thanks.

Gregg Powell

AZ 

[CNT]

@greggpowell Storing sensitive Employee information in an Excel spreadsheet is not advisable from a Data Protection point of view. If you are planning to use Power Apps as a front end form this system, I would strongly recommend you to migrate this data from Excel to Dataverse. 

• Moving Existing Data from Excel to Dataverse can be achieve through Data Flows.
• Very fine grained security and control can be easily achieved with Dataverse. Security can be set at many levels (Table, Field and Row).
• Dataverse also automatically logs tons of metadata. E.g., who created the record, who modified it, when etc., This can be valuable when storing sensitive information.

Hope this brief into is helpful.

[greggpowell]

First off - THANKS for responding so quickly! This is great news since it's pretty clear that what we need to do is possible. Here is a question - to take the existing information and then move it into dataverse as the repository/source instead of excell - I'm assuming it will exist as a table in dataverse - is that correct? When the information is in Dataverse, in what form does it take? I am familiar with storing tables (.xlsx files) on onedrive as an information source for power apps - and I'm familiar with storing information in SharePoint lists. But - when you mention moving the information in the spreadsheet to dataverse - what exactly does this entail, and in what format will the data exist in when there?   

Also - One additional question - looking inside the M365 tenant at connections - I see Microsoft Dataverse has (legacy) appended to it... why does it say legacy? Is MySQL or something else supposed to supersede Dataverse? If so - is Dataverse at risk of being retired my Microsoft since it is legacy?

Thanks!!

Gregg

AZ

[CNT]

@greggpowell Let me first answer your questions and then explain a bit more,

I'm assuming it will exist as a table in dataverse - is that correct? Yes

is Dataverse at risk of being retired my Microsoft since it is legacy? No

Dataverse is a  Data Platform that MS has built on top of many other technologies like Azure SQL Server etc., This is the platform MS uses in their own products like Dynamics365 etc., This is baked into the Power Platform.

As this is a platform it offers more than just a place to store data. It offers security, scalability etc.,

When you store data in Dataverse, you will have Tables & Fields (just like in any other database). You can further set up relationships between these tables. How and where data is stored is abstracted from us. Behind the scenes, Dataverse makes intelligent choices to store the data in the right place in the right way (in the cloud) and make it available for us when and where needed.

MS has made a basic version of Dataverse available for free when building Apps in MS Teams. The full version is premium and therefore will require a Per User or Per App license.

Regarding Legacy connector: Connector are used to connect Apps to Datasources. The legacy connector is the old connector that MS is retiring because they have a new (a better) connector. It is old connector that is being retired and not Dataverse.

Before you dive in, you can always test the waters. Try and build a simple App!

Hope this helps!

[greggpowell]

CNT-

First I want to thank you for your generosity in answering my questions. I really appreciate you taking the time.

So, with regard to your statement above "MS has made a basic version of Dataverse available for free when building Apps in MS Teams. "

I'm assuming that you mean building an app in power apps and then "hosting" it in Teams?

Can apps built for Teams also use Power Automate Flows?

Aside from getting free access to Dataverse for apps built for MS Teams, what are the advantages to building an app for Teams? (as opposed to just building an App and running it in Power Apps)

Given all that I have written down about the set of requirements for this App that I need to  make - would you recommend just building and running the app in Power Apps - or building it for Teams and running it there?

THANKS! CNT

r/

Gregg

AZ

[CNT]

@greggpowell 

So, with regard to your statement above "MS has made a basic version of Dataverse available for free when building Apps in MS Teams. "

I'm assuming that you mean building an app in power apps and then "hosting" it in Teams?

You can build a normal PowerApp and host it in Teams.

Also, now for a few months, we are able to build PowerApps directly inside Teams.

Can apps built for Teams also use Power Automate Flows? Yes

Aside from getting free access to Dataverse for apps built for MS Teams, what are the advantages to building an app for Teams? (as opposed to just building an App and running it in Power Apps)

It depends on the use case. If the users are all the time inside Teams, its a good idea.

But one thing to remember, Datavserse inside Teams in a stripped down version. For example, if you want ALM (make an App in a Dev environment then move it to Test and then to Prod) you have to use the full version.

Given all that I have written down about the set of requirements for this App that I need to  make - would you recommend just building and running the app in Power Apps - or building it for Teams and running it there?

If you don't mind spending a few buck, definitely go down the normal route as you will get the full experience.

A final word: Use the full version if money is not an issue!

[greggpowell]

CNT - 

With the Power Apps per app plan (Each subscription provides assigned user with the use rights to a specific custom business application) cost = $10.00‎ ‎per add-on licenses‎/month............

If I build one App - can that App be tied to multiple tables in the Dataverse (full version).... ?

For instance, If I have one tab in the app tied to one set of data in one table/database, can I have a second, third, and fourth tab in the Power App tied to other tables in the Dataverse Environment? Or, said another way, Can multiple tables exist in a Dataverse environment tied to a Power Apps per app plan - if the four tables are all tied to the same one app?

And - what about power app portal? what is an app built into a portal? I can't find much information on that.

Thanks CNT. Thanks now x4.

Regards,

Gregg 

AZ

[CNT · Accepted solution]

@greggpowell 

Per App Plan is called a Capacity Add-on.

1 Per App Plan = 2 Canvas Apps + 1 Portal

This means, 1 Per App Plan can be used by one user to access 2 Apps or 2 by users to Access 1 App.

If I build one App - can that App be tied to multiple tables in the Dataverse (full version).... ? yes. No limitations on Dataverse Tables. Also this gives to all the premium connectors.

For instance, If I have one tab in the app tied to one set of data in one table/database, can I have a second, third, and fourth tab in the Power App tied to other tables in the Dataverse Environment? Or, said another way, Can multiple tables exist in a Dataverse environment tied to a Power Apps per app plan - if the four tables are all tied to the same one app? To create Environments, you need a Per User Plan. So, in your Tenant you need at least one Per User Plan. Each Per User Plan given the ability to create 2 Environments (say, Dev and Prod). 

And - what about power app portal? what is an app built into a portal? I can't find much information on that.

Portal is a like a website. You'll build portals for external access. For example if you have 1000 customers who need access to the data Dataverse, giving them all a Per App license will cost too much. So, you can build a Portal for that. Portal has a capacity licensing model (based on the number of user logins).