Introduction
Recently, someone asked me what I do for a living. My standard response is, “I am a Microsoft consultant.” I phrase it this way because the scope of Microsoft’s ecosystem is truly vast. Before I started consulting organizations on tools like Azure and Power Platform, I didn’t fully appreciate just how expansive Microsoft’s solutions really are.
The response I got was a little different than what I usually hear from business users, and I believe it was shaped as much by geography as by the products themselves. Milwaukee, WI, where I’m based, is a city historically known for heavy manufacturing, motorcycles, and beer.
This industrial legacy extends across Wisconsin, which has long been rooted in factories and industries, often relying on ERPs like Epicor or SAP. While Microsoft products are widely used here, they’re often limited to familiar tools like Word, Excel, and Outlook. However, Microsoft is far more than Word—it’s a robust platform that includes Azure cloud services, enterprise solutions like Dynamics F&O and Business Central, and the Power Platform. These tools empower both pro developers and low-code creators to build innovative solutions that drive business transformation.
Now, with the introduction of generative AI and Copilot, the Microsoft ecosystem has expanded even further, unlocking new possibilities for productivity and automation.
For those who still know Microsoft primarily for Word, I’m continuing a mission I started earlier this year: raising awareness of the incredible features included with Microsoft 365 licensing. Today, my focus is on the Business Standard license, specifically how it enables rapid development of custom business applications using SharePoint and Microsoft List templates. Let’s dive in and explore how you can make the most of these tools!
SharePoint/Microsoft Lists
One of the key benefits of a Business Standard license is access to SharePoint. SharePoint is an incredibly powerful tool, offering exceptional value for its cost. It serves as a collaborative workspace with features like built-in document management, intranet capabilities, and the ability to host and manage data in lists.
One of the key benefits of a Microsoft 365 Business Standard license is access to SharePoint, a robust tool offering exceptional value. SharePoint serves as a collaborative workspace with features like built-in document management, intranet capabilities, and the ability to host and manage data in lists.
While we won’t delve into all of SharePoint’s functionalities, let’s focus on its versatile lists feature. These lists are powerful tools for organizing and managing data, and you don’t need to access SharePoint directly to use them. The Microsoft Lists application provides an intuitive interface to work with these lists, making them a convenient and powerful data source for your business needs.
A significant advantage of Microsoft Lists is its accessibility across multiple platforms. You can manage your lists on the go using the Microsoft Lists mobile app, available for both iOS and Android devices. Additionally, while there isn’t a dedicated desktop app for macOS, you can use Microsoft Lists as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on your Mac. This setup allows you to work with your lists directly from your desktop, providing a seamless experience across devices.
This cross-platform availability ensures that you can access and manage your data whenever and wherever you need it, enhancing productivity and collaboration within your organization.
Solution
The template we’ll focus on today is the Asset Management template. While there are many templates to choose from, this one offers a great starting point for tracking and managing assets. It’s important to remember that you’re not limited to the fields provided in the template. SharePoint lists are customizable, and adding a new field to tailor the template to your specific needs is relatively easy.
If the out-of-the-box template meets most of your requirements but falls short in one or two areas, simply modify it by adding the necessary fields. This flexibility allows you to make the template truly your own while saving time and effort on development.
Available Templates
For posterity these are the templates available in SharePoint/Microsoft Lists:
1. Issue tracker
2. Employee onboarding
3. Event itinerary
4. Asset manager
5. Recruitment tracker
6. Travel requests
7. Travel requests with approvals
8. Work progress tracker
9. Content scheduler
10. Content scheduler with approvals
11. Playlist
12. Gift ideas
13. Expense tracker
14. Recipe tracker
15. Reading list
16. Apartment hunting
17. Job application tracker
18. Product support metrics
Step 1: Create list from template
In this step, we’ll select the Asset manager template. This will guide you through a wizard-like experience. On the next screen, you’ll see a preview of how the list will look when populated with data. From there, you’ll name your list and choose the option to create it. In just a few seconds, you’ll have a functioning data source for your asset management process.
Step 2: Be creative!!
The next steps are entirely up to you. There are countless stories waiting to be told through data. As a business application developer, I tell the story of business data using tools like Power Apps and Power Automate. A data or business intelligence analyst might choose to use Power BI to craft insightful reports from the same data. The key takeaway here is that we now have a central repository for our data—one that was created quickly, can be easily iterated upon, and serves as a foundation for exploring what’s possible with Microsoft 365 licensing.
If you’re a CIO or business user, this approach can help you realize the potential of the Power Platform. It’s perfect for spinning up a quick proof of concept (POC) to demonstrate not just the art of the possible, but the art of what is. And what is—that Microsoft is far more than just Word. It’s an expansive, powerful platform ready to transform the way you work.
Extra
Next, I’ll share images of an application and flow I built using this list as the foundation. By starting with the Asset Manager template, I was able to significantly reduce the time spent planning out the architecture and get straight to work. This allowed me to focus on the “extras”—how I wanted the app to look and how I wanted to structure my flows.
In total, it took me about three hours to build and iterate on the process, refining my ideas about how everything should function. By integrating this data source with the Power Platform, users can rapidly develop solutions tailored to meet specific needs, enabling faster delivery and greater flexibility.
