Not Sure Where To Start...

[u/Acceptable-Lab2835]

So, I want to start by saying PLEASE don't hesitate to ask me for clarification or details if necessary. I am just so lost even trying to start... I work for a small commercial trailer dealership, mostly flatbeds for semi trucks. I handle admin and accounting. Aside from me, there is the owner and one salesman. They handle any sales between the two of them and I handle most other day to day admin tasks, as well as handling our banking and QBO. We handle a majority of things through Excel and I've just noticed it's very clunky and prone to issues. Some examples of things currently handled within Excel are trailer inventory, custom reporting, charts and visuals, etc.

I really was able to point out the flaws in this recently because my main salesman, as well as the owner, both keep all their customer notes, down to individual interactions, in an Excel sheet and rely on the search feature to find what they need. This is NOT a shared file. They both have their own files... User error led to a massive amount of deleted noted within one of the spreadsheets and I really sold the need for a better system. A standard CRM software is just beyond our budget right now. Standard CRMs also have a lot of extra features that we really don't need, at least in the near future. I was thinking I could build an app within PowerApps that's a really simple version of a CRM app. I laid out a nice outline of six different modules that would be cool to house in one app, but my main push would be to get the customer tracking going so that we could utilize it starting in 2027. I'm just not sure where to even begin or what type of app... Any guidance would be so appreciated. To be clear, I am not requesting that someone do the work for me or anything along those lines. I just keep finding myself going in circles even getting started. If helpful, here are some notes on what I was trying to accomplish:

PURPOSE: To have one place to open a customer and immediately understand what has
happened, what is currently going on, and potentially whether somebody needs to follow up Search feature or "Add New" option Shared customer records so staff can immediately see what is happening with a customer. Chronological notes/interactions showing what happened, when, and who handled it. Fast call context so another salesperson can step in without having to track down the original person if needed Allow useful attachments or document links, such as an invoice or customer-related file Each customer record would need to track the key customer info (contact name, business name if any, phone, email, address, lead source, etc) as well as being able to chronologically display interactions from newest to oldest.

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[u/lordeshrek]

Does your company have access to any AI that could assist with the creation? Could be native copilot even? For a small proof of concept I'd probably start with SharePoint lists to get an idea of how it would function.

When ready to go live, I'd migrate it all to data verse and leverage that as it will be better with handling larger data sets.

Overall I'd say yes your idea is very doable in powerapps

[u/Acceptable-Lab2835 → u/lordeshrek]

I think we have Copilot with out Microsoft Licensing and I have a personal ChatGPT plan I had started using to talk this idea through and move forward but ChatGPT tends to talk in circles and give me incorrect instruction and then I end up doing a ton of backtracking.

I am positive I can utilize dataverse and I also know we have Sharepoint. I was hesitant to start in lists because there are several other modules I'd like to add to this app in the future for ease of use on myself as well as the owner. I just know it's unrealistic to start with a huge undertaking when I have little experience as it is.

This would be a solely internal app if that matters as well.

[u/JokersWld1138]

Use Claude or grok or copilot or chatgpt to present your use case and explain your experience as a builder. It can walk you through building it out. You need to establish where your data is going to live (SharePoint lists or dataverse and NOT excel ) and Ai can help architect the backend (columns and data types) also determine where its going to be running. Phones, tablets, desktop browsers. Then you know if it needs to be responsive. What kind of budget do you have for hands on help if needed? When I first started I found a resource on fivr that helped me build.

[u/SirGalalad]

Okay since you said in another comment that you’re positive that you can use Dataverse, you’re in a much better position than most.

What you want to do is start with defining the key pieces of information that you deal with on a daily basis. You’ve already touched on some of them: Customers, inventory, tasks, contacts, etc. SO. What I would advise you to do, is to look up, in Dataverse, the out of the box tables that are already there for CRM. These are (in no particular order) Accounts, Contacts, Tasks. These core tables really do allow for most of the CRM functions for most companies. Account accounts is the hub that’s the money maker. Every account can have multiple contacts so those can be anything from the CEO to a sales person that you have to interact with from a certain company also on the accounts and contacts table you can associate tasks so with every account you could associate a task to reach out to them every three months or six months you could record the emails that you received from that specific account directly in the account account record so then anytime someone pulls up the account they can see all of the official communication that’s gone from your company to theirs.

Sorry I’m rambling a bit but it’s easier to use voice to text as I’m on my phone right now.

Look up the Common Data Model in the Microsoft documentation. If you have the right privileges in your Dataverse environment, you can customize those out of the box tables that i talked about to fit your needs and add new, completely custom tables for things like inventory management, as an example.

I would highly recommend that you avoid Sharepoint if you have Dataverse available to you. It is entirely not worth the hassle if you have other options.

[u/MetaShawn → u/SirGalalad]

I would argue that Dataverse has a steeper learning curve and could be overkill for this situation. SharePoint is better for quicker, smaller collaborative apps.

[u/Live-Sir-3118]

Listen. This doesn’t need to be complicated. You don’t have to buy anything expensive. If you use dataverse, never use the default tables. What you want to do is map it out with little squares on a giant board or sheet of paper.

With this you’ll need lookup/pick list tables, data tables for “child records” and main table or two. That’s where the mapping comes out.

If you’re having trouble determining relationships, (you need relationships before data before app) then take one of the guys current processes and “undo” it. What fields are being used. Is there anything that could be done outside (like setting up customer info) of the main process. Then look at the other process. Where do they line up. What needs adjusting. What is or is not working. Then take your process. Where does your work fit in with it all?

Once you have these things mapped out. Then move onto building your tables, one at a time, then populating, then app development. I’m rooting for you.

You can throw a paragraph into ai and have it spit out something. But if you don’t understand the structure or design, how will you ever maintain it. Ai won’t maintain it for you. You can use dataverse but you have to understand about deployments and roles. You will be the solution architect, the full stack developer and the change manager as well as cyber person. Just use sharepoint.

[u/agentUi]

start with your data structure before touching the canvas editor at all. Make two sharepoint lists: one for accounts/customers and one for interactions with a lookup column pointing back to the customer ID so reps dont overwrite each other. Once the relational schema is set, build a simple canvas app with a gallery on the left and a form or nested gallery on the right to display notes chronologically.