7 Power Apps and Power Automate Scenarios That Extend Legacy ERP Without Replacing It
Most business leaders know their ERP isn’t perfect. It handles financials and core operations – but wasn’t built for today’s pace or how your teams work.
Conventional wisdom offers two options: live with the limitations or undergo massive replacement costing millions. Here’s the thing: there’s a third path. Low-code platforms like Power Apps and Power Automate extend your existing ERP without replacing it.
This means building solutions on top of your legacy system. You keep the stability while adding the flexibility teams need.
1. Mobile Access for Field Teams
Warehouse managers and field technicians need ERP data but aren’t at desks. Power Apps enables responsive mobile applications providing on-the-go access to standard ERP functionality.
A logistics company might build an app letting drivers update delivery status and check inventory – all synced back to the ERP in real time. The ERP remains the system of record, but workers get an interface designed for how they operate.
2. Customer Self-Service Portals
Customers want to check orders and view invoices without calling. Building this into legacy ERP directly would be expensive.
Power Pages lets you build portals where clients securely access their ERP data – invoices, orders, statements – with role-based security. Fewer support calls. 24/7 customer access. Protected data.
3. Automated Approval Workflows
Traditional approval processes involve email chains and manual handoffs. Each creates delays and potential for things to fall through the cracks.
Power Apps enables automated approval workflows tailored to your requirements. Purchase orders, expense reports, time-off requests – whatever needs approval flows through automated pathways. Managers get real-time visibility. Decision-making accelerates.
Approvals route through Power Automate while final data writes back to your ERP once approved. No system duplication.
4. Bridging the ERP-CRM Gap
Your sales team works in CRM. Order fulfillment works in ERP. The gap creates friction and manual data entry.
Build a Power App surfacing ERP data – order history, product details – directly within CRM. Tech support sees what customers purchased without switching systems. Include order entry forms sending new orders back to ERP for fulfillment.
For real estate firms managing both property information and customer relationships, this bridging proves valuable. The same works in healthcare, where patient information flows between clinical and billing systems.
5. Legacy System Data Extraction
Many organizations run critical processes on systems never designed to talk to modern applications. When legacy systems lack modern APIs, Robotic Process Automation offers a solution by automating user interface interactions.
Power Automate’s RPA capabilities can log into old systems, navigate screens, extract reports, and feed information into modern tools like Power BI or Teams. Your decades-old system keeps running while your team gets insights in usable formats.
6. Enhanced Data Entry Interfaces
ERP data entry screens were built by developers, not by the people who use them daily. The result is often clunky interfaces that slow down work and create errors.
Power Apps enables intuitive, error-resistant data entry interfaces with built-in validation rules, drop-down menus, conditional logic, and real-time validation that prevent bad data from reaching your system.
The data still flows to the ERP, but the user experience transforms completely.
7. Third-Party System Integration
Your business probably uses specialized software alongside your ERP – maybe warehouse management, e-commerce platforms, or industry-specific tools.
Power Apps empowers you to create custom connectors bridging ERP systems and external applications. Power Automate orchestrates data flow between systems. Information updates automatically rather than through manual exports. Your teams work with preferred tools while maintaining data consistency.
The Business Case Beyond Technology
These scenarios solve specific problems without wholesale replacement. You’re not asking finance to abandon their fifteen-year-old ERP. You’re giving them better tools.
The cost differential matters. Power Apps development can take approximately 80 hours – compare that to ERP replacement projects measured in years and millions.
Start with one pain point, prove value, then expand. Incremental improvement beats disruptive overhaul.
Moving Forward
The question isn’t whether your legacy ERP is perfect – of course it isn’t. The question is whether you need to replace it entirely or extend it strategically.
For most organizations, extension makes more business sense. Your ERP handles what it does well. Low-code platforms handle the gaps, integrations, user experience improvements, and mobile requirements.
As Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Solutions specialists, Direction Software LLP brings over two decades of implementation experience across multiple industries. Our team helps you identify the right approach for your specific situation – whether extending your current system, planning strategic migration, or finding the right balance. If you’d like to explore what’s possible, reach out for a conversation or connect with us on social media for insights on making enterprise systems work better.
About the author:
Jaspreet Singh – General Manager
Leading multiple technical teams at Direction Software LLP to deliver excellent service to customers