Power Apps now includes an incredible time-saver called Plan Designer — a Copilot-powered feature that generates detailed solution plans either:
- From an existing solution in your environment
- Or via natural language prompts when starting from scratch
In this post, I’ll walk you through both use cases and show how this feature can boost clarity, save design time, and even help you align with stakeholders during app planning.
What is Plan Designer?
Plan Designer uses multiple AI agents to co-author a structured design document including:
- Business problem statement
- User roles and user stories
- Data model structure
- Proposed apps, flows, or agents
- Optional attachments or diagrams
All in a clean, collaborative design workspace inside Power Apps.
Microsoft Docs: Create plan from solution
Scenario 1: Create a Plan from an Existing Solution
Got a solution with an app and some tables? You can generate a full breakdown from it automatically.
Steps:
- Navigate to Power Apps
- Go to Solutions > pick your solution
- Click on Create a plan
- Choose From this solution
- Let Copilot generate the plan based on solution contents
Output:
- Business problem
- User personas and stories
- Tables and relationships
- Suggested improvements or integrations
Scenario 2: Create a Plan from Prompt
If you’re starting fresh, describe the business requirement in natural language and let Plan Designer do the rest.
Sample Prompt:
Build an app to manage paid time off requests. Employees should submit requests, and managers should approve or reject. HR should be able to override in special cases.
Output:
- User roles: Employee, Manager, HR
- User stories: Submit PTO, View balance, Approve request, HR override
- Tables: Request, Balance, Employee
- Suggested logic: Approval flows, Role-based forms, Notifications
Learn more: Create a plan from a prompt
Key Features
- Co-authoring with collaborators
- Export plan to PDF
- Attach diagrams, mockups, or screenshots
- Save plan back to the solution
Why Use This?
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| Faster design | Skip repetitive documentation steps |
| Better alignment | Share plans with stakeholders |
| Repeatable patterns | Use for audits, discovery, and handovers |
Final Thoughts
Plan Designer in Power Apps brings structure, speed, and collaboration to your solution planning process. Whether you're reviewing an old solution or kicking off a new app idea, this feature saves time and gives you a clean blueprint to build from.
If you're building solutions regularly, give this a try and see how much planning time you can save.
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