Define data for your model-driven app

Model-driven apps behave according to the nature of the data model that underpins them. This manifests itself to app users through views of data housed within tables and the forms used to enter data into records based on those tables.

In addition to editing table views and forms, charts and dashboards are also defined at the level of the table.

Finally, business rules allow organizations to ensure consistent business logic is applied to table records.

While it is possible to create a table without a business rule, chart or dashboard, it is not possible to design a meaningful one without a view or a form.

Finally, while business process flows are highly relevant to tables and the app user experience, they are not authored at the level of the table. Business process flows are created and managed using Power Automate.

The process of designing an app using the app designer in most instances comes after the data model has been prepared. However, an iterative approach is possible using the platform.

How to define a data model

The data model for a model-driven app is defined in Microsoft Dataverse. Power Apps model-driven apps can only be defined using Dataverse.

The apps data-model is defined using the following components: table, column, and relationship. Once these have been created, then the forms and views can be developed further to meet the needs of the organization.

For detailed information about working with these components in Dataverse to define data for your model-driven app, go to the following articles:

Component	Article	Note
Table	Work with tables
Column	Work with columns
Relationships	Work with relationships
Business rule	Create a business rule
Chart	Create a chart
Dashboard	Build a dashboard
Business process flow	Create a business process flow	Uses Power Automate designer

Next steps

Learn about common column properties

Learn about configuring tables

Learn about creating and designing forms

Discover out more about views here

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