Last year was a year of innovation for our clients using Microsoft Power Platform. We absolutely loved seeing them digitally transform and helping them empower better mobile user experiences, integrate mission-critical and third-party applications, and modernise legacy on-premises-based forms and workflows.
It was also last year when we migrated the legacy Nintex forms and workflows to Power Platform for one of the largest construction machinery manufacturers in Australia. The two-phased project involved migrating their content from SharePoint 2016 to Microsoft 365 and, in parallel, transitioning a total of 15 Nintex-based HR, finance, and sales forms and workflows to Power Apps and Power Automate.
If you plan on embarking on Nintex to Power Platform migration, we have some tips and lessons below to ensure your project’s success.
Nintex to Power Platform migration: Tips and lessons
- Understand the functionality of the current Nintex forms. Nintex has a lot of underlying structures, rules, and formulas. While each form may be different depending on its complexity, you need to understand any custom JavaScript used and how it interacts with the form’s elements. Identify any dynamic calculations or dependencies between form fields and how data validation is handled in Nintex so you can replicate or improve it in Power Platform.
- Set up a reusable template for the form’s user interface. Not only can you migrate your Nintex forms much quicker, but having reusable components allows you to create forms with a uniform look and feel for that on-brand, professional-looking app across the rest of the apps you’re building.
- Review how to replicate Nintex workflows in Power Automate. From a workflow logic point of view, Nintex workflows use a graphical interface for designing workflow logic, whereas Power Automate uses a combination of flow actions and conditions. Hence, you need to identify the equivalent actions and connectors and understand how variables, data, and error handling are managed in Nintex and replicate it in Power Automate.
- Do not use the out-of-the-box approval in Power Platform if you want to have an open duration of approval time for your users. That’s because the Run duration and Storage retention of Power Automate is 30 days. After 30 days, the approval tasks will be timed-out. The Approval connector in Power Automate is designed for simple approval scenarios where the approval needs to be completed within a relatively short and fixed time frame. These approval processes are not well-suited for open-ended or long-duration approval workflows.
- Use dynamic parameters to configure the app. Dynamic parameters enable you to build apps that can be easily customised and configured without the need for extensive manual modifications to the underlying app logic. It allows you to create more flexible and adaptable apps, making it easier for system administrators to maintain the app in Power Apps in the long run.
- Plan for the migration of your data. Ensure that the data types and structures in Nintex are compatible with Power Apps, and consider how you will transfer data between the two platforms. If repeating sections are used in Nintex forms, the data saved for this will need to be extracted into a separate list for Power Apps to consume. Permissions for such lists will also need to be managed separately.
- Thoroughly test the migrated forms and workflows in Power Apps to ensure they function as expected. Validate the performance and logic with end-users to catch any issues early.
- Prepare for change management. Users familiar with Nintex will need training on how to use Power Apps effectively. Create documentation and training materials to facilitate this transition.
For businesses running on-premises legacy Nintex forms and workflows, now is the time to leap to Power Platform to benefit from easier administration and seamless automation of your business processes, along with license cost savings, security, and flexibility.
While you can always perform the migration yourself, we highly recommend contacting a proven Microsoft Solutions Partner for Business Applications (Power Platform and Dynamics 365) like Professional Advantage for expert guidance. Spending 45 minutes with our Power Platform consultants can go a long way in getting your Nintex to Power Platform migration right the first time. Schedule your free consultation here today.
