Top Features of Microsoft Project Siena You Need to Know

Microsoft Project Siena vs. Power Apps: Which Is Right for You?Microsoft Project Siena and Power Apps are both tools aimed at helping users create custom applications without deep traditional coding. They target similar problems — enabling business users, analysts, and citizen developers to turn processes and data into usable interfaces — but they differ substantially in scope, capabilities, integration, and long-term viability. This article compares the two across history, core features, use cases, pricing and licensing, pros and cons, and recommended choices for different scenarios.

Background and lifecycle

• Microsoft Project Siena (often just “Siena”) was introduced by Microsoft as an experimental, lightweight visual app builder focused on creating tablet and mobile apps quickly. It emphasized drag-and-drop, data binding to common cloud and local sources, and rapid prototyping. However, Siena was an early-generation tool and is no longer actively developed or promoted by Microsoft as a strategic product.

• Microsoft Power Apps is part of the Microsoft Power Platform (which also includes Power Automate, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents). Power Apps represents Microsoft’s current, actively developed low-code app platform for building canvas and model-driven apps, and it integrates tightly with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and the Common Data Service (Dataverse). Power Apps is the successor in Microsoft’s low-code strategy and receives regular updates, enterprise governance features, and broad connector support.

Short fact: Siena is deprecated; Power Apps is Microsoft’s current, actively supported low-code platform.

Target users and developer experience

• Siena: targeted business analysts and casual app creators who needed fast, visual tools to prototype or build basic mobile/tablet apps without coding. The design surface was simple and approachable for non-developers.

• Power Apps: targets a broader audience — from citizen developers to professional developers and IT admins. It provides two primary development models:

  • Canvas apps: pixel-perfect, drag-and-drop experience similar in spirit to Siena but far more powerful and extensible.
  • Model-driven apps: data-first applications built on Dataverse with autogenerated UI based on data model and business logic.

Power Apps also supports advanced extensibility via Power Fx (Excel-like formula language), custom connectors, and component frameworks for pro devs.

Key features and capabilities

• Ease of use and rapid prototyping

  • Siena: extremely simple drag-and-drop, quick for very basic workflows and UI prototypes.
  • Power Apps: canvas apps offer similar drag-and-drop ease but include far more controls, properties, and logic. Power Fx formulas let users add complex behavior without traditional code.

• Data connectivity

  • Siena: supported a limited set of data sources relevant at its time.
  • Power Apps: supports 700+ connectors (including SharePoint, SQL Server, OneDrive, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and custom connectors), and deep integration with Dataverse for relational data, business rules, and security.

• Extensibility and customization

  • Siena: limited extensibility.
  • Power Apps: rich extensibility — custom components (PCF), custom connectors, Azure Functions, embedding custom web resources, and integration with Azure DevOps and ALM pipelines.

• Governance, security, and enterprise readiness

  • Siena: lacked enterprise-level governance features.
  • Power Apps: offers role-based access control, environment separation, data loss prevention policies, audit logs, and admin center tools for governance and monitoring.

• Offline capabilities and device features

  • Siena: basic local storage and device API access (for its era).
  • Power Apps: strong support for offline scenarios in canvas apps, camera/GPS/biometrics access via device functions, and responsive layouts for different form factors.

• Deployment and lifecycle

  • Siena: limited deployment and versioning options.
  • Power Apps: structured environments, solutions, managed/unmanaged solutions, ALM support, and integration with CI/CD pipelines.

Typical use cases

• Choose Siena (historically) if:

  • You needed to prototype a simple tablet/mobile UI quickly and were working within the narrow data/connectivity scope Siena offered.
  • You valued minimal complexity and only basic app functionality.

• Choose Power Apps if:

  • You need enterprise-ready apps that integrate with Microsoft 365, Dataverse, or other line-of-business systems.
  • You require governance, security controls, and lifecycle management.
  • You want extensibility (custom connectors, custom code) or expect to scale usage across departments.
  • You need both canvas-style tailored UIs and model-driven apps for data-centric scenarios.

Short fact: For new projects, Power Apps is the recommended choice; Siena should not be used for new development.

Pricing and licensing (high-level)

• Siena: being an older experimental offering, it did not follow the modern Power Platform licensing model and is not commercially offered today.

• Power Apps: licensing includes per-app plans, per-user plans, and entitlements via Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 for some use scenarios. Enterprises should review the latest Microsoft licensing documentation or work with a Microsoft partner to fit needs and scale.

Pros and cons

Migration considerations

If you have legacy apps built with Siena, plan migration steps:

• Inventory: list existing Siena apps, data connections, and business logic.
• Map features: identify equivalent Power Apps features (canvas app controls, Power Fx formulas, connectors).
• Rebuild vs. migrate: due to differences in architecture, rebuilding apps in Power Apps canvas model is often more practical than attempting direct conversions.
• Test thoroughly: offline behavior, device features, and integrations may differ.
• Governance: move apps into controlled environments, apply data loss prevention policies, and set up lifecycle pipelines.

Recommended choice by scenario

• Small team, quick prototype, throwaway app: Power Apps canvas app (fast, modern, supported).
• Departmental automation integrated with Microsoft 365 or Dynamics: Power Apps + Dataverse.
• Enterprise deployments needing governance and CI/CD: Power Apps with environments, solutions, and ALM processes.
• Existing Siena apps needing continued operation: plan migration to Power Apps as a medium-term priority.

Conclusion

Microsoft Project Siena served as an approachable early experiment in visual app building, but it is effectively obsolete. Power Apps is Microsoft’s modern, fully supported low-code platform that covers everything Siena aimed to do and far more: enterprise integration, governance, extensibility, and scale. For any new development or long-term projects, choose Power Apps. If you have legacy Siena apps, schedule a migration to Power Apps to ensure ongoing support and security.