TxDOT Empowers Employees to Create Their Own Apps

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is empowering its employees to create their own applications through its Division Maintained Applications Platform Program (DMAPP).

As part of the DMAPP initiative, TxDOT has granted employees access to Microsoft’s Power Platform suite, which includes the tools Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI and Copilot Studio. These allow users with little to no coding experience to develop custom internal-facing solutions, including applications, workflows and dashboards using prebuilt templates.

In conversation with Industry Insider — Texas, TxDOT explained that the program allows agency divisions to opt in by agreeing to an acceptable use agreement and designating two administrators. The agreement restricts the storage of sensitive data and mandates the treatment of any external-facing applications as formal IT projects.

Power Pages, another tool typically included with the Power Platform suite, is automatically disabled to prevent the creation of public-facing apps for security purposes.

Leading the initiative, TxDOT’s IT Division (ITD) provides those that opt in their own dedicated environment, which includes global security settings and connectors that enable system integration with SharePoint, Docusign and email.

According to TxDOT, “ITD retains the authority to evaluate and approve additional connectors as needed, ensuring that the platform remains secure and compliant.”

As part of the initiative, TxDOT holds monthly community of practice meetings for participating divisions to share their experiences with the program. According to CIO Anh Selissen, the added collaboration aspect helps TxDOT innovate and improve efficiency.

“By supporting citizen development, we allow these creative ideas to flourish while keeping everything secure and organized,” said Selissen in a LinkedIn post. “Everyone has more time for other important tasks … Even though it's usually just IT making apps, DMAPP lets everyone support the TxDOT mission in a safer way. If everyone works together, we can achieve great things.”

Since it’s launch, DMAPP has grown to include 183 participating employees, resulting in the creation and implementation of 400 applications.