Power Apps, premium automation and Power BI
This stage is less about 'more Copilot' and more about building proper internal tools around your processes and data. It becomes relevant when spreadsheets, Lists and simple flows are no longer enough.
Typical products and features
- Power Apps
- Dataverse
- Power Automate Premium
- Premium connectors
- Custom connectors
- On-premises data gateway
- Power BI Pro
- Power BI/Fabric capacity where required
Best-fit users
- Process owners
- IT-supported makers
- Operations managers
- Data analysts
- Quality managers
- Case management teams
Extra cost risk: Higher; production apps, premium connectors and some analytics capabilities need paid licences or capacity
Watch-outs
- Production Power Apps often create a user-licensing commitment that should be understood before rollout.
- Dataverse and premium connectors change the cost and governance profile.
- Apps handling regulated decisions need audit trail, retention, access design and clear human accountability.
- Treat business-system integrations as lifecycle-managed services with named owners and review dates.
Example use cases (12)
Monitor a DfE web page for changes automatically
A scheduled Power Automate flow checks a specified DfE page, compares the current content with the previously stored version, alerts the policy team when something changes and optionally uses AI to explain the difference.
Where: Power Automate
Centre case-management app
Manage queries, complaints, actions and status in one place
Where: Power Apps
Complaints and appeals tracker
Manage deadlines, evidence and review stages
Where: Power Apps
Qualification development register
Track qualification ideas, approvals and review dates
Where: Power Apps
EQA visit app
Capture visit notes, actions and follow-ups
Where: Power Apps mobile app
Conflicts register
Capture and manage conflicts of interest
Where: Power Apps
Connect to assessment platform
Push or pull data from a line-of-business system
Where: Power Automate Premium
Legacy system assistant
Attended desktop automation for repetitive entry
Where: Power Automate Desktop
Operational dashboard
Show query volumes, EQA actions and complaint timelines
Where: Power BI
AI dashboard explanation
Ask Copilot to explain trends in Power BI
Where: Power BI
Document QA app
Staff submit documents and receive checklist feedback
Where: Power Apps + Power Automate
Track Copilot ROI by use case
A leadership team records time saved, quality improvements, throughput, adoption evidence and review burden for selected Copilot pilots before buying more licences.
Where: Power BI / Lists / Excel / Copilot Dashboard