Organisational Change Management simplified through the implementation of a sophisticated PowerApps solution

With a global supply network and a portfolio of branded and customer own brand products, Circyl’s new customer is one of Europe’s largest food and drinks groups that specialises in the manufacture, import and distribution of well-known products.

With a focus on strong corporate governance and technical compliance, the business has built a formidable reputation for its commitment to quality and customer service, ensuring ambitious standards are consistently met.

Pain points

In recent years, the organisation has invested heavily in its technology, utilising a variety of solutions to deliver best in class applications for its internal customers. Historically, SharePoint was relied upon for People Management, but the existing solution was to be superseded by an application within a new HR system.

However, the new HR solution did not contain the functionality required for managing organisational change, and they were keen to implement a Microsoft 365-based system that could cope with this. Any new solution would need to enhance and improve the existing functionality within the legacy SharePoint solution, delivering a more efficient user experience and leveraging the customers investment in Microsoft 365.

To help streamline internal processes, the new user-friendly application would utilise a simple form submission for employees to outline proposals for an organisational structure change, with an approval workflow running seamlessly in the background to ensure that only authorised alterations are made.

Objectives and approach

To ensure consistency throughout the entire organisation and its ongoing operations, the application had to be developed in a way that would allow it to sit comfortably within Microsoft’s Power Platform, specifically PowerApps and Power Automate.

Known as the ‘organisational change’ application, it would be designed to work alongside several other important solutions within the existing SharePoint Online intranet, allowing users to generate requests for individuals or departments.

To deliver this, Circyl agreed to adopt an agile methodology, working collaboratively with key customer employees to ensure the engagement and deliverables were met and the technical requirements of the solution were achieved.

During an initial requirements workshop, success criteria were agreed to ensure all aspects of the project were understood by both parties, whilst giving Circyl the opportunity to fully understand the existing environments, technology platforms and associated dependencies.

Outcomes and principles

Upon completion, the agile engagement delivered several key building blocks that ensured the application was fit for purpose.

These included:

SharePoint Online Data Structures

• Data points are stored in the ‘content type’ hub for easy re-use
• Document library designed to manage the permissions of individual attachments
• Approver’s list can be utilised to define roles within the authorisation workflow to maximise flexibility and allow for future change without the need for workflow modification

PowerApps solution

• Mobile-friendly interface that adhered to corporate brand guidelines
• Contains multiple views/forms including ‘home’, ‘create a new request’ and ‘my forms’, whilst being supported by user controls and admin access options
• The application delivered a ‘minimal click’ solution that allowed an approver to seamlessly navigate to the desired form to approve/reject

Platform configuration

• The necessary user permissions and roles were set-up so the solution could be utilised from the moment it launched
• Lists and libraries were hidden to prevent users from accidentally navigating to them in SharePoint
• An ‘admin area’ was created for data and reporting management