Power Platform CoE represented by building

Power Platform Center Of Excellence

Establishing a CoE, or Center of Excellence for Microsoft’s Power Platform helps create a safe framework in which Citizen Developers can explore and grow with confidence. Without question, the adoption of low-code in enterprises presents many opportunities. However, part of that truth is that there remain some questions and uncertainties around security, governance, and enablement. This article describes how a CoE can help alleviate these concerns and give you confidence in working with the Power Platform.

What is a Center of Excellence (CoE)?

A Center of Excellence (CoE) accelerates the growth of an organization by breaking down silos and centralizing departmental knowledge. Further, a successful Power Platform CoE fosters innovation based on cross-departmental standards and compliance rules, thus enabling effective governance.

Why should I establish a CoE?

Microsoft’s Power Platform is designed with non-developers in mind. It allows departments to create custom applications tailored to their needs. For all the opportunities this creates, however, there are also inherent risks that need to be contained. The multitude of possibilities also results in a multitude of possible risk points. Clear rules are needed to protect your company and its data. Transparent policies and well-defined confirmation mechanisms are your safeguards against violations and data loss. They provide the trust that enables you and citizen-developers to work with confidence and create true innovation.

A successful CoE for the Power Platform creates the framework in which your employees can explore and push boundaries. And should they ever reach their limits, your CoE also includes the right points of contact to help them move beyond them.

Define a strategy for your Low-Code CoE

To successfully build your CoE for Power Platform adoption, you need to be clear about its purpose. Define its goals and consider which departments and people will be involved. Then set a timeline and rules that will guide the process. Before you start though, you should determine your company’s approach to low-code development.

If you’re aiming for high adoption of low-code technology within your business, the „citizen development“ approach is likely to be your best choice. With this, you enable employees of your company to create their own solutions. This approach accelerates digital transformation immensely but also brings the need for rules. To ensure that all apps created and yet to be created are in line with your compliance framework, guidelines are needed. Clear frameworks allow your citizen-developers to create with confidence and be sure not to violate any rules at any time.

Another approach is „centralized development“, in which a team of colleagues from the IT department develops solutions for your company. In this, besides a demand process for your company’s requests, you need to spend less effort on compliance testing. Make sure to size your team large enough to meet your business needs. By this, you make sure that IT doesn’t become a bottleneck in your digital transformation.

Many companies rely on a combination of citizen and centralized development. In this scenario, you empower your employees to create their own solutions, while a dedicated team takes on more complex solutions and supports your citizen developers when challenges arise.

Assemble a team of expertise

The Power Platform no longer makes it the exclusive responsibility of your experienced developers to build applications for various departments. However, those same developers have the experience that citizen developers may still lack. With a Power Platform Center of Excellence, you connect your experienced Low-Code developers with less-experienced citizen developers. Clear rules, frameworks, best practices, and training opportunities allow Citizen developers to leverage the experience of your experts as they innovate and develop in accordance with predefined rules.

Funding your CoE

Define your budget and consider what licenses, investments, and training will be required to establish your individual Center of Excellence. 

Establish governance and security policies within your Power Platform CoE

The goal of your CoE and successful Power Platform governance is to enable employees to comply with safety-critical processes. It helps monitor progress and violations quickly and efficiently. Establish clear rules to enable effective governance and fast progress. Create transparency for your rules and policies. This allows your low-code developers to operate in a space with clear and understandable guidelines and to utilize it to its full potential.

A final, but all the more important note: Build YOUR CoE

One of the biggest benefits of low-code development is that citizen developers can create custom solutions for the unique challenges of their departments and your organization. To support this, it is only logical that the CoE that will assist them and ensure a safe environment for low-code development is also aligned with the individual needs of your organization.

What makes Runpipe a best-in-class CoE for the Power Platform?

  • Set up and ready to use in just a few days
  • Security, governance, and enablement for the Power Platform and other low-code solutions – all in one place
  • Instead of complicated licensing structures, Runpipe offers an all-in-one concept that also helps keep track of existing licenses 
  • Keep visibility with Runpipe’s context-driven approach that bundles related apps, flows, and dashboards into designated projects
  • Enforce governance across multiple low-code platforms such as Microsoft’s Power Platform

Runpipe is an out-of-the-box collaboration and governance tool for your business using the Power Platform. Find more information on Power Platform Governance on our website or at Microsoft.

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