Ten Power Platform quick wins you can deliver in a week

One of the most effective ways to build momentum for a Power Platform programme is to deliver something visible early. Not a proof of concept. Not a pilot. Something real that people actually use, delivered fast.

Here are ten things I have delivered in a week or less that made an immediate difference — and that you can replicate in almost any organisation.

1. Approval flow for a manual email process

Find the process where approvals happen via email chains. Two hours in Power Automate with adaptive cards in Teams. Approvers click a button instead of forwarding emails. Cycle time drops by days, not hours.

2. SharePoint list with a canvas app front end

Find the Excel file that three people edit by saving over each other. Move the data to a SharePoint list. Build a simple canvas app in a day. Data is now concurrent and auditable.

3. Automated daily report

Find the report someone builds manually every morning by copying numbers into an email. Automate the data pull, format the output as an HTML table in Power Automate, send it automatically at 7am. The person who built it manually gets an hour of their morning back every single day.

4. New starter onboarding checklist

A canvas app with a checklist for new starters and their managers. Tracks completion, sends reminders, notifies HR when done. Replaces a Word document that nobody updated.

5. Leave request form

A Power Apps form that submits to a SharePoint list, triggers an approval flow, and updates a Teams channel. Replaces the calendar invite method that leaves no audit trail.

6. DLP policy audit

Not a build — a review. Open the Power Platform admin centre. Look at your DLP policies. Identify gaps. Document them. This takes half a day and gives you a governance roadmap that leadership can understand.

7. Environment naming cleanup

Another governance quick win. Rename your environments to follow a consistent convention. Add descriptions. Assign owners. The admin centre goes from confusing to legible in a few hours.

8. CoE kit dashboard for leadership

If you have the CoE Starter Kit deployed, build a single Power BI page that shows the numbers leadership cares about: active apps, active makers, flows running in production. Pin it to Teams. Update it weekly.

9. Connector inventory

Export a list of every connector in use across your tenant from the CoE kit. Categorise them. Identify any that should not be in production. This takes a morning and is often the first time anyone has seen the full picture.

10. Maker welcome email

If you have Managed Environments enabled, configure the maker welcome email. This is the first official communication a new maker receives from the CoE. Make it warm, useful, and specific about where to get help. It takes an hour and creates a first impression that lasts.

Quick wins are not substitutes for strategy. They are the evidence you need to get the strategy funded. Deliver one a week for ten weeks and leadership will have seen enough to invest in the longer-term work.