Introduction
Every organisation goes through change due to internal (something in the organisation) and/or external (things happening out of the organisations control) factors. Without adopting change an organisation can fall behind competitors, be non-compliant with law/regulation and fail. Accepting change is important in any business however must be embraced by everyone. The best way to embrace change is by reacting positively and managing communication, adoption, and deployment in a productive manner. This is where a Centre of Excellence (CoE) comes into play. This article primarily focuses on the Power Platform and Power BI CoE.
Accepting Change
More organisations are starting to modernise their existing business processes using innovative technology located in the cloud. Specifically, Microsoft has been pushing the adoption of the Power Platform massively as a potential suite of products that enable just that. However, jumping headfirst into modern technology is not a smart decision, the business still needs to understand where they currently stand and where they want to get to. This is all possibly by conducting the following activities:
- Reviewing the current “as-is” problem or process.
- Identify the benefits of modernising.
- Understand any new requirements to enhance a process.
- Identify gains in performance, efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
- Understand current skills in the business.
- Discover methods of marketing new products and solutions internally.
Typically, this is when an organisation chooses to run a Proof of Value (PoV). This is a quick way to understand the above and to understand if the selected product or products are suitable for the organisation. But it does not end there, the next step is to understand how these products can be deployed in a controlled fashion.
Building the CoE
This is Microsoft introduction to a Power Platform CoE:
“Establishing a Microsoft Power Platform Centre of Excellence (CoE) means investing in and nurturing organic growth while maintaining governance and control. A CoE is designed to drive innovation and improvement, and as a central function it can break down geographic and organizational silos. A CoE can be a powerful way for an organization to align around business goals rather than individual department metrics.” ~Microsoft
The full article can be found here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/overview
As you can see from the above and in the article getting these key principles in place ensure that the business can achieve change in a controlled manner. This includes creating and managing the following activities and strategies:
- Environment Strategy
- Security Strategy
- Licensing
- Data Maturity
- Skills Assessment
- Adoption Strategy
- Communication Strategy
- Process Automation
- Collaboration
It is also important that a technical lead engaged at this stage as implementing different strategies may be required based on the chosen product suite. E.g. implementing a Power BI CoE is different compared to a Power Platform CoE:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/overview
A CoE regardless of technology will help in these areas:
- Building communications in a team to enhance collaboration and delivery.
- Defining a clear set of standards to adopt technology and to modernise processes.
- Ensuring success is more achievable.
- Re-assuring the business.
- Distribution of product and process information.
Primary the CoE will help determine where an organisation currently is with a product and where they want to be whilst ensuring strong governance and adoption. It is the job of the CoE to define an approach in getting to the “to-be” whilst following Microsoft best-practice. This is made easier by deploying the CoE Starter Kit:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/guidance/coe/setup
How risual can help
risual strives to make change as easy as possible whilst supporting the adoption of technology. If you would like to learn more, please go to the following link:
