How UK businesses are replacing disconnected HR spreadsheets with a single Power Platform HR management suite, covering recruitment, onboarding, absence, performance, and offboarding.
Most HR teams in UK businesses are running on a patchwork of spreadsheets, shared drives, and email chains. Holiday requests land in inboxes. Appraisal forms live in SharePoint folders nobody can find. Absence data is maintained by hand in Excel. The result: HR spending the majority of its time on administration instead of people.
Why Power Platform Is the Right Foundation for HR
Off-the-shelf HR software (whether that's BambooHR, Workday, or HiBob) is built for generic HR processes. It ships with assumptions about how your organisation works, and changing those assumptions means either compromising your process or paying for expensive customisation.
Power Platform is different. Built on Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, it gives you a blank canvas to model your exact HR processes, with the speed of low-code development and the governance of enterprise software. Because it runs in your own Microsoft 365 tenant, your HR data never leaves your environment, and your existing IT security policies apply automatically.
Why businesses choose Power Platform for HR:
- Built to your processes, not a generic template you have to adapt around
- Runs inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, data never leaves your environment
- Integrates natively with Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and Azure Active Directory
- No per-seat SaaS licence for each employee, leverage existing Microsoft licences
- Configurable as your organisation grows, without a new vendor relationship
The Six Modules: Full Employee Lifecycle Coverage
Module 1: Recruitment & Vacancy Management
The recruitment module manages the end-to-end hiring process from vacancy approval through to offer acceptance. Line managers submit vacancy requests via Power Apps, which route through a configurable approval chain. Approved vacancies are tracked through a kanban-style pipeline.
- Vacancy approval workflows with budget holder sign-off
- Candidate pipeline tracking with interview scheduling via Outlook
- Offer letter generation from approved templates
- Automatic new starter record creation on offer acceptance
Module 2: Onboarding & New Starter Journey
Our onboarding module automates the entire new starter journey (from the moment a job offer is accepted to the end of the probation period) ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
- Automated IT provisioning requests triggered on new starter creation
- Digital document signing via Adobe Acrobat Sign or DocuSign
- Structured induction task list assigned to HR, IT, and line manager
- Buddy allocation and introduction workflow via Microsoft Teams
- Probation review reminders and sign-off tracking
Module 3: Absence & Leave Management
Employees submit holiday and absence requests via a mobile-friendly Power Apps interface, available on any device without a VPN. Line managers receive approval requests in Teams or Outlook, and approved leave syncs automatically to the team calendar.
- Self-service leave requests via Power Apps mobile
- Line manager approval in Teams with one-click accept/reject
- Entitlement balance calculation including carry-over and part-year proration
- Bradford Factor tracking with configurable trigger thresholds
- Return-to-work interview scheduling and sign-off capture
Module 4: Performance & Appraisal Management
The performance module replaces Word documents emailed back and forth with a structured, digitally tracked appraisal cycle.
- Configurable review cycles, quarterly check-ins, annual appraisals, or both
- Employee self-assessment and manager rating forms with objective tracking
- Calibration workflow for HR review before final scores are confirmed
- Development plan creation linked to L&D module training catalogue
- Appraisal completion reporting for the HR Director dashboard
Module 5: Learning & Development Tracking
The L&D module tracks mandatory and optional training completions across the workforce, flags certifications approaching expiry, and maintains a complete learning record per employee linked to their Dataverse profile.
- Training catalogue with mandatory and optional course tracking
- Automated reminders for expiring certifications and mandatory renewals
- Learning record linked to employee profile and appraisal development plan
- Completion reporting by department, role, and training type
- Integration with external LMS platforms via Power Automate connector
Module 6: Offboarding & Leaver Management
Leaver processes are notoriously prone to gaps, equipment not returned, system access left open, payroll not notified in time. The offboarding module orchestrates every step from resignation acceptance to final day.
- Resignation acceptance workflow with notice period calculation
- IT deprovisioning checklist triggered automatically on leaver record creation
- Equipment return tracking with confirmation sign-off
- Exit interview scheduling and response capture
- Payroll and benefits notification workflows with audit trail
HR Analytics: Real-Time Workforce Intelligence
Because every module writes to the same Dataverse employee record, Power BI can surface a complete picture of your workforce in real time, without a data warehouse, without manual data exports, and without waiting for the end-of-month reporting pack.
Standard Power BI dashboards included:
- Headcount and turnover trends by department
- Absence rate and Bradford Factor league table
- Appraisal completion rate by manager
- Training compliance by role and certification type
- Time-to-hire and offer acceptance rates
- Leaver reasons and exit interview themes
Who This Solution Is Designed For
This solution is designed for UK businesses of 100–2,000 employees who already have Microsoft 365 and want a properly configured HR platform without the cost and complexity of an enterprise HRIS implementation.
- Professional Services Firms: Law firms, consultancies, and accountancy practices with complex approval hierarchies and regulatory training requirements.
- Manufacturing & Logistics: Multi-site operations with shift workers, complex absence patterns, and mandatory compliance training.
- Healthcare & Social Care: Organisations with DBS renewal tracking, mandatory training compliance, and high-volume recruitment cycles.
- Growing SMEs: Businesses that have outgrown Excel HR but aren't ready for the cost and lock-in of enterprise HCM software.
Implementation Timeline
A full six-module deployment for a 500-person business typically takes 8–12 weeks from kick-off to go-live. For organisations that want to start with a single module (typically Absence & Leave or Onboarding) a phased deployment can be live in as little as 3 weeks.
| Phase | Timeline | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery & Design | Weeks 1–2 | Process mapping, data model design, and configuration workshops with your HR team. |
| Build & Configure | Weeks 3–8 | Platform configuration, Power Automate workflows, data migration, and Power BI setup. |
| Test & Go-Live | Weeks 9–12 | User acceptance testing, training, and a supported go-live with hypercare cover. |
What's included in every engagement: discovery and process mapping workshop, full platform configuration to your processes, data migration from existing spreadsheets or HRIS, Dataverse data model and security role setup, Power BI dashboard configuration, user acceptance testing with your HR team, go-live support and hypercare period, training for HR administrators and end users, 30-day post go-live support included, documentation and admin handover pack.
