What Is the Power Platform Center of Excellence—and Why You Need One

Introduction

As Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI adoption grows, so do the risks of chaos: duplicated apps, shadow IT, security gaps, and inconsistent standards.

That’s where a Center of Excellence (CoE) comes in. It’s not just for big enterprises—SMEs benefit even more by setting guardrails early. In this blog, we’ll explain what a CoE is, what it includes, and how to set one up quickly using Microsoft’s own tools.

Blog Index

Why Start with Power Apps?

A Center of Excellence is a framework and toolkit to:

Monitor what’s being built (apps, flows, dashboards)

Enforce standards for data use, security, and access

Support makers with templates and learning paths

Create transparency for IT and business leadership

Microsoft provides a free CoE Starter Kit to help organizations begin this journey.

Stat Highlight: Organizations that implement a CoE reduce platform sprawl and shadow IT by up to 90%, according to internal Microsoft adoption research.

Why SMEs Shouldn’t Ignore Governance

You may only have a handful of Power Apps today—but without visibility, that handful can turn into dozens of unmanaged apps, duplicated logic, and risk.

Common issues we see:

  • No record of who built or owns each app
  • Apps using sensitive data with no oversight
  • Overlapping flows causing errors or conflicts
A CoE prevents this by bringing structure without slowing down innovation.

What the Microsoft CoE Starter Kit Includes

Microsoft’s CoE Starter Kit is a collection of Power Platform components, including:

Power BI dashboards showing app and flow usage

Admin apps for reviewing apps, environments, and makers

Flows for detecting orphaned apps or inactive users

Maker onboarding templates and guidance materials

It’s built entirely using Power Platform—so you can customize it to fit your team’s needs.

Our Proven CoE Setup Plan

Here’s the process we use when helping SMEs implement governance:
  • Define Environment Strategy → Dev, Test, Prod, or departmental splits
  • Install the CoE Starter Kit in a secure, dedicated environment
  • Customize reports and flows to fit your policies
  • Identify champions and run onboarding sessions
  • Review usage monthly and update based on feedback

🛡 We helped a logistics client implement governance across 12 departments in under 4 weeks.

Checklist: Are You Ready for a CoE?

CoE Readiness Checklist
  • ⚙️ You have more than 10 Power Platform apps or flows
  • 🧑🤝🧑 You don’t know who owns every solution in your tenant
  • 🔐 You use connectors that touch business or personal data
  • 🧭 You want consistent practices across departments
  • 🧩 You plan to scale or onboard more makers soon

If 3 or more apply, now is the time to implement a CoE.

FAQs

Do we need a full-time team to run a CoE?
No. Many SMEs manage governance with a part-time CoE lead and 1–2 internal champions.
Is the CoE Starter Kit free?
Yes, it’s provided by Microsoft at no cost and is updated regularly.
What kind of data does the CoE collect?
It tracks metadata (app names, owners, usage) but not sensitive business data.
Can we customize the dashboards and reports?
Absolutely. All components are built in Power Platform and fully extendable.
What’s the first step we should take?
Start with visibility—install the CoE kit and review your current app and flow inventory.
👉 Want help setting up your CoE?
Book a Governance Discovery Session
Powercraft
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