The work that repeats, and the environments underneath it
If a person does it every week, it should not be a person doing it.
We turn jobs that are done by hand into something written down and repeatable, so a holiday or a resignation does not stop them.
Most automation work starts with one of these.
- Every request for an account or an environment waits for the one person who knows how.
- New starters are given a copy of their predecessor's access.
- Flows built by people who have since left are still running.
If one of these is happening in your business, tell us which one and we will start there.
Contact usWhat we take on.
What we report back
We report what ran, what it changed and where it stopped.
- A new starter gets their account, groups, mailbox and licence from one request.
- Leavers lose access on the day, with what they held recorded first.
- We run changes across hundreds of accounts from one checked list.
- Approvals go to a named person, and each decision is recorded.
- We define environments in Bicep or Terraform, so they can be rebuilt from the same files.
- Every deployment goes through a reviewed pipeline in Azure DevOps or GitHub.
- We give each Power Platform flow a named owner and bring it under a written policy.
Six jobs that are still being done by hand.
Each of these began as a one-off favour and has been part of someone's job ever since.
Setting up a new starter
By hand
They are given a copy of a colleague's access, including rights nobody chose for them.
From one definition
They start with what their role needs and nothing copied from anyone else.
Somebody changing role
By hand
They gain the new role's access and keep the old role's too.
From one definition
The old role's access comes off in the same step that gives them the new one.
Somebody leaving
By hand
Their access stays until it is noticed, and there is no list of what they had.
From one definition
Nothing of theirs still works the day after they leave.
A change that touches hundreds of accounts
By hand
It is done one account at a time over a couple of weeks, and staff find the mistakes when something stops working.
From one definition
Every account gets the same change in one run.
Building an environment
By hand
Each one is built by hand in the portal, so no two come out quite the same.
From one definition
Building it a second time gives you the same environment.
Getting a change into production
By hand
Someone makes the change straight in production, and nothing records what they did.
From one definition
For any change in production, you can see who reviewed it and when it went in.
Often nobody can say who set up the last new starter, and nothing written down records what access they were given.
Automating a process nobody has agreed.
The slowest request gets a flow, and it goes live because the demo worked.
Nobody wrote down who is allowed to approve, so the flow approves everything until an audit finds it.
We write the process down first, including who approves and what happens to exceptions, and then build the flow.
Questions we get asked.
Usually not. Flows that work are given an owner and left running, and we start with the ones nobody can explain.
It is about the hours your staff spend doing these jobs by hand. If you want to reduce headcount as well, tell us, because it changes what is worth building.
It depends on whether the system has an API or another supported way to connect to it. We check that and tell you before you pay for anything.
You keep it. Everything is written down and stored in your own repository, and none of it needs us to keep running.
Where this page sits.
Our work sits in three layers, and each one depends on the one beneath it. The page you are reading is marked.
You are hereAutomation & Platform Engineering
Foundations
- Cloud Strategy & Design
- Migration & Modernisation
- Managed IT & Cloud Operations
- Cloud Cost Control
- You are here Automation & Platform Engineering
- Cyber Security & Resilience
- Microsoft 365 & Devices
Start with what is being done by hand today.
The Fortnight is a fixed-scope look at your estate. It lists the accounts that still belong to people who have left, and who is allowed to create new ones.
You get a written scope before you commit to anything.