Low-Code Vision & Governance Framework

Vision & Guiding Principles

Business‑Led Innovation

• Empower business users to prototype and deliver solutions rapidly.
• Foster a culture of “build small, learn fast.”

“One Platform” Approach:

• Leverage Dataverse, Canvas & Model‑driven apps, Power Automate, Power BI under a unified governance umbrella.

Secure‑By‑Design:

• Bake in role‑based access, data loss prevention (DLP) and audit from Day 1.

Scalable & Extensible:

• Encourage reuse of components (flows, custom connectors, Canvas component libraries).
• Leverage ALM (Dev → Test → Prod) with solutions and pipelines.

Measured Adoption:

Track usage, performance, and ROI to guide ongoing investments.

Governance Model

Environment Strategy

Environment Types

• • Development (Dev): Sandbox for initial builds
  • Test/UAT: Business user testing and sign‑off
  • Production (Prod): Live workloads
  • Training: Pre‑prod for end‑user training

Lifecycle Policy

• • Standardized naming (e.g. Contoso-Dev-CRM, Contoso-Test-PowerBI)
  • Environment expiry and renewal cadence

Capacity Management

• • Monitor Dataverse storage, API calls, flow runs
  • Scale up/down based on usage trends

Solution Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

Ideation & Prioritization

• • Maintain a backlog in Planner / DevOps.

Design & Architecture

• • High‑level diagram, solution boundaries, security model.

Build (Dev)

• • Use Solutions to group components.
  • Apply naming conventions: prefix_entity, prefix_flow.

Test (UAT)

• • Functional and security testing.
  • Business sign‑off.

Deploy (Prod)

• • Automated pipelines via Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
  • Post‑deployment smoke tests.

Operate & Improve

• • Monitor telemetry, capture feedback, plan enhancements.

ALM & Source Control

Repository Structure:

• • Mono‑repo vs. multi‑repo decision matrix

Solution Packaging:

• • Unmanaged vs. managed solutions

CI/CD Pipelines:

• • Automated build & release pipelines
  • Integration tests using Power Platform CLI

Security, Privacy & Compliance

Authentication & Authorization

• • Enforce Azure AD Conditional Access
  • Leverage Security Roles & Field‑level Security in Dataverse

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

• • Define connector policies by environment (Business vs. Non‑Business)

Audit & Monitoring

• • Enable Dataverse auditing
  • Capture Power Automate run history and failures

Data Classification

• • Catalog sensitive data and enforce encryption, retention policies.

Center of Excellence (CoE) Toolkit & Operations

• • CoE Starter Kit: Deploy Microsoft’s CoE components to get telemetry, maker governance, nurture programs.
  • Governance Dashboards: App usage, maker activity, environment health.
  • Community Programs:  “Power Hours,” hackathons, citizen dev certification.

Adoption, Training & Support

Role‑Based Training Paths:

• • Citizen devs, pro devs, admins

Knowledge Base & Templates:

• • Pre‑built apps, component libraries, solution accelerators.

Support Model:

• • Tier 1 (self‑help, documentation)
  • Tier 2 (CoE / IT‑admin support)
  • Tier 3 (Pro developers)

Metrics & Continuous Improvement

Key KPIs:

• • Number of active makers and apps
  • Time‑to‑market for new solutions
  • Flow run success rate
  • Business value (e.g. hours saved, cost reduced)

Review Cadence:

• • Monthly governance review
  • Quarterly strategy reset

Roadmap & Next Steps

Short‑Term (0–3 months):

• • Deploy CoE tooling, define DLP policies, pilot with 2 business units.

Mid‑Term (3–9 months):

• • Roll out SDLC pipelines, certify citizen devs, integrate with ITSM.

Long‑Term (9–18 months):

• • Expand to advanced scenarios (AI Builder, custom connectors), optimize cost, global roll‑out.