CoE Starter Kit + Managed Environments + DLP + ALM + Copilot Studio governance. Fixed-fee tiers. Business Applications Solutions Partner designation.
Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
Power Platform enterprise governance: 6 pillars (environments + DLP + ALM + security + monitoring + support). CoE Starter Kit (free Microsoft-provided) for inventory + governance + nurture + analytics + compliance. Managed Environments ($20/user/mo/env, Microsoft list) for solution checker + weekly digests + sharing limits + CMK + IP firewall. DLP controls: connectors as Business/Non-Business/Blocked. ALM: solutions + managed vs unmanaged + pipelines + source control + test automation. Compliance: HIPAA, SOC 2, NIST 800-171, FedRAMP, GDPR, EU AI Act. EPC Group tiers: Assessment, CoE Kit, Managed Envs, Advanced, Full Program and a monthly Retainer — each a fixed fee quoted after a scoping call.
Power Platform enterprise governance is the framework of policies + technical controls + processes that manage citizen-developer + fusion-team development on Microsoft's low-code platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages, Power BI, Copilot Studio). Six pillars: (1) Environment strategy — dev/test/prod separation + Managed Environments. (2) DLP policies — connector classification (business/non-business/blocked). (3) Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) — solutions + source control + pipelines. (4) Security — RBAC + Dataverse row-level security + Purview integration. (5) Monitoring + analytics — CoE Starter Kit + admin center analytics. (6) Support + adoption — Center of Excellence (CoE) team + champion program.
Microsoft Power Platform Center of Excellence (CoE) Starter Kit is a free Microsoft-provided suite of Power Platform apps that provides: (1) Inventory — all apps, flows, connectors, environments across tenant. (2) Governance — approval workflows, admin center integration. (3) Nurture — training, champion program, gamification. (4) Analytics — usage, adoption, orphaned apps. (5) Compliance — DLP violation tracking, security posture. (6) Custom extensions — CoE Kit is customizable for organizational needs. Requires deployment + configuration + ongoing operation. Typical CoE deployment: 4-8 weeks initial + ongoing operation by dedicated CoE team.
Managed Environments are Microsoft's premium Power Platform environment tier ($20/user/month per environment) providing enterprise-grade controls: (1) Solution checker — automated code quality + security scans. (2) Weekly digests — environment-level usage + governance reports. (3) Sharing limits — restrict individual app sharing to prevent uncontrolled distribution. (4) Data policies — enforced DLP across environment. (5) Customer-managed keys (CMK) — bring-your-own encryption keys. (6) IP firewall — restrict environment access by IP. Managed Environments essential for regulated industries + high-sensitivity workloads. Not required for all environments — typical enterprise mixes managed prod + unmanaged dev/test.
Power Platform DLP controls which connectors can share data with which other connectors. Configuration: (1) Classify each connector as Business, Non-Business, or Blocked. (2) Business connectors can share with each other. (3) Non-Business connectors can share with each other. (4) Business + Non-Business connectors CANNOT be used together in the same app/flow. (5) Blocked connectors cannot be used at all. Enterprise defaults: (1) Microsoft first-party connectors (SharePoint, Dataverse, Exchange) as Business. (2) Consumer connectors (Twitter, Instagram, personal Gmail) as Non-Business or Blocked. (3) Custom connectors reviewed individually. DLP scope is per-environment. EPC Group DLP baseline design starts every Power Platform engagement.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for Power Platform: (1) Solutions — package apps + flows + tables + connectors as a single deployable unit. (2) Managed vs unmanaged solutions — dev uses unmanaged, test/prod use managed. (3) Pipelines — automated deployment from dev → test → prod (Managed Environments feature or Azure DevOps + Power Platform Build Tools). (4) Source control — export solutions to Git + track changes + code review. (5) Test automation — Power Fx test framework + Test Studio. (6) Environment strategy — separate environments per lifecycle stage. Mature ALM reduces citizen-developer error rate + enables enterprise IT oversight without blocking innovation.
Power Platform touches multiple frameworks: (1) HIPAA — apps handling PHI need BAA coverage + technical safeguards. (2) SOC 2 — access + change management + monitoring. (3) NIST 800-171 — apps handling CUI need DoD-compliant environments (GCC/GCC High). (4) FedRAMP — apps in FedRAMP-scoped systems need GCC. (5) GDPR — data residency + right to erasure. (6) EU AI Act — Copilot Studio agents may trigger high-risk AI requirements. EPC Group Power Platform Governance engagements map framework requirements to Managed Environments + DLP + Purview integration.
EPC Group Power Platform Governance portfolio: (1) Governance Assessment (fixed fee, 3 weeks) — current-state + gap analysis + roadmap. (2) CoE Starter Kit Deployment (fixed fee, 6 weeks) — CoE Kit + customization + admin training. (3) Managed Environments Deployment (fixed fee, 8 weeks) — Managed Envs + DLP + ALM pipelines + security baseline. (4) Advanced Governance (fixed fee, 12 weeks) — Custom CoE extensions + fusion team enablement + Copilot Studio governance + champion program. (5) Full Enterprise Governance Program (20-32 weeks, fixed fee quoted after discovery) — end-to-end deployment + team enablement. (6) Ongoing CoE Retainer (monthly retainer quoted after discovery). All led by senior Power Platform architect.
3-week fixed fee: current-state + gap analysis + roadmap. Call (888) 381-9725.
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