Woodard & Curran is an integrated science, engineering, design-build, and operations company specialising in water and environmental projects.
They have been using Microsoft Power Platform successfully for several years, supported by a small group of makers. What began as lightweight, practical solutions gradually necessitated something more strategic as the organisation looked to scale its use of the platform. When Dataverse entered the picture, it became clear that this next stage of maturity would require a stronger governance foundation.
Early exploration of the Dataverse environment raised immediate questions.
Security and ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) were top of mind, as well as a keen interest in empowering users to create and manage their own solutions with appropriate governance and support. This meant a deep dive into matters of security and other topics such as the COE Starter kit, environment management, and data models. With a governance policy already in place for Power Platform, moving into a more sophisticated and complex use of the platform prompted Woodard & Curran to seek help from experts.
Changing Social partnered with Woodard & Curran to help them pause, take stock, and clarify practices around Dataverse, security and governance.
The result was a structured yet pragmatic approach that enabled innovation to continue while strengthening the platform management.
The Challenge
For more than five years, a small team made up of one professional developer and two citizen developers has worked with Power Platform at Woodard & Curran.
During this time, they delivered a range of useful solutions using SharePoint as a back end. This approach worked well for departmental and team-level applications and helped demonstrate the value of low-code development across the organisation.
The challenge emerged when an app developed early on for one area of the company evolved into an enterprise-wide tool. The Sharepoint backend model no longer worked and highlighted the need to move toward Dataverse. The app was redesigned as a web app, but served to further Power Platform development and pave the way for more complex solutions.
The shift toward Dataverse introduced a more robust data model, greater scalability, and more powerful capabilities. However, it came with new considerations around security, access, permissions, and visibility. Learning how to manage the larger landscape meant understanding the strengths and deficits in their current governance policy, as well as how to approach building a framework that is ready and scalable for a future with many more developers and solutions in play.
“It was time to bring in an expert to review our systems,” explained Liz Robinson, Woodard & Curran’s Power Platform Developer. “Understanding security was the highest priority – what didn’t we know? Where do we have holes in our process? How do we structure security to be ready for an increase in development at all levels?”
Why Us
Liz connected with a member of Changing Social at a conference in Las Vegas where an informal conversation sparked around shared experiences and common Power Platform challenges. That initial connection led to further discussions and a visit to the Changing Social stand, planting the seed for a future partnership.
“Since we’ve been governing our platform for several years already, we had a good understanding about governance, and talking to Changing Social, it was clear they were accomplished and could help us expand our offerings by expanding our foundation,” said Liz.
Woodard & Curran chose Changing Social as a partner because they knew we could help them make informed decisions during the shift toward Dataverse, while positioning their platform for future use.
The Approach
Changing Social delivered a Power Platform governance engagement designed to demystify Dataverse and bring structure without stifling creativity. From the outset, the focus was on education, collaboration and practicality.
Rather than leading with restrictions or rigid controls, the engagement centred on helping the Woodard & Curran team understand how Dataverse-enabled environments work, how access and visibility are managed, and what governance best practices look like in the real world. Complex topics were broken down into manageable, digestible pieces that could be explored one at a time, allowing the team to strengthen their understanding.
“By breaking it down into manageable chunks, we were able to spend an entire part of the engagement focused on security, then move on to ALM, and then other topics. One by one, those pieces came together as part of our holistic plan,” said Liz.
Through highly collaborative engagement, the team at Woodard & Curran was encouraged to ask real business questions and generate discussions grounded in their actual use cases rather than abstract theory. This approach helped ensure that governance decisions felt relevant to the organisation rather than academic or overly cautious.
What was initially expected to be a relatively minimal time commitment naturally expanded as the value of the engagement became clear. Each session built on the last, gradually forming a holistic governance model that addressed immediate concerns while also supporting long-term growth. The time was well used, with space to explore scenarios, challenge assumptions, and sense-check decisions along the way.
The Impact
Changing Social strengthened Woodard & Curran’s understanding of Dataverse, making it a platform they understood and felt comfortable working with. The team had clarity around security, environment structure, how permissions and access really operate, and how governance can support rather than hinder innovation.
Importantly, the team felt confident in developing the platform governance in such a way that it allowed them to put the tools in their users’ hands.
“We are now able to build a robust citizen development space in the company and have a platform that allows people to do things in their own way, in their own time, with their own rules, but still within a framework that enables the development team to manage the platform while knowing we’re secure, datasets are not crisscrossing or getting exposed, and we can support everybody who wants to work with these tools,” said Liz.
Changing Social helped the organization develop a scalable governance model that can evolve alongside its use of the Power Platform, reducing risk while enabling ambition.
What’s Next
With a more complex governance foundation in place, Woodard & Curran is looking ahead to the next phase of their Power Platform journey.
As Microsoft continues to introduce new capabilities, including AI-driven features, agents and more advanced development options, the organisation is well positioned to explore these opportunities safely and strategically.
The engagement has also opened the door to ongoing support in a trusted partner who is available to answer questions, provide guidance, and help sense-check decisions for the team as they continue to evolve their platform strategy. For Changing Social, this project is a strong example of our belief that effective governance is about empowering organisations with foundational education to move faster, build smarter and innovate responsibly.
Interested in learning how Power Platform governance can support innovation in your organisation? Get in touch with Changing Social to start the conversation.
