Project Description

Edrington, one of the largest spirit companies in the world, had identified Microsoft’s Power Platform as a technology solution that they wanted to roll out across the business. They were looking for support on the best way to do this and engaged Bridgeall.  

To help with this process, we delivered our Power Apps and Power Automate Quickstart package to help develop a framework for success for the team and get them quickly up and running. 

About Edrington

Edrington is one of the largest spirit companies in the world, boasting brands such as The Macallan, The Famous Grouse, and Highland Park in their portfolio. Edrington’s story is a fascinating one, including many takeovers. The history of the company dates back to 1855. 

With its headquarters in Glasgow, Edrington owns four Scottish distilleries, namely Glenrothes, Glenturret, Highland Park and Macallan, as well as being co-owner with Diageo of Edinburgh’s North British grain distillery.

Challenges facing Edrington

Edrington had started using the Power Platform across the business but wanted to ensure they were getting the most from the solution.  They wanted to ensure they took the right approach to Power Apps and Power Automate, including their Power Platform environment setup, use of connectors, deployed Power Apps and flows, security and permissions.     

Edrington had identified the ability to build apps quickly and easily themselves using the low code capability of the Power Platform as a key focus and a huge opportunity for them. They had also identified the risks of poorly constructed solutions entering their digital ecosystem and the threats this could pose for their business. 

In order to support the ongoing adoption of the Power Platform technology, Bridgeall engaged with Edrington to develop and build the organisation’s Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) expertise and practical capabilities. 

The Bridgeall team initially reviewed the current Edrington Power Platform structure, ALM maturity level, practices and processes. Areas that formed part of this review included the organisation’s Power Platform environment setup, use of connectors, deployed power apps and flows, security and permissions. We used our Quickstart approach to ensure successful delivery of the project.

quickstart slides

Azure DevOps

Bridgeall helped Edrington set Azure DevOps up with deployment pipelines allowing Power Platform solutions to be easily deployed to a number of different environments using a standardised approach. 

Centre of Excellence (CoE)

The Bridgeall team helped Edrington establish a Centre of Excellence for Power Platform that provides tooling to help them measure the use and impact of Power Platform functionality within the organisation. This helps Edrington understand what applications and processes are running and helps them maintain governance over the usage of the technology.

Quickstart workshop

Our Quickstart workshop output allowed for the development of the Edrington ALM strategy. Our team developed and prepared governance and best practice documentation for Power Platform ALM including practical steps for its implementation across a range of Edrington project types and scopes. The documentation included recommendations and industry best practice relating to areas such as environment strategy, the use of Data Loss Prevention policies, build automation, the use of Azure DevOps for source control and deployment pipelines, environment security, the use of admin connectors for monitoring environments and deployed components. 

The project

  • Workshop and discovery to establish current Edrington structure, ALM maturity, practices and processes. 
  • Development of the Edrington ALM strategy, recommendations for governance and best practice. 
  • Prepare guidance for setting up Azure DevOps pipelines and alternative ALM methodologies. 
  • Implementation of the ALM strategy and practical delivery for a live project with the Edrington team. 
  • Workshop to deliver a post strategy & delivery implementation review. 

By utilising existing tools and low code solutions like SharePoint Online and Power Platform, Bridgeall were able to deliver the following benefits to the client:   

  • Efficiency – We identified ways to simplify processes and workflows with low code rapid application development. The team also benefited from maximised Power Apps performance across the organisation. 
  • Governance – a strong set of ALM tools supported by a governance framework and the centre of excellence all allowed Edrington to better manage their risks relating to Power Platform sprawl. 
  • Increased productivity – Reduced number of errors by automating repetitive manual tasks and giving everyone the ability to automate processes. 
  • Cost savings – Our review helped to deliver a return on investment, improved efficiency and reduced costs. 

Streamline your business processes with Power Platform Quickstart

Connect to your existing data and systems to solve problems faster and drive efficiency. If you have any questions about the benefits of Power Platform for your organisation we can help with our Quickstart package. For any other questions get in touch with our team.