Dynamics 365 & Power Platform Product Suite

DfE uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to provide CRM and digital services.

This page summarises the main apps and components already used across DfE.

When designing new services, you should use tools and applications that are already approved and in use by DfE, as existing standards, support models and licensing can often be reused.

Dynamics 365 Customer Service

Dynamics 365 Customer Service is the main CRM platform used across DfE, used by CRMs such as Provider, DCASS, APM and IRIS.

What it is

Dynamics 365 Customer Service is a customer relationship management (CRM) system providing case management functionality, managing contacts, organisations and enquiries in one place. It supports teams to record customer interactions, track and resolve cases, and apply consistent business processes across services, helping DfE manage relationships and provide support efficiently.

What it is used for

Manage contacts and organisations
Log, track and resolve enquiries and cases
Record interactions such as emails, calls and notes
Route work using queues and assignments
Classify and prioritise cases
Track progress and case status
Apply business rules and standardised processes
Support collaboration between teams

Dynamics 365 Sales

Dynamics 365 Sales is only used by the Employer CRM to track leads and opportunities for employers.

What it is

Dynamics 365 Sales is a sales automation and CRM application. It helps sales teams manage the end‑to‑end sales process by organising customer data, tracking leads and opportunities through to order and invoicing, and providing insights that enable organisations to sell products and services.

What it is used for

Lead and opportunity management to track prospects through the sales pipeline
Account and contact management
Sales process automation and guided selling using configurable business processes
Forecasting and pipeline management to support sales planning
Activity and interaction tracking for emails, calls, meetings, and tasks
AI and analytics such as relationship insights and predictive scoring to prioritise opportunities

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is used by the GITIS CRM for sending bulk email mailshots.

What it is

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is a customer data and analytics solution designed to unify customer information from multiple sources into a single, comprehensive view. It helps organisations better understand their customers by combining data, applying AI‑driven insights, and enabling personalised, data‑driven events and experiences using marketing platform tooling.

What it is used for

Customer data unification from multiple systems
Advanced customer segmentation
Customer journeys to design, automate, and orchestrate personalised, multi‑step marketing and comms
Email marketing, including HTML email creation, templates, personalisation, and A/B testing
SMS, push notifications, and other digital channel orchestration
Event marketing and event registration management
Consent and preference management to support compliant customer engagement

Power Apps

Power Apps is used to build custom internal applications that typically sit on top of Dataverse.

DfE uses both model‑driven apps and canvas apps.

Model Driven Apps

What it is

Model‑driven Power Apps are bespoke applications built on Dataverse that focus on data, business processes, and user roles rather than custom UI design. They provide a low-code structured, consistent user experience generated automatically from the underlying data model. Model‑driven apps are well suited to complex, process‑heavy scenarios such as case management, sales operations, service delivery, and regulatory or operational systems.

Dynamics 365 apps are essentially Model-driven Power Apps with pre-build functionality for specific tasks, such as Customer Service or Sales.

What it is used for

Quick low-code application development driven by a central data model in Dataverse
Standardised, responsive user interface optimised for desktop, tablet, and mobile
Entity (table) management for structured data with relationships, rules, and validation
Role‑based security and access control down to record, field, and task level
Business process flows to guide users through structured, multi‑stage processes
Forms, views, and dashboards configurable without code
Advanced search and filtering using views and Dataverse search
Built‑in audit history and data change tracking
Reporting and analytics through dashboards, charts, and Power BI integration

Canvas apps

What it is

Canvas apps are a type of Power Apps that give developers full control over the user interface and experience by starting with a blank canvas. They allow organisations to design highly customised, task‑specific applications tailored to specific users, devices, and processes. Canvas apps are ideal for scenarios that require simple apps, bespoke layouts, intuitive interactions, or lightweight solutions that connect quickly to data. Canvas apps can use multiple data sources compared to model-driven apps which are based on Dataverse.

What it is used for

Free‑form bespoke app design using a drag‑and‑drop canvas
Responsive and device‑optimised experiences for mobile, tablet, and desktop
Rapid development using low‑code formulas
Connectivity to a wide range of data sources, including Dataverse, SharePoint, SQL, Excel, Microsoft 365, and external APIs
Ability to combine multiple data sources within a single app
Rich user interface components such as galleries, forms, charts, media, and custom controls
Business logic implemented through formulas, conditional behaviour, and validation

Power Pages

Power Pages is used for all CRM‑related portals across DfE.

This includes services such as the Customer Help Portal, Free Breakfast Clubs, Turing and School Based Nurseries.

It should be noted that all public websites provided by DfE must follow GDS standards as defined in the Power Pages sections of the Dynamics 365 Design Standards.

What it is

Power Pages is Microsoft’s low‑code platform for building secure, public facing websites that integrate directly with Microsoft Dataverse and the wider Power Platform. Power Pages is commonly used for self‑service portals, partner portals, forms‑based interactions, and public‑facing sites that connect to Dynamics 365 and Power Apps data.

What it is used for

Low‑code website creation with templates for common scenarios such as self‑service and partner portals
Secure access to Dataverse data for external users
Role‑based access control and permissions for anonymous or authenticated users
Integration with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), social identity providers, and local authentication
Configurable web forms and multi‑step forms to capture and update data
Data lists and views to display records from Dataverse in a website context
Responsive, mobile‑friendly design out of the box
Support for custom branding, themes, and layouts using CSS, HTML, and Liquid templates
Built‑in security, monitoring, and compliance aligned with Microsoft cloud standards

Power Automate

Power Automate is used across all DfE CRMs for automation and lightweight integrations.

What it is

Power Automate is Microsoft’s low‑code automation platform that enables organisations to automate repetitive tasks, standardise processes, and integrate systems across Microsoft and third‑party services. It allows users to create automated processes that connect apps, data, and services to improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, and ensure consistency. Power Automate is a core component of the Microsoft Power Platform and integrates tightly with Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365.

What it is used for

Automated workflows triggered by events, schedules, or manual actions
Integration with hundreds of connectors, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Dataverse, SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, SQL, and third‑party services
Cloud flows for automating processes across systems and services
Approval workflows for business scenarios such as requests, sign‑offs, and reviews
Business process automation with conditions, branching, loops, and error handling
Desktop automation using robotic process automation (RPA) to automate legacy or UI‑based systems
AI‑powered capabilities such as document processing and AI Builder integration
Monitoring, analytics, and run history to track flow performance and failures
Seamless integration with Power Apps, Power Pages, and Dynamics 365 applications

Power BI

Power BI is used for reporting only. It it DfE's recommended analytics tool for Dynamics 365.

What it is

Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence and analytics platform that enables organisations to connect to data, transform it into interactive reports and dashboards. It helps users at all levels of the business make data‑driven decisions through rich visualisations and self‑service analytics. Power BI integrates deeply with Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, and the wider Power Platform.

What it is used for

Connection to a wide range of data sources, including Excel, Dataverse, SQL Server, Azure services, Dynamics 365, SharePoint, and third‑party systems
Data transformation and modelling using Power Query
Interactive reports and dashboards with rich, customisable visualisations
Self‑service analytics enabling business users to explore and analyse data without deep technical skills
Real‑time dashboards and streaming datasets for live data monitoring
AI‑powered insights, including natural language queries, automated insights, and key influencer analysis
Secure sharing and collaboration through the Power BI service and Microsoft Teams
Embedded analytics for integrating Power BI reports into applications such as Dynamics 365

Dataverse

Dataverse is the data platform used by Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.

What it is

Dataverse is Microsoft’s secure, cloud‑based data platform for the Power Platform and Dynamics 365. It provides a scalable, relational data store with a standardised data model, rich metadata, and built‑in business logic. Dataverse enables organisations to store, manage, and govern business data through low-code tooling while making it easily accessible across Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages, Power BI, and Dynamics 365 applications.

What it is used for

Centralised, cloud‑based data storage with a relational data model
Standard and custom tables for modelling business data and relationships
Rich metadata, including data types, relationships, and constraints
Built‑in security model with role‑based access at table, row, and column level
Support for business rules, validations, and calculated and rollup columns
Auditing and change tracking to meet governance and compliance requirements
Integration with model‑driven apps, canvas apps, and Dynamics 365 applications
Seamless data access for Power Automate workflows and Power Pages websites
Native integration with Power BI for reporting and analytics
Data import, export, and integration via connectors
Scalability and performance suitable for enterprise‑grade workloads