Field notes

What we’ve learned, written down.

Practical notes for people running operations on Microsoft 365. What things cost, what works, and what to avoid.
Start here · 01

What a SharePoint intranet actually costs in Australia

A usable SharePoint intranet for a 100–500 person Australian company typically runs $10,000–$45,000 depending on scope. Here is what sits behind each band.7 min readStart here · 02

Why your intranet failed

Intranets rarely fail on technology. They fail because nobody owns the content, the structure mirrors the org chart, and search was never configured.7 min readStart here · 03

When not to automate

Don't automate a process that is about to change, that nobody owns, that runs twice a year, or that is broken. Fix or delete it first.7 min read
Getting it adopted

Who owns what you build — and how to check

Everything should live in your tenant, on your licences, with your team as owners. Three questions to ask any Power Platform partner before signing.7 min read
Automation

A 20-minute audit of your approval process

Count the steps, time the waits, and find the approvals nobody has ever rejected. Those are the ones to delete before automating anything.7 min read
Getting it adopted

What handover documentation should actually contain

Not a manual nobody reads. An architecture note, an owner, credentials and connections, a failure playbook, and how to make three common changes.7 min read
Apps & AI

A scoping checklist for your first Power App

Ten questions that decide whether the build goes well: who uses it, on what device, offline or not, what data, and what happens at the edges.7 min read
Cost & licensing

Power BI or Excel for ops reporting?

Excel while the questions keep changing. Power BI once the same report is rebuilt every month from the same sources for more than three people.7 min read
Cost & licensing

The 20-minute Microsoft 365 licence audit

Check assigned-vs-active licences, duplicate tooling, and leaver accounts. Most mid-size Australian businesses find real annual savings in under an hour.7 min read
Automation

Write the process down before you automate it

One page: trigger, steps, decision points, exceptions, owner. If two people write different versions, you found the real problem.7 min read
Automation

Automating compliance expiry tracking

A list with owners and dates, escalating reminders at 60/30/7 days, and an evidence pack that assembles itself. Usually a two-week build.8 min read
Automation

What 'governance' actually means in Power Platform

Four concrete things: environment strategy, DLP policies, a named owner per app, and a decommissioning path. Not a document nobody reads.7 min read
Apps & AI

Dataverse or SharePoint lists?

SharePoint lists until you need real relationships, row-level security, or more than a few thousand rows in play. Then Dataverse, with eyes open on licensing.7 min read
Getting it adopted

Getting adoption: the first 30 days

Adoption is decided in the first month. Turn off the old path, train the loudest sceptic first, and fix the first three complaints within a week.7 min read
Cost & licensing

The real cost of a spreadsheet

The build cost is zero. The costs are key-person risk, no audit trail, silent errors, and the version question — none of which appear on a budget line.7 min read
Apps & AI

Copilot Studio: what it can and can't do yet

It answers questions from documents you control and triggers actions. It does not reason across systems or replace a process nobody has defined.7 min read
Intranet

Three SharePoint permission mistakes that cost you later

Breaking inheritance per item, granting to individuals instead of groups, and using sharing links as an access model all fail at scale.7 min read
Automation

How to stop chasing timesheets

Chasing is a symptom. Fix the friction of entry first, then automate reminders, then make the deadline visible — in that order.7 min read
Automation

When not to automate

Don't automate a process that is about to change, that nobody owns, that runs twice a year, or that is broken. Fix or delete it first.7 min read
Cost & licensing

Power Apps licensing, explained without the sales pitch

Most Australian businesses need either the per-app plan (~$7.50/user/app/month) or per-user (~$29.90). The deciding factor is Dataverse, not app count.7 min read
Automation

Five flows every construction business should build first

Start with the five approvals that stall work on site: variations, timesheets, plant bookings, subcontractor insurance, and defect capture.7 min read
Intranet

Why your intranet failed

Intranets rarely fail on technology. They fail because nobody owns the content, the structure mirrors the org chart, and search was never configured.7 min read
Cost & licensing

What a SharePoint intranet actually costs in Australia

A usable SharePoint intranet for a 100–500 person Australian company typically runs $10,000–$45,000 depending on scope. Here is what sits behind each band.7 min read