Working with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), we designed, re-engineered and now support a custom Mandatory Read App. The app gives the organisation a reliable, auditable way to distribute mandatory policies and guidance and to evidence that staff and commissioners have read and acknowledged the documents that matter most. After resolving early environment and testing challenges, the solution secured formal sign-off from LGBCE’s Head of IT and now underpins an ongoing managed support relationship and further work with the Commission.
Case Study at a Glance
- LGBCE needed a dependable way to distribute mandatory documents and prove they had been read and acknowledged across governance-sensitive audiences.
- Silicon Reef built a custom Canvas Power App integrated with SharePoint, Power Automate and Microsoft Entra ID to automate distribution, acknowledgement capture and compliance tracking.
- The team engineered the solution for reliability — deploying the app through a production pipeline using a dev → UAT → prod workflow, exhaustive testing on the live user environment, and a clean, modern rebuild.
- The app is now signed off by LGBCE’s Head of IT and supported through a managed service, with further work underway.
About LGBCE
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) operates in a governance- and compliance-sensitive environment, where staff and commissioners must reliably receive, read and acknowledge mandatory policies and guidance. In organisations like this, being able to demonstrate — clearly and on demand — that the right people have seen the right documents is not just good practice; it is an audit and assurance requirement.
Like many public bodies, LGBCE already had a Microsoft 365 environment in place, and was looking to get more value from the platform it already owned by replacing manual, risk-prone processes with secure, governed digital workflows.
The Challenge
LGBCE needed a reliable, repeatable way to manage mandatory reading for a governance-sensitive audience. Existing manual approaches — distributing documents and chasing acknowledgements over email and spreadsheets — were time-consuming and created real compliance risk.
Specifically, LGBCE needed to:
- distribute mandatory policies and guidance to the right people;
- ensure staff and commissioners had read and acknowledged critical documents;
- prove compliance during audits;
- remove the manual chasing of acknowledgements via email and spreadsheets.
Manual tracking created risk, especially for senior, governance-sensitive audiences where a missed acknowledgement could have a disproportionate impact.
The Approach
We approached the project the way we approach all business process automation: identify the process pain, design the right automation pattern, and build with governance baked in from day one. Rather than “apps for the sake of apps”, the goal was an end-to-end digital service that removed administrative friction while improving compliance and control.
The work drew on Silicon Reef’s Power Platform team. Nsukami Kama led the application development, bringing deep Power Platform expertise to the build; Ollie Wakefield led delivery and testing; and governance best practice was guided by colleagues across the team, with account support to create the space needed to get the solution right.
Engineering for Reliability
The first iteration of the app looked great and worked well in principle. With limited ability to test against the live user environment early on, the team took the time to engineer the solution properly rather than apply quick fixes.
This included:
- deploying the app through a production pipeline using a dev → UAT → prod workflow;
- exhaustive testing using real test accounts on the customer’s own environment;
- re-working the application so the underlying logic was clean, modern and maintainable.
This collaboration across development, testing, governance and account teams reflects a simple principle that runs through the project: the work was not finished until the customer was satisfied.
The Solution
Silicon Reef designed and supports a custom LGBCE Mandatory Read Power App — a Canvas app built on the technology LGBCE already owns, and integrated with the wider Microsoft 365 platform:
- A SharePoint “Policy library” acts as the system of record, where the team uploads each policy or guidance PDF and tags it with its area, document type, expiry date and audience (Staff, Commissioner, or both);
- A simple “isMandatory” flag on each document controls whether it appears in the app, so administrators can manage required reading directly from SharePoint without touching the app;
- Microsoft Entra ID groups provide secure access and precise targeting, so staff and commissioners each see only the documents relevant to them;
- Power Automate handles notifications and tracking behind the scenes;
- A dedicated “Mandatory read log” SharePoint list records every acknowledgement — who read what, and when — providing the auditable evidence trail.
How it Works
The app turns a manual, error-prone process into a guided digital service.
In practice, it:
- alerts users to new required reading: when a mandatory document is published, a SharePoint news post appears on the LGBCE intranet home page, and it is automatically hidden again once the user has no outstanding reads;
- presents each user with only the content they are required to read, shown with its deadline and a running count of how many documents remain;
- guides users through a clear three-step flow — a home screen listing their mandatory documents, a review screen to read each PDF and confirm acknowledgement, and a confirmation screen once they are done;
- captures each acknowledgement to the “Mandatory read log” and automatically updates compliance status as confirmations are received, removing the need for manual chasing.
The solution is fully supported through a managed service that covers the Mandatory Read app, its associated Power Automate flows, and the supporting SharePoint site — giving LGBCE confidence that the service will remain secure, compliant and supportable over time.
Results & Benefits
By replacing manual tracking with a secure, automated workflow, the Mandatory Read app delivers tangible governance and experience benefits for LGBCE:
Reduced Governance Risk
Mandatory reading is targeted, tracked and enforced automatically
Clear, Auditable Compliance Trail
Acknowledgements are captured and compliance status is always up to date, ready for audit
Removal of Manual Tracking & Follow-ups
Automated alerts replace email and spreadsheet chasing
Improved Experience for Senior Stakeholders & Commissioners
Users see only what they need to read, in one simple place
Reliable, Modern, Supportable Solution
Following the rebuild, the app runs dependably and is straightforward to maintain
Formal Sign-off from LGBCE’s Head of IT
Confirming the solution now meets the organisation’s requirements
Long-term Outcome and What’s Next
With the app working reliably and signed off, LGBCE has a sustainable compliance capability rather than a one-off tool. The solution is maintained through an ongoing managed service, so it continues to be supported as policies, people and requirements change.
Planned enhancements include giving users a clear view of the mandatory reads they have already completed, making it even easier for staff and commissioners to track their own compliance at a glance.
Resolving the app also removed a blocker to further collaboration: with this foundation in place, Silicon Reef and LGBCE have additional work underway. Just as importantly, the Mandatory Read app is a strong, reusable reference pattern for policy management, compliance tracking and case management in regulated environments — and a clear example of Silicon Reef’s growing Power Platform offering in the public sector.
