Helen Ltd is one of the largest energy companies in Finland, founded in 1909. The company produces and sells electricity, district heating and cooling. Helen has been awarded for its energy production, which is considered the most efficient in the world.
How we support Helen’s Power Platform Journey?
Since 2020, Forward Forever has been collaborating closely with Helen. Initially, we provided a few straightforward Power Apps for Helen. As our partnership evolved in 2022, our collaboration deepened, and since then we have been actively assisting Helen on their Power Platform journey through various means.
“We were in a need of flexible and proactive Power Platform partner who could provide us with cutting-edge insight into how we as a company could make the most of out Power Platform and low code opportunities. Forward Forever was chosen as our trusted partner in 2022 and is currently supporting us not only with consultation services but with overall governance strategy and day-to-day operations.”
Heini Kuusela, Development manager at Helen
Below, we highlight just a few examples of work we have done.
Empowering
Raising awareness, Training & Adaption
The effective use of technology hinges on awareness. To bridge this gap, we’ve conducted numerous sessions catering to diverse audiences on the Power Platform. These sessions have usually included comprehensive overviews of the platform and its capabilities, as well as more detailed explorations of specific tools.
Some of Helen’s employees independently develop their own solutions, and Forward Forever offers assistance as needed. We guide them forward, helping them with planning their solutions and fixing the possible bugs for them when needed.
Building
Proof of Concepts
With Proof of Concepts (PoCs) we answer for Helen’s end users and businesses common questions such as can this be built on top of the Power Platform, should this be built on top of the Power Platform, and would users use this kind of App if we built it? With small Proof of Concepts, we assure that the idea is vital and doable at a reasonable cost.
Iterative Implementations
We’ve crafted a diverse range of solutions for Helen, spanning from uncomplicated ones leveraging Microsoft Forms, SharePoint, and Flow, to intricate ones constructed on Dataverse, Canvas, and model-driven apps. These solutions find extensive use across various segments of Helen’s organization.
One interesting area of solutions we have done is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions. Helen, like many others, grapples with numerous old IT systems lacking available APIs. RPA enables us to automate repetitive processes, not only for modern systems but also for these legacy systems.
Application Management Services (AMS)
Once a solution is ready and in production, ongoing support becomes crucial to ensure uninterrupted everyday operations. Typically, it’s impractical to have official support for every Power App and Flow within an organization. Consequently, Forward Forever provides support exclusively for selected solutions within Helen.
Support is both proactive and reactive. We help users when they ask for help. But we also actively monitor solutions and take action when needed, even before the user contacts the support.
Governing
As the platform sees increasing utilization, the importance of governance practices becomes pronounced. Helen is no exception. We’ve assisted Helen in establishing a robust governance model to ensure the secure and smooth operation of their solutions now and in the future.
“We are more than happy with how well our co-operation is working and can fully trust their guidance and decisions regarding any development project related tasks. Forward Forever’s advisors and developers are extremely quick with catching up how we operate as a company and can give us beneficial recommendations on how to achieve even better results than what we were initially planning for.”
Heini Kuusela, Development manager at Helen
Technologies utilized at Helen
- Dataverse
- Model-driven Power Apps
- Canvas Power Apps
- Power Automate: Cloud flow
- Power Automate: Desktop flow (RPA)
- Forms
- SharePoint
- Teams