01
Intake Form
Requests are submitted through a structured form instead of email. The form captures required fields, validates input, and routes the submission into the tracking system automatically.
Screenshot: Microsoft Forms intake form
Demo system
Small Business Operations Hub
This demo shows how a small business can replace spreadsheet and email-based tracking with a practical Microsoft 365 operations system.
Note: This is a fictional demo using sample data. It is not based on any employer, client, or proprietary system.
The scenario
Summit Service Group
Summit Service Group is a fictional 75-person service company that receives internal requests, customer issues, approvals, and follow-up tasks through email and spreadsheets.
The problem: requests get lost, staff forget follow-ups, managers do not know what is overdue, and leadership has no reliable weekly report.
Before and after
Same business. Different system.
Before
- Requests submitted by email
- Manual spreadsheet tracking
- No consistent owner
- No overdue alerts
- No manager dashboard
- Weekly reporting built by copy and paste
After
- Structured intake form
- Central Microsoft List tracker
- Automated assignment and reminders
- Approval routing
- Power BI dashboard
- Weekly manager summary
- Documented workflow
System components
Five pieces working together.
02
Microsoft List Tracker
Submitted requests are stored in a central tracker with status, owner, priority, due date, and completion details. Everyone with access sees the same up-to-date data.
Screenshot: Microsoft List with request rows
03
Power Automate Flows
The system runs five automation flows behind the scenes: new request notification, assignment notification, overdue reminder, approval routing, and weekly manager summary.
Screenshot: Power Automate flow map
04
Power BI Dashboard
Four report pages give different audiences what they need: an Executive Overview, a Workload view, a Bottlenecks view, and a Data Quality check.
Screenshot: Power BI dashboard pages
05
Documentation
The system includes documentation so staff know how the workflow works and managers understand how reporting is produced. New hires can be onboarded without tribal knowledge.
Screenshot: SharePoint documentation page
Have a process like this running through spreadsheets or email?
Book a Reporting Systems Audit and I'll map how it could be turned into a working Microsoft 365 system.