Cutting the time to create compliance letters by 48%
How a repeated, error-prone manual process became a Power Apps tool built with the caseworkers who used it every day.
- Role
- Operations Manager
- Organisation
- Companies House, Persons with Significant Control (PSC) department
- Tools
- Power Apps, Power Automate
- Timeframe
- May 2025 to Sept 2025
At a glance
At a glance
- less time to create a letter, compared with the manual process
- 48%
Based on timing 10 letters: the manual process compared with the new tool.
The problem
Context and problem
The letters we sent repeated large blocks of the same content, yet each one was still filled in from scratch. Templates lived in a shared library. Caseworkers copied one, adapted it and added their own name, which created a personal version of the template. When policy changed and the master template was updated, people working from their own saved copies could keep sending the old wording without realising it.
Confirming the issue
Checking the problem was real
Before proposing a fix I checked the problem was real. I spoke with other caseworkers to see whether they felt the same friction, then took it to team leads to confirm it was worth a proper investigation.
Discovery
Mapping how letters were really made
I used four steps to understand the work:
- Workflow review: from reviewing a company's details to deciding which letter applied.
- Shadowing caseworkers as they created letters.
- As-is process maps showing the repetition and version-control risk.
- A content audit of templates and repeated blocks.
As-is process
- 1Identify compliance trigger
- 2Download local Word template from shared drive
- 3Manually edit letter and copy-paste company details, risking template version driftHigh risk
- 4Individual caseworkers save private templates
- 5Manual formatting and dispatch
To-be process
- 1Open Power Apps intake
- 2Select statutory letter type
- 3System pulls live company metadata and approved master wordingAutomated
- 4Caseworker inputs case-specific rationale
- 5Power Automate renders and archives compliant PDF
Requirements
Writing the requirement
I captured the core need as a user story with acceptance criteria, so the build could be tested against real scenarios.
Auto-populated compliance letter templates
Persona: PSC caseworkerUser story
As a PSC caseworker, I want compliance letter templates to automatically populate standard regulatory wording based on the selected case type, so that I don't risk sending outdated policy text from locally saved copies.
Acceptance criteria (Gherkin)
Scenario: Generating an overdue PSC filing notification
Given I have selected case type "Overdue PSC Confirmation Statement"
When I initiate the draft letter in Power Apps
Then the document body must load the approved master template (v2.4)
And the company name, PSC entity, and statutory deadline must auto-populate
And standard legal warning notices must be locked from ad-hoc manual editing
The solution
A minimum viable product built with caseworkers
I built a minimum viable product that pulls the repeated content in automatically and leaves the caseworker to focus on what is specific to the case. Power Apps is the screen caseworkers use to create the letter; Power Automate is the engine that builds it behind the scenes.
The outcome
Faster letters from the current template
48%less time to create a letter
| Process | Indexed time |
|---|---|
| Manual process | 100 |
| Power Apps tool | 52 (-48%) |
Faster output
Letters generated from the correct, current template.
Less repetitive work
Caseworkers reported the process felt less repetitive and less risky.
The team noticed the process felt less repetitive and less risky.
Measure: time to create one letter. Baseline: the manual process, indexed to 100. Based on timing 10 letters both ways during the project (May 2025 to Sept 2025). Not a company-wide or long-term figure.
What's next
A proposed phase two, with a human in the loop
The caseworker stays in the loop, so automation speeds up drafting without removing accountability for what is sent.
Skills demonstrated
Skills demonstrated
- Problem validationDiscovery
- As-is process mappingAnalysis
- User story authoring and Gherkin acceptance criteriaRequirements
- Shadowing and content auditDiscovery
- MVP design and build (Power Apps)Build
- Stakeholder presentationStakeholders
- User testing and feedbackTesting
- Rollout and adoptionAdoption
Diagrams and screens are recreated mockups. Details simplified and anonymised.