Challenge
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ), one of the UK’s largest government departments with over 79,000 staff and 35 affiliated agencies, faced a critical need to enhance digital capabilities across its widespread network. The organisation had recently concluded the successful Prisons Technology Transformation Programme (PTTP) and was entering a new phase of innovation and modernisation, aiming to deliver more user-centred, accessible digital services to over 90,000 users. The Microsoft Power Platform was identified as a key enabler - offering a no-code, low-code environment for building apps and automating processes.
The Power Platform would provide a comprehensive solution to:
empower business end users to build and run no-code, low-code, and pro-code solutions using Power Platforms tools
promote the use of the Power Platform tools to quickly solve business problems using automation
promote standard, consistent, low-code development approaches and advice on best practice methods
While Power Platform offered significant potential, many users were still developing the confidence and familiarity needed to fully harness its capabilities. This highlighted the opportunity to provide structured guidance and support - ensuring consistent governance, streamlined workflows, and the optimal use of this powerful digital toolset.
Solution
As part of the End-User Compute Services (EUCS) Managed Service, Methods provided strategic and technical leadership to guide the MoJ through the next stage of their digital transformation using Power Platform.
We collaborated extensively with stakeholders across the business, as well as technical and security colleagues, to conduct thorough risk assessments and ensure the timely and secure launch of new Power Platform applications. This has resulted in a significant acceleration in the implementation of power apps for HMCTS and HMPPS that are actively saving users significant time in their day-to-day critical business processes – most notably for the Traffic Enforcement Centre, Divorce Case team, and Family Public Law Teams.
Furthermore, our approach included:
the introduction of efficient ways of working aligned with the MoJ’s vision, offering a fully designed, professional service. Users of all skill levels can now utilise these tools to create apps, enhancing productivity and accuracy in daily tasks. This has instilled confidence among users, resulting in increased engagement with the service
establishing workflows that focus on enhancing governance and security - which includes implementing a demand pipeline. This pipeline ensures standardised governance and enables appropriate, better-controlled use of Power Platform through
a formal evaluation and approval process
Impact
The MoJ was on a maturity journey, experiencing the normal constraints around resourcing and budget that all organisations face, and we recognised that our approach would have to flex around those requirements, while still being user-centric. We provided guidance and support instead of outputs. Doing this also ensures that the MoJ operations teams are better equipped to embed the service, principles and tools that are being delivered back into in-house capability in the near future.
The programme has significantly advanced the MoJ’s digital maturity, enabling scalable innovation across departments while reducing the strain on IT and development teams.
Increased productivity: Power Platform apps developed under the new model have saved significant time in daily operations. For instance, the Traffic Enforcement app has reduced backlogs from months to weeks.
User empowerment: over 1,783 new app makers and 1,793 apps were onboarded in under a year, indicating high adoption and engagement across user levels.
Controlled growth: a robust governance framework ensures secure, standardised, and impactful app development.
Sustainable capability: MoJ teams are now better equipped to manage digital tools internally.
Data-driven decisions: increased integration of Power Platform into operational workflows supports the MoJ’s broader goal of evidence-based policy and service delivery.