Dynamics 365 & Power Platform UK User Groups

We're excited to announce that our next Dynamics 365 & Power Platform User Group (D365PPUG) UK chapter meeting for Manchester will take place on September 24th!

Agenda

17:45-18:15 - Arrivals / Networking / Intros
18:15-19:00 - Turning Microsoft’s Power Platform & AI into Trust: Not Just Technology - Rob Fawcett

Microsoft’s Power Platform, Dynamics, Power Automate and Copilot are sold as game changers. But in the last 12 months, some of the biggest rollouts in the UK have quietly failed. Banks, public bodies, and enterprises invested millions only to watch adoption stall, employees retreat back to Excel, and workflows collapse under mistrust.

The truth is simple: these tools do not fail technically; they fail humanly. Adoption, trust, and context are the missing pieces. And in the age of Copilot, Microsoft’s traditional adoption methods need a rethink. It is no longer enough to train on features. People need confidence in how these systems support real moments of work.

This session is for the technical doers and senior leads who are tired of shelfware projects. The ones who can build anything but know the real win is when people actually use it.

Rob has spent two decades working in that gap between promise and practice. From reshaping Dynamics systems to building sentiment-aware interfaces and data-driven guest experiences, he has lived the point where technology either lands or fails. This talk is not about buttons, connectors, or licensing. It is about what makes Microsoft’s powerhouse tools actually land.

19:00-19:15 - 🍕Pizza Time 🍕
19:15-20:00 - Automation & AI at Scale (Power Automate, Managed Identity, Logic Apps, AI) - Sean Astrakhan

We all know Power Automate, but do we know how to handle massive transaction volume in Power Automate? What about complicated "roll back" transactions? When are Logic Apps really necessary? When do plugins come in and how the @#$% do we use Managed Identity in all this? This all-demo, CRAZY INTERACTIVE get-ready-to-make-friends, session is way too big for its britches and will leave you feeling like a CrossFit workout - energized yet exhausted. BTW - there will be AI if you really want it. We'll take a vote at the beginning.

20:00+ - Close and Drinks Social

Our Speakers

Rob Fawcett is the founder of The Human CTO, former Group CTO of one of the UK's largest not-for-profits, former director of three digital consultancies, and a trusted guide for boards and executives facing complex change. His work spans AI, data, product, technical compliance, and transformation leadership across public and private sectors.

Sean Astrakhan is a solution architect and principal at Untethered 365. Sean is a frequent community contributor and Most Valuable Professional (MVP), who trains Makers to become Power Platform Solutions Architects. We're delighted to welcome Sean all the way from the USA to our evening user group!

Location

Irwin Mitchell Solicitors,
One St Peter's Square,
Manchester,
M2 3AF

18:15pm- Welcome, networking, and introductions

18:30pm- Secure and Test your D365 processes with ML-powered platform capabilities
Speaker: Anthonio Dixon

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, ensuring the reliability and security of your Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE and Power Apps processes is critical. This session introduces a no-code/low-code approach to automated testing and process validation—leveraging machine learning to enhance regression, smoke, and performance testing. Whether you're managing complex workflows or scaling your D365 environment, discover how intelligent automation can help you test smarter, faster, and more securely.

19:15pm- Break, food and networking

19:30pm- Capability & Standards in Power BI
Speaker: Jamie Shields

A look at creating and adopting your own standards in the Power Platform, with a focused look at how my team and I have achieved this in creating Power BI standards for our E2E delivery phase.

The key message is about encouraging teams to establish consistency in their own end-to-end delivery, and to help cut through the wide range of best practices, both from Microsoft and third parties, out there, that often lead to disparity in development practices.