A global organisation’s VAT team was relying on a third-party application to track and manage VAT return submissions across multiple entities. The tool sat outside its existing Microsoft ecosystem, came with a steep annual licence fee and left approvals, files and communication scattered across disconnected systems.

The team reached out to Denova to explore whether its existing Microsoft investment could do the job instead. Through Embedded Delivery, Denova provided a specialist who built a focused solution that reshaped how the VAT team worked each day.

The Problem

• Unnecessary licensing cost: The client was paying around US$24,000 a year for a third-party application used mainly for tracking VAT submission status.
• Disconnected workflow: VAT files were stored in SharePoint, but approvals and status tracking happened in a separate third-party system, forcing the team to move between platforms for a single task.
• Manual, low-value work: Users manually re-entered data and tracked submission deadlines rather than relying on automation.
• Limited transparency and communication: There was no built-in way for team members to comment on or discuss a task in progress, which slowed down collaboration.
• Reliance on a separate system: The existing tool sat apart from the systems the organisation had already invested in, adding cost without adding proportional value.

Consultant Spotlight

The project was delivered by our BI developer, Ryan. His contribution centred on translating business needs into technical solutions grounded in the client’s own Microsoft resources, rather than proposing costly new tools.

An early demonstration of the application helped build stakeholder confidence ahead of full deployment. After seeing how it centralised the VAT team’s work, another team within the organisation expressed interest in a similar solution for their own needs.

Our Solution

• Map the existing process first: The team began by mapping the existing third-party application and current approval workflow in detail, ensuring that nothing essential was lost in the transition.
• Building with Power Platform: Rather than introducing new infrastructure, the solution was designed entirely on the client's existing Power Platform investment, using Power Apps for the interface, Power Automate for workflow logic and SharePoint as the underlying data store.
• Consolidation and digitisation: Instead of simply moving the old process online, the approach focused on reducing the number of systems a user had to touch, bringing storage, approvals and status tracking into a single application.
• Built-in communication: A commenting and chat feature was built directly into each task, so questions and concerns could be resolved without leaving the platform.
• Live reporting: A Power BI report was added to give stakeholders a live view of VAT task status.

Approach During Implementation

Training was challenging, as questions ranged from how the application worked to how the underlying VAT process itself should run.

Additional VAT categories and edge cases also surfaced during testing. These had not been flagged during initial requirements gathering, which meant the team had to adjust workflows mid-project to accommodate special cases rather than treat the original scope as fixed.

Despite these challenges, a working prototype was ready in under two weeks, giving stakeholders something tangible to react to early and reducing the risk of late surprises. The embedded developer stayed closely aligned with stakeholders through regular meetings, translating their feedback into technical requirements quickly and efficiently.

The Results

Key Takeaways

Stakeholder communication is the real foundation
Early and consistent engagement with stakeholders was an important factor in ensuring that the project stayed on track.

Look at the global process, not just one entity
Designing around a single entity's workflow risks missing variations used elsewhere. Understanding how the process worked across all entities helped avoid rework later.

Expect scope to evolve during testing
Requirements gathered upfront rarely capture every edge case. Leaving room to accommodate changes discovered during testing helped the team deliver a workflow that actually matched how people worked.

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