Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Power Apps & Copilot for HR at Santo

Santo, a pharmaceutical company and member of Polpharma Group, engaged Awara IT to deliver a fast, pragmatic HR support channel built on Microsoft Power Platform and Copilot Studio. The project—branded Access Me—combined a Power Apps front end, Copilot-driven conversational responses, and SharePoint-driven content to provide first-line HR support for employees in Kazakhstan.

Awara IT focused on measurable outcomes: reduce HR response time, increase first-contact resolution for common queries, standardize personnel assessment workflows, and deliver transparent reporting for managers. The solution was scoped to deliver a working first-line support capability within one month and full assessment and reporting workflows shortly after, leveraging the broader Dynamics 365-compatible Microsoft stack for future integration with HR/Finance systems.

Client / Industry / Country

Santo is a Kazakhstan-based pharmaceutical company and a member of Polpharma Group. The project targeted the company's HR function across Kazakhstan operations, serving a mid-sized employee population within a regulated pharma environment in the Middle East region.

Business challenge

HR at Santo faced repeated, high-volume requests from employees about routine processes (leave, performance assessments, career development proposals) that consumed HR specialists’ time and delayed responses to higher-value tasks. Knowledge lived in documents and emails, and managers lacked a simple way to collect structured assessment data or generate transparent reports.

The organization required a fast, secure mechanism to provide first-line answers and to digitize employee assessments and manager questionnaires. Time-to-delivery was critical: Santo asked for a first-line support capability within one month and a production-ready assessment app shortly after. The solution also needed to align with enterprise security, audit, and readiness for future Dynamics 365 integrations.

Why Dynamics 365 was selected

Santo selected the Microsoft ecosystem—Power Platform plus Copilot Studio—because it provides rapid application development, native connectors to SharePoint and Microsoft 365, and a clear upgrade path to Dynamics 365 modules (HR, Finance) if deeper ERP/HRIS integration is required. Choosing Microsoft technology minimized integration risk with existing identity and collaboration tools (Azure AD, Teams) already in use across the group.

Awara IT recommended the Dynamics 365-aligned approach to ensure data and process models could later map to Dynamics 365 HR or Finance and Operations. This strategy preserved Santo’s ability to scale beyond a point solution while delivering the immediate business objective: a responsive, auditable HR support channel and structured assessment workflows.

Modules implemented

• Power Apps—Access Me employee-facing application
• Copilot Studio—conversational first-line HR responses
• Power Automate—workflow orchestration and approvals
• Dataverse—centralized HR assessment data
• SharePoint—document storage and knowledge base
• Azure AD—authentication and role-based access control
• Power BI—manager reporting and dashboards

Integrations

• SharePoint document libraries for HR policies and forms
• Azure AD for single sign-on and role provisioning
• Email/Outlook for notifications and escalation routing
• Optional export-ready payloads for later Dynamics 365 HR/Finance integration

Localization & compliance

The implementation followed Kazakhstan data protection expectations for employee personal data by applying role-based access controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and audit logging. Awara IT worked with Santo’s legal and IT teams to minimize transfer of sensitive personal data and to keep assessment records within agreed storage boundaries. Language and regional formatting (Kazakh/Russian language support, date and number formats) were applied in the Power Apps UI to match local user expectations.

Business value

By delivering Access Me, Awara IT enabled Santo to automate high-volume HR interactions quickly and securely. The combined Power Apps and Copilot solution reduced routine response times, increased first-contact resolution, and standardized personnel assessment data capture. Managers gained near-real-time visibility into assessments and development proposals through automated reporting.

Critically, the solution was implemented within the Microsoft/ Dynamics 365-friendly ecosystem, which preserves Santo’s option to integrate assessment data and HR case history with Dynamics 365 HR or Finance modules in a subsequent phase. The result is immediate operational efficiency and a clear technical path for future HRIS consolidation.