Securing and scaling ICS's job registration automation
ICS runs every new job through an in-house system built on Power Apps and Power Automate. It registers the job, creates its folders, links it to Monday.com and files site photos from tablets straight to the server.
The system was built by a staff member and tied to her personal account. Friendlyware moved it onto a dedicated, secured platform, then rebuilt the core automation so it runs several times faster with no practical limit on job numbers. Today it's backed up monthly and no longer depends on any one person.
International Conservation Services (ICS) is a heritage conservation firm caring for buildings, artworks and collections, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Client Spotlight
The Problem
ICS's job registration system had grown into something the business relied on every day, but it was never designed to be supported long term. The apps and automations ran under one employee's account, with permissions set up as they were needed rather than planned.
When that employee left, the risk became real. Deactivating her accounts broke the automations, and staff lost access to apps they needed. At the same time, the system was approaching technical limits that would eventually stop it registering new jobs.
The Challenge
Digitising the data was not simply a matter of recreating forms on screen. Friendlyware had to solve several specific obstacles:
Untangling ownership: Each app, flow and connection had to be moved to a new owner and retested, without losing the work already built into them.
Built-in limits: The main automation had hit Power Automate's 500-action ceiling and needed manual updates for every new block of job numbers. Separately, the app could only display 2,000 jobs, and ICS was already past 1,800.
Fragile connections: The automations reach into the on-premises server, SharePoint and Monday.com. A failed update or an expired sign-in anywhere in that chain could quietly stop jobs being registered.
A Microsoft-side incident: In May 2025 several flows disappeared from ICS's Microsoft 365 environment altogether, through no action on ICS's side.
The Solution
We approached it in stages, stabilising the system first and then improving it.:
A dedicated automation platform: We set up a secured automation account with its own licences, gateway, connectors and two-factor sign-in. All apps and flows were moved onto it from the former employee's account.
Clean permissions: We replaced ad hoc sharing with security groups, so access is granted by role and survives staff changes.
Reliability fixes: We scheduled a nightly restart of the automation service, added error notifications, and kept the on-premises gateway up to date.
Recovering from the incident: We worked with Microsoft's Level 3 support to restore the missing flows, then repaired the issues the restore introduced.
Monthly backups: We built a script that backs up every flow and app each month, protecting what is now years of development work.
A ground-up rebuild: We redesigned the job registration automation to remove the 500-action ceiling and the manual job number updates. It now runs several times faster. We also reworked the app so it loads jobs in batches, removing the 2,000-job display limit.
Training ICS staff: We showed ICS's own team how to handle basic troubleshooting, so small issues no longer wait on a support call.
Along the way we added further automations, including WHS incident reporting to email and Excel, a client feedback survey, and booking rules for shared cars and equipment.
Outcome
ICS's job registration system is now a supported business platform rather than one person's project. It runs under a secured account, access follows roles rather than individuals, and every flow and app is backed up monthly.
The rebuilt automation runs several times faster, and the system can grow with the business without hitting job number or display limits. When the Microsoft incident struck, we recovered the system and put backups in place so a repeat would be a short restore, not a rebuild.
Real Businesses, Real Challenges, Real IT Solutions
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