D365 and Power Platform Composable ERP in the UK: Reducing Heavy Customisation with a Structured Architecture

Enterprises need to be agile, responsive, and flexible to stay competitive in the current market. Business landscapes evolve at an unprecedented pace, requiring operational models that adapt with strategic precision. 

To keep up with the change, enterprises must adopt an ERP that streamlines complex workflows across finance, supply chain, inventory, and HR. It must support cross-functional data sharing, scale on demand, and drive innovation. Integration is crucial to achieving this objective. Embracing a composable ERP approach enables organisations to build a more flexible and adaptable ERP ecosystem. 

Unlike a composable ERP’s modular design, legacy monolithic ERPs bind business processes into an all-in-one architecture. Customisation inevitably compromises the core code, leading to high maintenance costs and technical debt. Yet many UK enterprises still rely on monolithic systems. UK banks, for example, will spend £3.3bn in 2026 maintaining outdated core banking systems built on rigid architectures. 

However, UK enterprises are gradually shifting toward composable ERP models to modernise workflows, build operational resilience, and enhance agility. Composable ERP architecture allows best-of-breed component assembly, flexible integration, and cost-effective models that align with evolving business priorities. 78% of UK businesses are evaluating investments in composable ERPs.  

The D365 and Power Platform composable ERP offers a structured pathway for UK enterprises to convert the intent of ERP modernisation into a controlled and executable initiative. 

Composable ERP with D365 and the Power Platform is a flexible, modern, and modular approach that allows enterprises to develop highly customised solutions. Unlike rigid monolithic applications, individual, specialised applications (or modules) for functions such as customer service, finance, and inventory can be assembled and integrated together. It is like building a system with multiple blocks (modules) of functions. Businesses can easily modify, add, or remove the functional modules without affecting the entire system. 

The D365 and Power Platform composable ERP offers a strong API foundation, powerful low code tools, and CRM/ERP modules. Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI enable rapid development of responsive customer-centric apps, streamline operational workflows, and generate visual data analytics. Application examples include HR onboarding, inventory tracking, and responsive dashboards. Meanwhile, key ERP functions such as finance and supply chains stay within the D365 core.  

Key Principles: 

• Core Stability: D365 is responsible for managing enterprise-critical, transactional, and regulated processes. D365 Finance, for instance, manages complex processes such as intercompany regulations, tax jurisdictions, and multi-currency ledgers. Compliance features, such as audit trails and digital reporting, help UK enterprises process transactions, ensuring compliance with local regulations and IFRS standards.  
  Business Value: D365 ensures continuous compliance through integrated regulatory intelligence. 
• Extensibility: Power Platform enables the development of task-specific apps and workflows. For instance, a business can develop a lightweight app for scanning barcodes. This app simplifies tracking inventory. 
  Business Value: Enhanced user experience without disrupting the core ERP system. 
• Reusability: Organisations can reuse connectors to standardise the Power Automate workflow process. For instance, an ‘approval engine’ workflow architecture designed for claims approval can be reused to build an HR app for leave requests. 
  Business Value: A standardised system and efficient governance across departments. 
• Speed: By leveraging low code ERP extensions using Power Platform, business users (or citizen developers) can custom-build solutions and applications within weeks. A business analyst, for instance, can rapidly build a tracking tool using Copilot. 
  Business Value: The tool pulls relevant vendor data from D365 through a unified connector and stores updates in Dataverse. Composable business apps on Power Platform allow IT teams to focus on critical infrastructure while empowering business users to deliver reports on time.  

Legacy ERPs, with their outdated configurations and tightly coupled architectural frameworks, restrict integration with modern, cloud, API-powered tools and external applications. Composable ERP with Dynamics 365 helps overcome the challenge, enabling more responsive, efficient, and flexible workflows. 

A key advantage of implementing D365 and Power Platform composable ERP is that it significantly reduces customisation needs without impacting business flexibility. The objective is not to eliminate customisation completely but to reposition it strategically. 

The solution is to set clear architectural boundaries using the principle of core versus edge.  

Protect the D365 Core  

Large UK companies want to keep their core systems undisturbed while accelerating innovation. They can decouple high-stakes transactional processes from agile innovation workflows. 

Processes that should be within the D365 core: 

• Financial postings, ledger logic, intercompany accounting 
• Tax configuration, VAT reporting, and UK-focused regulatory filings  
• Inventory evaluation, main supply chain transactions  

D365 acts as a standard transactional backbone that protects organisations’ operational stability. Unnecessary modifications to core processes increase both functional and compliance risks. 

Many customisations, however, do not need to reside in the ERP core. Workflow logic, user experience enhancements, and departmental tools can be externalised using Power Platform.  

D365’s complex interface often overwhelms users who only need to perform a single task. A simple Power App with a user-friendly UI can help the user perform the intended function, such as reporting a damaged product, within minutes. This Power App leverages an API to instantly push the new information into D365. Power Automate helps organisations manage approval routing and notification chains across finance, HR, and procurement functions. Power BI can provide dynamic dashboards using secure connectors to D365 data.  

Adopting composable ERP architecture requires a strategic approach to prevent fragmentation.  

With proper governance, businesses can reduce customisation costs, lower operational risks, and unlock agility. 

• Get enterprise-wide visibility: Assess the existing customisations and their scalability. Many organisations are unaware of the embedded technical debt. Perform structured reviews of existing functions such as finance, HR, and logistics to determine process reliance on bespoke solutions and legacy maintenance burdens.  
  This operational clarity shifts focus from ‘keeping the system running’ to ‘driving business optimisation’ to fuel growth. 
• Prioritise functions requiring core control: Understand what functions are regulatory and business critical. For example, revenue recognition processes, such as long-term contract handling, involve complex calculations and are highly regulated under IFRS 15. Keeping these processes in D365 ensures that the financial statements are automatically compliant. Other important processes include inventory valuation and global risk and credit limit management. Segmenting the functions allows UK organisations to protect sensitive operations while driving innovation at the edge.  
• Shift innovation to low code: UK businesses can leverage low code Power Apps and the Power Automate platform to develop task-specific applications, streamline approval processes, and deliver operational insights to decision-makers in real time. For instance, UK banks can leverage D365 for critical auditing processes such as statutory reporting (FCA). However, to make the banking process seamless for customers, banks can build a loan application Power App to capture customer data and push it into D365. Power Automate can streamline KYC processes by routing background verification data to compliance teams and updating D365 accordingly. These low code ERP enhancements in large enterprises enable faster responses to compliance or market changes, lower the pressure on ERP resources, and empower teams to innovate without worrying about guardrails.  
• Enforce embedded governance as a safeguard: Governance frameworks within the D365 and Power Platform architecture ensure compliance controls, security protocols, and secure lifecycle management. This framework helps UK businesses to innovate while ensuring clarity about accountability and ownership. 

For large UK enterprises, the real risk is not customisation itself but uncontrolled customisation embedded deep within the ERP core.  

When every operational requirement is solved inside D365, complexity compounds. Upgrade cycles slow down. Compliance assurance becomes weak. IT teams become custodians of legacy decisions rather than innovation enablers. 

A composable ERP model built on the D365 and Power Platform offers the necessary discipline. D365 remains a reliable and credible system for core critical processes. Power Platform acts as the controlled innovation layer that accelerates workflows with user-centric applications without impacting the core. This strategic segmentation of operations enables structured and incremental modernisation.  

Composable ERP with Dynamics 365 reduces long-term maintenance obligations while supporting upgrade readiness. This allows UK businesses to be agile without compromising governance.  

However, ensuring successful implementation of D365 and Power Platform composable ERP while navigating complex regulatory compliance and evolving market demands can be challenging for UK businesses. Furthermore, this digital transformation requires governance insight, integration capabilities, and in-depth experience across Microsoft ecosystems.  

At Evoke Technologies, we help enterprises design and implement D365 and Power Platform environments that balance control with flexibility. From customisation audits and composable architecture design to governance frameworks and phased execution roadmaps, our approach focuses on building ERP environments that remain stable, compliant, and adaptable over time. For example, we have helped a leading hospitality company centralise data governance across distributed systems using tailored Microsoft solutions. 

Connect with Evoke to explore how your business can establish a composable ERP that operates with clarity and drives sustainable growth.