🔴 Problem Statement
The university had adopted hybrid learning and expanded its enrollment globally. But behind the scenes, support operations were cracking:
🎯 Disjointed case handling across 6+ departments with no unified process
💬 30,000+ student queries per semester, arriving via email, WhatsApp, web forms, and walk-ins
⏳ Delayed routing and duplication, where the same student raised identical issues across channels
🧠 No AI, no triage system—everything was assigned manually
📉 Declining student satisfaction and increased academic dropouts due to unresolved support cases
🎯 Solution Goals
✅ Centralize case intake across all departments✅ Use AI to extract intent, urgency, and sentiment
✅ Automatically route to the right department with minimal latency
✅ Provide students a 360° view of their requests
✅ Deliver live dashboards for deans and HODs
✅ Ensure compliance and auditability for sensitive data
🧩 Solution Overview
We delivered a unified, AI-powered Student Support Platform using the Microsoft Power Platform stack—Copilot, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Apps, Power Pages, and Dataverse.
The result: A resilient, scalable system that eliminated case silos, reduced average resolution time by 60%, and lifted student satisfaction scores across the board.
🛠️ Key Components
1️⃣ AI-Powered Case Triage (Copilot in PVA + Power Automate)
Students initiate cases via chatbot on the university portal. Copilot extracts:
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Issue category: IT, Finance, Exams, Counselling, etc.
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Urgency: Based on phrases like “urgent,” “missed deadline,” or “unable to login”
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Sentiment: Negative tones flagged for escalation
Example Input:
"I've been locked out of my student portal for 3 days. My final exam starts tomorrow."
Copilot Output: “Category: IT | Priority: Critical | Sentiment: Frustrated”
➡ Data passed to Dataverse and Power Automate for routing.
2️⃣ Smart Routing & SLA Management (Power Automate)
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Cases are assigned to department queues based on keywords and urgency
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If SLA breaches are predicted, Power Automate triggers Teams escalations
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Managers receive proactive alerts for high-risk cases
3️⃣ Unified Support Agent App (Model-Driven App)
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Staff across IT, Finance, and Academics use one central interface
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View incoming cases, escalate, or reassign
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The integrated knowledge base suggests FAQ and past resolutions
4️⃣ Real-Time Command Dashboard (Power BI)
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Leadership monitors volume trends across categories
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Spot top delayed departments
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View escalation heatmaps and SLA performance by team
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Enable data-driven staffing decisions during peak seasons (e.g., admissions, exams)
5️⃣ Student Self-Service Portal (Power Pages)
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Students can log in to:
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Track their submitted cases
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Upload documents (e.g., fee receipts)
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Read AI-recommended solutions before raising a case
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➡ Reduces low-value repeat queries by 40%
📈 Results After 6 Months
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. Resolution Time | 6.2 Days. | ⏱️ 2.1 Days |
| First Contact Resolution (FCR) | 46% | 🎯 81% |
| SLA Breaches (Critical Cases) | 38% | ⚡ <8% |
| Student Satisfaction (CSAT) | 3.1/5 | 🌟 4.7/5 |
| Duplicate Requests Reduced | N/A | 📉 53% drop |
🧠 Technical Insight
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Used environment variables for OpenAI endpoint and config settings
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AI models fine-tuned using prior semester case data
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Power Automate flows included fallback departments and time-based escalation rules
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Copilot’s behavior was reviewed weekly by staff for tone, bias, and compliance
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Azure Monitor used for logging failures in real-time
🔐 Governance Tip
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🔐 OpenAI keys stored via environment variables
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🚫 DLP policies enforced to isolate external connectors from academic records
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📝 Copilot case summaries audited weekly for compliance and tone
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👤 Sensitive case types (e.g., wellness, counseling) restricted via RBAC in Dataverse
💡 Final Thought
Support systems in education must be intelligent, scalable, and empathetic. This isn’t just digital transformation—it’s student retention, academic continuity, and mental wellness at scale.
As Power Platform architects, our role isn’t just to automate—but to design for trust, resilience, and human experience in every flow we build.
High-Level Architecture
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