“Accountability that is shared is owned by no one. Governance begins when someone is named responsible.”
Before environments can be contained, before automation can run, before lifecycle can be managed — someone has to be in charge. Not in charge of restricting what makers can do. In charge of making it possible for them to do it well.
What Stewardship Means
Stewardship is the governance of governance. It asks: who is in charge, what authority do they have, how do they make decisions, and how are those decisions communicated, enforced, and reviewed?
The primary stewardship mechanism is the Centre of Enablement — a function, not just a team. A set of accountabilities that govern the platform on behalf of the organisation. In a large organisation it may be a dedicated group. In a smaller one it may be one person with a clear mandate. What matters is not the headcount. It is the mandate.
Above the Centre of Enablement sits a Platform Board — senior stakeholders from IT, business, risk, and compliance who set strategic direction and provide executive support for governance decisions.
What Power Platform Provides
Power Platform Admin Center defines administrative roles with explicit scope. Managed Environments separate admin and maker responsibilities architecturally. The Centre of Enablement Starter Kit provides the operational toolkit — compliance monitoring, maker onboarding workflows, and governance dashboards — so the stewardship function can operate efficiently regardless of team size.
The Enterprise Gap
The most common stewardship gap is a Centre of Enablement with responsibility but without authority. It can advise but not enforce. It can recommend but not decide. A governance function without decision rights is advisory at best.
The right model gives the Centre of Enablement a genuine mandate — the authority to set standards, enforce policies, and escalate decisions to the Platform Board when needed.
One Action
Document the current stewardship model. Who owns governance decisions today? Is there a Platform Board with business and IT representation? Does the Centre of Enablement have a mandate — or just a responsibility? The gap between those two is where stewardship investment is needed.
Part 7 of 36 | #PowerPlatformAtScale
The full stewardship model, including the decision rights framework and governance body structure, are in the book.