Case study · Pool Services & Engineering

From paper job sheets to a platform they own.

How WikiTech replaced manual, error-prone processes with a custom digital platform for Commercial Leisure Services, and is now rebuilding it as a fully owned React application with AI and Xero integration.

IndustryCommercial Pool Services & Engineering
Revenue£3 million
Users15
RelationshipOngoing development partnership
Paper → digitalengineering job sheets fully digitised
£100/monthlicensing saving when React migration completes
100% ownedsource code belongs to the business
React + AInext-generation platform in development
The challenge

Two teams. Two sets of manual processes. Both holding the business back.

Commercial Leisure Services operates across two distinct functions: a sales team managing quotes, customers, and contracts, and an engineering team servicing commercial pools, spas, and water features across client sites. Both teams were drowning in manual processes that consumed time, introduced errors, and made it impossible to get a clear view of how the business was actually performing.

On the sales side, figures were being manually copied between PDFs and spreadsheets: a slow, error-prone workflow that made accurate reporting almost impossible and produced uninspiring, low-quality quote documents that didn’t reflect the professionalism of the business.

The engineering team faced a different but equally pressing problem. They relied on a paper-based job sheet system from a supplier that had since gone out of business. The sheets couldn’t be updated, the stock was finite, and when it ran out, there was no fallback. Beyond the supply problem, paper job sheets offered no traceability, no data, and no ability to analyse patterns or performance across jobs.

WikiTech looked at both problems together and proposed a unified digital solution built on the Microsoft Power Platform, purpose-built for Commercial Leisure Services, not adapted from a generic off-the-shelf template.

Manual data transfer: sales

Figures copied by hand between PDFs and spreadsheets. Frequent errors and significant time wasted on data entry.

Poor quality quote documents

Excel-generated quotes that looked unprofessional and didn’t represent the quality of the service being sold.

No centralised reporting

No single source of truth: customer data, spending, and performance figures were scattered across disconnected files.

Paper job sheets: a dead end

Outdated engineering sheets from a defunct supplier. No updates possible. Running out of stock with no replacement plan.

No data from the field

Paper-based engineering records meant no trend analysis, no performance reporting, and no digital audit trail.

Phase one

A custom platform built on Microsoft Power Platform.

WikiTech built two interconnected applications (one for sales, one for engineering) sharing a single Dataverse database and reporting through Power BI.

Sales team

CRM, quoting & reporting

Replacing spreadsheets with a centralised, intelligent sales platform

WikiTech built a full CRM application using PowerApps and Dataverse, a centralised database that holds all customer, contract, and transaction data in one place. Manual data entry between spreadsheets was eliminated entirely.

Professional quote and invoice PDFs are now generated automatically from within the app, replacing the low-quality Excel outputs that had previously been sent to clients. The Power BI dashboards that sit alongside the CRM give management an accurate, real-time view of sales performance, margins, customer spend, and profitability, updated live, not compiled manually at the end of the month.

  • Centralised CRM replacing disconnected spreadsheets
  • Automated professional PDF quote and invoice generation
  • Power BI dashboards: live sales, margin, and customer reporting
  • Customer spend, profit, and performance tracked in one place
Engineering team

Digital job sheets & field operations

Replacing paper with a fully digital field operations platform

WikiTech built a dedicated PowerApp for the engineering team that runs on iPads in the field. Every job (pool maintenance checks, spa servicing, water feature inspections) is now recorded digitally, with all data stored in the same Dataverse database as the sales platform.

Digital job sheets are clearer and more consistent than their paper predecessors. Clients receive digital copies and can sign off work electronically. Job scheduling is managed through the app, and the data collected feeds into Power BI reports that allow management to identify trends, monitor engineer performance, and spot recurring issues before they escalate.

  • Paper job sheets fully replaced with iPad-based digital forms
  • Digital client sign-off and automatic job sheet delivery
  • Improved job scheduling and engineer management
  • Power BI trend analysis across all field service data
The difference

Before and after.

Before WikiTech

Disconnected. Manual. Slow.

  • ✗Figures manually copied between PDFs and spreadsheets
  • ✗Quote documents produced in Excel, poor quality output
  • ✗No central database, customer data spread across files
  • ✗Reporting compiled manually, always out of date
  • ✗Paper job sheets from a defunct supplier, no way to update or reorder
  • ✗No field data, no trends, no analysis, no visibility
  • ✗Client sign-off on paper, copies lost or unavailable
After WikiTech

Centralised. Automated. Clear.

  • ✓Single Dataverse database, one source of truth across sales and engineering
  • ✓Professional PDF quotes and invoices generated automatically
  • ✓Full CRM, customer history, spend, profit, performance tracked live
  • ✓Power BI dashboards, real-time reporting at any time
  • ✓iPads in the field, digital job sheets, consistent and complete
  • ✓Field data feeding into trend reports and performance analysis
  • ✓Digital sign-off, clients receive copies automatically
Phase two, in progress

Outgrowing PowerApps. Time to own it properly.

The Power Platform solution transformed both teams. But as the business has grown and requirements have deepened, the limitations of a licensed SaaS platform have started to show. WikiTech is now rebuilding the entire platform as a custom React application.

More capability. More control. Lower cost.

PowerApps and Power Automate are excellent tools for getting a platform off the ground quickly. But per-user licensing costs scale with headcount, customisation hits a ceiling, and every feature that gets added is built on a third-party platform, not owned by the business.

The React rebuild solves all three of those problems at once. Custom dashboards built directly into the application replace the Power BI licences. Power Automate workflows are rebuilt natively, removing per-user automation costs. And Xero, the business’s accounts package, will be fully integrated, connecting financial data to the operational platform for the first time.

AI is also being embedded into the new application, allowing management to query business data in plain English: the same capability being built for UK Pool Store.

PowerAppsPower BIPower AutomateDataverseSharePointReactAI IntegrationXero IntegrationCustom Dashboards

Custom dashboards replace Power BI

Reporting built directly into the React app, no separate Power BI licences required. More flexible, fully tailored to the business.

Native automation replaces Power Automate

Workflows rebuilt within the application itself, removing per-user automation licensing costs as the team grows.

Xero integration

Direct connection to the business’s accounting package: quotes, invoices, and financial data flow between systems automatically.

AI data intelligence

Ask plain-English questions about the business (job performance, margins, engineer productivity, customer trends) and get instant, accurate answers.

Full source code ownership

The finished application belongs entirely to Commercial Leisure Services. Every pound invested in development builds an asset the business owns outright.

Why this matters

When you own the code, every investment comes back to you.

Most businesses that need a custom platform end up on a SaaS product. They pay per user, per month, forever. When they need a new feature, they request it, and if the vendor builds it, it gets rolled out to every other customer too. Including competitors.

The React platform WikiTech is building for Commercial Leisure Services works differently. The source code belongs to the business. The features built into it are built for them, not for a product roadmap shared with hundreds of other companies. And the cost of running the platform is a fixed Azure hosting fee, not a licence that climbs with every new staff member.

Your investment builds your asset

Development spend goes into a platform you own. Not into a SaaS company’s product that benefits all their customers.

Competitors don’t get your features

Everything built into the platform is built for Commercial Leisure Services specifically. Your operational advantages stay yours.

Cost scales with infrastructure, not headcount

Moving from ~£250/month in per-user SaaS licences to ~£150/month in Azure hosting, and that cost doesn’t rise as the team grows.

No vendor dependency

If WikiTech or any supplier changes pricing or discontinues a service, the platform continues to run. The code is yours.

Cost comparison

Same capability. Lower monthly cost. You own it.

Current: Power Platform

~£250
per month
PowerApps per-user licences~£140
Power Automate per-user licences~£70
Power BI Pro licences~£40
Source code ownershipNone

New: custom React app

~£150
per month
Azure VM hosting (app + database)~£150
Automation licences£0, built in
Reporting licences£0, built in
Source code ownership100%

£1,200 saved every year, plus full platform ownership

Lower running costs, no per-user licensing creep, and a platform that belongs to the business. The longer it runs, the more the investment pays back.

£100/month
Results so far

What the Power Platform phase delivered.

Zeromanual data transfer between PDFs and spreadsheets, fully eliminated
100%engineering job sheets digitised: iPads in the field, paper gone
Livesales and engineering reporting: real-time Power BI dashboards replacing end-of-month manual reports
1 appsingle platform replacing disconnected spreadsheets, paper forms, and manual processes across two teams
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