Case Study

Northern Lighthouse Board – Automating Document Retention with SharePoint Online & Power Automate

“From an IT perspective, we needed a way to control document retention without introducing more complexity. This solution gives us a clear, structured approach that works at scale and is still straightforward for the business to use.”
Paul Scyner Northern Lighthouse Board Case Study
Paul Scyner
Systems Analyst, Northern Lighthouse Board
Northern Lighthouse board

CASE STUDY

By submitting your email, you agree to receive occasional updates from jaam about our services and products. Your information will be handled securely and in accordance with our Privacy Policy

Background Information

  • CUSTOMER: Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB)
  • SECTOR: Maritime safety / General Lighthouse Authority
  • SOLUTION DELIVERED: Document Tagging & Classification, Automated Document Review, Document Archive / Delete / Retain

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the General Lighthouse Authority for the waters around Scotland and the Isle of Man, responsible for 208 lighthouses, 174 buoys and multiple beacons, supported by two operational ships and around 185 staff.

Documents sit at the heart of how NLB operates – from contracts and maintenance records to governance and departmental documentation.

Following a migration from on-premise SharePoint to Microsoft 365, around 124,000 documents were moved into SharePoint Online without an automated retention process.

NLB partnered with jaam automation to design and implement a bespoke document retention solution using SharePoint Online, Power Automate an Azure Web API and Microsoft Graph, giving the organisation a low-cost, configurable way to manage document lifecycles at scale.

skills knowledge circle

The Solution

After reviewing the requirements, jaam implemented a configurable document retention solution on top of NLB’s existing Microsoft 365 environment.

Phase 1.

Configuration & Automation Framework

  • Introduced a configuration record model defining: document library, SharePoint site, retention tags and review schedules.
  • Built Power Automate flows to read configuration records and trigger a dedicated Azure Web API.
  • Used Microsoft Graph from the API to iterate through SharePoint libraries, compare item creation dates against configuration data and add matching items to a task list for review.
  • Tagged items in the task list to indicate they were being processed, ready for user action.
“From an IT perspective, we needed a way to control document retention without introducing more complexity. This solution gives us a clear, structured approach that works at scale and is still straightforward for the business to use.”
Quote in purple circle
Paul Scyner
Systems Analyst, Northern Lighthouse Board
Phase 2.

Review, Archival & Audit Trail

  • Power Automate populates each task with the correct owner and reviewer, based on configuration.
  • Users access the list and choose an action for each item: Archive, Delete or Keep.
  • Flows perform checks and then:
    • Move items to an archive location if Archive is selected.
    • Move items to a delete folder, then clear them from the library after 7 days if Delete is selected.
    • Leave items in place and reschedule them for reprocessing in 12 months if Keep is selected.
  • Every processed item and action is written to an audit list, providing a clear governance trail.
“A lot of this was previously manual and difficult to track. Now the process is automated and visible, so we know what’s happening with documents at every stage and we’re not relying on people to remember to review things.”
Quote in purple circle
Paul Scyner
Systems Analyst, Northern Lighthouse Board
Phase 3.

File, metadata and management and Reporting

“With over 300000 documents in our SharePoint environment, we needed to understand what we actually had before we could manage it properly. The reporting gives us a single view of everything, the files, the metadata, where things stand; so the team has the visibility to make decisions and keep things in order.”
Quote in purple circle
Paul Scyner
Systems Analyst, Northern Lighthouse Board
  • Power Automate collects SharePoint site, library and file information using a combination of Microsoft Graph and SharePoint connectors.
  • Information about sites, libraries and files are stored in Dataverse for central access and management.
  • Comprehensive error handling is implemented to ensure all file information is captured
  • Relationships between sites, libraries and files are managed.
  • Power BI provides a single pane from which all files in the SharePoint tenant for the organisation are visible.
varify ICON

The core solution was delivered in around three weeks of development and refinement, with NLB’s team trained to understand and manage all components, from configuration lists to Power Automate flows. Phase 3 was delivered in roughly four weeks and enhanced the NLB team’s component management capability.

The Results

Users no longer have to manually monitor large numbers of SharePoint sites and libraries for retention.

A consistent, easy-to-use interface allows document owners to update retention metadata and take action on items.

Items and actions are traceable and restorable without relying solely on the SharePoint recycle bin.

Governance and compliance requirements are easier to meet, and evidence is readily available.

SharePoint Online limits and tolerances are protected from unchecked growth in document volumes.

Users and management have visibility of all files across the SharePoint tenant.

The Impact

By combining SharePoint Online, Power Automate, an Azure Web API and Microsoft Graph, jaam automation has helped NLB move from manual, department-by-department monitoring to a central, automated document retention process that the internal IT team fully owns and can reuse across the organisation.

Microsoft graph logo colour2
“The team at jaam automation understood the technical side, but also how we needed to manage and support this internally. What we’ve ended up with is something we can maintain ourselves, which was really important for us.”
Paul Scyner Northern Lighthouse Board Case Study
Paul Scyner
Systems Analyst, Northern Lighthouse Board
Download the full case study

By submitting your email, you agree to receive occasional updates from jaam about our services and products. Your information will be handled securely and in accordance with our Privacy Policy

Would your organisation benefit from automated document retention and governance on the Microsoft technology stack? Book a quick chat or attend one of our free drop-ins to find out more:

Book time with us