Revolutionizing Plod Entry in Mining: How the Power Platform Transforms Drilling and Earthworks Data

James Blue
May 4
4 min read

In mining, every shift is a race against time and behind the scenes, it’s the humble plod sheet that keeps the wheels turning. Plod entry is how crews log daily production, equipment hours, delays, and progress across drilling and earthworks. But too often, this critical data is trapped in clunky spreadsheets, paper forms, or rigid off-the-shelf systems that don’t fit the unique needs of a site.

Enter Microsoft’s Power Platform, a game-changing toolkit that lets mining companies design custom, cost-effective solutions that streamline plod entry and unlock real-time insights.

In this post, we’ll walk through how Power Apps, Power Automate, Dataverse, and Power BI can work together to overhaul your plod process, saving time, improving accuracy, and empowering better decisions across the operation.

Why Traditional Plod Systems Fall Short

For years, mining sites have relied on a mix of paper plods, Excel spreadsheets, and purchased SaaS systems to record daily activity. But these approaches come with big challenges:

Paper and Excel are manual-heavy. Data entry is slow, error-prone, and often leads to a lag between field and office.
SaaS tools are often rigid. Off-the-shelf solutions rarely align perfectly with site-specific workflows, making it hard to adapt as things change.
Integrating data is a headache. Getting plod data into reporting systems usually involves tedious manual effort or expensive integrations.

The result? Delays, frustration, and missed opportunities to optimize performance.

The Power Platform Approach: Build Exactly What You Need

The Power Platform flips the script by giving you the tools to build the plod solution that fits your site — no heavy development required. Here’s how the pieces come together:

1. Power Apps: A Simple, User-Friendly Front End

Power Apps lets you design a mobile or tablet-based app where operators, supervisors, or drillers can enter plod data directly from the field. No more scribbling on paper or jumping between clunky systems.

With Power Apps, you can:

Create intuitive, mobile-friendly forms for plod data entry.
Include dropdowns, pre-filled fields, and validation rules to reduce errors.
Allow offline data entry, so crews can work even in remote areas without connectivity.
Deploy updates and improvements on the fly — without needing external vendors.

For drilling, you might capture drill meters, bit changes, shift times, and fuel use. For earthworks, you could log material moved, equipment hours, or bucket counts — all in one streamlined app.

2. Power Automate: Keep Things Moving Automatically

Once plod data is entered, Power Automate steps in to handle the grunt work.

Power Automate allows you to:

Send real-time notifications when thresholds are hit (like equipment downtime or production shortfalls).
Automatically route plod summaries to supervisors or project engineers.
Trigger workflows for approvals, maintenance requests, or shift handovers.
Integrate with email, Microsoft Teams, or other systems to keep everyone in the loop.

By automating these steps, you cut down on manual handoffs and make sure critical information reaches the right people fast.

3. Dataverse: A Secure, Central Data Hub

Behind the scenes, all plod data can flow into Dataverse — Microsoft’s scalable, secure data storage platform.

Dataverse offers:

A central source of truth for plod data, accessible across the organization.
Built-in data relationships, so you can connect plod entries to equipment, locations, or cost centers.
Strong governance, security, and role-based access.
Easy integration with Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI.

Instead of scattered spreadsheets or siloed databases, Dataverse gives you a rock-solid foundation to manage all your operational data in one place.

4. Power BI: Turn Data into Insight

Here’s where it all comes together.

With Power BI, you can:

Build real-time dashboards showing drilling progress, earthworks volume, equipment utilization, and more.
Slice and dice data by crew, shift, location, or equipment type.
Identify trends, bottlenecks, and improvement opportunities.
Share reports across the business — from site supervisors to corporate leadership.

Imagine pulling up a dashboard that shows drill meters per rig, downtime by cause, or earth moved per hour — all updated automatically from plod entries. That’s the kind of visibility that drives smarter, faster decisions.

The Payoff: Faster, Smarter, and More Adaptable

By combining Power Apps, Power Automate, Dataverse, and Power BI, you can build a plod system that:

Reduces manual work and cuts out paperwork.
Improves data accuracy and eliminates double handling.
Delivers real-time insights to drive better decision-making.
Adapts to your site’s needs, instead of forcing you into a rigid system.

Best of all, the Power Platform puts control in your hands, allowing site teams to build and evolve solutions without massive external spend.

Final Thoughts: Unlocking the Potential of Your Data

In a fast-paced mining environment, the ability to capture, automate, and visualize plod data isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a competitive edge. The Power Platform gives mining companies the tools to break free from outdated systems and create solutions that truly work for their operations.

Whether you’re running a single drill rig or managing a large earthworks fleet, now’s the time to rethink how you capture and use plod data. With the right tools in place, you’ll spend less time on admin and more time driving productivity where it matters most.