Case Study: Amtrak achieves millions in labor-cost savings and real-time project portfolio transparency with Microsoft Power Apps

Amtrak is all aboard with workplace modernization, saving labor costs and improving portfolio transparency using Microsoft 365

Amtrak, the U.S. rail operator with a nationwide project portfolio, faced a reporting and transparency problem: 700 capital projects generated 30–80 page monthly reports that stakeholders rarely had time to read. To modernize its workplace and streamline project management, Amtrak turned to Microsoft Power Apps as part of its Microsoft 365/Office 365 deployment, enabling staff to build business intelligence dashboards and mobile workflow apps without heavy IT or external development.

Using Microsoft Power Apps, the Enterprise Project Management Office created an Enterprise Portfolio Inventory Dashboard in SharePoint and several PowerApps forms (complexity rating, new project requests, employee assessments) that link SharePoint, Excel and SAP data. The apps replaced lengthy reports and spreadsheets with one‑page status views and mobile forms, were built rapidly (one app in a day), eliminated external development costs, saved millions in labor, and cut manual collation time—an estimated three months saved each budget season—while delivering real‑time visibility across all projects.

Amtrak

Sarina Arcari

Vice President, Enterprise Program Management Office