The LDI community

People figuring this out - together, in serious organisations.

A free, curated community for finance, data and business leaders who want to deploy self-service AI in their organisations - and the practitioners who help them build it. Workshops, office hours, worked examples, peer support. Members only - but membership is free.

What you get

Four reasons people join.

01

AI Readiness Roadmap

A 10-minute diagnostic across the five context layers. You leave with a prioritised roadmap for your organisation - not a generic checklist.

02

Eligibility for events

Workshops and roundtables - open to members only. The June workshop registration form below is members-only; non-members can read the recap and become members to register for what's next.

Members only
03

Free courses & resources

The launch self-service AI mini-course, plus everything that lands on the LDI roadmap (DP-600 prep, Fabric governance, Copilot, custom skills, financial reporting and more).

04

A serious peer environment

Monthly office hours with Rishi. A curated community of finance and data leaders working through the same problems - without the LinkedIn performance.

Speaking & events

Where you will hear this in the room.

The Self-Service AI framework is taught and demonstrated at conferences, ICAEW events and finance community sessions throughout the year - so you can hear it from people who build it, not people who sell it.

Previous sessions
Power BI Summer School · 2025 · ×2 sessions

Self-Service AI for Finance: From Fabric to Governed Agents

How finance teams deploy Microsoft Fabric and Copilot Studio as a governed Self-Service AI platform - covering the five-layer context foundation, governance model, and building without accumulating technical debt.

FabCon Europe 2025 · Microsoft Community

The Microsoft Fabric Landscape and the Road to Self-Service AI

A community briefing on the major Microsoft Fabric announcements and what they mean for finance and business teams building towards governed, conversational AI on their own data.

Read the full write-up →
SQLBits 2026 · Microsoft Community

Storytelling with Data: Building Reports People Act On

How to structure Power BI reports around a data argument, not a data dump - covering the report and semantic layer of the Self-Service AI context foundation. Delivered at SQLBits 2026, the UK's largest data platform conference.

Watch on YouTube →
ICAEW

For Chartered Accountants

Rishi writes for and presents to the ICAEW community. These pieces sit at the intersection of accounting practice and the AI foundations that make intelligent automation trustworthy - written for finance professionals, not data engineers.

Webinar · ICAEW Data Analytics Community · Nov 2025

Analytics in the World of Agentic AI

What agentic AI means for analytics and finance workflows - from report production and reconciliations to governed automation with Copilot Studio and Microsoft Fabric. 979 registrants · 481 live attendees · 4.3/5.

Watch on ICAEW →
Webinar · ICAEW Excel Community · May 2025

Power BI Tips and Tricks for Finance Professionals

Co-presented with Gary Watson (Forvis Mazars). Practical techniques for Chartered Accountants building Power BI reports that drive decisions - covering the reporting layer of the Self-Service AI foundation. 1,562 registrants · 699 live attendees.

View on ICAEW →
Article · ICAEW Data Analytics Community · Oct 2025

Tips for Working with Financial Data in Power BI

The specific challenges finance teams face bringing financial data into Power BI - chart of accounts design, accounting-style layouts, and report choices appropriate to a finance audience. Selected as one of the top three articles in the October 2025 community newsletter.

Read on ICAEW →
Article · Part 1 · Apr 2026

Agents, Context and the Data Foundation

Why AI agents fail without a governed data context layer - and what finance teams can do to build one on the Microsoft stack they already own. The case for treating data foundations as the pre-condition for any AI investment.

Read on ICAEW →
Article · Part 2 · Apr 2026

From the Data Foundation to the Agent Builder

How the five-layer context foundation connects to Copilot Studio, and what Self-Service AI for finance looks like in practice. The step from a governed data platform to agents your business team can build and own.

Read on ICAEW →
Events

Upcoming and recent events.

LDI events are open to members only. Workshops are limited and fill quickly. The recap from our most recent event is open for everyone - but to register for what is next, become a member first.

RECAP · OPEN TO ALL
12 MARCH 2026 · LONDON · 28 ATTENDEES

The first LDI event for senior finance & data leaders

In March 2026, we ran our first full-format LDI event for senior finance and data leaders. Twenty-eight attendees worked through what self-service AI actually looks like inside a finance function - from the data foundation to the agent builder, with worked examples from real organisations.

Five themes that came up most often
  • Agent sprawl is already happening - even when leaders haven't sanctioned it.
  • "Fabric is bought, but Logic and Skills are nobody's job yet."
  • Finance teams want vendor-independence, not vendor-hostility.
  • The board narrative is the forcing function - not the technology.
  • Working definitions of net revenue are the fastest unlock for variance agents.
Read the full recap →
Format · in-person + recap Length · 3 hours Audience · senior leaders
MEMBERS ONLY · INVITE-ONLY · REGISTER INTEREST
THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2026 · LONDON + ONLINE

Three Waves of Generative AI

A full-day, hands-on workshop for LDI members. Working from a shared case study, you will go from a manual Excel-based business process through to a governed, agent-ready data foundation - with an automated workflow running by the end of the day. Open to all members; places are limited and allocated by register of interest.

What we build together
  1. Strategic frame - People, Process, Technology. Where you are now and where the automation takes you. Rishi-led presentation; participants complete a current state assessment on the case study.
  2. Agent structure & governance - How to organise the agent: context layers, sub-agents, skills. A guided exercise in designing for governance from the start, not as an afterthought.
  3. Process capture - Working through the case study business process (Excel-based, data in a structured source). Documenting it in the format an agent can act on.
  4. Automated workflow - Using LDI utility agents (pre-loaded with the case study context layers) to read the process and build the first version of the automated workflow, published as a custom skill into the context foundation.
  5. Optional exercises - Taking the foundation further: structured data layer with row-level security, validated business logic, semantic model and reporting layer, ontologies for conversational querying. Participants can build, observe, or review the finished solution - all three are legitimate choices on the day.

By the end of the day you will have seen - and most participants will have built - a governed data layer, validated business logic, and a custom skill that automates a real process. The same foundation that lets your team ask questions of their data in plain language and get answers that are accurate, because the rules underneath them are yours.

Workshop places are members-only.

Become a member first - it is free and takes 60 seconds. Once you are a member, the register of interest form opens here.

Register your interest

Places are limited. We'll confirm your place by email. Name and email are pre-filled from your member profile.

Format · full-day in-person workshop Frequency · quarterly Location · London
How we show up

Community guidelines, in four lines.

Be generous

Share the thing that would have saved you two days.

§

Be specific

Real context beats general opinion - every time.

No selling

Helpful links welcome. Pitches are not.

Share the work

Show the screenshot, paste the diagram, post the process.

Full code of conduct - coming at launch

Free, small, serious. Come in.

Less than 60 seconds to sign up. Unlocks the AI Readiness Roadmap, the workshop register, the courses and the community.