Description

Simply collate business data in one place in a range of formats in the regularity your business needs

Problem

Do you want to display your key business data in a simple way, without lots of tweaking each time you would like to display the information? Would you like to share this information with defined audiences, internally or externally? Would you like your data to be shown in a dashboard view as a mixture of graphics, lists charts or maps?

Previous situation

Quite simply many business data reports were not created as they took too much time to collate so decisions were made on ‘gut feel’. Alternatively, those we did create, we needed to dig out the information each time and update the majority of the data manually.

Solution

Automating the retrieval of information from various information sources available on the companies’ systems, clicking on individual areas of information can allow for more analysis.

Step 1

Define the key business data and information the business would like to view and at what intervals.

Step 2

Set up a system to extract the key information from the sources. Work out which information needs to be drilled down into further, for improved business reporting.

Step 3

Agree the visual method to be used to display the dashboard of business data. Arrange the business data dashboard to update at agreed intervals. Share permissions with those who need to view the information and set permissions so that those viewing are only able to see the relevant information.

As Microsoft puts it

‘With Power BI Desktop, you connect to data (usually multiple data sources), shape that data (with queries that build insightful, compelling data models), and use that model to create reports (which others can leverage, build upon, and share) […

‘Power BI Desktop centralizes, simplifies, and streamlines what can otherwise be a scattered, disconnected, and arduous process of designing and creating business intelligence.’

The possibilities are huge: sales teams can not only access detailed comparisons between different sales periods, they can also instantly track and rate salespeople and teams as soon as sales are processed. Then, from this, performance-based bonuses can be automatically calculated.

E-commerce companies can get automated, instant analyses of buyer locations, click-throughs to online shops from other sites and profits per transaction, among a range of useful information.

Businesses with teams working on client premises can have at their fingertips information on how long each team spends on site, how often tools are replaced, mileage used etc, to gain a complete overview of how efficiently teams, or even individual workers, are working.

Its real value lies in its ability to automatically collate all the information a business needs and present it in easy-to-grasp formats.

By using our expertise, we can ensure Power BI works effectively and to its full potential, meeting each business’s specific needs. We’re experienced in managing your data in such a way that we can produce the results you want to see quickly.

The more we at Springboard learn about Power BI, and the more we see the reactions of clients that we introduce to it, the more we are convinced that this is a programme which will become an essential part of the IT systems of any business keen to understand its successes and failings.

As Microsoft says: ‘Power BI turns industry data into smart decisions.’ The smartest decision your business could make this year is to adopt this software.