Power BI Implementation

Power BI Implementation – more information

Power BI is a collection of desktop and cloud services, that lets the organization create breakthrough analytical tools, reports, and dashboards and share them across the company in a more stable, safe, and faster way than ever before. Implementing Power BI related solutions is one of Antdata’s main business pillars.

Implementation of Business Intelligence solutions (and Power BI in particular) unequivocally increases the organization’s capacity and capability to understand its data and make right, data-based decisions.

In a truly revolutionary way, it helps to use in full not only the data but also the potential of the team members. They have effectively more time to think about what the data means and take appropriate actions, instead of focusing on repeated, mundane, and never-ending attempt to finish the calculation, making the right chart or slide. What is more, the data is displayed on state-of-the-art, visually appealing and error-free dashboards.

The typical way of getting to the truth, to the right conclusions and ultimately taking action looks somewhat like this:
The data is gathered and stored in ERP/CRM/WMS/TMS/HR system(s). Sometimes one system embraces the majority of the firm’s day-to-day operations, sometimes multiple systems play a crucial role. Sometimes data is gathered in one master data repository, but that is a truly unique situation. Usually, both systems and underlying data sources are scattered. We are talking here about company key data: finance, sales, manufacturing, personal, and much more.

The sheer amount – width and depth of data is unique for every company. To manage it, the aforementioned systems often offer BI-like built-in functionalities. Unfortunately, they tend to be very simple, they become outdated very quickly, its redesign is impossible or very expensive. Not to mention the fact, that it can be done only with the hands of the system supplier’s programmers. So the only reasonable way means using the built-in feature of exporting the system data to an Excel sheet, or, when it is impossible due to the platform limitations, the IT department extracts the data directly from the system database on users’ requests.

However, the important part here is that databases, despite that there are myriad types and kinds of them – are standardized, structurally similar to each other, and used by the systems as one of its components. Access to the database, irrespectively of its type (whether it is MsSQL, MySQL, Oracle, and others) can be granted independently from the system.

It happens very often that to draw the right conclusions, we need to use multiple sources. How can we learn what the profit per 1 employee is if finance data is stored in one system and HR data in the other? How can we calculate the pallet floor space moving cost if the formula ingredients come from both the inside of the company and the systems of our logistics providers? As of now, the most common solution is using a spreadsheet and executing an attempt to integrate the data.

Unfortunately, process automation is limited or often impossible. Left with a huge amount of manual labor, the spreadsheets are prone to errors, exceptions, and irregularities. Not to mention the fact, that created analysis and reports are static and allow an outlook from one angle at a time. Changing the perspective requires multiplying the number of charts, tables. If we do not do that, we are confronted with very generic data. If we do that, the number of elements to navigate through makes the report downright useless. Any problem from the list above alone disqualifies the analytical tool, but they tend to appear simultaneously!

The solution to that is Business Intelligence class solution implementation. In our case, we recommend strongly Microsoft Power BI. The implementation may take place as a standalone project or together with other Data Architecture components down the stream. The examples include the creation of Azure Data Repository.

When you implement Power BI, you continue to use your current ERP/CRM/HR systems!

The important aspect of Power BI implementation is the fact it is complementary to currently used systems. There is no need for a revolution or big bucks purchase. There is no operational threats, no conflicts with well-established procedures and processes. It allows us to make a leap forward in terms of efficiency and it does it in a sustainable and very cost-efficient way.

Instead of creating repeated data dumps, tons of spreadsheet transformations and calculations, attempts to integrate the data without automating and visualizing (or rather – trying to visualize it) using very basic charts, you can replace that all with a Power BI data model and report.

Power BI Implementation – where to start?

It always starts with a call. You neither have to have a specific idea in mind, nor you need to be an expert in the field. We will schedule a meeting and try to understand your needs and current data landscape. We will quickly try to define the potential scope of the implementation, identify the data sources, and conduct a feasibility study. And yes, we will need to see your data and that is OK. Very strict NDA will make you comfortable and data security is our top priority.