Power BI Insights & Guides

Insights

Short, practical guides on Power BI and management reporting.

Reporting automation

Five signs your monthly reporting should be automated

Most organisations do not decide to build a manual reporting process. It grows one spreadsheet at a time. These are the signs it has become a cost rather than a convenience.

Month-end takes days, not hours. If someone spends the first week of every month copying exports into a workbook, that time can usually be recovered.
One person holds the process. When the report depends on a single person's spreadsheet and knowledge, holidays and staff changes become a risk.
Figures do not agree. Finance, operations and sales each report a slightly different number for the same measure.
The report is out of date on arrival. Decisions are made on figures that are weeks old by the time they are read.
Nobody trusts a change. Small edits to a formula or layout feel risky because nobody is sure what else will break.

If two or more of these apply, automating the report in Power BI is usually worth exploring. See Power BI reporting automation.

Property & facilities management

What a property compliance dashboard should show

A compliance dashboard is only useful if it helps someone decide what to do next. For most property and facilities teams that means answering a small number of questions quickly.

Where are we non-compliant? Compliance by site and by stream, such as fire, electrical, lifts and water hygiene, against your target.
What is overdue? Outstanding actions by age, priority and source, including FRA actions and EICR remedials.
What is high risk? A short, named list of the actions that need attention first, with owner and due date.
What is coming up? Inspections, examinations and certificate expiries due in the next 30 to 90 days.
Are contractors delivering? SLA achievement and outstanding work for each contractor.

Every headline figure should drill through to the site, asset and record behind it. See an example on our Power BI for property & facilities management page.

Getting started

Preparing your data before a Power BI project

You do not need perfect data to start, but a little preparation makes the first weeks of a project faster.

List your reports. Gather the reports you produce today and note who reads each one and what decision it supports.
List your sources. Note where each figure comes from: which system, export or spreadsheet, and who owns it.
Agree key definitions. Write down how you calculate your most important measures, such as revenue, margin or compliance percentage.
Check access. Confirm who can grant access to each system and whether exports can be scheduled.
Move files somewhere shared. Spreadsheets stored in SharePoint or OneDrive can refresh automatically; files on personal drives usually cannot.

We work through this together during the discovery stage of every engagement.