Business intelligence · in detail
Process, deliverables, pricing and what reports you’ll actually use.
Somebody has to turn tables into dashboards that answer business questions. This is the work that surfaces data to decision-makers—designed for readability, not decoration.
Process step-by-step
BI work follows a clear design sequence.
You can’t build dashboards before you know which questions they need to answer. You can’t optimize performance before you know which queries run slow.
Requirements & existing report audit
We interview stakeholders to understand which decisions depend on data. We audit existing reports—Excel files, legacy dashboards, email screenshots—to see what people actually use versus what they’re supposed to use. We identify gaps, redundancies, and metrics that no longer matter. This isn’t about building more reports. It’s about building the right ones.
Deliverable: Report inventory and prioritized list of business questions to answer.
Data model & semantic layer
We build a Power BI semantic model (or Tableau data source) on top of your warehouse tables. We define relationships, measures, calculated columns, and hierarchies. We standardize metric definitions—revenue, margin, churn—so every dashboard shows the same number. This layer makes it possible to build dashboards without writing SQL.
Deliverable: Semantic model with documented measures and business logic.
Dashboard design & iteration
We design dashboards that answer specific business questions. We use tables for precision, charts for trends, filters for exploration. We optimize performance—aggregations, incremental refresh, query folding. We iterate with stakeholders: what’s missing, what’s noise, what takes too long to load. This is where wireframes become production reports.
Deliverable: Production dashboards with row-level security and refresh schedules.
Training, governance & handoff
We train your team to maintain and extend dashboards—how to add visuals, change filters, troubleshoot refresh failures. We document governance: who approves new metrics, how reports get deployed, what happens when source data changes. At the end, we run a handoff session to transfer ownership.
Deliverable: Training documentation, governance guidelines, and support runbook.
Detailed deliverables
What you actually receive
These are production-ready reports, not mockups. They load fast, show consistent metrics, and work on mobile. Your team can update them without calling us.
Semantic model (Power BI / Tableau)
A reusable data model that defines metrics, relationships, and business logic. Measures are documented with DAX/LOD formulas and business definitions. Relationships are validated against source schemas. This layer prevents “which revenue number is correct” arguments.
Executive dashboards
High-level KPI summaries for leadership: revenue, margin, customer count, trends vs targets. Designed for quick reads—no drill-through required unless something looks wrong. Optimized for mobile viewing and automatic email delivery.
Operational reports
Detailed tables and drill-throughs for daily operations: sales pipeline, inventory levels, support ticket backlog. These replace Excel exports and manual data pulls. Row-level security ensures users only see data they’re allowed to access.
Performance optimization
Aggregation tables, incremental refresh policies, and query folding to keep dashboards fast as data grows. We document which optimizations were applied and when to revisit them (e.g., when row count exceeds 10M).
Governance & deployment pipeline
Dev/test/prod workspaces with deployment rules. Changes go through review before reaching end users. Version control for semantic models using Power BI Project files or Tableau XML. Rollback procedures for when updates break reports.
User training materials
Step-by-step guides for common tasks: adding a filter, changing a visual, troubleshooting refresh errors. Recorded walkthroughs for each dashboard. This lets business users make minor updates without developer intervention.
Related case
Finance: Daily SAP accounting instead of monthly Excel dumps
A finance team needed daily cost visibility instead of waiting for month-end SAP exports to Excel. We built automated Databricks pipelines that pull SAP ECC tables, join them with local CRM data, and feed live Power BI dashboards the CFO checks every morning—turning 5-day monthly closes into real-time accounting.
Read the full case →Pricing & what affects it
Transparent pricing context
Base BI project
€40/hour
Estimated 120–160 hours · 3–4 weeks
What makes the price go up
- Number of dashboards/reports: Building 15 reports takes longer than 5. Each requires stakeholder interviews, design iteration, and performance testing.
- Complex calculated metrics: Simple sums and averages are fast. YTD calculations, rolling averages, cohort analysis, or custom fiscal calendars require more DAX/LOD logic.
- Row-level security requirements: If different users see different data (by region, department, customer), we need to design and test security rules for every permutation.
- Integration with external systems: Embedding dashboards in custom apps, triggering alerts via API, or syncing with Slack/Teams adds integration complexity.
What keeps the price down
- Clean data model already exists: If you have well-structured warehouse tables (star schema, documented), we skip data modeling and go straight to dashboards.
- Standard metrics: Sum, count, average, percentage—if that’s all you need, DAX/LOD logic is straightforward.
- Single audience: If everyone sees the same data, no row-level security required.
- Internal-only dashboards: No embedding, no public sharing, no white-labeling—just Power BI/Tableau for internal users.
Team reinforcement
€37.5/hour
Embedding a BI specialist in your team for 6+ months
Dashboard maintenance
€40/hour
Ongoing updates, new visuals, and performance tuning
Questions
FAQ: Business intelligence
Should I use Power BI, Tableau, or Looker?
Power BI if you’re on Microsoft stack (Office 365, Azure). Tableau if you need advanced visualizations or have non-Microsoft infrastructure. Looker if you want SQL-based modeling and governance. For most Spanish mid-market companies, Power BI is the default because licensing is bundled with Office 365.
What’s the difference between Power BI Pro and Premium?
Pro (€9.99/user/month) requires every viewer to have a license. Premium (€4,800/month base) lets you share dashboards with unlimited viewers—cost-effective above ~50 users. Premium also unlocks larger datasets, faster refresh, and incremental refresh. We help calculate which makes sense for your user count.
Can you build dashboards on top of Excel files?
Yes, but it’s fragile. Excel-based dashboards break when someone renames a column, moves a file, or changes the structure. If you need a quick prototype (1-2 weeks), Excel works. For production dashboards that run for years, data should live in a database or data warehouse, not spreadsheets.
Next steps
BI work comes after engineering.
If your data is clean, structured, and ready to query, this is where you build the dashboards that surface it to decision-makers.