Power BI Executive Dashboard
Real-Time Business Intelligence for a Growing Firm
Seven disconnected data sources unified into a single real-time executive dashboard. — Anonymized client, Professional Services, Bern region
Executive Summary
Estimated Results
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report Preparation | 15 hours/week | 2 hours/week | -87% |
| Data Freshness | 2-4 weeks old | Real-time | Instant |
| KPI Visibility | 12 metrics (manual) | 48 metrics (automated) | +300% |
| Client Reporting | 3 hours/client | 15 min/client | -92% |
| Partner Meeting Prep | Full day | 30 minutes | -94% |
| Annual Cost Savings | — | CHF 36,000 | — |
The Challenge
A mid-sized professional services firm with 15 years of history was drowning in spreadsheets:
Data Silos Everywhere
Financial data in Abacus, time tracking in Toggl, CRM in HubSpot, HR in BambooHR, projects in Monday.com, billing in custom Access database, client feedback in Google Forms. No single source of truth.
Excel Report Factory
The Operations Manager spent every Friday creating reports: exporting from each system, cleaning data, building pivot tables, creating charts, and emailing PDFs. By the time partners received reports, the data was already stale.
Client Reporting Burden
For each major client, the team created custom monthly reports showing project status, billable hours, budget utilization, and deliverables. Each report took 3 hours to compile from multiple systems.
Flying Blind
Partners made decisions based on gut feeling because data was too hard to access. Utilization rates, pipeline health, and profitability by service line were mysteries until quarterly reviews.
The Wake-Up Call
The firm lost a major client because they couldn't provide real-time project visibility. The client's feedback: "We never knew where we stood until invoices arrived." The partners decided data visibility was now a competitive necessity, not a luxury.
The Solution
We implemented a comprehensive Power BI solution over 6 weeks, using the eflury Method™.
Data Integration Layer
Built automated connections to all 7 data sources:
- Abacus ERP: Direct SQL connection for financials
- Toggl: API integration for time tracking
- HubSpot CRM: REST API for pipeline and clients
- BambooHR: HR data via API (headcount, capacity)
- Monday.com: Project status and milestones
- Access DB: Legacy billing data migration
- Google Forms: Client satisfaction surveys
Executive Dashboard
Created a comprehensive partner-level dashboard with:
- Financial Overview: Revenue, margins, cash flow, AR aging
- Utilization Metrics: Billable vs. non-billable by team member
- Pipeline Health: Weighted pipeline, conversion rates, velocity
- Client Profitability: Revenue and margin by client with trends
- Team Performance: Utilization, realization, efficiency rates
Client Portal Reports
Automated client-facing reports:
- Self-service portal for key clients to view their project status
- Automated monthly PDF generation with executive summary
- Claude AI generates narrative insights for each report
- Alerts when budget utilization exceeds thresholds
AI-Powered Insights
Added Claude-powered analysis layer:
- Weekly email digest with AI-generated commentary on trends
- Anomaly detection for unusual patterns (sudden drops, spikes)
- Natural language Q&A: "Why did Q3 margins drop?"
- Predictive alerts for at-risk projects based on patterns
Dashboard Highlights
Key visualizations that transformed decision-making:
Revenue Waterfall
Monthly revenue breakdown by service line with variance analysis against budget and prior year.
Utilization Heatmap
Team member utilization by week with color coding: green (optimal), yellow (low), red (overloaded).
Pipeline Funnel
Sales pipeline stages with conversion rates, average deal size, and velocity metrics.
Client Profitability Matrix
Revenue vs. margin by client, sized by total value, identifying high-value and problem accounts.
Project Health Scorecard
Active projects with budget burn, timeline status, and risk indicators at a glance.
Cash Flow Forecast
12-week forward view of expected cash inflows and outflows based on AR aging and committed costs.
Detailed Results
Time Savings
Operations Manager now focuses on analysis and process improvement instead of report generation.
Financial Impact
Reduced time costs plus avoided hiring a dedicated reporting analyst.
Client Satisfaction
Clients love the transparency. Self-service portal became a competitive differentiator.
Decision Speed
Partners check dashboard daily instead of waiting for monthly reports.
Return on Investment
The operations team reported a major shift from manual weekly report preparation to real-time dashboard monitoring, with partners actively engaging with the data for the first time.
Client details anonymized at their request. This is a summary of reported outcomes, not a direct quote. Implementation completed Q1 2024.
Technical Implementation
Data Governance
Row-level security ensures partners only see data relevant to their practice areas. Client data is accessible only to assigned team members. All access is logged for compliance. The solution meets Swiss data protection requirements (FADP) and GDPR standards.
Lessons Learned
What Worked
- Start with partner buy-in: Executive sponsorship ensured adoption
- Mobile-first design: Partners check dashboards on phones constantly
- Iterative rollout: Started with 2 dashboards, expanded based on feedback
- Training investment: 2-hour workshop made partners self-sufficient
Challenges Overcome
- Legacy Access DB: Required custom migration scripts
- Data quality issues: Inconsistent naming conventions across systems
- Resistance to change: Some team members preferred "their" spreadsheets
- API rate limits: Had to implement smart caching for HubSpot data
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