BI and reporting

Reporting that answers the question being asked.

A dashboard nobody opens is not a small failure. It is a running cost, a source of contradictory numbers, and a reason people stop trusting the data team.

When this is the right call

These are the sentences that usually precede the enquiry:

  • Hundreds of dashboards exist and a handful get opened.
  • Executives ask for a number that already exists in three places.
  • Every report needs a verbal explanation before it can be read.
  • Reporting requests queue behind each other because each one is bespoke.

What is different afterwards

  • A small set of reports mapped to real decisions and real owners.
  • Metrics that come from the modelled layer, so they cannot silently diverge.
  • Self-service that works, because the underlying models are readable.
  • A retirement process, so the estate stops growing without limit.

What you receive

  • Reporting inventory with usage data and a keep, merge or retire decision on each item.
  • Core dashboards rebuilt on governed metrics, with definitions visible in the report.
  • Self-service datasets designed for the questions people actually ask.
  • Ownership and review model: who maintains what, and when it is re-examined.

How it runs

  1. Audit the estateWhat exists, who opens it, and what it costs to keep. Usage data settles most arguments about which reports matter.
  2. Map decisions to reportsEach retained report is tied to a decision and an owner. Reports that fail this test are candidates for retirement.
  3. Rebuild on governed metricsReports point at the modelled layer rather than at bespoke SQL, so definitions stay consistent.
  4. Design for self-serviceDatasets shaped for the questions the business repeats, so routine questions stop becoming tickets.
  5. Set the maintenance rulesOwnership, review cadence and a retirement path, agreed before handover.

Who this suits

  • Teams whose dashboard count has outgrown their ability to maintain it.
  • Companies where leadership does not trust the reporting they are shown.
  • Data teams spending most of their week on ad hoc report requests.

Questions

Before you get in touch

Which BI tool do you work in?

The one you already own, in most cases — Looker Studio, Power BI, Metabase, Superset or Looker. Tool migrations are only worth recommending when the current tool is genuinely the constraint, which is rarer than vendors suggest.

Our executives want one dashboard with everything on it.

That request usually means the existing reports do not answer their question, not that they want more density. The useful response is to find the four or five decisions they actually make and build for those.

How do you decide what to retire?

Usage data first, then owner confirmation. Anything unopened for a quarter with no named owner is proposed for retirement, archived rather than deleted, and restored if someone objects.

Enquire about bi and reporting

Describe the situation in a few lines. You will get a straight answer about fit, timing and rough shape of the work.

The current situation and what "solved" looks like is enough. Detail can wait for the call.

Tell me what is broken.

A short call is usually enough to tell whether this is a two-week fix or a two-month one — and whether I am the right person for it.