How We Delivered a high ROI Power BI Solution for a UK Charity
Overview
A UK charity with multiple funding programmes across regional operations needed to eliminate time consuming manual Excel reporting and implement automated Power BI dashboards. Their finance and programme teams were spending lots of time weekly manually extracting data from CRM systems and accounting platforms into Excel spreadsheets, creating delays in decision-making. Our structured Data Storytelling methodology ensured we captured the right requirements from the start, maximising the return on investment from the Power BI solution.
The Challenge: Time Lost Weekly to Manual Data Extraction
The charity had invested in multiple reporting solutions across Power BI and other business intelligence platforms, but these initiatives did not deliver the wanted ROI. Data was scattered across separate sources, processes were heavily manual and there was no tangible return on investment from the reporting outputs being produced.
Key pain points
- Significant time consumed by manual data extraction and transformation.
- Substantial delays before reports reached decision-makers.
- No single source of truth - different teams working from conflicting numbers.
- Disconnected data sources creating version control issues and duplicate work.
- Inconsistent reporting standards preventing cross-functional analysis.
- Limited data literacy preventing teams from meeting their analytical needs
The internal sponsor was tasked with transforming how the finance and other teams operate, moving from reactive manual Excel reporting to proactive, insight-led decision-making with Power BI.
Our Solution: End-to-End Power BI Implementation
Discovery & Requirements Gathering
We facilitated our proven Data Storytelling Workshop methodology with various stakeholder groups such as finance, executive leadership and programmes to capture the right Power BI reporting requirements and prioritise deliverables. Unlike traditional requirements gathering that simply replicates existing reports in Power BI, our approach ensures we build dashboards that truly drive decisions and deliver ROI for organisations.
Data Consolidation & Automated Pipeline
We consolidated data from CRM systems, accounting platforms and Excel based tracking into a single Power BI data model. We automated data ingestion through REST APIs and Power BI Dataflows with incremental refreshes, eliminating the manual Excel exports and copy-paste processes that were consuming hours weekly. The automated pipeline ensured data freshness without manual intervention.
Scalable Power BI Semantic Model
We built a star schema data model aligned with Microsoft best practices, featuring advanced DAX calculations, calculation groups for time intelligence (YTD, QTD, prior year), and the relevant security for different access levels. This foundation was designed to enable teams to self-serve their own reports without depending on IT.
Executive-Ready Power BI Dashboards
We developed Power BI reports with best-practice data visualisation and interactive exploration by time period, region and funding stream. Key reports included a Funding Portfolio Dashboard for tracking application pipelines and a Finance Performance Dashboard.
Knowledge Transfer & Training
We trained the internal BI team in how to build high-ROI solutions through our proven data storytelling methodology for gathering reporting requirements. We delivered advanced Power BI training including data modelling principles, DAX, data visualisation principles, governance playbooks and self-service enablement with documentation handover.
Technology, Features & Methodology Used
Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, Power BI Dataflows, DAX (Data Analysis Expressions), Power Query, REST APIs, Row-Level Security (RLS), Star Schema Design, Data Storytelling Methodology
Outcomes & Impact
The solution we delivered provided the charity with
- Automated data refresh eliminating manual extraction processes.
- Consolidated reporting platform replacing disconnected Excel files.
- Self-service analytics capability through the certified semantic model.
- Upskilled internal analytics team capable of maintaining and extending the solution independently
- Clearly defined KPIs and reporting framework aligned to organisational objectives.
- Foundation for scalable reporting as requirements evolve.
