Data & Analytics Services
Business Intelligence Consulting Services
When teams disagree about the numbers, another dashboard will not settle the decision. Macrofix helps define business metrics, prepare reporting models and deliver dashboards that users can explain and operate. Our business intelligence consulting connects platform choices with data quality, access, refresh needs and practical adoption.
Discuss Your Reporting Priorities
Make the Numbers Useful and Explainable
Start with the decision your team needs to make. A finance lead may need a reconciled revenue view; operations may need overdue orders and stock exceptions; sales may need pipeline movement rather than a static total. We identify the audience, metric definitions, source records and decision window before designing reports.
This BI practice focuses on governed analysis and reporting. Broader pipelines, automation and AI work are scoped through our Data & AI services, rather than being automatically included in every dashboard engagement.
BI Services From Metric Definition to Adoption
Choose a reporting assessment, a focused dashboard rollout or a wider BI program. The scope defines the sources, metrics, models, reports, users and operating responsibilities included. Existing reports and tools are reviewed for reuse, retirement or redesign. Delivery covers trustworthy definitions and acceptance evidence, not just a collection of attractive charts.
BI Assessment and Platform Selection
We inventory current reports, spreadsheet dependencies, source access and audience needs, then compare platform options against your environment. Power BI, Tableau, Amazon QuickSight, SAP Analytics Cloud and Zoho Analytics can be considered where they fit. Deployment, sharing, administration, existing skills and licensing influence the choice. We document tradeoffs rather than declaring one tool best for every organization.
- Current reports and spreadsheet dependency inventory
- Audience, decisions and reporting requirements
- Platform, deployment and licensing comparison
- Prioritized rollout with identified dependencies
KPI Definitions and Reporting Models
A metric needs an owner, a definition and a consistent level of detail. We agree inclusion rules, date logic, currency handling and relevant dimensions before building calculations. Reporting models make relationships and aggregation behavior explicit. Microsoft’s semantic-model guidance explains why fact, dimension and grain decisions matter; the selected design follows your platform and data requirements.
- Metric dictionary with accountable owners
- Data grain, keys and relationship design
- Calculation, date and currency rules
- Source-to-report reconciliation approach
Dashboard Design and Development
We design report journeys around what each audience needs to notice, compare and investigate. Dashboards use purposeful summaries, filters, drill paths and exception views, with definitions and refresh context visible to users. Prototypes are reviewed before full development. Appropriate layouts and interaction tests are agreed for the desktop, mobile or embedded use cases in scope.
- Purposeful overview and exception views
- Filters, comparisons and drill journeys
- Metric definitions and refresh context
- Audience review of agreed device layouts
Governed Access and Content Ownership
We define who can view, publish, modify and approve reporting content. Data permissions, workspace or project organization, content ownership and controlled changes are considered together. Tableau’s governance guidance distinguishes data and content responsibilities. Access controls still require client approval and testing; a dashboard is not a security or compliance certification.
Refresh Validation, Adoption and Handover
We test reported values against agreed reference records and review refresh completion, failures and audience access. The plan identifies who responds to stale data and how users recognize a partial or failed refresh. Role-based walkthroughs explain filters, definitions and limitations. Handover includes the model and report inventory, operating instructions and an agreed change route.
Choose a BI Platform Around Your Requirements
Power BI, Tableau and Amazon QuickSight are assessed alongside your source estate and reporting audience. The engagement can also use an existing platform rather than introduce a new one. Product capabilities, deployment choices, connectors and sharing entitlements are verified during discovery.
For platform-specific services already available, explore SAP Analytics Cloud consulting and Zoho Analytics implementation. Licensing and hosting are separate dependencies unless the proposal explicitly includes them.
For Tableau-specific delivery, explore our Tableau consulting and dashboard services. We assess deployment fit, data relationships, workbook journeys, governed publishing, refresh behavior and operating handover across the agreed Tableau environment.
For Microsoft reporting delivery, explore our Power BI consulting and dashboard services. We scope Power Query preparation, semantic models, DAX measures, report journeys, audience access, refresh validation and operating handover against your sources and deployment.
For AWS reporting delivery, explore our Amazon QuickSight consulting services. We scope source and dataset design, analyses and dashboards, governed audience access, SPICE or direct-query choices, refresh validation and operating handover.
- Platform and deployment fit assessment
- Approved source and connector availability
- Semantic model and calculation requirements
- Report sharing and audience permissions
- Refresh and operational administration needs
- Licensing, capacity and support dependencies
Set Clear Reporting Responsibilities
Business owners approve definitions and acceptable reconciliations. Data owners confirm source availability, quality and permitted use. Reporting administrators approve audience access and deployment arrangements. We document these responsibilities so metric changes, new users and failed refreshes have a named decision-maker after launch.
- Business owners approve metric definitions.
- Data owners approve source use and quality expectations.
- Administrators approve access and deployment.
- Operating owners manage refresh and change escalation.
Our Business Intelligence Delivery Process
Delivery starts with a focused reporting problem and a review of the available evidence. We agree definitions and sources, develop a representative model and prototype, validate the numbers and user experience, then roll out with operating instructions. Wider data engineering, historical reconstruction or organizational change is identified as a dependency rather than hidden inside dashboard development.
- Assess reporting needs, tools and source readiness.
- Agree metrics, users and acceptance evidence.
- Build the model and review dashboard prototypes.
- Validate values, interactions, access and refresh.
- Roll out with training and operating handover.
Accept the Numbers, Experience and Operating Plan
A dashboard is ready when the agreed audience can use it, understand its metrics and recognize its limits. Acceptance reviews reconciled values, filters and drill behavior, authorized access, refresh expectations and operating ownership. Test tolerances and workload expectations are defined in scope; no reporting platform guarantees correct decisions from poor or incomplete source data.
- Agreed values reconcile with reference evidence
- Definitions and limitations are visible to users
- Audience permissions pass the agreed tests
- Filters and drill journeys support intended tasks
- Refresh, ownership and open issues are documented
Business Intelligence Consulting FAQs
The agreed engagement can include reporting assessment, platform selection, KPI definitions, data modeling, dashboard development, access design, refresh validation, user walkthroughs and operating handover. We identify the sources, reports, audiences and deliverables included. Wider data engineering, AI and ongoing support are scoped separately where needed.
We can assess Power BI, Tableau, Amazon QuickSight, SAP Analytics Cloud and Zoho Analytics against your environment and reporting requirements. Existing tools may be retained. Connector availability, deployment choices, entitlements and team skills must be verified; the service does not assume every platform feature is available in your license.
Yes, this can be scoped where approved sources and suitable interfaces are available. We map identifiers, metric definitions, relationships, update timing and access boundaries across the included systems. A shared dashboard does not automatically resolve inconsistent source records or competing definitions, so those issues are addressed explicitly.
We agree reference records, metric rules and reconciliation checks with business owners. Tests review calculations, relationships, filtering and relevant edge cases, then record discrepancies and limitations. Acceptance is tied to agreed evidence and tolerances rather than a blanket promise that every source or future report is error-free.
Only when the selected sources, platform, capacity and architecture support the required timing. Many reporting decisions are served by scheduled refresh. We agree the decision window, refresh expectations, failure visibility and operating ownership instead of promising instant updates for every connection.
They are included only when stated in the proposal. Platform subscriptions, deployment capacity, source access and recurring administration can affect the scope and cost. We define handover, service hours, change capacity and escalation responsibilities before any ongoing support commitment is made.
Plan Your Business Intelligence Project
Tell us which decisions need better reporting, where the source data lives and which BI tools your team already uses. Share the report audience, refresh expectations and any disputed metrics. We will help shape an assessment or delivery engagement with defined outputs, acceptance checks and operating responsibilities.