Data Intelligence

Power BI Consulting & Excel Automation in Durban

Q: Our data is messy and spread across systems. Is that a problem?

No, that is the normal starting point. Part of the work is building the extract and transformation layer that pulls from your ERP, your accounting package, exported CSVs and the spreadsheets people keep on their desktops, then reconciles them into one model. If a source is genuinely unusable we will say so early rather than quietly producing numbers you cannot rely on.

Q: Can you fix or take over an Excel model we already rely on?

Yes, and it is a common request, usually when the person who built it has left. We document what the workbook does, rebuild the fragile parts, replace manual steps with Power Query or scripted automation, and add validation so errors surface instead of propagating. Where a workbook has outgrown Excel entirely, we will say so and show you what it would take to move it.

Q: Will our team be able to maintain it after you leave?

That is the intention. Everything we build is documented, and handover includes a working session with the people who will own it. Because we also run corporate training, we can pair a build with structured Power BI or Excel training for the team so the capability stays in-house rather than coming back to us every time something needs changing.

Most organisations aren't short of data — they're short of an agreed answer. The month-end pack takes three days to assemble, two departments quote different revenue figures, and the workbook everything depends on was built by someone who left in 2022. We fix the pipeline underneath, then build the reporting on top of it.

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You might need this if…

Month-end reporting is a manual assembly job that eats days
Two departments quote different numbers for the same thing
A critical spreadsheet is held together by macros nobody understands
You have Power BI licences through Microsoft 365 but nothing built on them
Decisions get made on gut feel because the evidence takes too long to produce

What we deliver

Power BI dashboards and paginated reports, built on a proper data model
Excel automation — Power Query, VBA and structured workbook redesign
Automated data extraction and refresh from your operational systems
Report distribution, row-level security and access governance
Handover documentation and training so your team can maintain it

Technologies & methods

Model first. Visuals second.

Reporting & modelling

Power BI Desktop & Service
DAX
Power Query / M
Star-schema modelling
Row-level security
Excel & Power Pivot

Data engineering

SQL Server
T-SQL & stored procedures
SSIS / ETL pipelines
Azure data services
API & system extracts
VBA automation

Model first, visuals second

A dashboard is only as trustworthy as the model beneath it. We agree definitions with the people who own the numbers before anything gets a chart.

Automate the assembly

Refreshes run on a schedule against the source systems. Nobody should be copying and pasting between workbooks to produce a board pack.

Built to be handed over

Documented, named consistently, and taught to your team. The goal is capability in-house, not a permanent dependency on us.

Related work

Reporting that has to survive an audit, not just a board meeting

On the 10Bucksonly platform, the reporting layer has to produce IT3(d) files SARS will accept and Section 18A certificates that stand as tax records — generated from live donation data, not assembled at year end. It's the same discipline we apply to a finance or operations dashboard, with a much lower tolerance for error.

Read the full case study

Questions

Frequently asked

How quickly can we have a working Power BI dashboard?

If the data is accessible and reasonably clean, a first working dashboard usually takes days rather than weeks. The longer part is almost never the visuals — it's agreeing what a number actually means across departments and getting the underlying data model right. We build the model properly first, because a pretty report on a broken model is worse than no report at all.

Do we need Power BI Premium, or is Pro enough?

For most small and mid-sized organisations, Power BI Pro licences are enough — and many teams already hold them through an existing Microsoft 365 subscription. Premium or a Fabric capacity only becomes worthwhile at larger data volumes, with very frequent refreshes, or when you need to share reports with people who don't hold licences. We'll tell you which one you actually need rather than sizing you up.

Our data is messy and spread across systems. Is that a problem?

No — that's the normal starting point. Part of the work is building the extract and transformation layer that pulls from your ERP, your accounting package, exported CSVs and the spreadsheets people keep on their desktops, then reconciles them into one model. If a source is genuinely unusable we'll say so early rather than quietly producing numbers you can't rely on.

Can you fix or take over an Excel model we already rely on?

Yes, and it's a common request — usually when the person who built it has left. We document what the workbook does, rebuild the fragile parts, replace manual steps with Power Query or scripted automation, and add validation so errors surface instead of propagating. Where a workbook has outgrown Excel entirely, we'll say so and show you what it would take to move it.

Will our team be able to maintain it after you leave?

That's the intention. Everything we build is documented, and handover includes a working session with the people who'll own it. Because we also run corporate training, we can pair a build with structured Power BI or Excel training for the team so the capability stays in-house rather than coming back to us every time something needs changing.

Next step

Show us your worst spreadsheet

Thirty minutes, no charge. We'll tell you what's automatable and what isn't.

Book a Discovery Call