A law firm in Spinningfields or a professional practice in the Northern Quarter will each hold years of figures in practice management, finance systems and spreadsheets. Most Power BI projects stall because the data model underneath was rushed, and the reports were built for whoever wrote them rather than the people making decisions.
In short, a Power BI consultant gives you one trusted model and a few focused dashboards, so partners and directors stop asking which number is right.
Why do Power BI projects go wrong?
The story is familiar. Someone in finance builds a few reports, and they look impressive at first. Then more sources get added and the refreshes start failing, so the numbers stop matching the ones in the accounts. Gradually everyone goes back to spreadsheets.
The tool isn't the problem. Power BI punishes shortcuts, and a data model built in a hurry produces slow reports and conflicting numbers. We do it the other way round. Discovery comes first, and the model is built properly before a single report is designed. Measures are written once and reused, so the numbers agree everywhere.
What do we build for Manchester firms?
Leadership and finance reporting
One-page dashboards for the Monday meeting, built on a model that ties back to your accounts. For firms where partners or directors need a regular, trusted view of fees, work in progress and recovery, this is usually where we start.
Operational reporting
Reports that surface exceptions instead of dumping data, such as overdue matters and unbilled work. Designed with the people who'll use them, so they answer the questions being asked day to day.
Refresh, gateways and security
We set up dependable refresh from on-premises databases and cloud sources, and configure row-level security so people only see what they should, which matters when finance and fee earners share a report. If your source systems don't talk to each other yet, our system integration work in Manchester can sort that first.
Can you rescue an existing Power BI setup?
Yes, and a lot of our work is exactly that. We audit your workspaces to find duplicated measures and reports that quietly contradict each other, then produce a prioritised plan to restore trust. Sometimes that's a few weeks of focused work, and sometimes it's a planned rebuild on the data sources you already have. Either way, we'll tell you honestly what's worth keeping.
How does a Power BI engagement work?
1. Discovery
A fixed-price discovery, usually one week, working with the people who need the reports to map the questions that need answering.
2. Specification and fixed price
A written specification covering the data model, reports, refresh and security, plus a fixed price to build.
3. Build in two-week iterations
Working dashboards in your tenant from the second sprint, deployed through separate test and live environments so nobody edits a report the finance director is reading.
4. Hand-over and training
Training so your own team can extend the model with confidence.
How do you keep our data secure?
Everything stays inside UK or EU Microsoft regions, and we work to UK GDPR. Mutual NDAs are standard, and we use named Microsoft Entra accounts with the minimum access required.
Talk to us about your reporting
If your firm is still run from spreadsheets, or your Power BI setup has lost the room's trust, send a short note through the contact form. We'll reply within one working day with an honest first reaction and a sensible next step, usually a short discovery rather than a big rebuild. You can also read about our wider Power BI consultancy, see how we help teams in Bolton and Salford, or read how to build Power BI dashboards people actually use.
Whether you're in the city centre or elsewhere in Greater Manchester, the first step is a conversation about which decisions you want your data to support.