Tag: Power BI

Business Intelligence Software

Food and drink companies are rapidly embracing new technology in order to optimise their processes and supply chain operations, and Microsoft is leading the pack in terms of supply chain reporting with applications such as Power BI. 

Power BI is fully compatible with Microsoft’s other applications such as Office 365, Dynamics 365 and Business Central as well as being able to integrate with other supply chain systems you may have in place. The application is designed to create intelligent visualisations based on your business data to better support your decision-making processes. These engaging reports can easily be shared with one or more employees to create a business intelligence environment that can empower whole workforces. After all, knowledge is power! 

Resolve your supply issues with Power BI: 

Delivery information 

Food and drink manufacturers often have multiple delivery vehicles but information such as delivery times, mileage, damage reports and down-time if often not recorded or lost entirely due to paper forms that are filled away. Power BI takes all this information crunches it and creates valuable reports that can improve delivery performance and overall operational efficiency. 

Warehouse management 

Manually tracking items available in the warehouse is not only time consuming but also open to all kinds of error. Microsoft Power BI provides a consolidated view of data collected from the warehouse, from multiple sources, and displays it in the form of interactive dashboards. 

Remote working 

Do you have multiple sites or employees that work in the field? The Power BI application can run remotely through a variety of internet-enabled platforms and devices. Desktop reports can be adjusted to fit into reduced screen sizes making them both user-friendly and succinct. 

Connectivity

Sometimes it can feel like there is a device for everything, one to record stock, one to monitor machinery health, one to manage customer data, one for financials, it really can be an endless list. Power BI taps into the Microsoft Azure Cloud and other third-party data sources to bring all your data into one place. This gives your business the freedom to create new compelling datasets with a 360-degree view of your supply chain. 

In conclusion, a business intelligence solution such as Power BI can unlock critical insights into your supply chain operations, therefore minimising the time associated with manual data analysis. Our Power BI customers see real change across their entire business as the added understanding the application brings leads to the more effective management of their operations and the ability to pinpoint and act on disruptions before they become issues. 

Power BI and Monpellier

Monpellier are experts in providing custom, integrated solutions and delivering first-class support across a wide range of areas. Give us a call on 01228 550 167 or email info@monpellier.co.uk for a free onsite consultation and to start your business intelligence project today. 

 First published: In Cumbria Magazine’s December Issue, 2019.  

Use Microsoft’s power platform to enhance your operations

The Microsoft power platform offers the opportunity to digitally transform your operations with a combination of:

• PowerApps
• Flow
• Power BI

These easy to use functions can improve the way you access and automate your data. In terms of your organisation, these functions will allow you to see where you’re at and how to implement them in order to enhance business operations.

To get the best leverage out of the Microsoft power platform, ask yourself the following questions. How can the Microsoft power platform:

Microsoft Power Platforms Improve Staff Effectiveness

Do you have users who require access to data from multiple systems in order to complete their daily workload? As your employees service your prospects and customers they will probably be accessing and updating data in multiple locations. This could include:

• Tracking sales in CRM software
• Marketing in marketing automation software
• Accounting in ERP software
• Customer service in ticketing software

Microsoft’s Power Platform, Flow, Power Apps and Power BI will enable you to improve staff effectiveness whatever data they require access to.

Automate Notifications and Transactions

Do you spend a lot of time on repetitive tasks, moving data between systems, sending notifications and transactions? Microsoft’s Flow can perform these tasks automatically for you and free up time so you can do other things. Notifications and transactions can be automated with the power of Flow.

Flow and Power BI also work well together. If one of your repetitive tasks is to alert people on particular data, then Flow and Power BI can do that for you.

Microsoft Power Platforms Enhance Decisions Oversight

Do you have business processes which lack oversight and approval? During different stages in a customer lifecycle, key decisions need to be made. This can occur where customer-facing employees don’t possess the know-how in making the right decision at the time in question. For instance, let’s say an employee is trying to close a sales deal. He or she might heavily discount one area to get the deal without understanding the impact of that discount to your business. With the Microsoft power platform, you can build review and approval into your business process. This will allow a manager to receive notification of a quote and approval or reject the quote before it actually gets to the customer.

Optimise Operational Reporting

Do you or your employees spend hours compiling data from multiple sources to obtain operational reporting? Do the reports differ from your colleagues in other departments due to different data sources? It can be very time consuming to compile operational reports. This time could be used to focus on other areas of your organisation like:-

• Business strategy
• Marketing strategies
• Customer feedback

With Microsoft’s Power BI you will be able to build a dashboard and transform your data to create visuals. These can be used to optimise operational reporting while combining data from multiple sources. If your data is in unrelated systems, you can leverage Flow and CDS to compile any relevant data automatically before reporting through Power BI.

So there we have it. Microsoft’s power platform can transform your operations to save you time while improving the effectiveness of your staff.

Make the most of Power BI

Power BI is Microsoft’s cloud-based business intelligence technology. It’s part of the Office 365 suite – a cloud-based suite of productivity applications. This particular Microsoft feature is a suite of business analytics tools which analyse data and share insights. The Power BI dashboard also provides a 360-degree view for business users helping to highlight metrics in one place.

Whether in cloud or on-premise, Power BI can be used to unify all of your organisation’s data. It will connect you to a wealth of Microsoft Azure services which you can use to power up your apps and data analysis beyond visualisation services like:

• Machine learning
• Cortana Intelligence Suite

The power tools within this particular Microsoft application include:

• Power Query – to extract and transform
• Power View and Map – this visualises data
• Power Pivot – models and analyses

Experience data in new ways

Power BI can enable you to explore data in vivid new ways. From reports to graphs and charts, your data takes on an entirely new perspective. This will help you and your organisation make informed decisions, while at the same time monitoring your company’s growth.

Whether your data lives in a cloud service or on-premises, Power BI can connect, clean, shape, model and visualise live reports as well as dashboards. You can get started in minutes with Content Packs, reports for popular services including pre-built dashboards.

Data at your fingertips

At the heart of Power BI, is data. This Microsoft cloud-based business intelligence technology brings all of your business intelligence together. It allows users to interact and visualise data in one place. What could be better than to analyse and share insights in real time? You’ll also have the ability to access your data at anytime and anywhere.

Interaction your data across all devices

Your business has the ability to access data across all devices with:

• Power BI Desktop
• Mobile
• Gateway

With Power BI mobile apps, you can streamline your data and reports from anywhere in the world. Expect update changes to your dashboard to be processed automatically. By integrating Power BI into your organisation’s office tools, your data will be transformed to enable greater insights for quicker, more focused, informed decisions.

Cut down on operational time

It doesn’t matter whether your data comes from Excel spreadsheets, big data, the cloud or on-premises. Power BI will allow you to connect with all of your current data sources in one centralised location. As Power BI is shifted to a cloud-base and stand-alone framework, it’s easily integrated with existing data such as that found in SQL Server cubes.

Businesses can now access and gain insights from existing data without the need to have to move this data. This concept cuts down on operational time while helping to make the actual analytic process much more streamlined.

Why not get in touch with one of our consultants about the prospect of implementing Power BI into your organisation? Training can be provided where needed such as teaching you how to use Power Queries and charts. It pays to get the best out of Microsoft’s Power BI software.