D://LEAD51Business Intelligence & Reporting
One number,
agreed by everyone.
Reporting and dashboards built on a single agreed definition of each measure, so meetings are about what to do rather than about whose figure is right. It is for organisations where three departments produce three different answers to the same question.
THE PROBLEM
Most reporting arguments are not about the decision. They are about whose number is correct, which is a definition problem wearing a technology costume.
The cost of leaving this alone is rarely one visible failure. It is the slow accumulation: the workaround that became the process, the thing only one person knows, the renewal nobody questioned.
Our starting point is always the same: establish what is actually true today, then decide what to change. Work scoped against an assumption tends to solve a problem you do not have.
- 01Nobody owns itIt sits with whoever touched it last, which is not the same as being managed.
- 02No current pictureWhat you have, what it costs, and who has access are all slightly out of date.
- 03Only handled when it breaksAttention arrives after the disruption rather than before it.
WHAT YOU GET
What the engagement covers
Scoped before it starts, so you know what is included and what is not.
- 01
Definitions
What each measure means, agreed and written down. This is the hard part, it is not technical, and it is the part that gets skipped.
- 02
Data model
Sources joined once and properly, rather than re-joined by hand in a spreadsheet every month by someone who is the only one who knows how.
- 03
Dashboards
Built for the decisions they support, rather than as a wall of every chart the tool can produce.
- 04
Automation
Refreshed and delivered on schedule, so nobody spends the first Monday of the month rebuilding last month.
HOW WE WORK
Discover, design, deliver, embed
Four stages with a written output at each one. You always know which stage you are in and what comes next.
- 01Weeks 1 – 2
Discover
We map how the work happens now, including the workarounds people are slightly embarrassed to mention.
- 02Weeks 3 – 4
Design
Options costed against benefit, so the choice is a decision rather than a preference.
- 03Per stage
Deliver
Built in slices that reach production and get used, each with a success measure agreed before it starts.
- 04Post-delivery
Embed
Training, documentation, and a check-in once the novelty has worn off. Adoption is the only measure that counts.
WHAT CHANGES
What you should expect
- Someone other than you owns it, with that written down.
- The current state is documented and stays documented.
- Cost is planned ahead rather than discovered at renewal.
- Decisions are made against evidence rather than assumption.
FAQ
Questions we get asked
01What is business intelligence and reporting?
Reporting and dashboards built on a single agreed definition of each measure, so meetings are about what to do rather than about whose figure is right. It is for organisations where three departments produce three different answers to the same question.
02Why do different parts of our business report different numbers?
Almost always because they are measuring slightly different things and everyone assumes their definition is the obvious one. Does revenue count at order, at invoice, or at payment. Is a customer an entity or a contact. Does a closed ticket include the ones closed automatically. Until those are written down and agreed, better reporting tooling simply produces the disagreement faster and in nicer colours.
03Do we need Power BI, or will spreadsheets do?
Spreadsheets are fine and will stay fine for a long time if the report is small, stable, and has one author. They stop being fine when the same assembly work happens every month, when several people need a consistent view, or when one person has become a single point of failure for the monthly pack. That is the point at which a proper model earns its cost.
04How long does it take to build a dashboard?
The dashboard itself is quick. Agreeing what the numbers mean and getting the data into a reliable shape is the work, and it is usually most of the timeline. Any proposal that promises dashboards in a fortnight is either working with unusually clean data or skipping the part that makes it correct.
05Our data is messy. Do we have to fix that first?
Partly, and not all of it. Trying to clean everything before reporting anything is how these projects stall for a year. The workable approach is to pick the handful of measures that actually drive decisions, fix the data behind those properly, and expand from there. Reporting also has a useful side effect: it makes bad data visible, which is often what finally gets it fixed.
06How much does business intelligence and reporting cost in New Zealand?
We quote after scoping rather than before. Anyone pricing this work without looking at your environment is guessing, and the guess is rarely in your favour. Scoping itself is quick, and we tell you what it costs before we start it.
07How long does it take to get started with business intelligence and reporting?
A first conversation takes about half an hour and costs nothing. Scoping is usually a week or two of our time depending on the size of the environment, and we agree the delivery dates with you before anything is booked in.
08Can you deliver business intelligence and reporting alongside our existing IT team or provider?
Yes, and it is common. We are happy to work as an extra pair of hands under your internal team, or alongside an incumbent provider on a defined piece of work. We will set out in writing where the responsibilities split, so nothing falls between us.
09Do we have to be an existing Atlas client to start a project?
No. This can be delivered as a standalone piece of work for an organisation we have never worked with before, or folded into a managed agreement if you already have one with us. Plenty of clients use us for one thing and keep everything else where it is.
10Do you deliver projects outside Auckland?
Our team is based in Auckland and we attend sites across the wider region. Most of this work is delivered remotely, so we support organisations throughout New Zealand, and we will say up front where being on site genuinely matters.
11Who from Atlas will be on the engagement?
Named people, not a queue. You get a lead who knows your environment and stays with it, which is the difference between explaining your business once and explaining it every time you make contact.
12What happens when the engagement ends?
You keep the documentation regardless, and anything registered in your name stays in your name. Whether we stay involved is your call. Some clients take it in house from there, others move it onto an ongoing agreement with us. We would rather you left cleanly than stayed because leaving was difficult.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us what you are dealing with and we will tell you whether this is the right service for it, and what it would take.
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