I am a UK business intelligence consultant for manufacturing SMEs that have dashboards nobody trusts. The work is not building prettier charts. It is making sure the numbers behind the dashboard match the ERP, the definitions are agreed, and the finance director will sign off the report. Power BI built on governed data, not a impressive-looking liability.
Business intelligence consulting for UK SMEs: reporting the business can actually make decisions on, built on clean source data and agreed definitions, delivered in Power BI and the Microsoft Power Platform.
If the finance director will not sign off the Power BI report, the dashboard is a liability, not an asset.
A dashboard nobody trusts is worse than no dashboard. It looks impressive, it gets shown in meetings, and then someone asks why the margin figure does not match the ERP, and the whole thing falls apart. That is the scenario I fix.
Business intelligence for an SME is not about visualisation. It is about trust. Can the finance director sign off the number on the screen? Does it match the source system? Is the definition behind it agreed, or did whoever built the dashboard decide what "margin" means on their own? If the answer to any of those is no, the dashboard is a liability.
The work I do is the unglamorous foundation that makes BI trustworthy: clean the source data, agree the definitions, build the data model properly, make sure it refreshes reliably, and get finance to sign it off. Then the dashboards are useful, because the numbers underneath them are solid.
The most common BI problem in SMEs is not bad visualisation. It is bad definitions.
In one Infor LN environment, Power BI matched the ERP source data perfectly, but still disagreed with the ERP's own margin report. The difference was not a data error. It was that the ERP report used a balance-sheet exchange rate while the rest of the logic used the P&L rate. Same data, different hidden business logic, different number. Nobody noticed for months because the dashboard looked right.
That is the kind of problem that destroys trust in BI. Not a missing tile or a wrong colour scheme. A hidden definition mismatch that makes the number wrong in a way nobody can see until it matters.
Power BI built by whoever had the licence. Definitions decided by the developer, not the business. No reconciliation to the ERP. Refresh failures nobody investigates. A dashboard that looks impressive in the boardroom and gets quietly abandoned when someone notices the numbers are wrong.
A data model with agreed definitions, built on clean source data. Reconciliation to the ERP as a standing check. A named owner for the model. Reliable refreshes. A dashboard the finance director signs off, because the number behind every tile is traceable back to source.
Trust before tiles. The data model and definitions come first, the visualisation comes last.
Review the existing Power BI model: definitions, source logic, refresh setup, and whether it reconciles to the ERP.
For every measure on the board report, agree one definition in plain English that finance and operations sign off.
Rebuild the data model on governed source data, with reconciliation checks that prove it matches the ERP.
The finance director reviews and signs off the model. If they trust it, the business trusts it.
Reliable refreshes, a named model owner, and a regular review so trust survives staff changes and system updates.
The practical differences once the dashboard matches the ERP and finance signs it off.
Power BI reconciles to the ERP because the data model uses the same definitions and the same source logic.
The finance director reviews the model and approves it, so the business stops arguing about whose number is right.
The gateway works, the data updates on schedule, and refresh failures get investigated before the next board meeting.
A named owner maintains the definitions and the model, so trust survives when the original developer moves on.
What UK SMEs usually want to know before bringing in BI consulting help.
Audits the existing Power BI model, fixes the definitions, rebuilds on clean source data, gets finance sign-off, and sets up reliable refreshes and ownership. The deliverable is not a prettier dashboard. It is a reporting model the business trusts because it matches the ERP and the finance director has approved it.
Almost always because the definitions behind the tiles were decided by the developer, not the business. If "margin" means one thing in the ERP report and another in Power BI, the dashboard will look right and be wrong. The fix is agreeing one definition per measure and proving the model reconciles to the ERP.
Both. Most clients have existing Power BI that needs fixing before it needs extending. I start by auditing what you have, reconciling it to the ERP, and rebuilding the trust. New dashboards are then built on a foundation that already works.
A Power BI consultant focuses on the tool: DAX, visuals, the workspace. A BI consultant focuses on the trust: do the numbers match the ERP, are the definitions agreed, will finance sign off. In practice I do both, because a Power BI model that is technically perfect but commercially wrong is still a liability. The Power BI consultant page covers the tool side in more detail.
Most engagements start with a short BI trust review of your existing model, then a phased plan. A thirty-minute call is usually enough to scope it.
BI consulting most often runs alongside these.
Based in the Wirral, supporting manufacturing and operations-led SMEs across Merseyside, the North West and the UK.
If your Power BI looks good but nobody trusts the numbers, let's fix the model behind it. A thirty-minute call is enough to see whether BI consulting is the answer.
Book a BI Consultancy CallTell me what needs to migrate, what no longer reconciles, or which report the business no longer trusts. If there is a fit, we start with a 5 to 10 day ERP Data Readiness Review.