Power BI consulting: from the first report to a governed enterprise environment
Development, governance, support, licensing, Embedded and AI on Power BI, delivered by the same team. For mid-size and large companies where the number that reaches the leadership team has to be the same in every report.
150,000+ hours on Power BI projects · 100+ technical capability certificates signed by clients · NPS 90 over the last 12 months
What a Power BI consulting firm does
A Power BI consulting firm implements, organizes and maintains a company's reporting environment: it models the data, builds the dashboards, defines governance and access, and keeps everything running in production. Active BI is a Power BI consulting firm that does this work with a fixed squad made up of a Power BI specialist, a business analyst, a project manager and a UX/UI specialist.
We work on new implementations and on existing environments. That adds up to more than 150,000 hours on Power BI projects, with clients in Brazil and abroad and remote delivery across Brazil. If you need a Power BI consultant for a one-off request, we handle that too, within an hour bank.
Where to start with Power BI
Every company arrives at a different stage. Services can be contracted individually or combined in an ongoing contract; this table shows which one fits your situation.
| If you... | The service is | What we deliver |
|---|---|---|
| Need someone to build your reports and dashboards | Power BI Development | Custom reports, with a sound semantic model from the ground up and auditable DAX. |
| Want to know what is holding the environment back and what to fix first | Power BI Assessment | Review of the current environment and a prioritized roadmap of what to fix and in what order. |
| Have conflicting reports, lack access control or are unsure whether the environment follows security best practices and LGPD (Brazil's data protection law) | Power BI Governance | Standards for access, naming, workspaces and data lifecycle. |
| Have Power BI in place and need ongoing maintenance and support | Power BI Support | Monitoring, fixes and continuous improvement of the environment once it is in production. |
| Need to bring data from SAP, other ERPs or APIs into Power BI | SAP integration and API integration | Connections and data loads that keep refreshes stable as volume grows. |
| Are unsure whether to pay for Pro, Premium Per User or Fabric | Power BI Licensing | License choice based on actual usage, including the transition for those still on Premium capacity. |
| Want to deliver reports inside your product or portal | Power BI Embedded | Reports under your brand, without per-end-user licenses, with Active Hub as a ready-made portal. |
| Want your team to query data in natural language | Power BI and Artificial Intelligence | A semantic model prepared for Copilot, agents in Fabric and Active IA. |
| Want an ongoing partner instead of a fixed-scope project | Our Plans | Hour banks with a multidisciplinary squad. |
| Are not yet sure which KPIs and data sources the company really needs | Information Assessment | A map of KPIs, sources and priorities before the first report. |
Is your data spread across many sources and the volume keeps growing? In that case Power BI is usually the front end of a larger architecture, with Microsoft Fabric and data engineering.
Need someone to build your Power BI reports?
It is one of the most common requests we receive: the company already has the data and a defined scope, but the project's complexity, a lack of available staff or the in-house team's limited time make it impractical to build the reports alone. At that point, a specialized consulting firm clears the bottleneck without stopping operations.
Our Power BI consultants and UX analysts build custom reports and dashboards for each department and each type of user, with the right navigation structure and level of detail for the people who will use them every day, not just to impress in a presentation.
Our consultants understand the request, gather requirements with the business team and suggest improvements when they make sense, drawing on experience from projects at different consulting firms.
- Requirements gathered with the business team, not just the technical team.
- Data modeling before visuals. Most performance problems start here.
- Dashboard design built for executive reading, with information in a clear hierarchy.
- Validation with end users before delivery, not after.
Why Power BI projects lose the leadership team's trust
Building a chart in Power BI is quick. Maintaining an environment where leadership trusts the numbers is another matter. The signs that this foundation is missing usually look like this:
- Two reports show different numbers for the same question.
- The model freezes or slows down as the dataset grows.
- An analyst leaves the company and takes the only map of how everything was built.
Active BI steps in at both stages: it organizes existing environments and implements new ones with governance, security and data lifecycle in place from day one.
The expected result is the same number in every report, and a team that evolves the environment without depending on a single person.
A Power BI squad at your disposal, sized to fit
You buy a block of hours and get a complete team, not a single professional. Our pre-sales team understands the scope, assesses the complexity of the environment and recommends the hour bank size before any contract is signed.
Power BI Specialist
Models the data, writes the DAX and builds the reports. Accountable for performance and for the right number.
Included in the hour bankBusiness Analyst (BA)
Turns the leadership team's question into requirements and KPIs. Talks to each department before any screen is designed.
Included in the hour bankProject Manager
Organizes priorities, deadlines and deliverables for the hour bank. Your single point of contact throughout the contract.
Included in the hour bankUX/UI Specialist
Designs the navigation and visual hierarchy of each dashboard for the people who will use it every day.
Included in the hour bankTo get started
One new report or specific adjustments.
To build momentum
One department served, with monthly improvements.
To grow
Several departments and new data sources.
To operate at scale
Corporate environment with governance.
For complex operations
Multiple business units, integrations and support.
Every hour in the hour bank is visible in the Client Portal
You don't just get an invoice at the end of the month. The Active BI Client Portal shows what was done, by whom and how long it took, updated throughout the project.
- Hours used by activity and by team member
- Cumulative usage against contracted hours
- Progress of each project deliverable
- Tickets and communication with the team in one place
The right size depends on the number of departments served, the complexity of the data sources and the maturity of the environment. We assess this with you before recommending an hour bank, not after.
See the plans in detail →How much Power BI consulting costs
The cost of Power BI consulting depends on three things: how many hours the scope requires, which profiles are involved and the engagement model. There is no list price that fits every environment. That is why Active BI sizes each proposal after an assessment conversation, with no commitment.
Fixed-scope project
Scope, timeline and deliverables defined at the start, with validation milestones.
Hour bank
A block of 50 to 500 hours with the full squad, used as demand arises.
Dedicated specialist
A professional dedicated to your team for a period, working within your routine. See staff augmentation →
What drives the investment
- Number and type of data sources: ERP, CRM, spreadsheets, APIs.
- Complexity of business rules and calculations.
- Number of departments and audiences served.
- Starting point: building from scratch or organizing what already exists.
- Security requirements, such as access by business unit (RLS).
- Need for support after delivery.
What an Active BI proposal includes
- Scope and deliverables described by phase.
- Profiles involved and estimated hours per stage.
- Timeline with validation milestones.
- Assumptions, risks and what is out of scope.
- How you track usage through the Client Portal.
Microsoft licenses (Pro, Premium Per User or Fabric capacity) are purchased separately. If your question also involves licensing, see Power BI Licensing.
How we run a Power BI project
Understanding the scenario
We map the current data infrastructure, the sources involved and the maturity of the environment. The project roadmap comes out of this stage, not from a generic template.
Centralizing and preparing the data
Before the first report, we organize the source data with Dataflows, a Data Lake or Microsoft Fabric, along with modeling practices that prevent conflicting numbers across reports.
Source integration
We connect internal and external sources (ERPs such as SAP, CRMs, spreadsheets, APIs, databases), preserving refresh performance and the health of the environment.
Report and dashboard development
Power BI consultants and UX analysts build dashboards with the right structure for each audience, not a single template reused everywhere.
Governance and project management
Continuous deliveries and feedback, a shared timeline and defined roles. You follow and approve each stage before we move forward.
Knowledge transfer and support
We train the in-house team and document the environment. Clients who contract support keep receiving help and improvements after delivery.
What we cover across the Power BI ecosystem
- Power BI environment governance and review
- Integration with data sources (ERPs, CRM, APIs)
- Licensing review and cost reduction
- Report and dashboard development
- Security and data segmentation
- Full environment assessment
- Semantic modeling, DAX and Power Query (M)
- Microsoft Fabric and Lakehouse integration
- Direct Lake models on Lakehouse and Warehouse in Fabric
- Lifecycle management with deployment pipelines, Power BI Project (PBIP) and Git
Power BI projects we have delivered
Three different environments, one method. Client names are kept confidential; the technical reasoning is not.
Cost, schedule and progress measurement for job sites in a single model
Construction company with several projects running at once and data split between the ERP and field spreadsheets.
- Single semantic model for budget vs. actual by project
- Access segmented by executive area and by project
- Automated refresh in place of manual consolidation
Fleet operations tracked with daily KPIs
Maritime services company that needed to see vessel utilization, contracts and operating costs in one place.
- Utilization KPIs by vessel and by contract
- Operating costs reconciled with finance
- Separate dashboards for leadership and operations
Standardizing a Power BI environment across several departments
Technology company with reports built by different teams, no standards and conflicting numbers across departments.
- Standardized workspaces, naming and access
- Shared models in place of duplicated datasets
- Lifecycle management with deployment pipelines
Does your situation look like one of these? Tell us what your environment looks like today and we will suggest where to start.
Examples of dashboards we have delivered
Real screens from Power BI projects, with data and brands anonymized.
What our clients say
Our partnership with Active BI is providing invaluable support to Lenovo throughout our digital transformation journey. Professionalism, technical proficiency and proactive communication.
The Active BI team is extremely punctual and responsible, committed to its deliverables and solutions. Both the technical and management teams are excellent.
Active BI has highly skilled, up-to-date professionals who deliver fast and efficient solutions. We also value their clear communication, availability and ability to simplify complex topics. An excellent service that we recommend without hesitation.
How to choose a Power BI consulting firm
Almost every consulting firm shows attractive dashboards in the first meeting. What sets a good provider apart shows up later, as the environment grows. These are the criteria we recommend evaluating, including at Active BI.
It starts with the data model
Ask how the provider models the data before designing anything. A quick report on a poor model turns into slow performance and conflicting numbers within a few months.
It brings a team, not one person
A technical specialist, a business analyst, UX and project management solve different problems. A single professional ends up covering everything halfway.
It shows the hours
You should know what was done, by whom and how long it took, without waiting for month-end.
It documents and transfers knowledge
The environment has to keep evolving if the provider leaves. Ask for examples of documentation delivered on other projects.
It has references of your size
Ask for cases from environments similar to yours and, when the procurement process requires it, technical capability certificates signed by clients.
It keeps up with the platform
Fabric, Direct Lake, Copilot and licensing changes affect architecture decisions. The provider has to explain the impact in your case.
Questions to ask in the first meeting
- Who on the team will work on my project, and in what role?
- How do you validate the numbers with the business team?
- How do I track hours used?
- What gets documented at the end of the project?
- How do you handle access and security by department or business unit?
- Which of your cases is similar to my situation?
Power BI consulting firm or in-house team?
It is not an either-or choice. Many companies keep a small in-house team and use a consulting firm to speed things up, fill missing profiles or support the environment. The comparison below helps you decide the balance.
| Criterion | In-house team | Specialized consulting firm |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first delivery | Depends on hiring and training. Building a complete team usually takes months. | The squad already exists and starts as soon as the scope is approved. |
| Range of profiles | Hard to keep a specialist, business analyst, UX and project management on staff at the same time. | Complementary profiles join according to the project phase. |
| Cost | Fixed payroll, payroll taxes and training costs, whether or not there is demand. | Cost tied to contracted hours, with usage visible in the portal. |
| Business knowledge | Greater, because the team lives the company's routine. | Built during requirements gathering with each department and recorded in documentation. |
| Continuity | High risk when the person who knows the model leaves. | Knowledge spread across the squad and documented. |
| Technical currency | Depends on constant investment in training. | Part of the routine for people working across many client environments. |
demand is steady and high and the company wants the knowledge in-house.
there is a deadline, a specific profile is missing or the environment needs to be reorganized.
the in-house team handles day-to-day work and the consulting firm steps in for architecture, governance and demand peaks.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions about Power BI consulting
What does a Power BI consulting firm do?
How much does Power BI consulting cost?
How do I hire a Power BI consulting firm?
Is it better to hire a consulting firm or build an in-house Power BI team?
What is the difference between hiring a consulting firm and a freelance Power BI consultant?
How do I track the hours used from the hour bank?
Does Active BI work remotely?
I only need someone to build Power BI reports. Is that possible?
How long does it take to implement Power BI in a company?
Can the consulting team integrate Power BI with SAP, TOTVS and other systems?
What is the most common mistake we see in companies that already have Power BI in place?
What is the difference between Power BI Pro, Premium and Fabric?
Do I need Power BI Embedded or corporate Power BI?
What is Power BI governance and why does it matter?
Does Active BI work with companies of any size?
Let's understand your Power BI scenario
Tell us what your environment looks like today and where you want to go. From there, we recommend the right service within our BI and Power BI practice, without pushing a fixed package.
- You describe your scenario in two quick steps
- A specialist replies within 30 minutes during business hours (Brasília time)
- A 30-minute conversation to understand the environment and recommend a path
No commitment and no follow-up call cadence.
Book an assessment call
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