Power BI Dashboard and Report Development
Power BI Dashboard and Report Development builds the reports your team currently assembles by hand from Excel exports — as governed Power BI content in your own tenant. IT Partner's Power BI consultants model the data as a star schema, write and document the DAX measures, apply row-level security mapped to Entra ID groups, publish through a workspace and a Power BI app, and set up scheduled refresh so the numbers update without anyone touching a spreadsheet. Work is time and materials at $175 per hour, scoped per report or as a two-week sprint, with a written estimate before we start. It complements our Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Modernization service, which covers the platform and capacity design this service builds on — here we build the reports themselves.
What this engagement is
Most organizations that ask for a 'Power BI consultant' already have the data. What they do not have is the two days a month someone spends exporting it, pasting it into a workbook, fixing the formulas that broke, and emailing a PDF that is out of date by the time it is read. This service replaces that routine with a Power BI report that refreshes itself: a semantic model built as a proper star schema rather than a copy of the spreadsheet, measures written in DAX with their business definitions recorded in the model, and row-level security so a regional manager opens the same report and sees only their region. We scope the work two ways. Per report, when you have one or two well-defined reports and a source that is ready to connect. As a two-week sprint, when you want a small set of related reports on one shared model — a sales pack, a finance close pack, an operations board — built and handed over together. Either way the estimate is written before we start, the work is billed by the hour at $175, and you approve any change to scope in writing. We build in Power BI Desktop against the sources you already run — SQL Server and Azure SQL, Dataverse and Dynamics 365, SharePoint lists, Excel and CSV files in SharePoint, and SaaS systems through Microsoft's supported connectors — with an on-premises data gateway where the data lives on your network. The finished report is published to a workspace in your tenant and distributed through a Power BI app, and the source files (.pbip with TMDL, or .pbix) are yours. Two things this service deliberately does not do. It does not design your Fabric platform, size capacity, or migrate an analytics estate — that is Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Modernization, and the two are often bought together. And it does not build the data pipelines that create a source when one does not exist yet; our Azure Data Factory and Fabric Data Pipeline Development service covers that, and we will tell you at scoping when a report needs one.
Success criteria
What you receive
How the work unfolds
Choose the reports (per report or a two-week sprint), review the current workbooks and where their numbers come from, confirm Power BI licensing and source access, and put the estimate in writing.
Connect to the sources, design the star schema — grain, fact and dimension tables, date table, relationships — build the Power Query layer, and confirm the storage mode (Import, DirectQuery, or Direct Lake on Fabric) that fits the data and the refresh requirement.
Write the DAX measures with their business definitions, reconcile them to the reference figures with the report owner, and work through the source-side surprises this always turns up.
Build the report pages, interactions, drill-through and mobile layout; review with the report owner in a working session and iterate on what the first version gets wrong.
Define row-level security roles, map them to Entra ID groups, test each role with 'View as'; set up the workspace, the app and its audiences, scheduled refresh (and the gateway connection where needed), and failure alerts.
Deliver the source files, model documentation and recorded walkthrough; agree the backlog for a next sprint if you want one.
Prerequisites
Who does what
IT Partner
- Scoping, the written estimate, and the report definition sheets.
- Semantic model design and build — star schema, Power Query, storage mode, incremental refresh where applicable.
- DAX measures, documentation in the model, and reconciliation to the reference figures.
- Report design and build, accessibility basics, and the review sessions with the report owner.
- Row-level security roles, Entra ID group mapping, and 'View as' testing.
- Workspace, app and audience setup, scheduled refresh and gateway configuration, failure alerts, and the handover materials.
Your team
- Name a report owner and make them available for definition, reconciliation and review sessions.
- Provide source access, credentials or a service account, and install or approve the on-premises data gateway where needed.
- Purchase and assign Power BI licensing (Pro, Premium Per User, or Fabric capacity) for authors and consumers.
- Supply the current manual reports and confirm the reference figures the new report must match.
- Create or approve the Entra ID security groups used for row-level security and keep their membership current.
- Review each report version within the agreed turnaround and approve the finished report for release.
- Own the report after handover — or book a follow-on sprint; there is no obligation either way.
What's not included
Limitations & technical notes
Frequently asked questions
How much does Power BI report development cost?
Work is time and materials at $175 per hour, estimated in writing before we start. The estimate depends on how many reports are in scope, how many sources feed them, whether a clean source already exists or the model has to reshape messy exports, how much DAX the measures need, and whether row-level security is required. Microsoft licensing is separate and billed to you by Microsoft.
What is the difference between per-report and sprint scoping?
Per-report scoping suits one or two well-defined reports on a source that is ready to connect — we estimate each report on its own. A two-week sprint suits a related set of reports that share one semantic model, such as a sales pack or a month-end finance pack, where building the model once and the reports on top of it is more efficient. We recommend one or the other at scoping; the hourly rate is the same.
Do we need Power BI Premium or Microsoft Fabric for this?
Usually not. Most reports publish to a Pro workspace, where authors and consumers each hold a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User license. A Fabric capacity becomes worthwhile when you have many read-only viewers (viewing is free on F64 and above), need Direct Lake or Copilot, or want more than 8 refreshes a day. We tell you which case you are in before you buy anything.
What licenses do our users need to view a report?
Each consumer needs a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User license — Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E5 — unless the workspace is on a Fabric capacity of F64 or larger, where users with a free license can view. At the time of writing Microsoft lists Pro at $14 and Premium Per User at $24 per user per month; those are Microsoft's prices and we confirm current figures before you purchase. We can supply the licenses through our CSP relationship at Microsoft's list price.
Why build a star schema — can't you just connect Power BI to our spreadsheet?
You can, and that is how most home-grown Power BI reports end up slow, wrong and impossible to extend. A star schema separates the things you measure (facts) from the things you slice by (dimensions), gives every measure one place to live, and makes DAX simple and fast. It is the difference between a report you can add a page to next quarter and one you rebuild from scratch.
Can you connect to our on-premises SQL Server or ERP?
Yes. On-premises sources connect through the on-premises data gateway, which we configure with you on a server inside your network; Azure SQL, Dataverse, SharePoint and SaaS systems connect directly through Microsoft's supported connectors. If a system has no supported connector, we say so at scoping and propose the alternative — usually an export or a small pipeline.
Can different managers see only their own region or team in the same report?
Yes — that is row-level security. We define roles in the semantic model, map them to Entra ID security groups you maintain, and test every role with Power BI's 'View as' before sharing. Where a whole column must be hidden from some users, object-level security handles that.
How often can the data refresh?
Import-mode models refresh on a schedule: up to 8 times a day in a Pro workspace and up to 48 on Premium Per User or Fabric capacity, per Microsoft's published limits at the time of writing. If you genuinely need live numbers, DirectQuery or Direct Lake are the options, and they change how the model is designed — we decide that at the design phase, not after.
Will the numbers match our existing Excel report?
We reconcile every measure to the reference figures you nominate before the report ships. In our experience some of the differences that turn up are errors in the old workbook, not the new model; when that happens we show you both calculations and you decide which definition becomes the standard.
Who owns the report, the model and the workspace?
You do. Everything is built in your tenant, and you receive the source files and documentation at handover. There is no proprietary layer, no hosting on our side, and no obligation to keep using us.
Do you build the data pipelines as well?
Not under this service. When a report needs a source that does not exist yet — data from three systems joined and cleaned overnight, for example — that is pipeline work, which our Azure Data Factory and Fabric Data Pipeline Development service covers. We identify it at scoping so it is estimated honestly rather than buried in Power Query.
We have SQL Server Reporting Services reports — is that this service?
No. Migrating an SSRS estate is inventory, conversion and validation work with its own method, covered by our SQL Server Reporting Services to Power BI Migration service. This service is for designing and building new interactive reports; the two are often combined when some SSRS reports deserve a redesign rather than a straight conversion.
How is this different from your Microsoft Fabric and Power BI Modernization service?
That service designs the platform: Fabric capacity, workspaces, OneLake, Lakehouse or Warehouse, governance and the migration of an analytics estate. This service builds reports and models on a platform that exists — which may be nothing more than a Pro workspace. Buy the modernization service when the platform is the problem; buy this one when the reports are.
Can we use Copilot in Power BI on these reports?
Only if the workspace is on a paid Fabric capacity (F2 or above) or Premium capacity, per Microsoft's requirements at the time of writing — a Pro or Premium Per User license alone is not enough. If Copilot matters to you, we design the model with the descriptions and naming Copilot relies on and include enabling it in the estimate.
How long does one report take?
It depends on the source more than the visuals. A single report on a clean, connectable source can be short; a sprint typically delivers a related set of reports on one model in two weeks. The written estimate states the hours per report, and you see the running total during the work.
What do we need to have ready before you start?
Licensing agreed, a workspace we can publish into, read access to the sources (and a gateway if they are on-premises), the current manual reports for reconciliation, a report owner who can answer questions quickly, and the Entra ID groups for row-level security if you need it. The two-week sprint assumes these are in place at kickoff.