Birmingham and West Midlands delivery
Power BI & Microsoft Fabric consultancy in Birmingham
Create one governed reporting layer across finance, ERP and operational systems. Hopton helps Birmingham and West Midlands organisations replace manual packs, disputed measures and fragmented dashboards with Power BI and Microsoft Fabric solutions built for clear ownership.
Speak with a senior consultant about the reporting process, source systems and controls behind the numbers. We will recommend the simplest credible first step. Response within one working day.
62+
organisations supported
70%
average reduction in reporting time
£127k
average cost recovered per engagement
Fixed-price
delivery, no timesheets
Figures based on completed engagements. Outcomes vary by scope, source systems and organisational readiness.
When this is the right conversation
The reporting process is carrying too much risk
Birmingham and West Midlands organisations often contact Hopton when finance can still produce the numbers, but only through manual effort, specialist knowledge and repeated reconciliation.
Month-end and board packs take days to assemble
Exports, spreadsheet logic and manual commentary create a slow process that is hard to repeat and difficult to audit.
ERP reports do not answer management questions
Business Central, NAV, Sage, NetSuite, SAP or other systems hold the transactions, but their native reports do not create the cross-functional or historical view leaders need.
Entities and business units report differently
Charts of accounts, customers, products, sites and time periods need mapping before group measures can be compared consistently.
Historic data is split across system changes
An ERP migration or acquisition has left old and new data in separate formats, creating gaps in trend reporting and institutional memory.
Power BI is technically live but not controlled
Reports depend on local files, duplicated models, individual access assignments or changes made directly in production.
Fabric is being discussed before the operating model
The organisation needs to know what should be centralised, who will own it, how capacity will be governed and whether Fabric is necessary at all.
The aim is not to move every spreadsheet into a dashboard. It is to create a controlled route from source transactions to the measures used for decisions.
Find the layer that is failing
A dashboard problem is often a control problem underneath
The visible symptom may sit in Power BI, but the root cause can be source access, data transformation, measure definition or ownership. Discovery tests each layer before recommending a build.
| Symptom | Inspect first | Likely work |
|---|---|---|
| Two reports show different margin | Measure definitions and semantic models | Reconcile logic, assign ownership and create reusable measures |
| Month-end relies on copied spreadsheets | Source extraction and transformation | Automate ingestion and remove fragile manual steps |
| Historic trends stop at an ERP change | Data history and entity mapping | Integrate old and new structures in a governed model |
| Users can see the wrong level of detail | Identity, workspace access and row-level security | Redesign groups, roles and access testing |
| Reports are slow or refreshes fail | Model shape, DAX, transformations and capacity | Performance diagnosis and prioritised remediation |
| Changes reach production without review | Workspace structure and release process | Dev/Test/Prod design, deployment and ownership |
What we deliver
Governed reporting across finance, ERP and operations
Management and board reporting
Replace manual packs with clear Power BI views of financial and operational performance, using definitions and drill paths agreed with the people accountable for the numbers.
Business Central and ERP analytics
Select the right extraction pattern, preserve required history and model transactions for management use without forcing every question back through the ERP reporting layer.
Explore Business Central analytics →Multi-entity semantic models
Map charts of accounts, entities, customers, products, sites and calendars into reusable dimensions and measures that support group and local views.
Microsoft Fabric data foundation
Build lakehouse or warehouse architecture, pipelines, OneLake controls and Direct Lake reporting where multi-source history, reuse and scale justify the platform.
Explore Microsoft Fabric consulting →Power BI governance and assurance
Establish ownership, workspace structure, Entra ID groups, row-level security, endorsement, deployment, monitoring and a controlled request route.
Explore Power BI governance consultancy →Migration and estate rationalisation
Inventory active reports, retire content without an owner or use case, rebuild essential logic properly and keep business-critical reporting available through cutover.
Plan a Power BI migration →Choose the simplest sound architecture
Power BI can start simply; Fabric should solve a defined constraint
Power BI can connect directly to an ERP or curated database when the requirement is focused. Fabric becomes valuable when the organisation needs a governed data history across several systems, shared data products or additional engineering workloads.
Direct or curated-source Power BI
Suitable when source access is reliable, transformations are manageable and the immediate goal is a focused reporting layer. It can deliver value without committing to a wider platform.
Power BI with a warehouse or lakehouse
Suitable when several sources, entity history, reusable transformations and shared models require a governed data layer. Fabric is one option, not an automatic answer.
Independent assessment before build
Suitable when an ERP or reporting platform must be modernised and the organisation needs an evidence-based recommendation, architecture, cost view and roadmap before it commits.
Evidence from UK delivery
ERP history, finance reporting and dependable Microsoft estates
These are relevant UK examples of the delivery patterns described above. They are not presented as Birmingham-based clients.
Nationwide Hygiene Group: old NAV and new Business Central in one environment
Hopton migrated QlikView, SQL and Excel reporting to Power BI while preserving continuity and combining historic NAV with current Business Central data. The published outcome includes lower ongoing cost and reduced platform risk.
Read the Nationwide Hygiene Group case study →PPX Financial Consulting: NetSuite and other sources in one dashboard
Hopton brought NetSuite and additional data into a single Power BI dashboard. The published case records delivery on time and on budget.
Read the PPX Financial Consulting case study →Wasabi: a Microsoft estate rebuilt on dependable foundations
Hopton stabilised and rebuilt an underperforming estate across Fabric, Power BI, Azure and Business Central, bringing more than 40 restaurant P&Ls, central kitchens and grocery into one trusted view.
Read the Wasabi case study →How we work in Birmingham
Workshops in the West Midlands, focused delivery between them
Hopton does not claim a fixed Birmingham office. The team can work at client sites across Birmingham and the West Midlands for finance discovery, process walkthroughs, architecture decisions, design reviews and go-live sessions.
Build, testing, documentation and routine reviews can continue remotely. Before work starts, the proposal states the planned on-site sessions, client availability needed, travel assumptions and acceptance points.
Arrange a Birmingham workshopControl at each stage
A delivery route finance and operations can sign off
- 1
Reconcile the current state
Inventory sources, manual steps, reports, owners and control points. Agree which figures are authoritative today and record unresolved differences.
- 2
Design the target model
Define entity mappings, dimensions, measures, history, security, workspace ownership, target reports and acceptance criteria. Agree the fixed Build scope.
- 3
Build with traceable validation
Deliver the data and reporting layers in increments. Reconcile key measures, test access and performance, and keep old reporting available until owners approve cutover where continuity demands it.
- 4
Establish ownership after go-live
Document logic and responsibilities, train each role, control releases and choose either a clear handover or optional Continuity support.
Defined phases are fixed-scope and fixed-price. Microsoft licences, other platform costs and agreed travel are separated from delivery fees in the proposal.
Common questions
Power BI consultancy in Birmingham: practical answers
Can Hopton work at our Birmingham or West Midlands site?
Yes. Hopton can run discovery, finance, process, architecture and go-live sessions at a client's site by arrangement. Development and routine reviews can run remotely where that is more efficient. The proposal sets out the working pattern and travel assumptions.
Can Power BI report across several legal entities?
Yes. The model must define how charts of accounts, currencies, customers, products, sites, calendars and intercompany treatment map across entities. Finance owners agree those rules before group dashboards are accepted.
Can you combine old ERP history with a new Business Central system?
Yes, where the historic data is accessible and its meaning can be reconciled. Hopton has published experience bringing old Dynamics NAV and new Business Central data into one Power BI environment while maintaining reporting continuity.
Do we need a data warehouse before using Power BI?
Not always. A focused requirement may connect Power BI to a reliable ERP interface or curated database. A warehouse or lakehouse becomes more useful when several sources, preserved history, shared transformations or stronger platform governance are required.
How do you stop Power BI figures drifting between reports?
Use reusable semantic models with named measure owners, documented definitions, certified content and controlled change. Report authors should build on governed models rather than recreate important logic in each file.
How is the work scoped and priced?
Hopton uses fixed-scope, fixed-price phases for defined work. Establish or a focused assessment confirms sources, architecture, outputs, responsibilities and risks before the Build price is agreed. Licensing and third-party costs are shown separately.
Start with the reporting risk
Discuss your Birmingham Power BI or Fabric requirement
Tell us which reporting process takes too long, which figures are disputed and which ERP or operational systems sit underneath it. We will recommend the simplest credible next step and explain what evidence is needed before a build.