Power BI consultant Birmingham — manufacturing, automotive, and professional services BI.
Lets Viz builds, fixes, and manages Power BI for Birmingham and West Midlands businesses. Deep Sage 200, SAP, and Business Central expertise for manufacturers and automotive suppliers. Fixed GBP pricing — from £2,500 for a project. 2-business-day SLA on managed plans. First dashboard live in 14 days.
Trusted by teams across 15+ countries
What Birmingham and West Midlands teams get
Delivery benchmarks from Power BI engagements with UK manufacturing, automotive supply chain, and professional services clients.
14
Days to first live dashboard
2 BD
Response SLA on managed plans
~⅓
Cost vs a full-time Birmingham BI hire
GMT/BST
Full UK business day coverage
Three Power BI problems West Midlands businesses face
The problem
London agency rates for West Midlands projects
£400–£800/day open-ended billing on Midlands margins
Most specialist BI firms quote at London day rates — but West Midlands SMBs don’t have London profit margins to absorb them. Fixed-scope GBP pricing eliminates that billing uncertainty entirely.
The problem
IT generalists handling specialist BI work
Dashboards that connect but don’t answer the right questions
Local IT support firms list ‘Power BI’ without manufacturing or ERP analytics depth. The result: OEE calculated incorrectly, DAX measures that fail at row-level grain.
The problem
Hiring a full-time analyst for a project-sized need
3 months to hire; £45,000–£65,000/year ongoing
A Birmingham senior Power BI analyst costs £45,000–£65,000/year plus NI, benefits, and 3 months to hire. A fixed retainer delivers the same capability in 2 weeks at roughly one-third the cost.
The West Midlands has the UK's largest manufacturing base — and almost no dedicated BI partner
The West Midlands accounts for 13% of UK manufacturing output. Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, and Dudley are home to over 7,000 manufacturers — from 50-person precision engineering firms to Tier 1 automotive suppliers. Most are running critical reporting on shared Excel sheets.
Sage 200, SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, and Microsoft Business Central dominate the West Midlands ERP landscape. We have built Power BI connectors and semantic models for all four. Not generic Power Query transformations — purpose-built models with manufacturing-specific date tables, shift calendars, and OEE logic.
Automotive supply chain: Just-in-time (JIT) delivery performance, parts-per-million (PPM) quality defect tracking, supplier scorecard dashboards, and press/weld/paint shop OEE. These are our most common Birmingham engagements. We understand the KPI framework that OEMs expect from Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers.
Birmingham professional services — law firms, accountancies, and consulting firms — need utilisation dashboards, WIP reporting, and matter profitability. We connect to Elite, Aderant, and SAP PS for legal sector clients. QuickBooks and Xero for mid-market accountancies.
Azure UK South is our default data residency recommendation — UK GDPR compliant. We sign a Data Processing Agreement before any data is shared. Fixed GBP pricing — from £2,500 per project, with managed retainers from £1,500/month. About a third of the cost of a Birmingham permanent BI hire.
Power BI built for the West Midlands business mix
Manufacturing, automotive supply chain, and professional services are the three dominant verticals in the region.
Can you build OEE and production dashboards for our factory?
Yes. Manufacturing is our strongest West Midlands vertical. We build OEE dashboards, downtime analysis by line and shift, production output vs. target, quality reject rate tracking, and planned vs. actual throughput. We connect to Sage 200, SAP, Microsoft Business Central, and custom SQL shop-floor databases. Every KPI definition is agreed before build.
Do you work with Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers?
Yes. Automotive supply chain Power BI: supplier on-time delivery (JIT/Kanban), parts availability and inventory days, inbound logistics SLA monitoring, customer quality scorecards (PPM, warranty returns), and PPAP/APQP milestone tracking. We design RLS so each supplier sees only their own performance when dashboards are shared externally.
Do you build utilisation and WIP dashboards for Midlands law firms?
Yes. West Midlands professional services Power BI: billable hours and utilisation by fee-earner and department, matter profitability, WIP and lock-up analysis, client write-off tracking, and budget vs. actual by practice group. We connect to practice management systems common in UK professional services (Advanced, Linetime, CCH) with GDPR-aware data models.
What Birmingham clients get on a Lets Viz engagement
Our Offerings
Manufacturing OEE and production
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) dashboards, production output vs. target, downtime and fault code analysis, shift productivity, and rejection rate tracking. Connects to Sage 200, SAP PM, MES systems, and custom SQL shop-floor databases common in West Midlands manufacturing.
How a West Midlands manufacturer cut OEE reporting from 2 days to 90 minutes
An anonymised engagement — the same problem profile we see across Midlands manufacturing and automotive supply chain teams.
The challenge
A 220-person automotive components manufacturer in the West Midlands was tracking OEE, downtime, and production output across 7 separate Excel sheets, each maintained by a different shift supervisor. Monthly reporting took the production manager 2 full days — and numbers still did not reconcile across sites.
What we built
We connected their Sage 200 ERP and shop-floor SQL database into a unified Power BI semantic model. A live OEE dashboard with drill-down by line, shift, and product replaced the Excel sheets. Row-level security gave site managers access to their own data; the production director sees all sites in one view. Automated refresh at 6 AM means the morning stand-up uses overnight actuals.
Outcomes
2 days → 90 min
monthly OEE reporting time
7 → 1
Excel sheets replaced by live dashboard
100%
automated refresh — zero manual data entry
What clients say about working with Lets Viz
Have been working with Lets Viz technologies team for over a year now and it has been a very productive engagement. Team has a bunch of professionals who deliver on time and are always available for any questions or changes required.
Shravan Siddapurkar
Senior Director, Opsramp
Rohit was a pleasure to work with. Professional, reliable and responsive. The automation he has put in place has really streamlined the process of budgeting and capacity planning for us as an agency. Highly recommended.
Joe Cox
Director, Agency
Sage 200, SAP, and Business Central depth — at less than a third of the cost of London BI boutiques
West Midlands businesses face a choice between London BI boutiques charging London rates, local IT generalists without ERP depth, and offshore teams who have never seen a Sage 200 database. We offer a fourth path.
Sage 200, SAP, and BC depth
We have built Power BI models on Sage 200, SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, and Business Central. Not Excel export workflows — proper ODBC/OData connections with documented semantic models and RLS.
Manufacturing KPI framework knowledge
OEE, JIT delivery performance, PPM quality metrics, shift productivity — we know the KPI vocabulary of West Midlands manufacturing without needing a glossary session on day one.
Fixed GBP pricing — no London rates
Projects from £2,500 fixed. Retainers from £1,500/month. No open-ended day rates, no London surcharges, no hidden scope creep clauses.
GMT/BST — same-day response
We work in your time zone. Same-day responses on shift-end reporting issues, board pack deadlines, and OEM customer review prep. Full overlap with the Birmingham working day.
Specialist consulting vs. local IT generalists
Most IT firms in the West Midlands list Power BI as a side service. Here is what that difference means in practice.
Consulting partner (Lets Viz)
- Outcome-scoped: pay for a working dashboard, not open hours
- Manufacturing and ERP depth — Sage 200, SAP, Business Central
- GMT/BST native — full West Midlands business day covered
- Full documentation and model hand-off included at close
- Managed retainer with 2BD SLA available month-to-month
- Fixed GBP pricing — no London day-rate surprises
Staffing agency / body shop
- Pay hourly regardless of output or quality
- BI is a secondary skill — generalist IT focus
- No manufacturing or ERP-specific analytics depth
- 3–4 month hiring cycle before first dashboard
- Exit = starting over with the next contractor
- London agency rates applied to West Midlands projects
Lets Viz vs. London boutique vs. local IT firm
Three options for West Midlands businesses. Here is what each one means in practice.
| What matters | RecommendedLets Viz | London BI boutique | Local IT generalist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed GBP scope or retainer | £400–£800/day open-ended | Hourly, open-ended |
| Manufacturing / ERP depth | Sage / SAP / Business Central | Generalist BI | General IT — BI is a side skill |
| UK data residency | Azure UK South, DPA included | varies | often unclear |
| Working hours | GMT/BST native | London-first scheduling | yes (local) |
| Delivery speed | 14 days to first dashboard | 4–6 week ramp | Slow — BI is not core |
| Ownership | Full hand-off, no lock-in | Varies | Limited documentation |
From first call to a dashboard Birmingham leadership trusts
A strategic approach tailored to your business needs.
Day 1–2 — Scoping and ERP review
We map your data sources (Sage 200, SAP, BC, SQL, Excel), identify the highest-value reporting gap (often OEE or supplier PPM), and confirm data residency. Output: a fixed GBP scope document.
Day 3–14 — First dashboard live
Semantic model built and connected to your ERP. Row-level security configured. You see a working dashboard in your own Power BI workspace — board-ready in 14 days.
Day 15–21 — Pipelines, training, and documentation
Automated refresh, KPI alerting, handover session with your team. Full written documentation — nothing undocumented at go-live.
Ongoing — Managed retainer or clean hand-off
Stay on a managed plan from £1,500/month — or take full ownership. We write the documentation either way. Month-to-month, no annual commitment.
Connects to the West Midlands enterprise stack
Sage 200, SAP, Business Central, SQL Server — wherever your data lives, we model it. No rip-and-replace required.
ERP
Sage 200 · SAP S/4HANA · SAP ECC · Business Central
Cloud & Platform
Azure · Power Platform · SharePoint · Teams
BI & Analytics
Power BI · Fabric · SQL Server · SSRS
Manufacturing
MES · SCADA · Historian · Shop-floor SQL
Finance & ERP
Sage 50 · QuickBooks · Xero · Dynamics 365
Custom Sources
REST APIs · Excel · CSV · Access databases
Power BI pricing for West Midlands businesses
Fixed-scope projects and month-to-month retainers in GBP — no open-ended day rates. London-quality delivery at non-London prices.
Project
fixed scope
A 3-dashboard build connected to your ERP or SQL database. Fixed price, fixed scope, delivered in 3–5 weeks.
- 3 dashboards — ops, finance, or production KPIs
- Sage 200, Business Central, or SQL Server connection
- Row-level security for site or regional managers
- Automated daily or weekly refresh
- Handover walkthrough and model documentation
- 30 days post-delivery support included
Retainer
per month
Your Power BI environment maintained, improved, and always current. Named analyst. 2BD SLA. Month-to-month.
- Named senior analyst who knows your model
- 2-business-day fix SLA — written, not verbal
- Monthly new dashboard or enhancement included
- Refresh monitoring and pipeline alerting
- Direct Slack or Teams channel
- Month-to-month — cancel any time with 30 days notice
Full build
fixed scope
Full semantic model and 8+ dashboards — ERP-connected, RLS configured, governance documented.
- Full star-schema semantic model with documented DAX
- 8+ dashboards — finance, ops, production, quality, HR
- Multi-site or multi-entity support
- Power BI security audit and RLS configuration
- User training for your analysts
- Full model hand-off — you own everything
All prices ex-VAT. Fixed scope only — no open-ended day rates. London Power BI boutiques charge £400–£800/day for equivalent capability.
Wondering what this would cost you?
Answer a few questions and see an honest price range on screen — no email, no call needed.
See it in action
Real engagements. Documented outcomes.
From Four Systems to One Source of Truth
How a regulated US neurovascular device manufacturer turned siloed ERP and third-party market data into dashboards leadership trusts — with every KPI reconciled to source.
From Attribution Chaos to Marketing Clarity
How a wellness retreat discovered its Facebook ROAS was 70% higher than reported — and why a 27% revenue drop had nothing to do with ad creative.
5 Dashboards on 9 Million Orders
A full replacement of a legacy Looker extension — rebuilt in React + TypeScript with 99% fewer API calls and custom chart rendering.
Power BI consulting for the full West Midlands region
We work remotely with clients across every part of the West Midlands conurbation and the surrounding region.
Locations
Other Power BI consulting locations
We serve major markets across North America — remote delivery, same named analyst, same 14-day SLA.
Power BI Consulting in Birmingham — Common Questions
Find answers to common questions about our services and process.
Further reading
Guides and insights to help you make an informed decision.
Logistics KPI Dashboard in Power BI: 10 Core Shipping Metrics
Build a logistics KPI dashboard in Power BI with 10 core shipping KPIs, a star-schema data model, and DAX measures for supply chain analytics teams.
Power BI Import vs DirectQuery: Mid-Market Decision Guide
Choosing between Power BI Import and DirectQuery? This decision framework for mid-market teams weighs data volume, refresh frequency, and source latency.
Looker vs Power BI Cost Comparison: TCO at 50-500 Seats
Full Looker vs Power BI cost comparison at 50-500 seats: licensing, infrastructure, admin overhead, and migration costs with a decision matrix.
Ready for Power BI in Birmingham?
Book a free 30-minute scoping call. We will confirm your ERP and data sources, and provide a fixed GBP quote within 48 hours.