Revitalizing Data Reporting for a Distribution Industry Leader

Business Situation

Since its founding in 1947 in Philadelphia, this prominent distributor of refrigeration, air conditioning, and heating equipment has grown to operate over 400 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

In 2023, the company recognized a need to modernize its reporting environment, as employees were frequently working with outdated, dense data files that made actionable insights hard to attain. To stay competitive and drive more strategic decisions, the organization saw Microsoft Power BI as the ideal tool for creating dynamic reports and empowering teams to uncover critical business insights.

However, to fully harness Power BI’s capabilities across the organization, the company needed a skilled partner to train employees on the tool's extensive features for data visualization and report creation.

Solutions

As a certified Microsoft Solutions Partner with deep Power BI expertise, we were engaged to lead comprehensive training sessions for the company’s business analysts and data engineers.

Leveraging our in-house expertise, we designed a curriculum based on "Beginning Power BI for Business Users: Learning to Turn Data into Insights," a foundational book authored by one of our consulting directors. The training provided in-depth instruction on the essentials of Power BI, enabling employees to transform data into engaging visuals, perform advanced analyses, and use intuitive reporting tools.

One challenge we addressed was the need for a unified approach to data access. With multiple departments using various reporting tools and creating queries with different interpretations, Power BI’s capabilities allowed us to establish a single source of truth. Now, all employees can access consistent datasets to generate fully informed insights, enhancing decision-making, efficiency, and resource management.

Results

Our training enabled the company’s employees to seamlessly adopt Power BI, transforming how they access and interact with data. Instead of relying on emailed Excel sheets, team members now benefit from interactive reports and filtered data views within Power BI.

As Power BI usage has grown, the organization can now manage extensive data analyses that were previously beyond Excel's capabilities, uncovering insights that drive more precise reporting and support critical decisions, such as seasonal staffing needs.

Looking ahead, we continue to support the company’s Power BI journey, assisting in the development of new datasets, converting legacy reports, and introducing automation to optimize resource allocation and further enhance operational efficiency.