How hubware supercharges real time Power BI dashboards
For many dashboards and reports, Power BI's maximum of 8 automatic data refreshes per day is enough. After all, a lot of reporting databases only refresh once per day.
However, some dashboards need to refresh far more often than that. For example, one of our clients has a dashboard for tracking field engineers throughout the day, which refreshes every 5 minutes. Achieving this refresh frequency is more than just clever Power BI design, it also means the underlying dataset has to be kept up to date in real time.
Ferrio's hubware is unique, in that it not only connects applications, but also provides a central place for data. Ferrio connects directly to applications via their APIs, pulling data in real time. This integration-first design means that data on the platform is always up to date. By connecting Power BI to Ferrio, we can guarantee that the data behind dashboards is refreshed in real time.
How do real time dashboards benefit me?
Real time dashboards come into their own when decisions need to be made in rapidly evolving landscapes, typically for businesses dealing with tight SLAs. For example, a dashboard of field engineer allocation for a business with 3 and 4 hour response SLAs won't be much use if data could be up to an hour out of date.
A good real time dashboard can prompt the viewer with actionable insights - many business will have these dashboards displayed in a prominent place in the office. Not only does this mean everyone has access to these insights at all time, but it reinforces a data-driven culture in the business.
It's always easiest to work with examples, so here are a few examples of real time dashboards in action:
- Job SLA jeopardy dashboard - clear highlighting and alerting of jobs at risk of missing SLAs, using scheduling data and vehicle tracking data from job planning applications such as Joblogic, BigChange and SimPRO.
- Project progress dashboard - see clear progress on install and construction projects at a glance, and reallocate resource on the fly to clear bottlenecks and delays.
- Safety & compliance - be alerted to any safety concerns raised by field workers and have a clear view on what action is being taken. Health and safety data that is hours out of date is an accident waiting to happen!
- Weather conditions - rain about to stop play at a critical site? Modern weather APIs and geolocation data mean you can know about this before it happens, and adjust plans accordingly.
- Inventory management - yesterday's stock data can't drive today's decisions. See spikes in stock consumption and areas for critical restock.
Real time dashboarding unlocks proactive working - solving problems before they're problems.
How can Ferrio help?
Ferrio's hubware platform makes all of this possible. By combining the power of automation and integration with a built-in data warehouse, business data is always available in real time.
Our team always work with you to implement our platform, so we can ensure you can always connect to every system in the business and nothing gets lost. We have a commitment to "no bad implementations" and we're experts in the specific Power BI setup required to enable real time dashboards. Whether you're a business operator with a problem to solve or a tech expert looking for a better, all-in-one data platform, we're here to help.
For more detailed examples, we are constantly updating our partner case studies: https://ferrio.com/case-studies
If you have any further questions on real-time reporting and analytics, what hubware is, and what it can do for you, our team are always available to chat and offer free advice. Just contact us via the form at https://ferrio.com