A major European FMCG brand
Real-time sales reporting for field teams.
Results
3×
Faster reporting
Same-day
Data freshness
Self-serve
No tickets needed
8 wk
End to end
The challenge
Weekly Excel reports took 2 full days to compile. By the time field teams received them, the data was already stale. Fast-moving trade decisions were made on last week's numbers — or on gut feel.
The process: someone in central pulled exports from SQL Server, ran them through a chain of Excel macros, manually reconciled mismatches between regions, and emailed PDFs to 40+ field managers. Errors compounded at every step. When a field manager questioned a number, the answer took another day.
Our approach
Data source mapping
Traced every Excel macro back to its SQL source. Found that half the macros were working around the same data gap — a missing region-to-territory mapping that had never been fixed at the source.
Pipeline automation
Replaced the macro chain with automated pipelines feeding Power BI directly from SQL Server. The 2-day manual process became a scheduled refresh running overnight.
Dashboard build
Built interactive dashboards with regional drill-downs, product filters, and time comparisons. Added row-level security so each field manager sees only their territory.
Rollout & training
Deployed to 40+ field managers with 1-hour training sessions per region. Built a self-serve FAQ and documented every metric definition so nobody argues about what "net sales" means.
The moment we knew it was working: a field manager called to say she'd noticed a 15% drop in a product line at one retailer — same morning the dip happened. Under the old system, she wouldn't have seen it for 10 days. She'd already called the account rep before lunch.
Tech stack
Power BIDAXSQL ServerAutomated pipelinesRow-level security Have a similar challenge?
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