Blog Writing By:

Shivam Sandip Temgire

PRN: 1062251785

MBA Business Analytics

MIT WPU , PUNE

Contact: shivamtemgire71@gmail.com

Introduction:

In the current business environment, data is of utmost importance. Every sale, purchase, production entry, and delivery generates data. However, just generating data is not sufficient. We need to understand the data properly in order to make proper decisions. In the past, most of the businesses relied on manual registers and Excel sheets. These tools are also effective, but they consume more time and sometimes generate errors.

Business visualization tools assist in the process of turning raw data into charts, graphs, and dashboards. Rather than analyzing lengthy tables, managers can easily analyze trends and patterns. The first chart illustrates the improvement in decision-making efficiency from manual reporting to Excel, and finally to business visualization tools. Business visualization tools are more effective in providing clarity and understanding.

In our corrugated and wooden box manufacturing business, we used to rely on Excel and manual calculations. At the end of the month, it took us many hours to analyze total production, sales, and pending payments. After learning business analytics in my MBA, I understood that business visualization tools can make this process easier and more accurate.

 

Tableau vs Power BI Comparison

There are several tools available for visualization, but Tableau and Power BI are the most widely used ones.

Tableau is well-known for its powerful and advanced dashboards. Many Multi-national Companies depends on this tool because it can support very large and complex data. It has powerful visual analytics and flexibility. But Tableau is generally more costly and requires training for effective use.

Power BI is a Microsoft product. It is very affordable and integrates well with Excel and other Microsoft products. For us, who already use Excel on a day to day basis, Power BI is very easy to adapt to. It has powerful data modelling and dashboarding capabilities at a lower price point.

The second chart illustrates a simple cost comparison. Tableau has a higher cost index than Power BI. For small and medium Indian businesses like ours, cost is a very significant consideration. Since we already use Excel, Power BI was a very sensible and economic choice for us.

Thus, although Tableau is very powerful, Power BI is more appropriate for our current level no of business.

 

 How Power BI Helped Our Manufacturing Business

Finally, after convincing my father, we implemented Power BI in our business. We linked our Excel sheets of sales and production to Power BI and designed basic dashboards.

We designed dashboards for:

• ·       Monthly sales tracking
• ·       Machine-wise production tracking
• ·       Raw material stock levels
• ·       Customer payment tracking

The third chart illustrates the percentage of improvements in various business sectors after implementing Power BI.

For instance:

In sales tracking, we realized that a major customer makes large orders only in the first two weeks of the month. We changed our production plans accordingly. This eased last-minute rushes.

In production tracking, we realized that a machine produced items with a higher rejection rate. The dashboard enabled us to detect the problem easily. After repair, the rate of rejection decreased.

In stock management, we included basic indicators to display green for adequate stock, yellow for low stock, and red for urgent purchase. This prevented stock shortages.

In payment tracking, we developed a dashboard to display the number of overdue days and the total amount due. Now my father can easily spot late payments without having to scan each ledger separately.

 Overall Benefits and Conclusion

After a few months of using Power BI, we noticed the positive effects on our business.

The fourth chart illustrates the overall impact scores of the benefits identified.

The key benefits are:

• ·       Improved decision-making
• ·       Reduction in manual errors
• ·       Enhanced production planning
• ·       Improved cash flow management

Most importantly, decision-making is now data-driven rather than experience and assumption-driven. My father was initially convinced about the traditional approach, but after viewing the effective graphs and dashboards, he realized the importance of business visualization.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, both Tableau and Power BI are very effective tools. Tableau is an excellent tool for large corporations dealing with extremely complex data. Power BI is an affordable, user-friendly, and highly effective tool for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies like ours.

As an MBA student, I realized that management knowledge is more effective when combined with data analytics. Even traditional businesses can expand rapidly by leveraging simple visualization tools. Business intelligence is not just for large corporations. Business intelligence is for every business that wants to expand intelligently and make better decisions. Power BI assisted us in transitioning from manual reporting to smart dashboards.