Business Intelligence Dashboard Development
Budget: $5,000 – $10,000 CAD
Request for Proposal (RFP)
Enterprise Business Intelligence & Executive Dashboard Development
Project Overview
We are seeking an experienced Business Intelligence consultant or development team to design and implement an enterprise reporting and dashboard solution for our manufacturing business.
Our objective is to create a centralized reporting platform that consolidates data from multiple business systems into meaningful dashboards and reports, providing management with accurate, timely, and actionable information across all departments.
This engagement will be completed in two phases. The first phase will focus on business analysis, requirements gathering, KPI development, and solution design. The second phase will involve the development and implementation of the reporting platform based on the approved requirements.
We are looking for a partner who can contribute to the design of the solution, challenge assumptions where appropriate, recommend industry best practices, and build a reporting environment that will continue to grow with the business.
⸻
Phase 1 – Discovery & Solution Design
Before any dashboards are developed, we want to invest the necessary time to ensure the reporting requirements are clearly defined.
This phase should include:
* Discovery sessions with management and department leaders
* Review of current business processes
* Identification and definition of key performance indicators (KPIs)
* Identification of reporting requirements by department
* Review of existing data sources and data quality
* Data modelling recommendations
* Dashboard planning and wireframes
* Definition of drill-down paths
* Documentation of business rules and KPI calculations
* Recommendations for future scalability
At the conclusion of this phase, we expect to have a complete roadmap for development before implementation begins.
⸻
Phase 2 – Dashboard Development
Following approval of the solution design, the selected consultant will develop the reporting platform.
Power BI is our preferred platform, although we are open to recommendations if another solution better meets the project’s objectives.
The completed solution should include:
* Executive dashboards
* Department-specific dashboards
* Interactive reports
* Drill-through functionality
* Scheduled data refreshes
* Role-based security
* Mobile-friendly layouts where appropriate
* Well-documented data models
* Documentation to support future maintenance and expansion
⸻
Business Areas
The reporting platform should provide visibility into the following areas:
Executive Management
Company-wide performance
Financial summary
Operational performance
Sales performance
Production performance
Inventory health
Cash flow
Forecast vs. actual performance
Strategic KPI scorecards
⸻
Finance
Revenue
Gross margin
Net profit
Operating expenses
Cost of goods sold
Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
Inventory valuation
Budget vs. actual
Sales by customer
Sales by product
Profitability analysis
Cash flow reporting
⸻
Sales & Customer Service
Sales performance
Sales by customer
Sales by product
Sales trends
Customer profitability
Open quotations
Order backlog
Order conversion rates
Sales forecasting
Customer retention
New customer acquisition
⸻
Manufacturing
Production schedule
Manufacturing orders
Work orders
Capacity utilization
Machine utilization
Labour efficiency
Production efficiency
Scrap
Yield
Downtime
Production bottlenecks
Lead times
Cycle times
⸻
Inventory
Inventory valuation
Inventory turns
Inventory accuracy
ABC analysis
Slow-moving inventory
Dead stock
Stock shortages
Backorders
Warehouse inventory
Minimum and maximum stock levels
Cycle count reporting
⸻
Purchasing
Purchase order status
Supplier performance
Vendor lead times
Purchase spend
Price variance
Supplier scorecards
MRP recommendations
Open purchase orders
⸻
Human Resources
Headcount
Attendance
Overtime
Employee turnover
Training
Safety metrics
Labour costs
Productivity metrics
⸻
Data Sources
The reporting solution will need to consolidate information from multiple sources, including but not limited to:
* Sage Accounting
* MISys Manufacturing
* Microsoft Excel
* CSV imports
* Other internal business systems
* Additional systems that may be introduced in the future
The solution should be designed to accommodate future expansion without requiring significant redevelopment.
⸻
Dashboard Functionality
The dashboards should support interactive exploration of data.
Examples include:
Company Revenue → Customer → Sales Order → Invoice → Invoice Line
Inventory Value → Warehouse → Location → Item → Transaction History
Production → Manufacturing Order → Work Order → Operation → Labour and Material Consumption
Users should be able to begin with high-level summaries and drill down into the underlying transactions that make up each metric.
⸻
Deliverables
At a minimum, we expect the following:
* Business Requirements Document
* KPI Definitions
* Data Dictionary
* Data Model Documentation
* Dashboard Wireframes
* Final Dashboards and Reports
* Documentation describing calculations, relationships, and refresh processes
* User documentation sufficient for future maintenance
⸻
Preferred Qualifications
Please highlight experience with:
* Power BI
* SQL
* Data modelling
* Manufacturing environments
* ERP systems
* Sage
* MISys or similar manufacturing software
* Executive reporting
* Financial reporting
* Production reporting
Experience working with manufacturing companies is considered a significant advantage.
⸻
Proposal Requirements
Please include the following in your proposal:
* Company or individual background
* Relevant project experience
* Examples or screenshots of previous work
* References (if available)
* Your proposed approach to this project
* Estimated timeline
* Estimated cost for Phase 1 (Discovery & Solution Design)
* Estimated cost for Phase 2 (Development & Implementation)
⸻
Additional Information
We are not looking for someone to simply build dashboards from a list of requested reports. We are looking for a consultant who can work with our team to determine what information is most valuable to the business, recommend best practices, and design a reporting environment that supports informed decision-making across the organization.
This project has the potential to evolve into a long-term engagement as additional reporting requirements and data sources are identified.
Enterprise Business Intelligence & Executive Dashboard Development
Project Overview
We are seeking an experienced Business Intelligence consultant or development team to design and implement an enterprise reporting and dashboard solution for our manufacturing business.
Our objective is to create a centralized reporting platform that consolidates data from multiple business systems into meaningful dashboards and reports, providing management with accurate, timely, and actionable information across all departments.
This engagement will be completed in two phases. The first phase will focus on business analysis, requirements gathering, KPI development, and solution design. The second phase will involve the development and implementation of the reporting platform based on the approved requirements.
We are looking for a partner who can contribute to the design of the solution, challenge assumptions where appropriate, recommend industry best practices, and build a reporting environment that will continue to grow with the business.
⸻
Phase 1 – Discovery & Solution Design
Before any dashboards are developed, we want to invest the necessary time to ensure the reporting requirements are clearly defined.
This phase should include:
* Discovery sessions with management and department leaders
* Review of current business processes
* Identification and definition of key performance indicators (KPIs)
* Identification of reporting requirements by department
* Review of existing data sources and data quality
* Data modelling recommendations
* Dashboard planning and wireframes
* Definition of drill-down paths
* Documentation of business rules and KPI calculations
* Recommendations for future scalability
At the conclusion of this phase, we expect to have a complete roadmap for development before implementation begins.
⸻
Phase 2 – Dashboard Development
Following approval of the solution design, the selected consultant will develop the reporting platform.
Power BI is our preferred platform, although we are open to recommendations if another solution better meets the project’s objectives.
The completed solution should include:
* Executive dashboards
* Department-specific dashboards
* Interactive reports
* Drill-through functionality
* Scheduled data refreshes
* Role-based security
* Mobile-friendly layouts where appropriate
* Well-documented data models
* Documentation to support future maintenance and expansion
⸻
Business Areas
The reporting platform should provide visibility into the following areas:
Executive Management
Company-wide performance
Financial summary
Operational performance
Sales performance
Production performance
Inventory health
Cash flow
Forecast vs. actual performance
Strategic KPI scorecards
⸻
Finance
Revenue
Gross margin
Net profit
Operating expenses
Cost of goods sold
Accounts receivable
Accounts payable
Inventory valuation
Budget vs. actual
Sales by customer
Sales by product
Profitability analysis
Cash flow reporting
⸻
Sales & Customer Service
Sales performance
Sales by customer
Sales by product
Sales trends
Customer profitability
Open quotations
Order backlog
Order conversion rates
Sales forecasting
Customer retention
New customer acquisition
⸻
Manufacturing
Production schedule
Manufacturing orders
Work orders
Capacity utilization
Machine utilization
Labour efficiency
Production efficiency
Scrap
Yield
Downtime
Production bottlenecks
Lead times
Cycle times
⸻
Inventory
Inventory valuation
Inventory turns
Inventory accuracy
ABC analysis
Slow-moving inventory
Dead stock
Stock shortages
Backorders
Warehouse inventory
Minimum and maximum stock levels
Cycle count reporting
⸻
Purchasing
Purchase order status
Supplier performance
Vendor lead times
Purchase spend
Price variance
Supplier scorecards
MRP recommendations
Open purchase orders
⸻
Human Resources
Headcount
Attendance
Overtime
Employee turnover
Training
Safety metrics
Labour costs
Productivity metrics
⸻
Data Sources
The reporting solution will need to consolidate information from multiple sources, including but not limited to:
* Sage Accounting
* MISys Manufacturing
* Microsoft Excel
* CSV imports
* Other internal business systems
* Additional systems that may be introduced in the future
The solution should be designed to accommodate future expansion without requiring significant redevelopment.
⸻
Dashboard Functionality
The dashboards should support interactive exploration of data.
Examples include:
Company Revenue → Customer → Sales Order → Invoice → Invoice Line
Inventory Value → Warehouse → Location → Item → Transaction History
Production → Manufacturing Order → Work Order → Operation → Labour and Material Consumption
Users should be able to begin with high-level summaries and drill down into the underlying transactions that make up each metric.
⸻
Deliverables
At a minimum, we expect the following:
* Business Requirements Document
* KPI Definitions
* Data Dictionary
* Data Model Documentation
* Dashboard Wireframes
* Final Dashboards and Reports
* Documentation describing calculations, relationships, and refresh processes
* User documentation sufficient for future maintenance
⸻
Preferred Qualifications
Please highlight experience with:
* Power BI
* SQL
* Data modelling
* Manufacturing environments
* ERP systems
* Sage
* MISys or similar manufacturing software
* Executive reporting
* Financial reporting
* Production reporting
Experience working with manufacturing companies is considered a significant advantage.
⸻
Proposal Requirements
Please include the following in your proposal:
* Company or individual background
* Relevant project experience
* Examples or screenshots of previous work
* References (if available)
* Your proposed approach to this project
* Estimated timeline
* Estimated cost for Phase 1 (Discovery & Solution Design)
* Estimated cost for Phase 2 (Development & Implementation)
⸻
Additional Information
We are not looking for someone to simply build dashboards from a list of requested reports. We are looking for a consultant who can work with our team to determine what information is most valuable to the business, recommend best practices, and design a reporting environment that supports informed decision-making across the organization.
This project has the potential to evolve into a long-term engagement as additional reporting requirements and data sources are identified.