The challenge
Procurement data was held primarily in SAP, but the team lacked comprehensive reporting and analysis suited to its work. Staff manually combined SAP exports with other system data and locally maintained information, then assembled Excel analyses and Word reports. The process was time-consuming, offered limited detail, and left little room for deeper analysis.
My role
As the lead business intelligence analyst, I worked with the procurement and contracts team to define requirements, shape the reporting solution, and lead iterative delivery. The work combined business analysis, data and reporting design, stakeholder coordination, and developer direction.
The approach
I led the transition to a repeatable Power BI reporting workflow using SAP exports and supplementary data organized in SharePoint. The solution separated source-system data, manual inputs, and calculated fields, then combined them through structured data transformations. Standardization rules mapped inconsistent labels and categories to common definitions, while pipeline requirements helped drive improvements in upstream data quality. Reporting brought budgets, commitments, requisitions, purchase orders, expenditure, and project status into a more comprehensive analytical view.
Implementation
We started with a minimum viable solution and ran it alongside the existing manual process to validate results and build confidence. By month three, the team had switched entirely to the new workflow. Development and enhancement continued during operational use, supported by a roadmap for closer source-system integration.
Results
Reporting turnaround fell from weekly cycles to hours. The scope and detail of available data expanded substantially, allowing users to explore procurement and project information beyond the limits of the former manually assembled reports. Reusable transformation and categorization rules reduced repeated data preparation and supported more consistent analysis. The resulting capability provided a stronger information foundation for procurement, project, and resource management.