NPI gains insight into data with Power BI solution from twoday

Case: NPI

This makes it easier for NPI to make the right decisions while saving time every day.

A need for accessing data easily

Nordisk Pladeimport (NPI) purchases and sells wood-based sheet materials for builders merchants in Denmark. They have been doing this since the company started 17 years ago. During that time, revenue has grown, and this has led NPI to switch ERP solution from a relatively simple system to Microsoft Dynamics NAV / 365 Business Central, which better suited NPI’s needs.

It turned out that the standard reports that came with the new Microsoft ERP system did not meet NPI’s need to present data in an easy and clear way. Therefore, they searched for a good analysis and reporting platform to gain greater insight into the company’s data.

“We had a system where we poured in a lot of data, but we couldn’t get very relevant and useful data out of the system,” says Hans Madsen, sales manager at NPI.

twoday's consultant quickly understood the business

NPI contacted twoday, and after a clarification of needs it became clear that Microsoft Power BI was the right tool to visualize and clarify the many data contained in Microsoft’s ERP system.

About a month after twoday began implementing Power BI, NPI could use the new front-end solution.

"twoday’s consultant was really quick to understand what business we run and how we would like to be presented to and access data. We are a small company employee-wise, and it is alpha and omega that we get a supplier with whom we have chemistry, and who we feel can see our business and understand our needs. twoday's consultant did that to a great extent."

Hans Madsen, Sales Manager at NPI

Power BI clarifies data

Shortly after the implementation of Microsoft Power BI, it has become an indispensable tool for NPI. The first thing that employees encounter when opening a browser in the morning is a Power BI report that shows the sales figures from the day before and compares the figures on various parameters.

“In the past, we had a really hard time assessing our customers and whether dealing with them was profitable. With the new Power BI solution, sales and purchases have become transparent. This has enabled us to make decisions based on facts rather than feelings or assumptions.”

NPI has three different cubes in their Power BI; a sales cube with, among other things, sales figures and sales prices; a stock cube with purchasing and stock prices and an economy cube. The figures that are displayed in Power BI are continuously adjusted.

In addition to accessing Power BI reports via PC, salesmen have access to Power BI reports via tablets when on the road and driving around to customers. This enables them to look up how the individual products sell to the customer and how much NPI earns on the products. They can use this to figure out where to spend resources and how to optimize revenue and sell the products where revenue is highest.

NPI’s Power BI dashboard, where data is presented. Hans Madsen has been very pleased with the solution, which he calls extremely user-friendly and easy to understand.

Data served on a silver platter

The new solution has given NPI greater visibility and transparency, so that they now know, among other things, what they earn from customers and products, and they have a better overview of, for example, inventory and procurement, which makes it easier to do an effective sales follow-up. In addition, NPI saves time, which can instead be spent on NPI’s core business – sales and purchases of wood-based sheets.

The employees have been very happy with the transition to using Power BI - because "it's great to be served data instead of having to dig it up yourself," as Hans Madsen says.

Here is NPI’s own estimate of the time they save with the new Power BI solution:

Daily KPI’s: 10 min per day = 42 hours per year

Inventory status: 1 hour per week = 52 hours per year

Purchasing reports: 4 hours per month = 48 hours per year

Bonus settlements: 5 hours 5 times a year = 25 hours per year

Power BI must be continuously optimized

Hans Madsen is responsible for producing the Power BI reports. One piece of advice he would like to pass on is to get employees used to the fact that it is no longer necessary to extract data themselves, but to have them explain what reports or figures they need so that you can generate useful reports for them.

n addition to saving time, you also reduce the manual export of data to Excel, which increases the risk of data errors.

NPI benefits from an ongoing contact with twoday's consultant to fine-tune the data that are presented in Power BI.

“We certainly haven’t had all the right data from the start. It is an ongoing process to develop and display the right data in Power BI. So if you think that you are investing energy in Power BI, and then once and for all have your data in place, then you can think again. BI is something that needs to be regularly developed and optimized, ”says Hans Madsen.

“If you sit down with the employee and look at what numbers and reports they pull out during a day, you can quickly form an overview and generate a new report in Power BI, which they can access daily without having to spend unnecessary time finding data again and again. At NPI, we have used this in connection with our inventory movements. The overviews are hard to make in a clear way in NAV, but easy and simple in Power BI.”

Hans Madsen, Sales Manager at NPI

About NPI

NPI supplies wood-based sheet materials for builders merchants. The company was established in 2002 and today employs 10 people focusing on the company’s core business; sale and purchase of wooden boards.

NPI is headquartered in Løsning. Their central warehouse is in Tjæreborg near Esbjerg. Imports are made from overseas markets as well as from Europe.