Automating Executive Reporting with Power BI & SharePoint

Executive teams need real-time visibility into business performance, but manual reporting wastes hours every week. By connecting Power BI to SharePoint lists, you can build self-refreshing dashboards that update automatically as data changes — eliminating copy-paste reporting entirely.

The Problem with Manual Reporting

Most organisations still rely on someone pulling data from multiple sources into a spreadsheet, formatting it, and emailing it to leadership. This is slow, error-prone, and outdated by the time it arrives.

Solution Architecture

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Structure Your SharePoint Lists

Create SharePoint lists for each data domain — projects, KPIs, budgets, risks. Use consistent column types (Choice, Number, Date) for clean Power BI integration.

2. Connect Power BI to SharePoint

In Power BI Desktop, use Get Data → Online Services → SharePoint Online List. Enter your site URL and select the lists you need. Use Power Query to clean and transform the data.

3. Build the Dashboard

• KPI cards — project count, budget utilisation, risk score
• Status charts — RAG (Red/Amber/Green) visualisations
• Trend lines — performance over time
• Drill-through pages — click a project to see details

4. Publish & Schedule Refresh

Publish to Power BI Service and set up a scheduled refresh (e.g., every 30 minutes). Executives access the dashboard from their browser or the Power BI mobile app.

5. Set Up Data Alerts

Configure Power BI alerts to send email notifications when KPIs breach thresholds — for example, when budget utilisation exceeds 90%.

"The best executive report is one that nobody has to build — it just updates itself."

Results

For one of our clients, this approach eliminated 8 hours of weekly manual reporting, improved data accuracy, and gave the leadership team real-time visibility they never had before.