Power BI Embedded Unleashes Reporting Without Breaking the Bank

Learn how Keen used Skypoint’s Power BI Embedded App Template to simplify and streamline complex Power BI reports while saving Power BI licensing costs.

Keen Footwear Simplifies and Streamlines Power BI Reports

For Tim Oligmueller, Global Sales Force Automation Manager for Keen Footwear, long-term organizational success depended on providing Power BI reports to audiences who had been accustomed to little to no purview of their operational data and having more flexibility with administrative capabilities without it becoming his full-time focus.

Goals and Challenges

Before partnering with Skypoint CSG two years ago, the Keen team was up to its neck in reports. Internal team members fielded monthly static reports for various work streams—including order entry, inventory, and point-of-sale (POS) systems. This lack of self-service reporting rendered retailers and sales reps virtually flying blind to fulfill their order books. Tim knew he needed to extend their Power BI reporting externally to retailers, without breaking the bank with Power BI licensing fees. The burden also fell on the shoulders of the admin and IT teams, particularly in terms of configuring user permissions. With over 1500 projected users requiring reports at various levels of complexity and frequency, Keen needed a standalone Power BI portal experience that could do the heavy-lifting for dozens of business work streams, pulling all the reporting together under one easy-to-navigate structure. The hunt was on for a Power BI solution where internal team members could respond to requests from retailers and sales reps and provide relevant and accurate reporting that told a cohesive data analytics story. When they called on CSG, it was clear that Power BI Embedded was the right path to take.

Summary

Extending insightful reports to external retail partners was the initial goal.
Needed to combine Power BI reporting into one streamlined app with row-level security.
Overcoming Power BI administration work was one of the big challenges.
Wanted less IT resource involvement and lower Power BI licensing fees.
One of the overarching goals was to create a single source of truth.

"Everybody wants one source of truth, but we were coming from a reporting environment where we literally had thousands of reports. CSG’s Power BI Embedded App Template streamlined reporting and made workflows easier for our retailers and sales reps."

Solution and Results

With Skypoint’s Power BI Embedded App Template, Keen’s reporting was course-corrected and simplified. Interactive visual tools allow external stakeholders to navigate seamlessly through hierarchies and visual elements, drilling down to sort, filter, and pivot data to achieve new perspectives and insights without the confusing chrome of PowerBI.com. Tim’s internal team at Keen liked it so much that they transitioned most of their internal reporting to the Embedded App as well. Based on login credentials, stakeholders see only the data necessary to perform at their best. With little crossover into extraneous departmental data, user permissions have the additional benefit of boosted security. New users are set up in a flash, with the ability to assign them to User Groups based on functional area and customized Nav Templates to make their experience seamless. Everyone has their own navigation structure from the Nav Template, which is unique to their needs and how they work best. Keen fully owns the Embedded App Template source code and their internal .NET developers quickly ramped up on owning the code-base and making enhancements. Setup only required an hour and a half call between Skypoint and Tim’s team to finalize, configure, and deploy Skypoint’s Power BI Embedded App Template. And because the majority of the reporting functions will be pushed through the capacity-based App, only 20 developers need Power BI Pro licenses going forward for publishing. Keen was able to downsize from 400 Power BI licenses to 20 licenses, which was another huge win.

Summary

New users are up and running in a day and leadership uses the app daily.
Improved security and personalized navigation.
Solution trusted by IT, who is less involved in reporting management and troubleshooting.
Fewer resource needs led to significant downsizing with licenses.
Keen fully owns the EAT source code and their developers can make enhancements.

"The burden on our team has been lifted with configuring accounts and security. User management is much more streamlined and secure—I have the roles set up so fewer people have to touch it."

By The Numbers:

Projected global users

Will finally be given access to self-service analytics at an A1 SKU embedded level (~$800/month).

Power BI Pro licenses

Down from their initial plan with 400 Power BI Pro licenses.

Day of setup

To have a new user up and running on the Power BI Embedded app.

Monthly savings

$ 0

Approximate cost savings if compared to the Power BI Premium P1 license.

“Implementation was very easy. The first group to go-live were our manufacturers overseas who now have comprehensive reporting that they never had access to before."

Power BI Embedded Unleashes Reporting Without Breaking the Bank

Keen Footwear Simplifies and Streamlines Power BI Reports

Goals and Challenges

Summary

Solution and Results

Summary

By The Numbers:

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