Do users trust the data?
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Power BI Adoption Check
You deployed Power BI. Why are people still exporting everything to Excel?
A practical diagnosis of what is preventing real adoption — because “users need more training” is often only part of the story.
DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
Start with what is actually happening.
- Licences exist and reports exist, but regular usage remains low.
- Training happened but user behaviour barely changed.
- People export data before doing any real analysis.
- Users do not fully trust the numbers or do not know which report to use.
- The BI team assumes a capability gap while users describe a relevance gap.
WHAT WE NEED TO ANSWER
Good work starts with better questions.
Do reports answer real business questions?
Are users confident enough to explore?
Is the problem training — or something else entirely?
WHAT I REVIEW
The scope follows the problem.
I do not force every engagement through the same checklist. These are the areas that may matter; the agreed scope determines how deep we go.
Usage patterns and user groups
Report relevance and findability
Training and onboarding
Support mechanisms
Data trust and ownership
Access and friction
Communication and community
Creator vs consumer needs
WHAT YOU GET
Something you can use after the conversation ends.
The output should help you make a decision, change a practice or move the work forward. It should not exist simply to prove that work happened.
Adoption Diagnosis
A grounded view of the main reasons people are not using Power BI as intended.
Barrier Map
Capability, trust, usability, process and organisational barriers separated from one another.
User Segmentation
Different user groups need different interventions.
Priority Actions
What is most likely to move adoption in the next phase.
Enablement Recommendations
Where training, office hours, redesign or governance can genuinely help.
HOW IT WORKS
Enough structure to make the work clear. Not so much process that the process becomes the work.
Context
We start with a short conversation about what is happening, what matters and what has already been tried.
Review
I analyse the relevant parts of the solution or operating model at the depth agreed for the engagement.
Prioritise
I organise observations around impact, risk and usefulness — not around how many issues I can find.
Walkthrough
We go through the findings together, challenge assumptions and discuss trade-offs.
Next step
You decide what happens next: implement internally, continue together or stop because the focused engagement was enough.
YOUR TIME COMMITMENT
I keep the client-side time demand deliberately light. A focused assessment usually needs a kickoff conversation, access or materials, and a final review session. We agree the exact involvement before we start.
A GOOD FIT WHEN
This is likely to help if...
- Power BI is available but usage is disappointing or inconsistent.
- You want to understand behaviour before commissioning more training.
- You need to connect adoption with report design, trust and operating model.
IT MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT FIT IF
- You already know the gap is purely introductory Power BI capability.
- You need a large-scale organisational change programme rather than a focused diagnostic.
If the problem is real but the format is wrong, that is useful to know early. I would rather redirect the conversation than force the challenge into the wrong service.
POWER BI ADOPTION CHECK
You deployed Power BI. Why are people still exporting everything to Excel?
Bring me the problem, not a polished brief. A few sentences about what is happening and what you would like to change are enough to start.
Tell me what's happeningPREFER TO WRITE?
Send me a message.
You do not need a polished brief. Whether the topic is Power BI, Fabric, AI, team training, mentoring, coaching or simply a challenge that needs untangling, leave a few details and we can start from there.
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