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Dubai · Power BI · Direct Lake

The dashboards your Operations Director
actually opens.

Power BI consultant in Dubai for mid-market manufacturers, FMCG distributors selling into Lulu and Carrefour, and JAFZA / KIZAD 3PLs. Direct Lake, governed semantic models, Power BI Copilot, RLS, deployment pipelines — built once, scales.

Trusted by manufacturing, FMCG, packaging and logistics operations across the UAE, the wider GCC, India, Singapore and beyond.

50+

Clients delivered

150+

Projects

14+

Years in industrial data

5

Markets

Who this is for

Power BI built around your role

Power BI consulting for Dubai and GCC manufacturers, FMCG distributors and 3PLs — the dashboard each leader actually opens, mapped to the decision they own.

COO

The problem

Finance, operations and supply chain each bring their own version of the same number to the Dubai leadership review, and the first twenty minutes go on arguing whose is right.

What we build

One governed Power BI model on Microsoft Fabric where every function across the UAE business reads the same KPI, calculated the same way.

A single source of truth across the business

Finance Manager

The problem

Month-end still runs on exported spreadsheets reconciled by hand in AED, and the pack is three days old before anyone reads it.

What we build

Automated financial reporting on a governed semantic model — statutory and management numbers from one source, refreshed rather than rebuilt each cycle.

Reporting refresh cut up to 90% (Korpack)

Supply Chain Manager

The problem

Lulu, Carrefour and Spinneys publish a vendor DIFOT scorecard monthly, and your internal OTIF sits five to seven points higher — so the chargeback dispute lands with no evidence behind it.

What we build

Live supply-chain dashboards — OTIF, fill rate and days of cover in one view, reconciled to the customer scorecard, with exceptions flagged before the customer chases.

Fewer misses reach the customer

Plant Manager

The problem

OEE for the KIZAD or JAFZA line arrives the morning after the shift that needed it, keyed in from a paper log.

What we build

Real-time production dashboards read from PLC and SCADA on Direct Lake, not from shift logs — OEE and downtime visible while the shift is still running.

OEE and downtime visible during the shift

The Problem

Patterns we see in every engagement

Most Power BI in Dubai is built by analysts, not Power BI engineers. The dashboard looks fine in the demo. Three months later the gateway times out, the semantic model has 40 measures named Measure 1–40, and operations is back on Excel. These are the four patterns we close.

01

Import models that have outgrown the overnight refresh.

Your fact table crossed 50 million rows. The 4-hour refresh fails twice a month. Morning leadership review opens yesterday's data — or worse, a broken refresh state.

02

Semantic models nobody owns.

The Power BI workspace has 27 datasets, 8 of them duplicates of each other, all with different OEE / OTIF / fill rate definitions. Leadership reviews argue about whose number is right.

03

Customer DIFOT scorecards have no internal counterpart.

Lulu, Carrefour, Spinneys publish vendor scorecards monthly. Your internal OTIF is 5–7 points higher. The chargeback dispute lands with no evidence.

04

Power BI Copilot enabled on a workspace nobody cleaned up.

Copilot works in production now — for clean semantic models. On a workspace with Measure 1 through Measure 40, it confidently produces wrong answers. We clean before we enable.

What we build

What we build for Dubai clients

Eight engagement shapes that map to UAE mid-market industrial reality.

01

Power BI on SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud / SAP ByD

Replaces

SAP Embedded Analytics reports that nobody outside SAP-trained users can open.

  • Native connectors via Fabric Data Pipelines
  • Refresh-free with Direct Lake — current data, no overnight window
  • Power BI semantic model over SAP — measures named for business users, not SAP fields
  • Embedded into Power Apps where the workflow needs both data and action

SAP data becomes usable outside SAP-trained team. Operations and finance see the same number.

02

DIFOT dashboards for UAE retail customers

Replaces

The customer chargeback dispute that lands monthly with no internal data to defend.

  • DIFOT per customer per SKU — Lulu, Carrefour, Spinneys, Choithram, Geant
  • Reconciled monthly to the customer-published scorecard
  • Root cause Pareto — stock, production, paperwork
  • Auto dispute pack — evidence per disputed order

Dispute success rate rises. Customer scorecard becomes a managed metric.

03

OEE dashboards for KIZAD, Hamriyah, JAFZA, RAK plants

Replaces

The plant-by-plant OEE Excel that takes a week to consolidate.

  • Real-time OEE via OPC-UA to Fabric Real-Time Analytics
  • Six Big Losses Pareto per shift, per line
  • Mobile shift-handover view
  • Cross-plant benchmark with consistent OEE definition

Operational best practice transfers between sites. Group sees plant-level performance comparably.

04

AED multi-currency reporting

Replaces

The month-end Excel that restates statutory and management numbers manually.

  • Base-currency normalisation in the semantic model
  • Statutory and management reporting from one source
  • Audit trail per FX conversion
  • VAT-aware reporting for UAE corporate tax and KSA Zakat

Month-end close drops. Finance and operations work from one source.

05

RLS for multi-plant / multi-region

Replaces

Per-report security hacks that break when someone publishes a copy.

  • RLS at the semantic model layer — every report inherits
  • Plant-level, region-level, customer-account-level scoping
  • Dynamic RLS via Entra ID — joiner-mover-leaver handled by user attributes
  • Audited regularly so drift is visible

One model, every report secured. Sensitive data stays scoped.

06

Migration from Tableau, Looker, Qlik to Power BI

Replaces

The Tableau renewal that costs 3× Power BI for the same operational reporting.

  • Audit existing Tableau / Qlik estate via usage analytics
  • Re-platform the 20 dashboards driving 80% of views first
  • Rebuild semantic model on Fabric Direct Lake
  • Train internal team to maintain — handover, not lock-in

Tableau or Qlik retired. Operational reporting consolidates onto the Microsoft stack.

07

Power BI Embedded inside Power Apps

Replaces

The dashboard that lives in one workspace and the operational form that lives in another.

  • Power BI Embedded inside a Power App or custom portal
  • Single sign-on via Entra ID
  • Filter context inherited from the host app — drill matches the workflow
  • Mobile-first design where shop-floor or field-team is the user

Dashboard lives where the work happens. Adoption rises because there is no separate place to log in to.

08

Performance tuning — fix slow Power BI

Replaces

The 40-second visual everyone has accepted as 'how Power BI works'.

  • DAX measure audit and rewrite
  • Aggregation tables and composite models where Direct Query is the right shape
  • Capacity load analysis
  • Gateway performance review

Slow visuals become usable. 4-hour refresh becomes 12 minutes by fixing the model, not the gateway.

Business outcomes

What changes after implementation

Figures are from delivered MDI engagements, tagged to their source; capability outcomes apply to every governed build.

up to 90%

Faster reporting refresh

Korpack: 1.5h → 15 min

−85%

Pipeline runtime cut

Korpack — CDC + Direct Lake

40–60%

Fewer ad-hoc report requests

Copilot on a governed model

6 weeks

To first production model

MDI standard cadence

One governed KPI definition across finance, operations and supply chain

Real-time dashboards on Direct Lake — no refresh window to break

DIFOT reconciled to the Lulu and Carrefour vendor scorecards

AI-ready semantic models, documented for Power BI Copilot

How we work

From onsite audit to first production model in 6 weeks

We start with the existing estate. Most Dubai clients have a Power BI workspace; the question is what to keep, what to rebuild, what to archive.

01

Discover — onsite Power BI estate audit

Two weeks. Onsite at your Dubai / Sharjah office. Power BI estate audit: every workspace, every dataset, every gateway. We use Power BI's own activity logs — most clients do not know that data exists.

02

Prototype — production semantic model on Direct Lake

Two weeks. Build one production-grade semantic model on Direct Lake plus two reports. Parallel-run against the existing estate for 2 weeks.

03

Deploy — domain by domain

Three to five weeks. Move the chosen domain. Set up deployment pipelines, RLS, ownership. Train the named model owner. Continue domain by domain.

Technology stack

Power BI

Power BI Direct LakeSemantic ModelsPower BI CopilotPaginated ReportsPower BI Embedded

Platform

Microsoft Fabric F-SKUOneLakeAzure UAE NorthDirect Lake

Authoring

DAX StudioTabular EditorDeployment PipelinesTheme JSON

Governance

Row-Level SecuritySensitivity LabelsEndorsementPurview

ERP

SAP S/4HANA Public CloudSAP ByDesignMicrosoft Dynamics 365NetSuite

GCC-specific

AED base currencyArabic RTLGCC working weekLulu / Carrefour scorecards

Why MyData Insights

Why choose MDI for Power BI consulting in Dubai

01

Dubai-based, accountable to operations

We sit onsite at your KIZAD, JAFZA or Sharjah office during Discover — the person in the room builds your model and stays accountable to operations after go-live.

02

Microsoft Fabric & Power BI specialists

We build only on the Microsoft stack — Fabric, Power BI, Power Platform, Azure. Your IT team can support what we deliver, with no niche-vendor lock-in.

03

Not generic BI consultants

We build Power BI for industrial operations — OEE, OTIF, fill rate, DIFOT — not generic dashboards adapted to your sector after the fact.

04

Built for the GCC reality

AED base currency, VAT-aware reporting for UAE corporate tax and KSA Zakat, and DIFOT reconciled to the Lulu and Carrefour scorecards your customers already publish.

05

Governance-first

One governed semantic model per domain, row-level security at the model layer, deployment pipelines — so the number stays trusted long after go-live.

06

First value in six weeks

A working governed model and production dashboards live in six weeks on a fixed scope — not a fifty-slide roadmap to review.

Common questions

What buyers ask us

How many Power BI projects have you actually shipped?

150+ projects across 14+ years, with 50+ clients. Named UAE/GCC clients on request after the NDA — typical references include Hollandia Dairy and Tetra Pak (consented for marketing use).

Can you start in 2 weeks?

For Discover, usually yes. For Prototype, depends on data access readiness from your end.

What about Microsoft Direct CSP licensing?

We work alongside your existing CSP partner for licensing. Our work is the build and delivery.

What if we already have a Power BI estate but it is a mess?

Most engagements are exactly this. We audit first (Discover), then plan the rebuild or consolidation. We do not recommend a full rebuild unless the existing estate is structurally broken.

How much does it cost?

We work in fixed-scope, fixed-fee phases — Discover, Prototype, Deploy — never open-ended time and materials, and a monthly retainer is available where you need embedded senior Power BI capability rather than a project. The fee is quoted precisely after Discover, once we have seen your domain count and migration scope, because those are what actually move the number. What we commit to upfront is the timeline: first working output in 6 weeks, not a 50-slide roadmap. Engagements are billed in USD or AED. Book 30 minutes with Amit and you will leave with the shape of the engagement.

Engagement

Free Power BI Estate Review — Dubai

Thirty minutes with Amit on your actual Power BI estate — where the refresh breaks, which reports nobody opens, and what a governed model on Microsoft Fabric would change. Onsite in Dubai or over a call. No slides, no obligation.

What you get

  • A read of 90 days of your report usage logs
  • The 20% of reports driving 80% of the views
  • Semantic-model governance and ownership check
  • Direct Lake and Fabric capacity-cost assessment
  • A ranked rebuild-vs-archive list you keep

Ready to move

Book a 30-minute Power BI diagnostic in Dubai

30 minutes with Amit. No slides. No pitch deck. No obligation to proceed. We walk through your existing Power BI estate and where the next move lands.