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Power BI With Bogdan

Automated Daily Reporting Pipeline

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Bogdan Pavlovic

How Power Automate Saved Hundreds of Hours With an Automated Daily Reporting Pipeline

Background and Client Challenge

One of my clients relied on a daily operational report that arrived by email as a zipped file.
Every working day, the same manual routine had to be followed:

  1. Download the email attachment

  2. Unzip the file

  3. Open and clean the data in Excel

  4. Fix formatting and naming inconsistencies

  5. Upload the cleaned file to SharePoint

  6. Refresh Power BI reports manually

This process was critical for daily decision-making, yet it was entirely manual.

Key Problems the Company Faced

This workflow created several business risks and inefficiencies:

  • 1 to 2 hours of manual work every day

  • High dependency on a data analyst being available

  • Frequent human errors during Excel cleanup

  • Delayed Power BI refreshes when someone was sick or unavailable

  • No auditability or consistency in data preparation

  • Highly repetitive, low-value work for skilled employees

In short, valuable analyst time was being spent on tasks that should never require human intervention.

Inventory of Problems I Solved and the Value I Bring

Problems Identified

  • Manual file handling and repetitive data preparation

  • Inefficient use of skilled analyst time

  • Data quality risks caused by human intervention

  • Delayed insights due to late or missed updates

  • Lack of process standardization

Value I Bring

  • Automation-first thinking

  • Process reliability and consistency

  • Reduction of operational costs

  • Scalable solutions that grow with the business

  • Cleaner and more trustworthy data pipelines

The Approach I Took

I designed and implemented a fully automated end-to-end reporting pipeline using Power Automate, SharePoint, and Power BI.

Automated Workflow Overview

  1. Email Monitoring
    Power Automate monitors a specific mailbox for incoming reports.

  2. Automatic File Handling

    • The zipped attachment is downloaded automatically

    • The file is unzipped without human involvement

    • Files are renamed and stored in a structured SharePoint folder

  3. Power BI Integration

    • Power BI is connected directly to SharePoint

    • Data refresh happens automatically

    • All transformations are handled consistently in Power Query

  4. Error-Free Execution

    • No Excel opening

    • No manual cleaning

    • No accidental overwrites or missed steps

The entire process runs silently in the background.

The Outcome

What previously required daily manual effort is now executed automatically within minutes.

How Things Are Better for the Organization

  • Reports are always up to date before the workday starts

  • No dependency on a single person

  • Zero manual handling of files

  • Data consistency across all reports

  • Analysts can focus on insights, not data plumbing

This shifted the team from reactive reporting to proactive analysis.

Calculating the Business Impact and Cost Savings

Time Saved

The original process took 1 to 2 hours per day.

Let us calculate the yearly effort:

  • 1 to 2 hours per day

  • 22 working days per month

  • 12 months per year

Minimum:
1 × 22 × 12 = 264 hours per year

Maximum:
2 × 22 × 12 = 528 hours per year

Cost Savings Based on Analyst Salary

Assumption:
Average data analyst cost to the company (salary + overhead) = €30 per hour
This is a conservative average for many European markets.

Annual cost before automation:

  • 264 hours × €30 = €7,920

  • 528 hours × €30 = €15,840

Yearly Savings

By automating this single process, the company saves between:

€8,000 and €16,000 per year, every year, from just one workflow.

And this does not include:

  • Reduced errors

  • Faster decision-making

  • Improved employee satisfaction

  • Scalability for future growth

What Specific Value Was Created

  • Operational efficiency: manual work eliminated

  • Financial savings: recurring yearly cost reduction

  • Data reliability: consistent transformations every time

  • Speed: reports refresh automatically without delays

  • Scalability: the process can handle more files with zero extra cost

Final Takeaway

This use case shows that Power Automate is not just a technical tool, but a business multiplier.

By automating a single daily reporting pipeline, the organization:

  • Reduced costs

  • Improved data quality

  • Freed up expert time

  • Built a future-proof reporting foundation

These are the kinds of problems I solve:
Turning manual, fragile processes into reliable, automated systems that deliver real business value.

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