£2,450 fixed · twelve areas · five working days
£950 checks what you built. This checks what you built it on.
Your reports can be immaculate and still be sitting on databases with untested backups, duplicate customers and a scheduling spreadsheet on somebody's laptop. This is the same scored review, extended all the way down to the data, with a specialist on each half.
Slow reports have two causes. Only one is in Power BI.
A report that crawls might be a badly written measure, or it might be a missing index on a table your refresh hammers every morning during picking. Look at the reporting layer on its own and the honest answer is “it could be either”, so you pay to find out twice.
Checking both halves in the same week, with the two specialists comparing notes before you hear anything, turns that into one finding with one owner and one fix. That is the whole reason this tier exists.
Reporting layer
Duncan BoyneWhat you built, and whether it can be trusted.
- PB1Data model & measuresIs the model sound, and do measures agree everywhere they appear?
- PB2Logic & traceabilityCan a number be traced from the visual back to source and survive an auditor?
- PB3Design & accessibilityDoes it surface what changed and what is at risk? Contrast and colour reliance included.
- PB4Performance & refreshSlow visuals, fragile refreshes and timeouts, scored as symptoms.
- PB5Security & accessRow-level security and workspace hygiene, checked rather than assumed.
- PB6Adoption & usageIs anyone opening it, and where does usage fall away?
Data foundation
a specialist partnerWhat it was built on, and whether it was ever safe to report on.
- DF1Database health & resilienceWould the backups actually restore? Are corruption checks running, or is nobody looking?
- DF2Performance & contentionIndexes, waits, blocking, and reporting queries quietly hammering production.
- DF3Data quality & integrityKeys, duplicates, orphans, and nulls where a number belongs.
- DF4Governance & ownershipWho owns which table, what is authoritative, and what is a copy of a copy.
- DF5Lineage & data flowWhere the data really comes from, drawn out as a diagram you keep.
- DF6Source sprawlThe spreadsheets, CSVs and lists feeding real decisions with nobody watching.
The data foundation half is delivered by a specialist partner, a SQL Server and data platform specialist, on both on-premises SQL Server and Azure SQL. One contract, one invoice, one point of contact.
Ninety six checks, three possible states.
Every area has eight checks, and each one lands in one of three states rather than somewhere on a sliding scale. Three states are easier to defend and easier to argue with, which is the point: you should be able to challenge any single line. The detail comes from having ninety six checks, not from a wider scale.
2 points
Healthy
Meets the standard. Nothing to do.
1 point
Watch
Works today, but it is a known weak point.
0 points
Critical
Needs action. Named on the front page whatever the totals say.
Your estate
Score out of 192
Shown as a percentage, with both halves counting equally, alongside the number of critical findings.
A total will never bury a disaster
Every critical finding is named on the front page whatever the totals say, and the count sits next to the headline percentage. An untested backup does not get to average itself into a comfortable score. Indicators carry their label and an icon shape rather than a colour, so nothing in the report depends on telling red from green.
Five working days, and you are in two meetings.
Kickoff and mapping
One short call with both of us, then your reports get mapped back through their models to the source systems and objects they depend on. That map scopes the rest of the work.
Both halves at once
We score in parallel rather than one after the other, then compare findings privately and agree who owns what before anything reaches you.
One readout
A 60-minute call, one scorecard, the issues ranked by impact, and a named owner against every line so you know who fixes what.
All twelve areas, from the reports down to the databases underneath.
- Everything in the Reporting Health Check
- Six data foundation areas: resilience, contention, quality, governance, lineage and source sprawl
- One lineage map, reports traced back to source objects
- One estate score, both halves weighted equally
- 60-minute joint readout with both specialists
Adds up to 2 SQL Server instances, 5 databases and 10 other sources
Book a call to scope itThe full assessment, then the three worst findings actually fixed.
- Everything in the Full Estate Health Check
- The three highest ranked findings fixed, whichever half they sit in
- A re-score afterwards, so the improvement is evidenced rather than claimed
- Handover notes on every change made
Fifteen working days, including a re-score at the end
Book a call to scope itAlready had the £950 Reporting Health Check? It comes off this in full if you upgrade within 90 days. Half of whatever you pay here comes off build work booked in the same window.
Find out whether your reporting is built on anything solid.
50% to book, 50% on delivery, 14 days to pay.
Invoice or card, whichever suits your finance team. All prices exclude VAT where applicable.
The deposit holds your date
Booking blocks out my diary, so the first half is non-refundable inside 14 days of the start date. Move it with more notice than that and nothing is lost.
Work pauses on an overdue invoice
Not a threat, just how it works, and saying it now saves an awkward conversation later.
Scope changes get quoted, not absorbed
Every fixed price names what it covers. Anything outside that gets priced before it starts rather than appearing on a final invoice.
Access delays move the date, not the price
Waiting on permissions is the most common reason a turnaround slips. It shifts the delivery date and never the fee.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the Health Check and the Full Estate Health Check?
The £950 Reporting Health Check scores six areas of your Power BI estate: the model, the measures, the design, performance, security and adoption. The £2,450 Full Estate Health Check scores those six and six more underneath them, covering database resilience, performance and contention, data quality, governance, lineage and the spreadsheets feeding decisions unofficially. Reports can look immaculate and still be built on data nobody should trust, and the second half is where that shows up.
Who delivers the data foundation half?
The data half is delivered by a specialist partner, a SQL Server and data platform specialist, covering both on-premises SQL Server and Azure SQL. You get one contract, one invoice and one point of contact, and both specialists are on the readout call.
Why check both halves at the same time?
Because the same complaint has causes in both. A report that crawls might be a badly written measure, or a missing index on a table your refresh hammers every morning. Reviewing the reporting layer alone means the honest answer is "it could be either", so you end up paying to find out twice. Checking both in the same week, with findings compared before you see them, turns that into one finding with one owner and one fix.
How is it scored?
Twelve areas, eight checks in each, so ninety six checks in total. Each check comes back in one of three states against a written standard: Healthy, Watch or Critical. Three states rather than a sliding scale means any single line can be challenged and defended on its own terms. Those add into an area score out of 16, a score for each half, and one estate percentage with both halves counting equally. Every critical finding is named on the front page whatever the totals say, and the count of them sits next to the headline number. Indicators carry their label and an icon shape rather than a colour, so nothing depends on telling red from green.
How long does it take and what do I have to do?
Five working days, and you are in two meetings: a short kickoff on day one and a 60-minute readout on day five. Between those, both halves are assessed in parallel. You get one scorecard, the issues ranked by impact, and a named owner against every line.
What does the £4,950 tier add?
It adds the fixing. The three highest ranked findings get fixed, whichever half they sit in, then the estate is re-scored so the improvement is evidenced rather than claimed. That runs over fifteen working days and answers the objection every audit gets, which is that you now have a list of problems and no less work to do.
What if I have already paid for the £950 Health Check?
It comes off in full if you upgrade within 90 days, so you only pay the difference. Half of whatever you pay for any tier also comes off build work booked in the same window.
What access is needed for the database side?
Read-only access is enough for the assessment, and nothing is changed without agreeing it first. Where a check needs more than read access, it gets flagged and agreed rather than assumed, and the alternative is reported as evidence gathered rather than a test performed.
Stop arguing about the numbers. Start using them.
Book a fixed-price Power BI Health Check and find out how trusted, usable and audit-ready your reporting really is, and exactly what to do next.