We operate on a consulting basis; initially we offer a fixed-fee product which includes the implementation of our standard Power BI templates, linking these to your datasets, tailoring the appearance to suit the dynamics of your dataset (for example, a "slicer" that enables you to filter by product category may need to be moved / resized depending on whether you have 5 product categories or 50), publishing the app to the Microsoft Power BI Service and working with your IT support company to establish a data gateway between the app and the underlying data. We then review this with you and make adjustments (if required) based upon your feedback. Any additional reporting (or significant customisation of existing reports) would be quoted for and the specification agreed before work commences.
We feel we can offer you the best value by simply charging you for what you need when you need it. Whilst we appreciate that many products are now offered on a subscription basis these tend to be uniform in nature (i.e. everyone buys an identical product). Conversely your app will be a tailored product that will almost certainly evolve over time; as you use it so you may start to consider additional functionality and the scope of this will vary from client to client. Essentially the benefit of this approach to reporting is that it is open-ended, with additional reports being added with relative ease.
You would need a Microsoft Power BI Pro license for each user who will be accessing the app. At the time of writing this cost is £9.99 per user per month (inclusive of VAT).
Whilst your app is accessed via a web browser it isn't "on the internet" beyond how any other cloud-based application would be; the app can only be accessed via named Microsoft accounts to which you have granted access; if your business currently uses the Office 365 infrastructure these user accounts will already exist; if not you can still use Power BI as a standalone product and create the relevant user accounts.
Your app can be divided into specific modules with each module having individual access rights controlled by the user login. This enables your senior management to have access to the full app whilst colleagues can only view the modules relevant to their area of responsibility
CIM50 is the go-to manufacturing and MRP software that works seamlessly with Sage 50. It manages your entire build process, making calculated recommendations regarding works order scheduling / purchase ordering, capturing labour, tooling and subcontract costs and feeding these results directly into Sage 50. It is available on a subscription basis from a network of authorised resellers. Further information is available at:
We are happy to put you in touch with a reseller should you require further information.
We have separate versions of our app for Sage 50 (standalone) and Sage 50 / CIM50 (combined). Both contain the core functionality (sales / purchasing / stock / profitability analysis), with the latter including additional functionality in relation to production control and batch traceability.
This is where the power of our model really kicks in. At present any bespoke reporting you have had designed by your Sage / CIM partners exists in isolation; conversely our Power BI model has a network of links between data tables (including joins between Sage 50 and CIM50 data where appropriate, effectively turning it into a single dataset). This means that complex bespoke reporting can be easily generated.