A Business Intelligence Consulting Firm Where the Senior Consultant Does the Work
You have the data: accounting, CRM, operations, a dozen spreadsheets. What you don't have is one set of numbers everyone trusts, ready before the Monday meeting. That is the job, from agreeing the measures to the dashboard on every manager's phone.
Business intelligence consulting turns the data your systems already collect into a small set of trusted measures, a data model that calculates them the same way every time, and dashboards people actually open. Lightray Solutions is a business intelligence consulting firm based in Fullerton, Orange County, and Edward Pinela, MBA, runs every engagement himself, from the first workshop to the last measure.
Most of our clients are small and midsize businesses without a data team. They need someone who understands both the finance question and the Power BI model, and who will still be the person answering the phone after go-live.
Every project is quoted in writing after a free 30-minute strategy call. That call is the first step: request it with the form on this page or by phone, and Edward replies within 4 business hours to set a time. All work is delivered remotely, so clients in Los Angeles, across California and nationwide work with us the same way.
“Amazing! Lightray Solutions built us a Power BI dashboard based on my busy restaurant’s quickbooks data that allows me to see my entire business on a daily basis which has been a game-changer! Excellent communication and service!”
— Quinn R., Google review
What does a business intelligence consulting firm do?
A business intelligence consulting firm decides which numbers matter, connects the systems that hold them, cleans and models the data so each measure has one definition, and builds the reports and dashboards that show it. Done well, managers stop exporting spreadsheets and start the meeting from the same page, with the same figures.
In practice that covers four layers, and most businesses need help with more than one:
- Measures. Agreeing the KPIs (key performance indicators: the handful of numbers that show whether the business is on track), with an owner, a target and a written definition for each.
- Data. Connecting accounting, CRM, ERP, e-commerce and spreadsheet sources, and fixing the codes and duplicates that stop them lining up.
- Model. A Power BI semantic model (the layer that stores relationships and calculations) so revenue, margin and pipeline calculate identically on every report.
- Delivery. Dashboards, phone layouts, scheduled email snapshots and access rules, plus a short handover so your team can maintain them.
Which business intelligence service do you need?
Start from the problem, not the tool. The table below maps the situations we hear most often on the first call to the service that fixes each one; each links to a page with the detail. If your situation spans two rows, that is normal, and the strategy call is where we sort out the order.
| If this sounds familiar | The service that fixes it | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Every department reports a different revenue or margin figure | KPI definitions and a shared Power BI model | Power BI consulting services |
| Leadership wants one page that shows where the business stands | Executive dashboard design | Executive dashboard design |
| Data sits in several systems that don't share customer or product codes | A data warehouse under the reports | Data warehouse consulting |
| Reports exist, but people can't read them at a glance | Dashboard and visualization redesign | Data visualization services |
| Someone spends days each month rebuilding reports in Excel | Moving the workbook logic into Power BI | Excel to Power BI migration |
| Reports mostly work but need a senior fix now and then | Prepaid hours, no project contract | Power BI Flex Support |
How does a business intelligence engagement run?
In four stages, each signed off before the next starts, so you never pay for a build that answers the wrong question. The front of the project carries the most weight: agreeing definitions and seeing a prototype is far cheaper than rebuilding a finished report.
- 1. Strategy call and discovery. A free 30-minute call, then a short review of your systems, reports and the decisions they should support. You receive a written, itemized scope and timeline.
- 2. Measures and prototype. A working session to agree KPIs and definitions, then a page layout with sample figures for you to react to before any data work.
- 3. Data and build. Sources connected, the model and measures built in your own Microsoft tenant, and every headline figure reconciled with what finance reports today.
- 4. Rollout and support. Access set up, a walkthrough for each audience, and changes once the dashboards have been used in real meetings. Afterwards, help is available by the hour.
What does business intelligence consulting cost?
Cost depends on four things: how many systems feed the reports, how clean their data is, how many audiences need their own pages, and whether access must be restricted by person or region. A single-source finance dashboard is a small project; joining CRM, accounting and operations data is a larger one, and the written scope says which you are buying before work starts.
If your reports already exist and you need senior help to fix, extend or speed them up, Power BI Flex Support runs from $2,500 for 20 hours, prepaid, with hours that never expire. Power BI work also carries a simple guarantee: if you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours, you get your money back.
How do you choose between business intelligence consulting firms?
Ask the questions that decide whether the dashboards will still be trusted a year from now. Polished demos look alike; what differs is who builds your model, who owns the result and how the numbers get checked. These are the questions we suggest asking every firm on your shortlist, including us:
- Who does the work? Find out whether the person on the sales call is the person who writes the measures, or whether the build is handed to someone you have not met.
- Where does it live? The model and reports should be built in your own tenant and stay yours, with no licence or hosting fee owed to the firm.
- How are numbers checked? Expect a reconciliation against figures finance already reports, not just a demo with sample data.
- What happens after go-live? Ask how changes are priced and how fast questions get answered once the project closes.
- What do clients say? Read the firm's Google reviews rather than logos on its homepage.
Is Lightray the right business intelligence partner for you?
We are a good fit if you run a small or midsize business, already use Microsoft 365 or Power BI (or are willing to), and want one experienced person accountable from strategy to build. Edward brings 20+ years of business and data work and 200+ delivered projects, and Lightray holds a 4.9★ Google rating.
We are not the right choice if you need a large team on site every day, or a platform other than Power BI and Microsoft Fabric. For leadership reporting specifically, see executive dashboard design; for companies in our home county, see business intelligence solutions in Orange County; for city-by-city coverage, our Power BI consulting locations page lists the areas we work with remotely.
Further reading: Microsoft Learn — What is Power BI?.
Want numbers your whole team trusts?
Book a free 30-minute call with Edward Pinela, MBA. You get an honest read on what to fix first — and if we are not the right fit, you will hear that on the call.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a business intelligence project take?
A focused dashboard on one or two clean sources often takes a few weeks from the measures workshop to rollout. Projects that join several systems or need a data warehouse take longer. The written scope you receive after the strategy call gives the timeline stage by stage, before any work starts.
Our data is messy. Should we clean it up before calling?
No. Messy data is the normal starting point, and assessing it is part of discovery. We will tell you which problems the model can absorb, which need a fix in the source system, and which can wait, so you don't spend months cleaning data no report will ever use.
Do you work with businesses outside Orange County?
Yes. Lightray's business address is in Fullerton, but every engagement is delivered remotely: workshops run by video with a shared screen, and the build happens in your own Microsoft tenant. Clients in Los Angeles, across California and in other states work with us exactly the same way.
Do we need Power BI licenses before we start?
Not before the first call. Licensing depends on how many people will build and view reports and whether you already use Microsoft Fabric capacity. We recommend the smallest setup that fits during discovery, and you buy licenses directly from Microsoft, never through us.
What if we don't like working with you?
For Power BI work, if you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours, you get your money back. Beyond that, every stage is signed off before the next begins, and there are no long-term contracts.
You Won’t Get Handed Off to Junior Staff.
At most consulting firms, the senior person who sold you shows up for the kickoff — then you get handed to a team of juniors learning on your dime. That’s not how we work.
When you hire Lightray Solutions, you work directly with Edward Pinela, MBA — a principal consultant with 20+ years of experience across Power BI, web development, SEO, and CRM systems. Edward architects every engagement personally, stays involved through delivery, and answers his own phone.
Read Edward’s Full Bio“Mid-market companies deserve senior-level expertise without paying enterprise-agency prices. That’s the gap Lightray fills.”
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