A Power BI Consultant for Plano Departments and the Firms Around Legacy
Plano is where large companies put their headquarters and regional offices, and where the law, accounting, staffing and IT firms that serve them cluster around Legacy. Both already pay for Microsoft 365. Most have Power BI switched on and nobody who can model in it. That is the gap we fill, remotely.
A Power BI consultant Plano companies can bring in by the hour, inside the Microsoft tenant they already have: Edward Pinela, MBA, builds the semantic model and reports with your team on screen share, from Lightray Solutions' base in Fullerton, California. There is no Plano office and no visit; a Power BI engagement is screen work from the first call, and doing it remotely is what keeps the published rate the same for a Legacy West department as for a Fullerton shop.
Plano Economic Development lists headquarters and regional offices, financial services, electronics, software and IT, life sciences, manufacturing and healthcare as the city's key industries, with regional offices for companies such as Intuit, Bank of America and Ericsson and the headquarters campuses along the Dallas North Tollway. Two kinds of business come out of that. Inside the large companies are departments, a finance team, an HR analytics group, a regional sales office, that need a report their central BI team will not get to this quarter. Around them are the firms that serve them: law and accounting practices, staffing agencies, IT providers, medical groups and the restaurants and retailers of Legacy and downtown Plano.
Start with a free 30-minute strategy call. Power BI Flex Support is $2,500 for a 20-hour prepaid block at $100–$125 per hour, with no retainer and hours that never expire; a fixed-scope build is quoted in writing after the call. If you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours, you get your money back.
Can a department use a Power BI consultant without going through central IT?
Usually, yes. If your company already runs Microsoft 365 with Power BI Pro licenses, a department can own a workspace, and the consultant builds in it with a guest or contractor account that IT approves once. The data comes from the systems the department already has access to, exports included, and nothing is installed on the corporate network. Where IT policy requires a gateway or a service account, we ask for it in writing at the start so the engagement does not stall in week three. Microsoft's workspace guidance describes how that ownership works.
Which Plano businesses and teams are a fit?
Departments of larger companies and owner-led firms of 10 to 250 people with data in a system and a reporting problem that is urgent to them and not to anyone else:
- Finance and FP&A teams in regional offices. Actuals against budget, department spend and headcount cost from the ERP extract and the budget workbook.
- HR and people analytics groups. Headcount, turnover, time-to-fill and overtime from the HRIS and ATS.
- Regional sales and customer-success teams. Pipeline, coverage and renewals from Dynamics 365 or Salesforce, without waiting for the enterprise report.
- Law, accounting and advisory practices. Billable hours, realization, AR aging and client profitability from practice management and accounting.
- Staffing and IT services firms. Placements, utilisation, bill-to-pay spread and ticket load.
- Medical groups and specialty clinics. Visits, no-shows, payer mix and collections by provider and location.
How does remote delivery work with a Plano team?
A standing weekly call on Teams, with the model built live in your workspace while the report's owner watches and corrects it, and notes sent afterwards. Access is a guest account in your tenant or a screen share from your side, whichever your IT policy prefers. Reviews include the people who will read the report, because that is how it ends up matching the way they think. There is no travel in the engagement and none is offered.
What does a Power BI consultant cost in Plano, and how long does it take?
Hourly and prepaid: $2,500 for a 20-hour Flex block at $100–$125 per hour, 40 and 80-hour blocks at a lower hourly rate, unused hours kept on your account. A first departmental report from one extract usually fits inside the first block. Larger scopes are quoted in writing before any work starts. Licenses are paid to Microsoft, which lists Pro at $14 and Premium Per User at $24 per user per month on annual billing; most Plano departments already have them through Microsoft 365, and we check before you buy more. The table shows what each common scope involves and how long it usually takes.
| Scope | What is built | Engagement | Usual timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department report from one extract | Model, measures, one report page, scheduled refresh | 20-hour Flex block | Working report in week 1; finished in 2 weeks |
| Practice dashboard for a law or accounting firm | Practice management plus accounting joined; realization, AR, profitability | 20–40 hours | 2–3 weeks |
| Sales and renewals view for a regional office | CRM model with row-level security per rep and manager | 40-hour block | 3 weeks |
| Multi-location clinic reporting | Practice management, billing and payroll joined by location | Fixed scope, quoted in writing | 4–6 weeks |
| Moving an Excel reporting pack to Power BI | Source review, model, report set, training | Fixed scope after source review | Depends on the workbook; stated after review |
Why hire Lightray Solutions as your Power BI consultant in Plano?
You get one senior consultant for the whole engagement: Edward Pinela, MBA, with 20+ years in data and web work and 200+ delivered projects, a 4.9★ Google rating and an A+ BBB rating. There is no junior to hand you to. The Power BI guarantee means your first 4 hours cost nothing if you don't like working with us.
Nearby in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, Irving has its own page written for Las Colinas' corporate services and logistics firms, Arlington for its venue, hospitality and healthcare businesses, and Frisco and McKinney are covered separately. The Power BI consulting locations page lists every city by state, the Power BI consulting services hub describes the full service, and Microsoft 365 consulting covers the tenant side.
Further reading: Plano Economic Development — Key Industries.
Already paying for Power BI and not using it?
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
Are you located in Plano?
No. Lightray Solutions is based in Fullerton, California, and all Power BI consulting is delivered remotely over Teams or Zoom and screen share, with reports built in your own Microsoft tenant. Plano clients work with the same senior consultant at the same published rate as every other client.
We already have Power BI through Microsoft 365. Do we need anything else?
Usually not. Power BI Pro is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and available as a $14 per user per month add-on to other plans; Premium Per User at $24 is only needed for large models or frequent refreshes. We confirm what your tenant already has before recommending any purchase, and we do not resell licenses.
What does a Power BI consultant cost for a Plano department?
Flex Support starts at $2,500 for 20 hours at $100–$125 per hour, prepaid with no retainer; larger blocks carry a lower hourly rate and unused hours stay on your account. A fixed-scope build is quoted in writing after the free strategy call, which is usually easier to get approved than an open-ended consulting agreement.
How long will it take to get a first report in front of our director?
A first working report typically appears in the first week when the data is an extract or a connected system, with the finished version in two to three weeks. Access approvals from corporate IT are the usual cause of delay, which is why we ask for them in writing at the start.
What protects a Plano department if the first sessions go badly?
The Power BI guarantee: if you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours, you get your money back. A department usually spends those sessions on its first extract and a draft measure or two, which is enough for your director and us to see whether the fit is right before more hours are drawn.
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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