Power BI Consulting Services: One Senior Consultant, Dashboards Your Team Actually Uses
You have the data. It sits in QuickBooks, a CRM, spreadsheets and a dozen exports nobody reconciles. We connect it, model it and put the numbers that run your business on one screen, so decisions stop waiting for someone to build a report.
Power BI consulting services cover everything between raw data and a dashboard a manager trusts: connecting the sources, cleaning and modelling the data, writing the measures, designing the report and setting up refresh and sharing. At Lightray Solutions that work is done by Edward Pinela, MBA, from Fullerton, CA, remotely for clients across the United States.
There are two ways to engage. Power BI Flex Support is a prepaid block of senior hours, from $2,500 for 20 hours at $100–$125 per hour, with no retainer and hours that never expire. A fixed-scope build, such as a new dashboard set or a migration from Excel, is quoted after a free 30-minute strategy call. Either way, if you don't like working with us in the first 4 hours, you get your money back.
“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 do Power BI consulting services include?
A complete engagement covers five layers, and skipping any one of them is why so many dashboards get built and then ignored. We do all five, or just the one you are stuck on:
- Data connection. Power BI connects to QuickBooks, Dynamics 365, HubSpot, Salesforce, SQL Server, Azure, SharePoint, Excel and hundreds of other sources. We set up the connections and the refresh so the numbers update themselves.
- Data model and measures. The semantic model (the tables, relationships and DAX measures underneath a report) decides whether a figure is right. This is the layer most do-it-yourself dashboards get wrong, and the one we spend the most time on.
- Report and dashboard design. Executive overviews, departmental reports and operational pages, each built around the three to five numbers that person actually acts on.
- Sharing and licensing. Workspaces, row-level security so a sales rep sees only their accounts, and the right license: Power BI Pro is $14 per user per month and Premium Per User $24 (Microsoft's prices since April 1, 2025).
- Handover and training. Your team learns to use, filter and extend the reports. Everything we build sits in your Microsoft tenant and stays yours.
How much does Power BI consulting cost?
Flex Support blocks start at $2,500 for 20 hours and are billed at $100–$125 per hour depending on block size; 40 and 80-hour blocks carry the lower rate, and unused hours stay on your account. A first dashboard for a small business, connected to one or two sources, usually fits inside a 20-hour block. Larger builds are quoted as a fixed scope after the strategy call, so you know the price before any work starts.
The table below shows which engagement fits which situation. Licenses are paid to Microsoft directly; we are not a reseller and earn nothing from your license choice.
| Your situation | Engagement | Price |
|---|---|---|
| You already use Power BI and need senior help when stuck | Flex Support, 20/40/80-hour prepaid blocks | From $2,500 for 20 hours, $100–$125/hr, hours never expire |
| First dashboard from QuickBooks, a CRM or spreadsheets | Flex Support or a small fixed-scope build | Usually within a 20-hour block; quoted after the free call |
| Full reporting set across several systems, with security and training | Fixed-scope build | Quoted up front after the strategy call |
| Moving reports off Excel, Tableau or Qlik | Migration project | Quoted after a source review; see the migration pages |
| Licenses for your users | Paid to Microsoft | Pro $14 and Premium Per User $24 per user per month |
How does a Power BI engagement run?
Every project follows the same sequence, and you see a working report in the first week rather than a specification document.
- 1. Strategy call (free, 30 minutes). What decisions you are trying to make, which systems hold the data and who will use the reports.
- 2. Data review. We look at the actual sources and tell you honestly what is reportable now and what needs cleaning first.
- 3. Model first. The semantic model and measures are built and checked against figures you already trust, such as last month's P&L.
- 4. Reports, in rounds. A first version within days, then revisions with you on screen share until it reads the way your team thinks.
- 5. Publish and train. Refresh schedules, sharing, security and a short training session. Then support through Flex hours whenever you need it.
Which industries do you build Power BI dashboards for?
Most of our Power BI work is for owner-led businesses with 10 to 250 staff: restaurants and hospitality, professional services, manufacturing and distribution, construction, healthcare practices, nonprofits and e-commerce. The common thread is a business that already has the data in QuickBooks or a CRM and needs it on one screen. A restaurant owner, for example, had us connect QuickBooks so the whole business was visible daily; his review is below.
If your need is specific to a sector, we have written separate pages for accounting firms, staffing agencies and insurance agencies.
Do you work with businesses outside Orange County?
Yes. Lightray Solutions is based in Fullerton, in Orange County, California, and all Power BI work is delivered remotely over video and screen share, so location does not change the service or the price. Local clients in Irvine, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Diego have their own pages, and the Power BI consulting locations page lists every city we have written about, grouped by state.
Why choose Lightray Solutions for Power BI?
You work with one senior consultant from the first call to the last report, not a salesperson who hands you to a junior. Edward Pinela, MBA, has 20+ years in data and web work and 200+ projects delivered, and Lightray holds a 4.9★ Google rating and an A+ BBB rating. The Power BI guarantee is simple: if you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours, you get your money back.
Related services are the business intelligence consulting hub, Power BI dashboard development, Excel to Power BI migration and Microsoft Fabric implementation for larger data estates.
Further reading: Power BI service features by license type (Microsoft Learn).
Want to see what your data could show you?
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 first Power BI dashboard take?
For a small business with one or two clean sources, a first working dashboard typically appears within the first week and is finished in two to three. Messy or spreadsheet-only data adds time at the modelling stage, and we tell you that after the data review rather than discovering it halfway through.
Do we need Power BI licenses before we start?
Only for the people who will view or build reports. Power BI Desktop is free for building, and sharing needs a Pro license at $14 per user per month, or Premium Per User at $24 for larger models and more frequent refreshes. We advise on the cheapest arrangement that fits; we do not resell licenses.
Can you connect QuickBooks, our CRM and our spreadsheets together?
Yes. Combining sources is the normal case, not the exception. QuickBooks Online, Dynamics 365, HubSpot, Salesforce, SQL databases, SharePoint lists and Excel files are all standard connections, and the data model is where they are joined so one dashboard shows sales, costs and pipeline together.
What is the Power BI money-back guarantee?
If you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours of a Power BI engagement, you get your money back. It applies to Power BI work only, and it exists because the first few hours are enough for both sides to know whether the fit is right.
Do you work on site?
No. All Power BI work is remote, over video and screen share, with reports built directly in your Microsoft tenant. That is how we serve clients from Orange County to the East Coast at the same hourly rate.
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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