Project-Based Analytics: One Question, a Fixed Scope and a Price You Know Up Front

Project-based analytics means paying for a defined result rather than for time: one business question, the data needed to answer it, an agreed deliverable and a fixed price, written down before any work starts. Lightray Solutions runs these projects in Power BI, and Edward Pinela, MBA, does every step himself.

It suits companies that know what they want answered and want to know the cost in advance. It suits them less when the question is still forming, which is why every project begins with a short discovery.

The first step is a free 30-minute strategy call. After a short discovery you receive a written scope and a fixed price; nothing is billed by the hour unless you choose hourly help instead.

What makes a good analytics project, and what makes a poor one?

A good project has a question someone will act on, data that already exists in two or three systems, one person who can approve the answer, and a clear finish line. A poor one has a vague goal like 'better insights', depends on data nobody collects yet, or needs sign-off from a committee that disagrees about the definitions.

Poor projects are not hopeless; they are usually two projects stacked together. Splitting them, for example fixing the definitions first and building the report second, turns an unpriceable job into two that can be priced. The table compares the two cases.

How does a fixed-price analytics project run?

In four stages, each with something you can check: a discovery that confirms the question and the data, a scope document you sign, a build with checkpoints where you see work in progress, and a handover. Microsoft's own BI solution planning guidance follows the same arc, from gathering requirements to deployment and support.

What happens at each stage:

• 1. Discovery. A few working sessions with the people who own the question and the data. Edward looks at the actual source tables, not just a description of them, because most surprises live there.
• 2. Scope document. The question, the data sources, the definitions of each measure, the deliverables, what is explicitly out of scope, the timeline and the fixed price. You sign it before the build starts.
• 3. Build with checkpoints. The model and report are built in your Power BI tenant, with a review at roughly the halfway point so a misunderstanding costs days rather than weeks.
• 4. Handover. A walkthrough recorded for people who could not attend, written documentation of every measure, and ownership of all files and workspaces in your name.

How are changes handled once the scope is signed?

Through a simple written change request. When a new idea comes up mid-project, and one always does, it is written down with its effect on price and date, and you decide: add it, swap it for something of similar size already in scope, or park it for later. Nothing is added silently and nothing appears on an invoice unannounced.

Most requests turn out to be swaps or parked items. A parked list at handover is normal and useful; it often becomes the brief for the next small project, or the first hours of a BI consulting retainer if you want ongoing help afterwards.

What kinds of questions fit a project?

Questions with a beginning and an end, in any department. Finance projects often look at customer or product profitability, or where cost of goods sold moved. Marketing projects compare spend with the leads and sales it produced. Operations projects look at delivery times, backlog or inventory by location.

Each produces a report that keeps refreshing after the project ends, so the answer does not go stale. A project needs data that already exists; if it doesn't, the first project is collecting it.

What does a project cost?

Each project is quoted at a fixed price after the short discovery, based on the number of data sources, the measures to be defined and the deliverables. Smaller follow-up work can run on Power BI Flex Support, from $2,500 for 20 hours; the rate is $100 to $125 an hour, and prepaid hours never expire.

Power BI work is guaranteed: if you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours, your money comes back. Delivery is remote, over video calls and screen-share inside your own tenant, and you hear back within 4 business hours.

Further reading: Microsoft Learn — Power BI implementation planning: BI solution planning.