From Excel Overload to Data Excellence: Modernizing BI & Budgeting

Initial Situation: The Excel Data Silos

Nearly every company faces the same problem: Single Excel files that are saved in different folders but are needed for the yearly reporting or even monthly updates. And so did Martec Handels AG, a leading Swiss distributor, which faced significant operational bottlenecks due to a fragmented data landscape. Business intelligence was limited, with most reporting relying on manual labor and decentralized Excel sheets. Therefore, the yearly budgeting process was particularly affected. The Key Account Managers had to manage massive, unstable Excel files, manually copying and pasting figures in a time-consuming and error-prone cycle.

The core challenge lay in the lack of integration. Critical business data was unstructured and scattered across numerous local files and the company’s ERP, Abacus, which operated in isolation from other systems, making a holistic view of the business impossible.

Our Approach: A Modern Microsoft Data Stack

We partnered with Martec and qsense to design and implement a scalable, automated IT setup based on the Microsoft Power Platform and Fabric. Our goal was to replace manual work with "live" data flows and provide a central source of truth for marketing, sales, and procurement.

Key pillars of the solution:

• Microsoft Fabric & OneLake: We built a robust Data Warehouse using a multi-layer architecture (Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers) to load, clean, and aggregate data for reporting.
• Automated Integration: To break down silos, we implemented daily automated file imports from Abacus directly into the Data Warehouse.
• Custom Budgeting App: Using Power Apps, we developed a dedicated budgeting tool that replaced the unstable Excel files. This app allows Key Account Manager to input budgets directly against live data, ensuring consistency and historization.
• 360° Business Insights: We deployed Power BI dashboards that provide a real-time, 360-degree view of products, suppliers, and clients, enabling data-driven decision-making in sales and procurement.‍
• CRM Evolution: As part of the digital transformation, Microsoft Dynamics 365 was introduced to replace the legacy Abacus CRM, standardizing customer processes across brands and countries.
  

The Result

By moving Martec from manual Excel-based processes to an integrated Microsoft ecosystem, we didn't just automate their reporting, we gave them the tools to scale. The new architecture provides a central view of all customer relationships and financial targets, significantly reducing the time spent on administrative tasks and increasing the accuracy of their strategic planning.

‍Tags: Tech Assessment, Architecture Design, BI Reporting, Data Integration, Data Warehouse
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Tech Stack: Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Power Apps, Dynamics 365.