Spotlight Session Insight: Power BI and SSRS Standard Report Packs

Introduction and Agenda

Thank you very much to everyone who joined the Spotlight session on the 27th July 2023 and to Lizelle for presenting our new and exciting BarnOwl Power BI and SSRS report packs.
One of the most important benefits of a system is to be able to generate value-add reports at the click of a button. BarnOwl’s interactive, drill-down Power BI reporting makes it easy to view aggregated information as well as analyse information at lower levels showing the effects of all inter-related risk information. BarnOwl’s standard SSRS reporting allows for detailed tabular-type (printable) reporting at any level of the organisation.
BarnOwl’s Power BI and SSRS reporting makes reporting easy, ensures completeness and accuracy of reporting, saves vast amounts of time and transforms your risk, compliance and audit data into meaningful insights, supporting informed business decision making.

The following agenda was covered:

• Introduction
• Reporting Tools Required
• BarnOwl Standard Report Packs

-Risk Management

-Internal Audit

-Surveys / Compliance (time permitting)

• Additional Comments and Next steps
• Q&As

Reporting #1 – Standard Power BI Dashboards (directly off the BarnOwl database)

• BarnOwl now provides standard Risk, Compliance and Audit Power BI dashboards at no additional cost
• The user needs to have downloaded Microsoft Power BI desktop (free version) in order to view the BarnOwl dashboards. In some cases, your IT department have will have Power BI server which has further advantages
• Whilst we (BarnOwl) will show you the basics of how to use the BarnOwl Power BI dashboards, BarnOwl does not provide or offer training on Power BI. (in the same way that we do not offer Excel training)
• The Client is welcome to request customisation to the standard BarnOwl Power BI dashboards on a quotation or Platinum services basis
• The Client is welcome to make their own changes to the Power BI dashboards. Note: Always work on a copy of the original. BarnOwl does not support client modified dashboards
• BarnOwl’s standard Power BI dashboards run directly off the BarnOwl database (as opposed to the BarnOwl warehouse). With a simple ‘refresh’ they pull in the latest data from the BarnOwl database

Reporting #2 – Advanced Power BI dashboards (off the BarnOwl data warehouse)

• The BarnOwl data warehouse provides more advanced Power BI dashboards. The BarnOwl data warehouse has a license cost associated with it
• It is easier for the Client (IT department normally) to create their own dashboards off the data warehouse compared with the native BarnOwl database
• The BarnOwl data warehouse is typically refreshed after hours by a batch job (service), so changes to the data are not immediately reflected in the warehouse Power BI dashboards.
• Although the standard Power BI dashboards offers trend reporting based on BarnOwl data periods, the BarnOwl data warehouse supports advanced trend analysis including changes to your organisational structure over time.

Reporting #3 – SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) (directly off the BarnOwl database)

• SSRS reports are tabular in nature as opposed to the graphical drill-down interactive Power BI dashboards
• BarnOwl now provides a few standard SSRS reports at no additional cost
• SSRS is included as part of Microsoft SQL server integration services at no additional cost; however integration services does require some configuration by the Client IT department
• The Client is welcome to request customisation to the standard BarnOwl SSRS reports on a quotation or Platinum services basis
• BarnOwl’s SSRS reports run directly off the BarnOwl database (as opposed to the BarnOwl warehouse). SSRS reports are always ‘live’ with no need to refresh data
• Currently, BarnOwl permissions are not built into the standard SSRS reports, so it is advisable for a Client administrator to filter and distribute the relevant SSRS reports to the intended audience.

How do I get these report packs and how much do they cost?

BarnOwl’s standard Power BI and SSRS reports are available to you at no additional cost. Although the reports will run on version 10, we recommend that you upgrade to version 11. Please log a call with support@barnowl.co.za to find out more and please copy your BarnOwl account manager where possible.

Useful Links

Please find the presentation here.
Please find the spotlight recording here.
http://api.barnowl.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Whats-New-in-BarnOwl-v11.pdf
https://www.barnowl.co.za/tip-of-the-month/frequently-asked-questions-about-upgrading-barnowl/
https://api.barnowl.co.za/barnowl-knowledge-base/

About BarnOwl:

BarnOwl is a fully integrated governance, risk management, compliance and audit software solution used by over 150 organisations in Africa, Australasia and the UK. BarnOwl is a locally developed software solution and is the preferred risk management solution for the South African public sector supporting the National Treasury risk framework.
Please see www.barnowl.co.za for more information.