Employee performance analytics is quite an important topic for service companies that charge clients by project or hourly. A big focus in these companies is on increasing productivity and this is not possible without an employee performance analytics process.
In this article we will explore how Power BI can be used to automate performance data analytics, useful KPIs and examples of businesses that successfully implemented Power BI for employee performance analysis.
What is Power BI
Power BI is a comprehensive business intelligence tool developed by Microsoft that enables organizations to collect, analyze, and visualize data in real-time, facilitating the transformation of raw data into actionable insights.
By integrating data from multiple sources, Power BI allows users to create interactive reports and dashboards, enhancing data-driven decision-making across various business functions.
Key Features of Power BI:
- Data Integration: Power BI supports connections to a wide array of data sources, including Excel spreadsheets, cloud services, and on-premises databases, automating data extraction.
Β For organizations using Oracle databases, solutions like Hevo can simplify the connection process visualize Oracle data in Power BI using step-by-step methods that reduce manual effort and speed up reporting.
- Interactive Visualizations: Users can design customizable dashboards with interactive charts, graphs, and maps, making complex data more accessible and understandable.
- Collaboration Tools: With robust sharing and collaboration functionalities, teams can work together on reports and dashboards, ensuring that stakeholders have access to consistent and up-to-date information.
By leveraging these features, businesses can transition from being merely data-aware to truly data-driven, leading to improved decision-making and operational efficiency.
Useful Data Sources for Employee Performance Analytics
Before you start analysing employee performance, you need to start collecting the data on it. The useful data to collect would be:
- Project management data from sources like Clickup, Jira, etc
- Time tracking data from sources like QuickBooks Time, Toggl, etc
- Financial data on completed projects usually stored in internal databases and spreadsheets.
Tracking this data in software products has many advantages. Specifically, you can ensure that the data is entered in a consistent format which does not change. Many software products also allow to automatically track time using desktop apps.
On the other hand, many software products do not have native integrations with Power BI. For example if you would need a third-party Clickup Power BI integration to automate the data flow to your reports.
If you choose to store your data in a spreadsheet or a database though, it would be easier to connect to your data with Power BI. You will also have full control over the data format and can edit it at any time which makes it easier to create your reports.
The downside of keeping your data in Excel is that your data format can change frequently causing the formulas in your Power BI report to break. Inputting data into Excel is also a manual process which can lead to data entry errors and admin work.
KPIs for Employee Performance Analytics in Power BI
Effective project management relies on monitoring specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure projects are on track and objectives are met.
- Approved Budget: The approved budget outlines the total funds allocated for a project. Tracking this KPI ensures that the project remains financially viable and helps in identifying any potential budget overruns.
- Remaining Budget: This KPI indicates the funds still available for a project, calculated by subtracting the actual costs from the approved budget. Keeping an eye on the remaining budget aids in financial planning and resource allocation.
- Completed Tasks: This metric helps the management to understand which team members complete more tasks. It is also often useful to analyse the number of tasks completed on time vs late.
- Resource Utilization: This metric measures the proportion of time the resources are utilised vs idle. High resource utilization indicates optimal use, while low utilization may suggest inefficiencies.
- Time Recovery Analysis: Measured as actual hours divided on estimated hours, this KPI assesses the efficiency of a team in recovering lost time due to unforeseen delays. It helps in evaluating team performance and implementing corrective measures to stay on schedule.
- Billable vs Unbillable Hours: This KPI helps to analyse what percentage of working hours are paid for by the client vs considered as business overhead. Calculating this KPI requires companies to categorise tasks into client work, admin, sales, etc.
By integrating these KPIs into Power BI dashboards, project managers can gain real-time insights into project performance, enabling proactive decision-making and ensuring projects are completed successfully.
How to Implement Power BI for Performance Analytics
The easiest way to get started with Power BI is to find ready-made Power BI templates based on your data source. These templates already have all the formulas you need to accurately report on your employee performance making it easier to learn the data model. As a result, the learning curve is not as steep since you only need to edit the dashboards rather than create them from scratch.
If you can not find a Power BI template for your data source, you can also consider getting help from a Power BI consultancy. This way consultants can help you with the most technically complex parts of your project and your team can edit and maintain the reports going forward.
You can also create Power BI reports yourself from scratch which usually takes more working hours but is a great way to develop Power BI skills. There is a very big Power BI online community which means that most of your technical questions are already answered on different forums and YouTube videos.
Power BI Performance Analytics Case Studies
It is much easier to understand the benefit of employee performance in Power BI when you can see what the final result of a Power BI analytics project would look like. We will discuss several use cases of Power BI for performance analytics below along with the screenshots from each project.
Employee Utilisation Dashboard
A crucial factor influencing a service company’s profitability is the balance between billable and non-billable hours. Billable hours represent time spent on client work, while non-billable hours include administrative, sales, and management tasks.
Utilization was primarily analyzed using the following visualizations:
- Logged hours by month
- Utilization trends over time (Billable vs. Non-Billable)
- Department-wise utilization breakdown (Billable vs. Non-Billable)
- Resource-level utilization (Billable vs. Non-Billable)
These graphs provide insights into the percentage of time allocated to revenue-generating tasks versus non-billable activities.
Team Performance Dashboard
This Power BI dashboard is designed for project managers, providing a high-level of current tasks and ongoing projects in the team.
It helps a teams to identify which team
- Number of tasks created each month
- Task distribution by assignee
- Time spent on each task or project
This dashboard offers a comprehensive view of task performance, enhancing efficiency and decision-making.
Team Capacity Dashboard
This dashboard helps you assess the efficiency and utilization of your human resources based on their work hours.
It provides a detailed view of total and average hours worked by each team member, both monthly and daily, across all projects or specific workspaces.
By analyzing this data, you can identify employees who may be overworked or underutilized, allowing you to distribute workloads more effectively.
For instance, if a team member had a high workload initially but their hours have recently declined, you can investigate the reason and, if necessary, reassign tasks to optimize productivity.
Final Words
Effective reporting is essential for effective project management, offering valuable insights into progress, resource allocation, and financial performance. Power BI enhances this process with dynamic visualizations and real-time data analysis, enabling informed decision-making.