Who this is for
Most small and medium businesses already have the numbers they need. They are spread across an accounting file, a CRM, a booking or job system, an online store and a stack of spreadsheets that one person updates on a Friday afternoon. We build business dashboards for small business owners and managers who want those numbers in one place, refreshed automatically and trusted by everyone who reads them.
It tends to suit situations like these:
- An accounting practice that works out staff utilisation and work in progress by hand at the end of each month.
- A builder who cannot see job costs against the quote until the job is finished.
- A wholesaler whose sales, stock and debtor figures sit in separate systems that never quite agree.
- A cafe group comparing sites from point-of-sale exports pasted into a spreadsheet.
- A clinic's front desk counting bookings, cancellations and no-shows from a printed diary.
The underlying problems are the same: reports that take hours to prepare, two people quoting different figures for the same thing, and files full of customer details emailed around the office. A dashboard project fixes the plumbing underneath, so every chart draws on the same agreed data. Where your systems do not share data at all yet, the first step is usually a systems integration.
The problems it solves
- Month-end reports that take a day of copying and pasting to prepare
- Two managers bringing different figures for the same measure to one meeting
- Figures that arrive too late to act on, such as a cost overrun found after the job is invoiced
- A reporting spreadsheet only one person understands, which stops when they are on leave
- Customer and payroll details sitting in exported files in inboxes and download folders
What is included
Reporting review
We list the reports you produce now, who reads them, where each number comes from and which decisions depend on it.
Agreed definitions
One written definition for each measure, such as revenue, gross margin, a new customer or an overdue invoice, so the business discusses results instead of formulas.
Automated data feeds
Scheduled connections that copy data from your accounting, sales, booking and operations systems, so nobody re-keys figures or pastes exports. Each run is logged, so a failed refresh is noticed before a wrong figure is.
One source of truth
A central data store holding the cleaned and joined data. Every dashboard reads from it, not from a private spreadsheet on someone's laptop.
Live dashboards
Interactive pages for owners, managers and staff, designed around the questions each group asks and readable on a desktop or a phone.
Scheduled reports and alerts
Reports delivered by email on a set schedule, and alerts when a measure crosses a threshold you choose.
What you hold at the end
- A written data dictionary: every measure, its definition and its source
- The dashboards and scheduled reports, in a Power BI or Google Cloud account in your business's name
- The data pipeline code and queries, in a source code repository you own
- An access register showing who can see which data
- The refresh schedule for each data feed, with what to do when one fails
- Admin accounts in your name, with our access removable at any time
- A training session and a short user guide for managers
- Reconciliation results showing dashboard figures matched against your source reports
Technology we use and why
We describe these tools the way their makers do.
- BigQuery. Google's documentation describes BigQuery as a fully managed data platform with a serverless architecture: you query it with SQL and do not need to provision or manually scale resources. We use it as the central store when data comes from several systems.
- Power BI. Microsoft presents Power BI as a unified analytics platform that connects to data from cloud or on-premises sources and shares insights through apps such as Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint and SharePoint. It suits a business already working in Microsoft software.
- Xero, MYOB and APIs. An API is the official way for one system to read data from another. We use the APIs of your accounting, CRM, online store and booking software so figures arrive without manual exports.
- MFA, SSO and encryption. A second check at sign-in, one work account for staff, and data protected in transit and in storage.
Why these suit a smaller business. None of them needs a server in your office or a database specialist on staff. Both reporting tools are widely used, so another provider can take over from our documentation.
Who can see what. Permissions are part of the build. Microsoft's documentation explains that row-level security restricts data access for specific users of a Power BI model, so a site manager can see their own site while the owner sees every site in the same report. In BigQuery, access is controlled through Google Cloud's Identity and Access Management. We agree the access rules in writing before anyone receives a login, as in our cyber security work.
How we deliver a dashboard project
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Discovery call | A free first conversation about the decisions you make, the reports you rely on and the systems the data sits in. |
| 2. Plan and quote | We write up the measures and their definitions, the data sources, who may see what, and a fixed or staged quote. Work starts only once you have agreed to it in writing. |
| 3. Build and test | We connect the sources and build in stages, starting with the dashboard that matters most. You see regular demos, and each figure is reconciled against your existing reports. |
| 4. Launch and train | We set up accounts and permissions, load the history you want to keep, and run a training session so managers can filter, drill down and export on their own. |
| 5. Ongoing support | Source systems change, so data feeds need watching. We monitor the refreshes, fix breaks, apply updates and add measures as the business changes. |
Engagement options
| Option | Suits | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed quote | A defined set of dashboards drawing on one or a few systems | We agree the measures, sources and access rules, then give you a written price for that scope before work starts. |
| Staged pricing | A central data store feeding several business areas | The work is split into stages, such as finance first, then sales, then operations. Each stage is quoted and approved separately. |
| Monthly plan | Keeping feeds, dashboards and access up to date after launch | A set list of recurring tasks for a monthly fee: monitoring refreshes, fixing breaks, adding measures and managing user access. |
Security and data handling
A reporting store gathers data from every system into one place, so it needs at least the protection those systems have.
- Least privilege. Each data feed uses a read-only connection and leaves out fields no report needs, such as bank details. Each person gets only the reports their role requires.
- Sign-in. Staff use their work account with multi-factor authentication, one of the Australian Signals Directorate's Essential Eight strategies.
- Where data is stored. Google's documentation says a BigQuery dataset location can only be set at creation time, and its list of locations includes Sydney and Melbourne, so we agree the region with you first.
- Encryption and backups. Data is encrypted in transit and in storage. Your source systems remain the original record, and the pipeline code can rebuild the store from them.
Support after launch
A dashboard is only as good as its last refresh. A vendor changes its API, someone renames a product category, and a feed that ran every night quietly stops. After launch we watch the refreshes, repair a feed when a source system changes, update the reporting tools and adjust access as people join, move or leave.
New measures and dashboards are quoted as small jobs or handled under a monthly plan. To reach us, email hello@comingwave.com.au or use our contact page; we reply within one business day.
Industries it suits
Professional services
Utilisation, work in progress and unpaid invoices for an accounting, legal or engineering practice, drawn from the practice and accounting systems.
Retail and e-commerce
Sales, margin and stock by product and channel, joining the online store, the point of sale and the accounts.
Trades and construction
Job cost against quote while the job is still running, with labour, materials and variations in one view.
Hospitality
Sales, wage cost and wastage compared site by site for a cafe or restaurant group, without pasting exports together.
Privacy when you report on customer data
Dashboards often draw on customer records, so privacy is part of the design. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) says that most small businesses are not covered by the Privacy Act 1988, but some are. It defines a small business as one with an annual turnover of $3 million or less, and lists businesses the Act covers regardless of turnover, including health service providers and businesses trading in personal information. The OAIC also recommends protecting any personal information you hold even where the Act does not apply.
Where the Act does apply, the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) set the rules. Two matter most for reporting. APP 6 outlines the circumstances in which an organisation may use or disclose personal information that it holds. APP 11 requires reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure; the OAIC's APP 11 guidelines also cover destroying or de-identifying information that is no longer needed.
So dashboards show totals and trends where names are not needed, access to identifiable records is limited to the people whose job requires it, and data you no longer need stays out of the reporting store. This is general information, not legal advice: the OAIC or your lawyer can confirm whether the Act covers you.
Dashboard and reporting questions
Do we have to stop using spreadsheets altogether?
No. Spreadsheets remain a good tool for one-off analysis. A dashboard replaces the recurring reports that someone rebuilds by hand, and you can still export any table to a spreadsheet.
Should we use Power BI, BigQuery or both?
They do different jobs. Power BI is the reporting layer people look at, and BigQuery is a store that holds data from many systems. A business with a couple of tidy sources may only need Power BI, while one with several systems is better served by a central store first.
How current is the data on a live dashboard?
It depends on the source systems and how often the refresh is scheduled. Some sources can be read on demand and others only on a timetable their vendor allows. Each dashboard shows when it was last refreshed, so nobody mistakes last night's figure for this minute's.
Can our customers or suppliers see their own figures?
Yes, with care. Sharing figures outside the business usually calls for a secure portal where each customer signs in and sees only their own records, which is a custom software job built on the same data store.
What if our data is messy or incomplete?
Most business data is. We list the gaps and duplicates we find, fix what can be fixed at the source and agree a rule for the rest, such as how to treat a sale with no customer attached. The data dictionary records each rule.
Who owns the dashboards and the data?
You do. Everything is built in accounts registered to your business, and the queries, pipeline code and documentation are handed over. If you would like to talk through what you report on now, send us an enquiry.
