Spend Analysis Dashboard

Roopesh

How to Interpret Power BI Visuals

Each visual in this dashboard serves a unique purpose. Here’s how to interpret them as a consultant:

  1. Pie Chart (Spend Amount by Category L1):

    • Purpose: Shows proportions of a whole.

    • Interpretation: The larger slice (Indirect Procurement at 73.92%) indicates where most money is allocated. Use this to prioritize cost reviews—indirect spending often has more room for optimization.

  2. Horizontal Bar Charts (Categories, Departments, Cost Centers, Parent Companies):

    • Purpose: Compare values across categories.

    • Interpretation: Longer bars (e.g., Raw Materials at $95M) highlight top spend areas. Compare bars to spot outliers or areas for cost reduction, like the $8M on office supplies.

  3. Table (Spend Amount by Supplier):

    • Purpose: Provides exact values for detailed analysis.

    • Interpretation: Focus on top suppliers like DataPro Solutions ($29.25M) to negotiate better terms. The total spend ($128.76M) is a benchmark for overall budget tracking.

  4. Line Graph (Spend Amount by Month):

    • Purpose: Tracks trends over time.

    • Interpretation: Look for patterns—peaks like $5.1M in Mar 2025 suggest high activity, while the dip to $1.9M in Jun 2025 warrants investigation for potential issues or savings.

Actionable Recommendations

  1. Optimize Indirect Procurement: With $95.19M (73.92%) in indirect spending, review areas like IT services ($25M) and office supplies ($8M) for cost-saving opportunities, such as bulk purchasing or vendor consolidation.

  2. Investigate Raw Materials Costs: The $95M spend on raw materials, especially steel ($41M), is significant. Explore alternative suppliers or negotiate better rates to reduce costs.

  3. Address the Jun 2025 Drop: The $1.9M spend in Jun 2025 is the lowest in the period. Confirm if this reflects a strategic reduction, incomplete data, or an operational issue.

  4. Diversify Suppliers: Spending is concentrated with a few parent companies (e.g., Global Supplies at $43.2M). Diversify to mitigate risks of supply chain disruptions.

  5. Leverage Power BI Interactivity: In Power BI, you can click on visuals (e.g., "IT" in the department chart) to filter related data. Use this to drill deeper into specific areas, like IT’s $33M spend.

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