A practical roadmap from ETL in Excel to Power BI, data modelling and AI
Published 23 September 2026
Today I had an enriching conversation with a finance team exploring how to begin their journey toward reporting automation, analytics, and AI. What impressed me most was how clearly their manual processes are defined and how knowledgeable the team already is — an excellent foundation for automation.
We explored the “low-hanging fruit” available through Power Query, a capability many finance teams still overlook. Power Query enables powerful data extraction, transformation, and workflow automation directly from Excel, which most finance professionals are already familiar with.
When someone asked how to access Power BI to start their journey, I shared that it’s typically already included in most Microsoft 365 subscriptions — often all that’s needed is a quick discussion with the ICT team to activate the Power BI Pro license.
A structured and intentional investment in data and AI literacy is essential. Without a solid foundation in data analysis, finance teams will struggle to maintain, optimise, and continuously improve their BI and reporting platforms. The set-ups can always be done with external expertise, but maintenance and optimisation are better done in house.
If your team is ready to begin, talk to us, or read more about how we automate manual Excel reporting.