Simpro BI Reporting for Trade Businesses

YOU'VE GOT THE DATA.
YOU JUST CAN'T SEE IT.

Simpro's BI Reporting is the most powerful tool you're probably not using. I help UK trade businesses build dashboards that show you exactly where your money is going - and where it's leaking.

Use BI Reporting in my own business daily
Custom dashboards built for trade businesses
See results in days, not months

THE VISIBILITY PROBLEM

You're running jobs, sending invoices, paying wages. But can you actually answer these questions right now?

Which jobs are actually profitable?

Most owners find out a job lost money weeks after it's finished. By then it's too late.

Where is your cash going?

Turnover is up, but the bank account doesn't show it. You can't see the leaks.

Who's your most productive engineer?

You've got a gut feeling, but no data to back it up - or to have that difficult conversation.

How long do your quotes take to convert?

Quotes go out and disappear into a black hole. You don't know your win rate.

Which customers are worth keeping?

Some customers feel busy but barely break even. Others are gold. You can't tell which is which.

Are your margins improving or shrinking?

Material costs are up, labour rates haven't changed. But you're guessing, not measuring.

The data to answer every one of these is already in your Simpro. You just need the right dashboards.

WHAT IS SIMPRO BI REPORTING?

BI Reporting is Simpro's built-in business intelligence tool. It lets you pull data from every corner of your Simpro build - jobs, quotes, schedules, invoices, customers - and turn it into visual dashboards you can actually understand.

Think of it as the difference between reading a spreadsheet of numbers and seeing a chart that instantly shows you which jobs made money last month and which ones didn't. It's already included in your Simpro Premium subscription. Most businesses just never set it up properly.

You can build custom reports, create dashboards that update automatically, and share them with your team so everyone's looking at the same numbers. No more arguments about whether a job was profitable or not - the data tells the story.

The problem isn't the tool. It's knowing what to measure and how to set it up so it's actually useful.

FLYING BLIND VS. FULL VISIBILITY

The difference between guessing and knowing.

Without BI Reporting

  • Find out jobs lost money after they're finished
  • Guess which engineers are productive
  • Chase the team for updates constantly
  • Rely on gut feeling for pricing decisions
  • Month-end surprises on cash flow
  • No idea which customers are profitable

With BI Reporting

  • See job profitability in real time as costs come in
  • Track engineer utilisation by the hour
  • Dashboards show job status at a glance
  • Data-driven pricing based on actual margins
  • Cash flow forecasting you can trust
  • Customer profitability ranked automatically

THE 6 DASHBOARDS EVERY TRADE BUSINESS NEEDS

These are the dashboards I've built for my own business and help my clients set up. They cover the numbers that actually matter.

Job Profitability

See the real margin on every job - labour, materials, subcontractors - before the invoice goes out. Stop finding out you lost money after the fact.

Key Metrics

  • Gross margin by job
  • Cost vs quoted price
  • Variation tracking

Sales Pipeline

Track every quote from creation to conversion. Know your win rate, average deal size, and which sales person is bringing in the best work.

Key Metrics

  • Quote conversion rate
  • Pipeline value
  • Average days to close

Team Utilisation

See how your engineers' time is being spent. Billable vs non-billable hours, scheduled vs actual, and who's consistently underbooked.

Key Metrics

  • Billable hours %
  • Schedule adherence
  • Overtime tracking

Cash Flow

Track invoiced vs received, aged debtors, and upcoming costs. Stop being surprised at the end of the month.

Key Metrics

  • Aged debtors breakdown
  • Invoice-to-payment days
  • Monthly revenue trend

Customer Value

Rank your customers by total revenue, margin, and frequency. Find out who's actually worth your time and who's costing you money.

Key Metrics

  • Revenue per customer
  • Average job margin
  • Repeat business rate

Operations Overview

A single screen that shows the health of your business. Jobs in progress, overdue tasks, upcoming schedules, and KPIs at a glance.

Key Metrics

  • Active jobs count
  • Overdue tasks
  • Weekly KPI snapshot
Free Download

BI Reporting Quick-Start Guide

Get the exact 6 dashboards, the metrics to track, and a weekly routine that takes less than 30 minutes. Written specifically for UK trade and engineering businesses using Simpro.

WHY MOST BUSINESSES NEVER SET IT UP

01

They don't know it exists

BI Reporting is tucked away under the Reports menu. Simpro's standard training barely covers it. Most business owners have no idea this tool is sitting there, included in their subscription, waiting to be used.

02

They don't know what to measure

Even if you find it, you're staring at a blank canvas. What data do you pull? What tables do you join? What questions should you be asking? Without experience running a trade business on Simpro, you're guessing.

03

The data isn't clean enough

BI Reporting is only as good as the data going in. If your team isn't logging time properly, if job stages aren't being updated, if costs aren't being allocated - your dashboards will show rubbish.

04

It feels too technical

SQL queries, data models, table joins - it sounds like something for a developer, not a business owner. But it doesn't have to be. The simple question builder can create powerful reports without writing a single line of code.

HOW I SET UP YOUR BI REPORTING

A practical, step-by-step process. No fluff, no generic dashboards. Built around your business.

STEP 1

Data Audit

I review your Simpro build to check what data is actually being captured, what's missing, and what needs fixing before we build anything.

STEP 2

Dashboard Design

We agree on the 4-6 dashboards that matter most for your business. I design them around the decisions you need to make, not generic templates.

STEP 3

Build & Configure

I build the dashboards in your Simpro BI Reporting, set up the right permissions, and make sure the data is pulling through correctly.

STEP 4

Train & Handover

I walk you through each dashboard, show you what to look at weekly, and make sure you can read the numbers with confidence.

WHAT CHANGES WHEN YOU CAN SEE THE NUMBERS

Real outcomes from businesses that started using BI Reporting properly.

15%+
Margin improvement from spotting unprofitable jobs early
5 hrs
Saved per week on manual reporting and spreadsheets
30%
Faster quote follow-up with pipeline visibility
100%
Confidence in your numbers at month end

COMMON QUESTIONS

STOP GUESSING. START SEEING.

Book a free 30-minute call and I'll show you what's possible with BI Reporting in your Simpro build. No sales pitch - just a practical look at the dashboards that could change how you run your business.

Free BI Audit

See what data you're sitting on

Dashboard Recommendations

Which reports matter for your business

Actionable Next Steps

Walk away with a clear plan

Or call directly - no gatekeepers, just me.