Development of Profitability Reports at Planray Oy

This thesis focused on developing and visualising profitability with the help of Power BI at Planray Oy. The aim was to create dynamic reports based on real-time data to support profitability analysis and measurement. Planray Oy, a trace heating automation company in Kajaani, Finland commissioned the thesis. Microsoft excel was used to create profitability reports in Planray Oy for over 25 years. The problem with Excel reports was the static behaviour and difficulty in analysing the hidden data. The maintenance of Excel reports was high as well since it required manual updates on a weekly basis. This development thesis tackled the research problem and provided a better solution in relation to the expectations of the client. Theory of profitability, financial statements, and visualizations was addressed in the thesis. Through the deeper understanding of the topic, it was possible to identify the most significant variables for the profitability measurement. The thesis included an interview with the managing director of Planray Oy. The purpose of the inter-view was to understand the reasons behind shifting from using excel to Power BI for developing profit-ability reports as well as the requirements and expectation from the Power BI reports. A section of the interview also focused on the profitability measurements and their visualizations. The thesis was based on a development research approach and hence, V-development method was used to create the reports. V-development method comprised of the perfect process flow needed to create the specific reports for Planray Oy. By following the V-development method, the process was conducted efficiently. Final profitability reports were developed at the end of the process, which solved the limitations of excel and provided greater opportunity for analysis to the stakeholders of Planray Oy. The final result was based on real-time data to provide accurate measurements and included dynamic visualizations for easier understanding of the topic. The reports were used by the management team at Planray Oy and future recommendations on improvement of the reports were also provided by the author