Part 1: Mastt vs Power BI. Automated dashboards for construction programs

Business performance dashboards for capital improvement programs

In today's dynamic construction industry, effective program performance management and access to real-time dashboard insights are critical for success. As technology continues to advance, construction industry consultants have access to a variety of tools to streamline their processes and achieve better outcomes. In this blog post, we compae the key differences between Mastt and Power BI, two prominent platforms in the construction & capital project industry.

Understanding the construction industry landscape

Program performance management and dashboard insights play a crucial role in the construction industry. Project & program management consultants like WSP and asset owners who deliver capital improvement programs face challenges such as tracking project health, progress, budgets, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring timely delivery. Bringing critical information to key decision makers - as fast as possible - is regarded as essential to achieving successful project outcomes. That's where technology comes in. Choosing the right software enables streamlined and better management and decision making.

Power BI: Leveraging Data Analytics for Dashboard Insights

Power BI  is a business intelligence tool widely used across industries that include construction. While Power BI provides great data analysis and visualisation capabilities, it requires data to come from another source. In construction, it most often comes from ERP, accounting or scheduling systems (such as Primavera, MS project) right down to more basic data sources like spreadsheets. Construction professionals often then spend significant extra time manually transposing, compiling and formatting data just so it can be ingested by Power BI or dashboard creation. It's a lot of effort!

This manual process is generally repeated monthly (or more frequently) and adds complexity, increases the risk of errors, and hampers the ability to derive timely insights for effective performance management of construction programs.

The challenges to do this are significant and program consultants or asset owners often seek out the services of a specialist Power BI or data consultant, further increasing cost and delaying access to data analysis.

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Key differences of Mastt vs Power BI

Mastt and Power BI serve different purposes in the realm of construction program management. While Power BI focuses on the analysis and visualisation of external construction data, Mastt is explicitly designed to store, manage and report on construction program data in the one system.

Unlike Power BI, which requires external data inputs, Mastt offers a simple turnkey solution by integrating data, project management tools and visualisations within a single platform. In addition, key processes related to program performance are automated for tracking, budget management, stakeholder collaboration, and on-demand reporting.

Mastt: Dashboard intelligence for Program Performance

The obvious advantage of Mastt over Power BI is its automated program data management that enables real-time performance dashboards. Construction consulting professionals can capture project & program data directly within the platform, eliminating the need for manual data compilation, manipulation and formatting. This automated data capture ensures accuracy and consistency while saving valuable time and resources. Moreover, Mastt's dashboards provide multiple construction-specific visualisations and real-time insights out-of-the-box, giving project & program management consultants and asset owners exactly what they need, when they want it. This work can be done easily by the end-user and requires almost nil training.

Conclusion

In the construction industry, effective performance management of program requires access to real-time dashboard intelligence and insights. While Power BI offers powerful data analytics capabilities, it falls short in terms of needing external data to be captured, even before you get to building dashboard requirements specific to asset owner needs.

By contrast, Mastt comes out of the box designed specific to capital construction project needs. It excels at automating program performance management, eliminating manual data compilation and formatting, and provides real-time dashboard insights at the project, program, and portfolio level. By embracing Mastt, client-side program management consultants and asset owners can streamline their operations, save time, ensure data accuracy, and make informed decisions for program success.

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Next: Read Part 2 of Mastt vs Power BI