- Aviation Parts Distributor Case Study
How Aviation Concepts Expanded Its Excel Reporting Capabilities with Power BI
Aviation Concepts is an aviation parts distributor. The company already had an established Excel reporting system using Excel Connector, which automatically refreshed the data. Over time, however, standard reports were no longer enough. The business required a more flexible approach to analytics — and Aviation Concepts turned to Cobit Solutions.
4 analytics
areas
Revenue, Inventory, Backlog, Finance
Drill-down in Power BI
Quick transition from high-level metrics to details
Customer-level data
Detailed analysis of metrics by individual customers
Visual dashboards
Key business information in one convenient format
- Client Background
Aviation Concepts: A Global Supplier of Aviation Components
Aviation Concepts is a U.S.-based company specializing in aviation parts supply and inventory management solutions. It works with commercial, cargo, and regional airlines, supplies components for Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and is now part of AxioAero Group.
Since 1991
in the aviation industry
21,000+ inventory
items in stock
300+ customers
served
50+ countries across
its customer geography
- Client Request
What Brought Aviation Concepts to Cobit Solutions
The company already had an established Excel reporting system. Some reports were automatically refreshed through Excel Connector, so the challenge was not accessing basic metrics.
The difficulty arose when the team needed to drill down into the data. For example:
- view details for a specific customer;
- investigate an individual metric;
- create an additional data breakdown;
- compare results against the budget or previous periods;
- quickly respond to a new management request.
To do this, specialists had to return to the original data in Excel and manually create the necessary analysis.
Depending on the request, this could take 30 minutes, an hour, or even a full working day.
What They Wanted to Improve
The main goal was to save time on data drill-down.
The company needed the ability to:
- move quickly from high-level metrics to detailed data;
- drill down without creating a new Excel report;
- analyze data down to the individual customer level;
- get the required data breakdown without additional manual preparation.
What Data Mattered Most
to the Business
The company focused its reporting on four key areas:
Revenue
Revenue, MTD, YTD, week-over-week, month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons, budget, and key customers.
Inventory
Stock levels, slow-moving inventory, and high-value items losing value over time.
Backlog
Orders due this month and next month, overdue orders, and customer-level details.
Finance / Accounting
Accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash, and consistency of figures across reports
“We needed the ability to drill down into specific areas, for example,
to the level of an individual customer.”
Anthony Gandarillas, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Specialist, Aviation Concepts
- What Cobit Solutions Proposed to the Client
Power BI for Detailed Analysis of Key Business Metrics
The Cobit Solutions team created Power BI reports based on Aviation Concepts’ existing Excel reporting. The goal was to simplify data analysis and give the team quick access to the details they needed without having to prepare a separate Excel report for every new request.
The Power BI solution included:
Drill-Down
Step-by-step metric breakdown, for example from a high-level figure to data for a specific customer.
Customer-Level Analysis
Review key metrics for each customer to assess performance and the dynamics of the relationship.
Comparison of Metrics Against Budget
Analyze deviations between actual results and planned values.
4 Key Analytics Areas
Analyze revenue, inventory, backlog, finance, and accounting in one solution.
Performance Comparison Over Time
Analyze trends across weeks, months, and years to evaluate changes in results.
As a result, the team could work with ready-to-use metrics in Power BI and move directly to the required level of detail. The client confirmed that this was exactly the capability Aviation Concepts had been looking for at the start of the project.
What Power BI Analytics Can Look Like
Due to data confidentiality, we do not publish Aviation Concepts’ actual dashboards. Below are several examples that demonstrate Power BI capabilities and Cobit Solutions’ approach to business data visualization.
- Project Results
Aviation Concepts Got the Analytics Experience It Expected
The main goal of the project was to reduce the time spent drilling down into data. According to Anthony Gandarillas, working with Cobit Solutions helped the team achieve the level of detail they needed in Power BI.
He also spoke highly of the reports themselves: they were clear, easy to analyze, and matched the outcome Aviation Concepts had expected at the start of the project.
“We wanted to save time on drilling down into the data — and I think we were able to get there together. The report was very strong and very visual. We got exactly the output we wanted to see.”
Anthony Gandarillas
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Specialist, Aviation Concepts
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Why Businesses Choose Cobit Solutions for Power BI Projects
When working with Aviation Concepts, the Cobit Solutions team went beyond simply executing a technical brief. BI experts worked directly with the client to discuss Power BI capabilities, propose implementation options, and determine the best way to structure data drill-down around real business needs. Anthony Gandarillas specifically highlighted the value of direct communication with technical specialists and their ability to show the client more of what the platform could do.
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