Nuclear engineering and services
Power BI has changed Onet Technologies' relationship with its customers
In a world where companies must constantly adapt to new technologies to remain competitive, Onet Technologies has chosen a resolutely innovation-oriented approach by using Power BI for its monthly activity reports relating to nuclear facility operations. This tool enables data to be analyzed and visualized interactively and intuitively. By integrating this solution into some of its processes, Onet Technologies has equipped itself with a powerful and flexible tool, bringing real added value to its customers by offering them personalized, clear and relevant reports. Interview with Jonathan, Operations Manager at the Marcoule site, for whom the tool has become indispensable, particularly in his teams' relations with customers.
Could you tell us a bit about Power BI and what it's used for?
Power BI is software developed by Microsoft and launched in 2015. It is a tool designed for reporting, monitoring and managing indicators. It has been developed to enable companies to consolidate their databases, analyze, visualize, share and manage the distribution of data.
How did you learn to use the software?
At Onet Technologies, in the Engineering and Services for Decommissioning and Waste Department, we used to use Excel and Word for our monthly reports. And given that we look after six operations, the reports at the time were very time-consuming: about a week a month. It was no longer manageable!
So, in 2020, during the lockdown, I decided to take a closer look at this tool I'd heard so much about. I wanted to offer our customers something more reliable, more visually pleasing and much clearer. Within three weeks, I had trained myself in its use and was able to deploy it to our teams dedicated to operating nuclear facilities, diverting it a little from its initial use, since it's basically a data processing tool. Among other things, we use it to automatically generate our monthly activity reports.
Unlike Excel, Power BI efficiently handles bulk calculations
Can you explain how Power BI has been diverted from its original purpose, and how it differs from Excel?
Excel is a versatile tool, but the reports we were generating were prone to errors and inconsistencies. Using Power BI, we were able to perform statistical analyses of the data and use its AI module to detect any errors among them. And there were a lot of them! Power BI therefore enabled us to consolidate our databases efficiently and obtain accurate, reliable reports.
The software has enabled us to create charts that are better adapted to the large volumes of data we manage. With Excel, the work becomes more complex as the amount of data increases, whereas Power BI efficiently handles mass calculations, whether there are two rows or thousands. The tool has enabled us to create graphs and analyses over several years, which was difficult to achieve with Excel. Power BI's charts are attractive, easy to understand and enable us to present data in a much more convincing way to our customers.
Power BI has saved us an incredible amount of time: with our customers, we're finally talking about the real issues and not just the form!
You use Power BI to automate your monthly business reports. Can you tell us how it works?
Our business requires detailed reports to be returned to our customers every month, but this was extremely time-consuming due to manual input and layout. As I said earlier, I spent a week every month! Now, our site managers enter the data required for the reports into an Excel file, and the report updates automatically in Power BI! The time saved is incredible, and the data is reliable, secure and easy to interpret. In the reports, you'll find indicators for safety, quality, security, performance, production... In short, everything that happened at our customer's facility during the month and that he needs to know.
What's more, Power BI requires no IT knowledge to view data, enabling easy access to reports from any Internet-connected device!
What impact has Power BI had on Onet Technologies' customer relations?
It has totally changed our relationship with customers! Before using it, we were more focused on the form of our reports, and this could sometimes obscure the substance. With Power BI, we have gained in clarity, reliability and consistency in our conclusions, which has greatly improved our relationship with customers. Site managers can now present monthly reports and tell customers the story behind the data, which has changed the dynamic of our interactions with them. They're delighted and wouldn't go back to the old reports for anything. It builds loyalty because they know that Onet Technologies is clear and straightforward. And that gives us an edge!
In addition, we retain the intellectual property rights to the tool: if the contract ends, the customer leaves with the reports, but everything used to generate them, such as calculations and codes, remains with Onet Technologies.
Can you think of any examples where using Power BI in a different way has brought you particularly interesting added value?
Thanks to Power BI, we were able to cross-reference meteorological data with the frequency of our interventions on installations, which enabled us to confirm that certain installations are indeed weather-sensitive, and it's obvious! What everyone assumed has been proven by the figures.
We have also linked the tool to our internal software tracking staff training. This enables us to see which operators need to renew their training, and any medical restrictions, for example. If I need to know if there are people on a particular site who can't carry heavy loads, Power BI automatically pulls up a list of these people. This roundabout use is particularly interesting.
What are the challenges of using Power BI? Is it a tool that everyone can use?
This software requires an initial investment of time to master and configure it to your specific needs. It is also more complex than Excel, and requires knowledge of databases and computer programming. It's not a tool that everyone can use from the outset. However, with the right training and interest, it can be mastered. The investment you make in the preparation phase will pay off later, as once configured, reports update automatically!
Has Power BI already found its place among Onet Technologies employees?
Thanks to word-of-mouth, employees are gradually getting on board! At Marcoule, I was the first to use it. On the farms, site managers can no longer do without it.
In the future, we hope to continue to exploit the full potential of Power BI to serve our customers even better.
By integrating Power BI into its activity reports, Onet Technologies has taken a step ahead of its competitors by offering its customers a solution that is both powerful and user-friendly, providing them with significant added value. By proactively addressing the specific needs of its customers, Onet Technologies is consolidating its position as a trusted partner in the nuclear industry.
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Nuclear engineering and services
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