Fixed-Fee Engagement Models

Every engagement is quoted as a fixed-fee statement of work rather than billed by the hour. The sequence is the same each time: a no-cost scoping call, a written proposal within 5 business days, then a SOW that names the deliverables, the acceptance criteria, the timeline and the price before any work starts. Because the figure is tied to a defined scope rather than to hours burned, the number in the SOW is the number you pay. Scope depends on the count of reports, the number and condition of source systems, whether row-level security and compliance controls are in scope, and how much data-quality remediation the sources need — which is why pricing is quoted per engagement rather than published as a rate card.

The same way: fixed-fee, scoped first. Fabric engagements add two variables that change scope materially. The first is capacity sizing — the F-SKU you actually need, which drives your Microsoft bill far more than the consulting engagement does. The second is the migration source, because moving from Power BI Premium, Synapse, Databricks or a legacy warehouse are four very different workloads. A capacity audit is normally the first engagement, since right-sizing the SKU frequently saves more than the audit costs.

These are Microsoft list prices, separate from any consulting engagement. (1) Power BI Free — for consumers of personal reports only. (2) Power BI Pro — $14/user/month, required to publish content to others. (3) Power BI Premium Per User (PPU) — $24/user/month, adding AI features, larger models and dataflows. (4) Microsoft Fabric F-SKU capacity — from $262/mo (F2) through $268,903/mo (F2048), where F64 and above includes Power BI Pro rights for all users. For organizations with 50+ Power BI users, Fabric F64 ($8,403/mo) is typically more cost-effective than buying individual Pro seats.

Microsoft is transitioning Power BI Premium capacity SKUs (P1/P2/P3) to Microsoft Fabric F-SKUs. Fabric F64 ($8,403/mo pay-as-you-go) matches the old P1 capacity and adds every Fabric workload: Data Engineering, Data Factory, Data Warehouse, Real-Time Intelligence and Data Science. Reserved capacity discounts reach up to 41% on a 1-year commitment. For organizations with 50+ Power BI users, F64 typically pays back inside year 1 by removing per-user Pro seat charges, and for advanced analytics teams it replaces separate Synapse, Data Factory, Databricks and Power BI Premium billing lines. All figures are Microsoft list prices.

Yes. Every engagement starts with a scoped assessment that defines deliverables, timelines and price before work begins. The price in the SOW is the price you pay. If the estimate is wrong, that is our problem, not yours. This structure removes the runaway time-and-materials billing that large consultancies commonly run on.

These are starting points, and most enterprise clients need custom scoping. You get a no-cost 30-minute assessment call and a fixed-price proposal within 5 business days. Larger programs are structured in phases with go/no-go gates between them — you commit to Phase 1 only, and can stop before Phase 2 if it has not delivered value.

Yes. Retainers are sized to the support model you need rather than sold off a published rate: break-fix and refresh monitoring at the light end; a defined monthly allocation with new report development and quarterly capacity reviews in the middle; and a dedicated senior consultant with on-call coverage and executive reporting at the top. Most clients move onto a retainer after an initial project because the value compounds — a well-run retainer typically reduces total analytics cost of ownership by 20-40% in year 1 through capacity right-sizing and refresh optimization.

The SOW defines exact deliverables and acceptance criteria, and any addition requires a written change order approved before work begins. In 500+ engagements fewer than 5% required one. The three common sources are handled upfront: surprise data-quality work is covered by scoping source discovery first; additional stakeholder requirements are contained by locking the stakeholder list into the SOW; and integration surprises are headed off by scoping source-system access as pre-work.

A 30-minute call reviewing your current environment, identifying quick wins and outlining a realistic roadmap. No obligation. You receive a written proposal within 5 business days containing a target-state architecture sketch, a recommended engagement structure (audit, pilot or full rollout), fixed-price options with clear deliverables, and references from comparable engagements. Book it through the contact form.