Power BI for Construction: Job Cost, WIP, and Project Health Dashboards

A general contractor builds Power BI dashboards for the monthly project review. The first review goes badly. The job cost dashboard shows a different gross margin than what the controller is reporting in the WIP schedule. Investigation reveals that the dashboard is calculating cost-to-date from the ERP's transaction table, but the controller's WIP includes accruals for subcontractor work that's been performed but not yet invoiced, retainage that's been withheld from sub-tier payments, and change order revenue that's been approved but not yet billed under the AIA G702 application for payment. Each of these is a standard construction accounting adjustment that the Power BI developer — who came from a non-construction background — didn't know existed. The dashboard is technically correct against the transaction data and functionally wrong against the financial reality.

Construction Power BI done right starts with the WIP schedule, not the transaction table. The dimensional model must include accrued costs, retainage payable and receivable, approved but unbilled change orders, over/under billing position, and the cost-to-complete estimate that drives percentage-of-completion revenue recognition. With these in the model, the Power BI dashboard matches what the CPA produces and what the project manager trusts. Without them, the dashboard gets bypassed within three months and the PM goes back to the spreadsheet the controller emails every Friday. Done with construction accounting discipline, Power BI becomes the project manager's daily decision tool. Done as a generic BI project, it produces a dashboard nobody trusts.