Wave Rollout Tracking Dashboard
The Problem
The workforce management team faced a massive operational challenge tracking a complex 5-wave phased rollout over 4 months. The only existing tool was a slow-loading Excel workbook to track timecard approvers that was constantly outdated due to wave changes, with no quick lookup capability and frequent freezing during peak usage.
Customer service workflows were a nightmare: handling employee timecard questions required an 8-step manual process for every interaction. Look up the employee to determine their line of business, find the correct guidelines document, locate the assigned approver's email, find supervisor and manager emails, check timezone for accurate communication, find correct HR documents, and send follow-up emails with proper CCs and attachments. All manual, tedious, and error-prone.
Vacation coverage was a disaster. Backup staff had no way to quickly get up to speed and had to manually search through Excel or constantly ask teammates. The result: slow customer service response times, high risk of routing errors, frequent mistakes in email routing and documentation, and significant team frustration.
The Solution
Built a comprehensive interactive Power BI dashboard that transformed a chaotic multi-step process into an elegant single-click information hub. The dashboard features a clickable wave timeline where each wave circle filters the entire view to that specific wave (enabling proactive preparation for upcoming waves and historical lookups), a countdown timer with visual urgency gradient (blue to red as deadlines approach), and a scrollable team member selector for instant vacation coverage visibility.
Dual search functionality allows instant lookups by employee name or cost center code. One-click mailto email links eliminate the 5+ manual lookup steps for every customer service interaction. Document links are externalized to an Excel file since each line of business maintains separate HR and guideline documentation. This allows the team to update links as needed without dashboard modifications. A geographic map visualization with timezone tooltips ensures accurate communication in all correspondence.
Technical implementation uses a multi-source data model integrating Excel files and Access database. Complex Power Query M code handles alphabetic workload distribution logic. Advanced DAX measures power the countdown timer and wave tracking. The data model includes one-to-many and many-to-many relationships connecting wave tracking, employee lists, and approver assignments.
Architecture
Power BI dashboard with multi-source data architecture. Wave data from 5 separate Excel workbooks on network share, employee master list from Access database via ODBC connection, and Hot Topic Power App embedded. Power Query M code performs alphabetic CSA split logic and wave combination transformations. Data model implements one-to-many relationships (Wave Tracking to Timecard Assignments, Employee List to Assignments) and many-to-many via bridge table (Approver Table to Assignments). DAX measures calculate dynamic countdown timers and wave status indicators.
Key Implementation Decisions
- •Power BI over Excel: Dashboard interactivity and data model relationships impossible in traditional Excel
- •Multi-source integration: Combined Excel and Access to create unified view without data migration
- •Clickable wave timeline: Interactive filtering enabled both proactive preparation and historical lookups
- •One-click email links: Mailto links eliminated manual lookup steps for every customer interaction
- •Self-taught approach: Zero formal training, learned M code and DAX through documentation during development
The Results
Quantifiable Outcomes
- ✓Team-wide adoption as primary reference tool, replaced Excel file entirely
- ✓Eliminated 8-step manual lookup process, reduced to single click
- ✓Instant email routing with correct approvers, supervisors, and managers
- ✓Vacation coverage enabled through team member filtering
- ✓Proactive wave preparation by clicking future waves to see upcoming assignments
- ✓Completed in 2 weeks with zero formal Power BI training (self-taught M code and DAX)
- ✓Still in active production use across team in revised version (see Permanent Timecard Lookup Tool project)
Lessons Learned
- →Self-directed learning works: Zero formal Power BI training, learned M code and DAX during development through documentation and experimentation
- →User experience matters: One-click email links and interactive wave timeline eliminated manual workflows entirely
- →Multi-source data modeling: Integrated Excel and Access, learned relationship management and data transformation on the fly
- →Aggressive timelines drive focus: 2-week deadline forced prioritization of high-impact features over perfection
- →Team adoption requires solving real pain: Replaced slow Excel file with instant lookups, team voluntarily switched immediately
Future Enhancements
- ⟩Enhanced search with additional ID lookup capabilities
- ⟩Employee information panel with dynamic conditional visibility showing full contact details
- ⟩Intelligent email automation with preferred name protection to prevent dead naming
- ⟩Non-app user detection and alert system for special handling during calls
- ⟩Workload distribution analytics showing timecard counts per cost center
- ⟩Automated data refresh via scheduled PowerShell scripts
- ⟩Upgraded map visualization (Azure Maps) for better location clarity