Mid-market businesses without a BI team
Manufacturers, distributors and service businesses with an ERP or database full of data and nobody to turn it into dashboards the whole company trusts.
Horizon - managed BI and analytics platform
Business intelligence, built and run for you.
Horizon is a managed BI platform from The Falls Data Solutions. We connect to your data, define your numbers once, and build the dashboards, reports and alerts your team uses every day, on a site with your own branding. Each person sees only what they are allowed to see.
- Your data stays in your database
- Read-only, outbound-only connection
- Row-level limits enforced on the server
- Built and run by our team
What is Horizon?
A BI platform we build, host and run for you.
Horizon is a business intelligence and analytics platform that The Falls Data Solutions builds, hosts and runs. We connect it to your reporting database, define your numbers once, and build your dashboards. Your people sign in to a site with your logo and colors and see their own reports. They do not need to build anything, and you do not need to run any BI software.
It is made for mid-market businesses that want reliable dashboards without building a BI team, and it also works for groups with more than one company, businesses with several plants or branches, and firms that report to their own clients. If you are looking for a managed BI platform, a Power BI alternative or a Tableau alternative, that is what Horizon does.
- What it is
- A managed business intelligence and analytics platform
- Built and run by
- The Falls Data Solutions
- Your data
- Stays in your own reporting database and is queried live
- Connects to
- A read-only SQL reporting database (we can build one from your ERP, CRM or spreadsheets)
- Sign-in
- Email and password, Microsoft or Google single sign-on, directory sync (SCIM)
- Delivered as
- A branded website, installable on a phone or computer
- Often chosen instead of
- Power BI, Tableau, Qlik or Looker, when reporting should be delivered rather than built in house
- Pricing
- Scoped to your project. Book a consultation for a quote
Who it is for
Built for businesses that want answers, not a BI project.
Teams tired of maintaining reports
Companies whose reporting lives in spreadsheets, or in a BI tool that only one or two people understand and can fix.
Groups, multi-site operations and firms with clients
Businesses with several companies, plants or branches, and firms that report to their own clients, where each person or client must see only their own data.
The problem
Why most BI projects stall.
- The data lives in an ERP, a few databases and a lot of spreadsheets, and nobody fully trusts the totals.
- Reports depend on one person who built them and cannot be away.
- Leaders are asked to trust numbers they cannot trace back to a source.
- The dashboard tool works, but nobody owns the data behind it.
Often the dashboard tool is not the issue. See why the data layer comes first.
The outcome
We fix the data layer first, then give your team dashboards that stay correct as the business changes.
What you get
Everything a team needs to read its numbers, and nothing to maintain.
Branded as yours
Your logo, your colors and your own address. Your people sign in to a site that looks like your company.
Row-level data limits
Limit a person or group to one department, region, branch or company. The limit applies to every chart, filter, export and email.
Drill-through to the rows
Click a number to see the rows behind it, inside the same data limits.
PDF, Excel and image exports
Built for the person asking, so an export never shows more than that person may see.
Scheduled emails and alerts
Send a report on a schedule, and get alerted when a number crosses a line you set.
Goals, pacing and forecasts
Set targets, see whether you are on pace to hit them, and test what-if scenarios. Forecasts use plain statistics, not AI.
Numbers you can trace
Every headline number can show what it means, where it comes from, how fresh it is and whether the latest data passed its checks.
A Monday briefing
Each person can get a weekly summary of what moved most in their own reports, built within their own access.
Access by department and group
Choose which reports each person sees, one by one or by group. Changing a group changes its members' access at once.
Slack and Teams updates
Send goal and data alerts, or a morning post of chosen headline numbers, to Slack, Teams or any web address. Only numbers go out, never rows.
Links for people outside
Share one report in one fixed view with someone who has no account. Links expire and can be revoked at any time.
A read-only API
Pull the numbers a person can see into other tools, with the same data limits and a full activity log.
How it works
Connect, model, deliver.
- 1
Connect
A small connector runs on your network next to your reporting database. It opens an outbound-only encrypted connection, so you open no inbound firewall ports. It uses a read-only login that never leaves your network.
- 2
Model
We define your numbers once, such as revenue, margin or on-time delivery, so every dashboard uses the same figure. For groups, we first bring your entities into one reporting database as part of our data architecture work.
- 3
Deliver
We build the dashboards and reports. You decide who sees what. People sign in at your own address and get their numbers on the web, on a phone, by email or in chat.
The right numbers for the right people
One company or many, each person sees only their own data.
Horizon limits what each person can see by department, region, branch, company or any field you choose. Limits are set per person or per group and applied on the server to every chart, filter, drill-through, export, email and API call. That is what lets a group, a multi-site business or a firm with clients run on one platform.
If a report cannot honor a person's limit, Horizon hides it from that person instead of showing too much. It fails closed, not open.
- Leadership sees the whole business in one view
- A department head sees their own area, a plant manager their own site
- For groups, each company sees only its own numbers
- For firms with clients, each client sees only their own, in their own branding
- One set of metric definitions, so everything is measured the same way
Security and data control
Your data stays yours.
Your data stays put
Horizon queries your reporting database live. Results are held only in memory and a short-lived cache.
Read-only by design
Every query is checked as read-only before it is saved, and the connector enforces it again on your side.
Outbound-only connection
The connector dials out over encrypted TLS. You open no inbound ports, and the database login never leaves your network.
One isolated stack per client
Each client's data, settings and users are kept apart. Only the application code is shared.
Access you can audit
An activity log records sign-ins, changes and exports. Our own support staff can enter only with a one-time, read-only pass, and each visit is written to your log with the reason.
Sign-in your IT team expects
Microsoft or Google single sign-on, directory sync with SCIM, and access by department or group.
AI only if you turn it on
Viewing a dashboard never calls an AI service. An optional assistant is off by default, controlled by your admins, and uses the AI service you choose.
Already using a BI tool?
Horizon or Power BI, Tableau, Qlik and Looker: which fits?
If most of your people open dashboards to read numbers, Horizon can take over reading and sharing from these, and we rebuild your reports in it.
- Power BI
- Tableau
- Qlik
- Looker
- Domo and Sisense
- Spreadsheet reporting
| Question | Horizon | Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, Looker |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the reports | Our team builds and maintains them for you | Your team builds them, or you hire someone to |
| Who runs it | We host and run it | Hosted by the vendor or by you; your team administers workspaces, servers, permissions and gateways |
| Report authoring by your staff | People view, filter and drill down; they do not author reports | Self-service authoring is a core strength |
| Several companies or clients | Row-level data limits per person or group, and a branded site for each | Row-level security is available; you design and maintain it in the model |
| How you pay | Priced to your project scope | Typically licensed per user, role or capacity |
| Best when | You want reporting delivered and kept running without building a BI team | You have analysts who want to build and explore data on their own |
These are good tools, and we build in Power BI and Tableau for clients too when that is the better fit (see BI and Dashboards). Horizon is for companies that would rather have reporting delivered than build the capability themselves. It does not give your staff a tool to build their own reports, so analysts who author and explore on their own keep an authoring tool, and everyone else moves to Horizon.
Working with us
From first call to a running dashboard.
Discovery call
Thirty minutes on your systems, your decisions and what you have tried. Nothing to prepare.
Scope
We write down what gets built, what it connects to and what success looks like, and price to that definition.
Build and connect
We prepare the data, define your numbers, install the connector and build the dashboards.
Launch and run
Your people sign in. We keep Horizon running, and add reports as your questions change.
What we need from you: read-only access to the systems we connect to, one or two people who know your data, and one person who can make decisions.
Questions
Horizon FAQ
What is Horizon?
Horizon is a managed business intelligence and analytics platform from The Falls Data Solutions. We connect it to your reporting database, define your numbers once, and build dashboards, reports and alerts. Your people sign in to a site with your branding and see only the data they are allowed to see. We host and run it, so you do not run any BI software yourself.
Is Horizon a Power BI alternative?
Yes, for companies that want reporting delivered rather than built in house. Horizon can replace Power BI dashboards and reports for the people who read them: we rebuild your reports in Horizon, host them, and keep them running, with several companies or clients each seeing their own data. Power BI is a strong tool for analysts who want to author their own reports, and we build in it for clients too when that is the better fit.
Is Horizon a Tableau alternative?
Yes, in the same way. If most of your people open Tableau dashboards to read numbers, Horizon can replace those dashboards with a branded site we build and maintain, without Tableau Server or per-user Tableau licensing to manage. If your analysts use Tableau to explore data and author new views themselves, Tableau remains better for that work, and some companies keep a few authors while everyone else moves to Horizon.
Can Horizon replace Qlik, Looker, Domo or Sisense?
For reading and sharing dashboards, yes. Horizon covers dashboards, drill-through, scheduled reports, alerts, exports and per-person data limits. It does not give your staff a tool to build their own reports, so tools like Qlik and Looker stay the better choice where self-service authoring is the main need.
Can you move our existing Power BI or Tableau reports into Horizon?
We rebuild them. We review the reports your people actually use, bring the underlying data into one reporting database if it is not there already, define the numbers once, and recreate the dashboards in Horizon. We agree what gets rebuilt in the scoping step, so you know the scope and price before work begins.
Can Horizon combine several companies into one dashboard?
Yes. We first bring your entities into one reporting database, which is part of our data architecture work, and define shared metrics so every company is measured the same way. Horizon then shows leadership the combined view, and each company only its own.
Can each department, company or client see only its own data?
Yes. You can limit a person or group by department, region, branch, company or any field you choose. The limit is applied on the server to every chart, filter, drill-through, export, email and API call. If a report cannot honor a person's limit, Horizon hides that report from them instead of showing too much.
Does our data leave our network?
Your data stays in your own reporting database. Horizon queries it live through a small connector on your network, and holds results only in memory and a short-lived cache. We do not build a separate copy of your data inside Horizon.
Do we need to open firewall ports?
No. The connector opens an outbound-only encrypted connection to Horizon, so you need no inbound firewall rules. It uses a read-only database login that never leaves your network.
Can our people build their own reports in Horizon?
Not in Horizon. Your people view, filter, drill down, export and set alerts, and our team builds and maintains the reports. If you want your own staff to author reports, Power BI is a better fit, and we can build it for you.
Does Horizon use AI?
Not unless you turn it on. Viewing a dashboard never calls an AI service. Forecasts use standard statistics. An optional assistant is off by default, is controlled by your admins, runs only when a person asks a question, and uses the AI service your company chooses.
How do people sign in?
With email and password, or with Microsoft or Google single sign-on. You can keep people in sync with your directory using SCIM, and choose what each person sees by department or group.
Which systems can feed Horizon?
Anything we can load into a read-only SQL reporting database. We work with ERP and CRM systems such as Plex, IQMS, SAP, Business Central, Dynamics 365 and Oracle, as well as databases and spreadsheets. If you do not have a reporting database yet, we can build one.
What does Horizon cost?
We scope each engagement individually, based on how many companies, data sources and reports are involved, and price to that scope. There is no standard package. Book a free consultation and we will tell you what it would take.
Who runs and supports Horizon?
The Falls Data Solutions hosts and runs it. The people you meet in discovery are the people who build your solution. If our staff ever need to look at your Horizon to help, they enter with a one-time, read-only pass and each visit is written to your activity log.
Get In Touch
Ready to unlock your data?
Book a free 30-minute consultation or send us a message. No pressure, no pitch - just a candid conversation about your data challenges.
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