One definition per metric,
and fewer tickets to see it.

A semantic model is a shared layer of measures and relationships over the serving data, so every report reads the same definition of each metric. Without one, two teams report the same metric with different filters, time windows and source logic. With one, reports, dashboards and Copilot questions use the same measures, and self-service has a business vocabulary to work from.

Define each metric once, in the semantic model, and make every report read it from there. The work starts by naming the metrics in scope and each conflicting definition, then agreeing the meaning before anything is rebuilt. The BI team stops acting as interpreter, because the definition sits in one shared layer your team can inspect.

We build on either. The in-scope reports and dashboards are built in Power BI or Looker and connected to the shared semantic model, with Copilot access where the platform and scope support it. The definitions live in the model rather than inside each report, so the reporting tool reads them instead of owning them.

We measure the change in the work, not only the quality of the model. Reporting effort and access cadence are compared with the starting point: whether a team gets its report without another bespoke request, and whether a decision that waited for a monthly pack can be revisited daily. Those before and after figures go into an outcome baseline you keep.

It is scoped in the first working session to one business analytics domain, with an agreed set of metrics and reporting outcomes, and delivered at a fixed price. That session traces the definition, model and reports behind the metric your teams keep debating. You keep the semantic model, the metric definitions and the in-scope reports and dashboards.