Case Study: First Principles Consulting achieves faster, live-calculating Value Driver Trees to improve mining operations with Palisade's BigPicture

Using BigPicture Software, First Principles Consulting Improves Operations for Mining Clients

First Principles Consulting, an Australian mining‑sector consultancy, needed a way to create and present large, calculation‑driven Value Driver Trees in Excel rather than the slow, manual drawing process they had been using. They selected Palisade’s BigPicture for Excel (part of Palisade’s product suite) to build maps that link visual topics to live spreadsheet data and support analysis across management and operational processes.

Palisade’s BigPicture enabled live calculations, What‑If scenario modeling, color‑coded large maps with hide/collapse controls, and easier KPI alignment, making previously static diagrams dynamic and presentation‑ready. The vendor’s solution let First Principles create Value Driver Trees on day one, deliver “payback in less than a day,” and dramatically reduce manual update effort while improving stakeholder visibility and operational decision‑making.

First Principles Consulting

Mark Franklin

Owner and Principal