Who needs a data model when you can just dump a bunch of excel sheets and database dumps in a shared folder, call it a data lake, and encourage anyone who has a report to just throw it together in the free version of power bi?

The correct move seems to be to replace the team with a set of oracle bones. From the very limited information we have it seems to me like the team was used to justify whatever conclusions were already made before consulting them.

The whole practice is kind of a proof-of-work scheme for credibility and liability laundering: even if you intend the team/company to follow your conclusions regardless of what anyone else thinks or says, getting some analysts or outside consultants to burn non-trivial amount of time and money evaluating the situation before rubber-stamping your proposal, is what may be necessary for you to sell your ideas to the rest of the team/company. Such exercise may be especially important if you want to protect yourself from having your head served on the platter after your hare-brained idea fails spectacularly.