Power BI Integration with Business Central Financial Reporting

Why Power BI + Business Central?

In today’s fast-paced business environment, financial leaders need real-time insights, interactive dashboards, and flexible reporting tools. While Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) offers strong built-in financial reporting, integrating it with Power BI takes your reporting capabilities to the next level.

Power BI allows you to:

• Visualize financial data with interactive dashboards.

• Drill down into dimensions like department, location, or project.

• Share reports securely across your organization.

• Combine BC data with other sources (e.g., Excel, CRM, payroll).

Connecting Power BI to Business Central

The integration is native and secure, using OData web services and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) for authentication.

Steps to Connect:

1. Install Power BI Desktop (if you haven’t already).

2. In Power BI, choose Get Data > Online Services > Dynamics 365 Business Central.

3. Sign in with your Microsoft 365 credentials.

4. Select your environment and company.

5. Choose from available web services (e.g., General Ledger Entries, Chart of Accounts, Customers).

   
   

💡 Tip: You can also publish custom web services from BC to expose specific data sets.

Key Financial Data Sources

Once connected, you can access a wide range of financial data, including:

• General Ledger Entries

• Trial Balance

• Chart of Accounts

• Customer and Vendor Balances

• Budget vs. Actuals

• Dimensions and Dimension Values

  
  

These tables can be linked using relationships in Power BI to build a unified financial model.

Using Dimensions for Dynamic Reporting.

One of the most powerful features of BC is its dimension-based accounting. In Power BI, you can:

• Filter financials by Department, Location, Project, etc.

• Create slicers for real-time filtering.

• Build matrix visuals to show P&L by dimension.

  
  

Example: A CFO can view revenue by department, drill into a specific region, and compare actuals to budget—all in one dashboard.

Pre-Built Power BI Apps

Microsoft offers pre-built Power BI apps for Business Central:

• Finance App: Includes income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow visuals.

• Sales App: Tracks customer sales, top products, and trends.

  
  

These apps are customizable and can be extended with your own visuals and KPIs.

Best Practices for Financial Reporting

1. Use Global Dimensions: Ensure your most important dimensions (e.g., Department, Location) are set as global in BC for easier reporting.

2. Refresh Data Regularly: Schedule data refreshes in the Power BI Service to keep dashboards up to date.

3. Secure Your Data: Use row-level security to restrict access to sensitive financial data.

4. Document Your Model: Keep track of how tables and measures are related for easier maintenance.

   
   
   
   

Advanced Tips

• Custom Measures: Use DAX to create custom KPIs like Gross Margin %, Operating Income, or Budget Variance.

• Combine Data Sources: Merge BC data with Excel budgets, payroll systems, or CRM data for a 360° view.

• Drillthrough Pages: Let users click on a department or account to see detailed transactions.

Final Thoughts

The Power BI integration with Business Central empowers finance teams to move beyond static reports and into interactive, real-time financial storytelling. Whether you're a CFO, controller, or analyst, this connection gives you the tools to make smarter, faster decisions.