Getting insights into your Business Central data is easy with Power BI and the Business Central content packs. Power BI retrieves your data and then builds an out-of-the-box dashboard and reports based on that data.
You must have a valid account with Dynamics 365 and with Power BI. Also, you must download Power BI Desktop if you wish to create your own Power BI reports. Power BI content packs require permissions to the tables where data is retrieved from. More details on the requirements are described below.
The content packs that are described in this article are designed to use Azure Active Directory as the authentication mechanism. If you use Business Central on-premises and use a different authentication mechanism, then Power BI cannot connect to your data.
Microsoft has published the following content packs:
Each content pack provides reports that you can drill into:
The content packs are preconfigured to work with data from the demonstration company that you get when you sign up for Business Central . When you install the apps in Power BI, and you connect to your own data, some reports may not work because they rely on data that your company does not have. In those cases, you can simply remove that report from your dashboard.
You can also build your own reports and dashboards in Power BI based on your Business Central data. For more information, see Connecting Your Business Data to Power BI.
You may also get starting from within Business Central . From the role center, navigate to Report Selection in the Power BI Role Center part. Select either Service or My Organization from the ribbon. When either of these actions are selected, you will be taken to either the Organization gallery in Power BI or to the services library in Power BI, which will also be filtered to only display content packs related to Business Central .
To import your Dynamics 365 Business Central data into Power BI, you need to have permissions to the web services used to retrieve data. The web services required for each content pack include:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – CRM
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Finance
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Jobs
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central - Sales
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Customers List
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central - General Ledger Entries List
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Items List
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Jobs List
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Purchase Invoices List
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Sales Orders List
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – Vendors List
An easy way to find the web services is to search for web services in Dynamics 365 Business Central . In the list make sure the Publish box is marked for the web services listed above.
The Power BI dashboard relies on the published web services that are listed above, and it will show data from the demonstration company or your own company if you import data from your current finance solution. However, if something goes wrong, this section provides a workaround for the most typical issues.
A common mistake is to enter the company display name instead of the company name. To find the company name search for Companies. Then use the Name field when entering your company name.
The user name and password used to connect will be the same as what is used to connect to your Microsoft Office 365 account.
The content packs also require that you have a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central account. Once you enter your credentials, we will auto discover any Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central tenants you have access to. If you do not have a licensed or trial Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central account, you will receive an error message.
If you enter a non-valid company name during the connection process, you may get the error message "The key didn't match any rows in the table". Provide the correct company name and try connecting again.
Get started with Power BI
Power BI - Basic Concepts
Business Intelligence
Getting Started
Importing Business Data from Other Finance Systems
Setting Up Business Central
Importing Business Data from Other Finance Systems
Using Business Central
as a Power BI Data Source
Using Business Central
as a PowerApps Data Source
Using Business Central
in Microsoft Flow
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