Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power BI are designed to work together seamlessly. Out of the box, Business Central includes Power BI integration that surfaces real-time analytics directly within BC's role centers. This guide walks through setting up your first Business Central Power BI dashboard.
Business Central Power BI Architecture
BC Power BI integration works through two layers:
- Business Central API (OData): BC exposes all its data through standardized OData APIs that Power BI connects to directly. No ETL pipeline required for most scenarios.
- Native BC Power BI component: Business Central includes a built-in Power BI component that embeds Power BI reports directly in BC pages — so users never need to leave the BC interface to see analytics.
Step 1: Connect Power BI to Business Central
In Power BI Desktop:
- Select "Get Data" → "OData feed"
- Enter your BC OData URL:
https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/v2.0/[tenant-id]/[environment-name]/api/v2.0 - Authenticate with your Microsoft 365 credentials (organizational account)
- Select the tables/entities you want to analyze
Recommended BC Data Entities for Financial Dashboards
| Analysis Area | BC API Entity | Key Fields |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Analysis | salesInvoices | postingDate, totalAmountIncludingTax, customerName |
| Accounts Receivable | customerLedgerEntries | postingDate, amount, remainingAmount, customerName |
| Accounts Payable | vendorLedgerEntries | postingDate, amount, remainingAmount, vendorName |
| Cash Position | bankAccountLedgerEntries | postingDate, amount, bankAccountNo |
| Inventory Value | items | unitCost, inventory, itemCategoryCode |
| Purchase Analysis | purchaseInvoices | postingDate, totalAmountIncludingTax, vendorName |
Step 2: Build the Financial Dashboard
A robust BC financial dashboard typically includes these report pages:
Executive Summary Page
- Revenue MTD vs. prior month (card visuals)
- Gross margin % trend (line chart by month)
- Top 10 customers by revenue (horizontal bar chart)
- Cash balance trend (line chart)
AR/AP Aging Page
- AR aging buckets (0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 90+ days) as a clustered bar chart
- Top overdue customers (table visual with conditional formatting)
- AP aging by vendor (mirror chart for symmetry)
- Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) trend
Inventory Page
- Inventory value by item category (treemap)
- Slow-moving inventory (items with no movement in 90+ days)
- Inventory turnover ratio by item group
- Reorder point alerts (items below min quantity)
Step 3: Embed in Business Central
To embed your Power BI report in BC:
- Publish your report to the Power BI service (app.powerbi.com)
- In BC, navigate to any role center page
- Select the Power BI report component and choose your published report
- The report is now embedded and visible to all users with the appropriate access
Step 4: Row-Level Security
For organizations where different users should see different data slices (by department, location, or business unit), implement Row-Level Security (RLS) in Power BI:
- Define RLS roles in Power BI Desktop using DAX filter expressions
- Map roles to Azure AD security groups
- Users automatically see only their authorized data slice
Step 5: Schedule Data Refresh
Set up scheduled refresh in Power BI Service to keep your dashboard current:
- For operational dashboards: refresh every 30 minutes (subject to Power BI Premium licensing)
- For financial dashboards: daily refresh at business-day start is typically sufficient
- Use incremental refresh for large datasets to minimize refresh time