Customising Business Central Power BI Templates

Since Microsoft open-sourced the Power BI template apps for Business Central, they are a good place to customise from. The release note says: "You can change the Power BI semantic models and reports to fit your business needs" (Access open-sourced Power BI apps).

The catch is the next update. Microsoft's install guide warns: "When you update a template app, it's important that you're aware of your options and how they might overwrite earlier changes to the reports" (Install Power BI apps for Business Central).

This post covers what an update keeps, what it replaces, and where each kind of customisation should live so an upgrade does not quietly undo it. Every Microsoft claim links to its Learn source.

What you have after an install

Each app has two parts: a connector (AL) app, preinstalled in Business Central, and a Power BI template app from Microsoft Marketplace holding the semantic model and reports. Once installed, the template app appears under Apps in Power BI, with "a workspace with the same name that you can use to configure the app" (same install guide).

The workspace and the app are different things, and the difference matters at update time: the workspace holds the semantic model and reports, and the app is what gets published to users from it.

What an update offers

When Microsoft releases a new version, you get an update banner in the Power BI service and a notification in the notification pane. Choosing to update gives three options, described in Power BI's own documentation (Install, share, and update template apps):

1. Update the workspace and the app. Microsoft's guidance is to choose this "if you didn't make any changes to the app or its content and want to overwrite the old app."
2. Update only workspace content without updating the app. This updates the reports, dashboards and semantic model in the workspace, then lets you choose what to include before you republish the app.
3. Install another copy of the app into a new workspace. A fresh workspace and app, leaving your current one untouched.

What an overwrite keeps, and what it replaces

The same page is specific about overwrite behaviour. Read together:

Also, after an overwrite an automatic refresh starts, and "during this refresh, the app, reports, and dashboards present sample data." Anyone who opens the reports mid-refresh sees sample numbers.

So edits to Microsoft's original reports, or to the semantic model, inside the template workspace are exactly what an overwrite replaces.

Microsoft's recommended pattern: two tiers of workspace

Microsoft's install guide describes the fix:

"Consider having the template app workspaces highly governed and not used directly for the embedded experience. Instead, consider having a single workspace per company that you use for the embed experience. In this workspace, keep copies or custom versions of the template reports. This helps mitigate the problem of losing report customizations when you upgrade the template app workspace."

In practice that means:

• Tier 1, the template workspace. Microsoft's app, as installed. Nobody edits it. Updates land here.
• Tier 2, a company workspace. Your copies and custom reports. This is what users open and what Business Central embeds.

To copy, choose Save a copy on a report and pick the destination workspace. It needs Build permission on the semantic model, at least Contributor in both workspaces, and a Pro or Premium Per User licence (Copy reports from other apps or workspaces).

The part that is easy to miss: the copy still uses the template's model

A saved copy copies the report, not the model behind it: "You haven't made a copy of the semantic model. The semantic model still resides in its original location" (same page). Your copy keeps a live connection to the semantic model in the template workspace.

That has two consequences:

• Report changes are protected. Your copy is not an original report in the template workspace, so an overwrite does not replace it.
• Model changes are not. The model your copy reads is the one an update overwrites. Measures or tables added to that model inside the template workspace are exposed to the next overwrite, and any change Microsoft makes to the model reaches your copy too.

Where each kind of customisation belongs

The third row is the real decision. The .pbix source for each app can be downloaded from an installed app, from version 26.2 for most apps and 27.0 for Purchasing, Projects and Sales (Power BI apps FAQ). A model started from that file cannot be overwritten by a template update, but updates no longer flow into it either: taking Microsoft's improvements becomes a deliberate merge. You own the model, and owning it includes maintaining it.

A simple upgrade routine

1. Keep a list of every customisation and where it lives.
2. When an update arrives, first install another copy into a new workspace and compare it with what you run today.
3. Update the governed template workspace outside working hours, since reports show sample data until the refresh finishes.
4. Open each saved copy in the company workspace and check that the fields it uses still exist and still return numbers.
5. If you maintain your own model, decide which of Microsoft's changes to merge, and record why.

The other limits Microsoft documents are quoted in the Power BI for Business Central guide, and Business Central dashboard examples covers what to build on top of the templates.

For Microsoft partners

If a client needs a custom model that survives upgrades and you do not keep a reporting bench, Palavir builds that layer for Microsoft partners: the model, the measures and the pages, in the client's tenant, delivered under your brand.