Power BI reporting for companies on Dynamics 365 Business Central
You already have the data in Business Central. Palavir builds the Power BI reports on top of it: one model across all your companies, and reports that end in what to do next, not just what happened. Built in your tenant, handed over with documentation.
Based in metro Detroit, available to companies across Michigan and remotely across the US. Reporting only: no ERP implementation. Fixed fee, quoted before work starts.
Start with what Microsoft gives you free
Microsoft publishes 9 free Power BI apps for Business Central, with 117 report pages between them across sales, purchasing, inventory, finance, projects and manufacturing. If they answer your questions, use them. These are the limits Microsoft documents, and where most companies outgrow them.
One company per app
Each company in your environment needs its own install and workspace, and nothing in the box rolls them up.
Microsoft's documentation (opens in a new tab)Licences for everyone who reads them
The apps are free; the people who install, refresh or open the reports need Power BI Pro, or the company needs Premium capacity.
Microsoft's documentation (opens in a new tab)Online only
Microsoft publishes the apps for Business Central online. On-premises environments do not get them.
Microsoft's documentation (opens in a new tab)They describe, they do not decide
They show what happened by area: sales, inventory, finance. Which customer to call or which item to reorder this week is left to whoever reads them.
Read the full guideReports that end in a next action
The free apps show what is in stock and who owes you money. The reports Palavir builds take the same data one step further, to the decision someone has to make this week.
Inventory
Out of the box
Quantity on hand and ABC class.
What gets built
Which items to reorder this week, given what is on order, what is committed and each supplier's lead time.
Receivables
Out of the box
Aged receivables by bucket.
What gets built
Which customers to call today, in order, and how much is at stake on each.
Sales orders
Out of the box
Orders and revenue by customer and item.
What gets built
Which open orders will ship short, and which customers should hear it before they find out.
Across companies
Out of the box
A separate set of reports per legal entity.
What gets built
One view of every company, built on purpose, so the owner sees the whole business on one page.
These are examples of the kind of report, not results from a client.
How it starts: one dashboard
No program, no long statement of work. One dashboard on your data, for one decision, so you can judge the work before deciding on more.
Step 1
A 30-minute fit call
What you run, how many companies, which Power BI licences you have, and the one decision you most want a report to help with.
Step 2
A look at your data
Read access to the tables that decision needs. Nothing is written back to Business Central and nothing in your configuration changes.
Step 3
One dashboard, fixed fee
Scope, price and delivery date are agreed in writing before work starts. It is built in your Power BI tenant, on your licences.
Step 4
Handover
Documentation, a named owner on your side, and checks that flag when a refresh fails or a number stops adding up. More dashboards only if the first one earns it.
What the fit call will ask
- Are you on Business Central online, or on premises?
- How many companies (legal entities) are in your environment?
- Do your report readers have Power BI Pro, or do you have Premium or Premium Per User?
- Are you using any of Microsoft's free Power BI apps today?
- What is the one decision you would like a report to make easier this month?
What Palavir does not do
ERP implementation, configuration, extensions or data migrations. Your Business Central partner owns your system; Palavir builds the reporting on top of it and works alongside them. If you are still choosing or changing an ERP, that partner is the right first call.
Power BI and Business Central questions
What owners, controllers and operations leads ask before hiring someone to build their reporting.
Your implementation partner may have a reporting team; many smaller partners do not. An independent Power BI consultant can build on top of your Business Central data without touching your ERP setup. Palavir does that for small and mid-size companies: one model across your companies, reports that end in a next action, built in your own Power BI tenant and handed over with documentation.
For many companies they are a good start. Microsoft publishes 9 free apps with 117 report pages between them. Microsoft's own documentation says they work one company at a time, only for Business Central online, and that everyone who uses them needs a Power BI Pro licence or Premium capacity. They report what happened; they do not tell anyone what to do next. The full list of apps and documented limits is in our guide at palavir.co/partners/business-central-power-bi.
Yes, but not with the free apps, which install per company, and not by pointing one report at the OData feed, which Microsoft says does not export data from multiple companies. A consolidated view needs a model that brings each company's data together on purpose. That is usually the first thing a multi-entity business asks for.
It is a fixed fee, quoted after the fit call, based on the decision the dashboard serves, how many companies it covers and how clean the data is. It starts with one dashboard so you can judge the work before committing to more. No hourly billing.
No. Palavir does not do ERP implementation, configuration or migrations. Keep your partner for that. Palavir builds the reporting and analytics layer on top of the data you already have.
Read access to the data the report needs, through a Business Central user you control and can switch off. Nothing is written back to Business Central. The reports live in your Power BI tenant, so they stay yours when the engagement ends.
Not for most reports. Power BI Pro covers building and sharing. Some advanced tooling needs Premium, Premium Per User or Embedded, which is why the fit call asks which licences you have.
Yes. Palavir is based in metro Detroit and works remotely; the work happens in your Power BI tenant, so nothing about it needs anyone on site.
Tell me what you wish your reports told you
Thirty minutes is enough to see what you run, what you report on today, and whether one dashboard would change a decision you make every week.