The combination of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power BI is a powerful tool for businesses to gain insights into their operations. In this blog, we will walk through the steps of gathering the information needed to create a dashboard that reflects project costs versus budget. This will enable project managers and stakeholders to monitor project performance, costs, and other key metrics in an easily digestible format.
Step 1: Setting Up Data Sources in Business Central
First, ensure you have the necessary permissions to access the Projects module in Business Central. You'll need to set up an OData web service to enable Power BI to pull data from Business Central.
Step 2: Connecting Power BI to Business Central
Power BI offers two ways to connect to Business Central. You can either get data through the OData function and copy and paste the SOAP URL into Power BI, or you can connect Business Central to Power BI via Online Services.
Step 3: Transforming Data in Power BI
Before creating visualizations, you may need to transform and clean the data. Taking the time to remove unnecessary columns and rename columns will help you clearly decipher and determine what information ends up on the dashboard and any potential filters you may need.
Step 4: Creating Visualizations
Now, let's create visualizations to summarize your projects. For example, in our scenario, our customer needed to see costs versus budget. Ultimately, we modeled our canvas to be interactive based on the Project Number, but you could choose to use drop-down functions or even basic charts to convey this information.
Step 5: Creating the Dashboard
Arrange your visualizations on the report canvas to be both accessible and appealing for the user. Add titles, labels, and other design elements to enhance readability, but also ensure the dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of the information you're trying to convey. Add slicers to make your dashboard interactive as well as informative.
Step 6: Publishing and Sharing
Once you are finished with the cosmetic appearance of your dashboard, publish it to your workspace. Now that it is in your workspace, open the Business Central home page, scroll to the bottom, and access the Power BI report drop-down menu to select "Add Report." This will pop open a box that will link your workspace to Business Central. You can now select the dashboard you have created in Power BI to appear on your Business Central home page.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can create a powerful Power BI dashboard that provides a comprehensive summary of the Projects module in Business Central. This dashboard will help you monitor project performance, control costs, and make informed decisions. Embrace the power of data visualization to drive your project management to new heights!