Drive Insights with Business Central Power BI Integration

Ever feel like your reports are just elaborate explanations of what you should have done last month? I’ve been there.

Reporting isn’t the goal. Insight is. And with Business Central Power BI integration, insight is no longer a quarterly luxury—it’s a daily reality.

AI-powered forecasts, live dashboards, and natural language queries put decision-makers in the driver’s seat instead of clinging to the rear bumper.

I’ve worked with business leaders who spent weeks compiling end-of-month reports, only to realize they were already a week into the next crisis. That’s not sustainable.

Business Central changes that. It combines ERP smarts with Microsoft’s analytics muscle to create a single source of truth, where data flows freely and decisions follow fast.

In this blog, I’ll walk through how Business Central helps you stop guessing and start knowing, with less overhead and more confidence.

 

What Are the Best Ways to Use Data from Business Central for Business Intelligence?

It still surprises me how many companies are data-rich but insight-poor.

They’re collecting information at every turn: sales figures, inventory levels, project costs. But using it to make decisions?

That’s another story.

The best way to use Business Central for business intelligence is to connect it to tools that bring clarity to complexity.

With Business Central's built-in analytics and Power BI integration, companies can:

• Visualize KPIs by role, department, or location

• Drill into transactions and trends without switching systems

• Get real-time updates instead of static reports

It's not about dumping more data on your desk. It's about turning what you already have into action.

I talked more about this shift—moving from slow, on-premises systems to flexible, cloud-based tools—in a recent blog on how cloud ERP drives better operational efficiency.

Does Business Central Come with Power BI?

This one comes up a lot.

The short answer? Yes… but with some nuance.

Business Central includes an embedded Power BI experience, which means you can view interactive reports and dashboards right within your ERP system.

And it’s available to all users, with no extra license required.

If you want to build custom reports or use advanced analytics features in Power BI Desktop or Power BI Pro, you’ll need a separate license for that.

Still, most companies I work with find the out-of-the-box setup powerful enough to start getting value immediately.

Real-time dashboards, custom visuals, and drill-through reporting are all possible with just a few clicks.

And because it all lives inside the system your team is already using, the learning curve is blissfully short.

For the tech-curious, here’s Microsoft’s documentation on enabling Power BI integration.

 

How Does Dynamics 365 Business Central Use AI to Support Decision Making?

AI in ERP isn’t science fiction. It’s more like preventive maintenance for your margins, helping small and mid-sized businesses make smarter, faster decisions.

Here’s what that looks like in real life:

• Cash Flow Forecasting - Business Central predicts your future cash position based on receivables, payables, and historical trends.

• Inventory Planning - Machine learning anticipates low-stock scenarios and suggests reorder quantities.

• Late Payment Predictions - The system identifies which customers are likely to pay late so you can follow up sooner.

Add in Microsoft Copilot’s natural language interface, and suddenly your controller can ask,

“What are our outstanding receivables by region?” — without navigating ten menus or calling the IT team.

It’s smart, simple, and built to help humans make better calls—not get replaced by robots.

For a broader perspective, Forbes shared a great piece on how AI in ERP is reshaping business performance.

 

Use Cases That Prove the ROI

Let’s talk results. Because while dashboards and forecasts sound nice, the question is always: Does it work?

Here are two examples from real Business Central Power BI integrations I’ve worked on:

• Inventory Chaos to Clarity - A distributor was juggling 19 spreadsheets to track inventory. None of them matched. When we connected Business Central to Power BI, their jaws hit the   floor. Long story short: the “monthly binder” is now a dashboard tile, and inventory accuracy went way up.

  
  

• Real-Time Project Profitability - A service-based company used to wait until the quarter ended to analyze project profitability. Now they see margins shift in real time and adjust before the damage is done.

Whether it’s avoiding costly stockouts or making pricing changes mid-project, companies are moving from hindsight to foresight—and seeing the ROI show up in both their numbers and their sanity.

How to Integrate Power BI with Business Central for Real-Time Reporting

This part surprises people: You don’t need a six-month roadmap or a BI consultant to get started.

Here’s how most companies integrate Power BI with Business Central:

1. Enable the integration (usually a quick configuration step)

2. Select your data from standard or custom tables

3. Customize dashboards for the roles that need them

4. Share reports through Business Central or Microsoft Teams

The key benefit here is that real-time reporting becomes your default. As data changes in your ERP, those changes are reflected instantly in your dashboards.

No more exporting to Excel, waiting for IT, or hoping last week’s report is still relevant.

If you want to get fancy, Power BI Pro opens up advanced modeling, predictive analytics, and cross-platform dashboards.

But the base integration is powerful on its own, especially when paired with Business Central’s clean, cloud-based architecture.

 

Final Takeaway: From Rearview to Real-Time

Too many businesses are still running on rearview reporting: seeing what happened after it’s too late to fix it.

But with the Business Central Power BI integration, your teams are empowered to operate in real-time, anticipate issues before they hit, and lead with clarity.

This isn’t about having more data. It’s about having the right data, at the right time, in the right format, so you can make the right call.

With a knowledgeable partner, the setup’s straightforward, and the payoff is real.

If you’re ready to get more out of your data without adding more work to your day, let’s talk. I’ll show you how Business Central and Power BI can give your team a clear view of what’s happening—and what’s coming next.

Still exploring your options? Join our upcoming webinar and get a side-by-side comparison of Microsoft Dynamics GP vs Business Central.

About the Author

Chris Boling is a founding partner of Sandlapper Dynamics, where he helps businesses streamline operations, enhance productivity, and achieve strategic growth through Microsoft Dynamics 365. With over two decades of experience in the Dynamics community, Chris combines deep technical expertise with a customer-first approach to guide organizations through digital transformation.

His unique perspective, shaped by years as both a consultant and an end-user, enables Chris to deliver practical insights that bridge the gap between technology and business outcomes.

Chris brings authenticity, empathy, and a commitment to sustainable growth to every engagement.

You can reach Chris on LinkedIn.