Still relying on custom reports and spreadsheet exports?
Join us on July 22 to learn how Business Central’s built-in reporting capabilities can help you answer questions faster, create more flexible reports, and make better use of the tools you already have.
📅 Wednesday, July 22 | 🕝 2:30 PM EDT / 11:30 AM PDT
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Business Central includes a robust set of reporting and analytics capabilities. Yet many organizations still find themselves exporting data to Excel, relying on static PDFs, or requesting custom reports just to answer everyday business questions.
The problem isn’t that Business Central lacks reporting. It’s that many organizations use one reporting tool for every reporting job.
A finance team closing the books has different reporting needs than an operations manager investigating inventory discrepancies or an executive reviewing company performance. Business Central includes purpose-built tools for each of these scenarios you simply need to know which one to use.
In this guide, we’ll look at the three primary reporting tools available in Business Central, when each one makes the most sense, and how they work together to help your organization make faster, better-informed decisions.
Common Business Central Reporting Challenges
If any of these sound familiar, you’re not alone.
- Reports are exported to PDF and become outdated almost immediately.
- Teams spend hours exporting data to Excel just to answer a business question.
- Different departments request slightly different versions of the same report.
- New reporting requests often become custom development projects.
- Leadership wants dashboards while finance needs detailed transactional data.
- Users know the information exists but aren’t sure how to get to it.
Many organizations assume these are reporting problems. More often than not, they’re tool selection problems.
Choosing the Right Business Central Reporting Tool
Not every reporting need requires the same solution.
| If you need to… | Use… | Why… |
|---|---|---|
| Create formatted financial packages or operational reports | Excel Report Layouts in Business Central | Combines live Business Central data with the flexibility of Excel formatting, formulas, charts, and pivot tables. |
| Investigate a variance, answer a business question, or analyze live data | Business Central Analysis Mode | Lets you analyze and pivot live Business Central data without exporting it to Excel. |
| Monitor KPIs, trends, and executive dashboards | Power BI for Business Central | Delivers interactive dashboards that help leaders monitor business performance and drill into important metrics. |
Rather than asking which reporting tool is “best,” ask which tool is best for the question you’re trying to answer.
Excel Report Layouts in Business Central
Excel Report Layouts are ideal when you need professionally formatted reports that can be refreshed with current Business Central data.
Best Used For
- Financial reporting packages
- Customer-facing reports
- Operational reports
- Reports that require consistent formatting
- Recurring reports distributed throughout the organization
Strengths
- Familiar Excel interface
- Refreshable data
- Supports formulas, charts, pivot tables, and multiple worksheets
- Microsoft includes dozens of Excel layouts out of the box that can be customized.
Instead of manually exporting data and rebuilding reports each month, Excel layouts allow you to combine Business Central data with familiar Excel functionality including formulas, pivot tables, charts, multiple worksheets, and other Office features.
Keep in mind
Excel Report Layouts are designed for formatted reporting. They’re not intended to replace interactive data exploration.
Business Central Analysis Mode
Sometimes you don’t need another report.
You simply need an answer.
Analysis Mode lets users analyze live Business Central data directly within the application. Rather than exporting information into Excel, users can pivot, filter, group, summarize, and save analysis views without leaving Business Central.
Even better, saved analysis views can be shared across the organization, helping eliminate recurring requests for custom reports.
Best Used For
- Investigating GL variances
- Customer aging analysis
- Inventory analysis
- Sales trends
- Answering ad hoc business questions
Strengths
- Live Business Central data
- No exports required
- Shareable analysis views
- Copilot-assisted natural language analysis
- Ideal for exploratory reporting
Keep in Mind
Analysis Mode is built for analysis, not polished printed reports.
Power BI for Business Central
Power BI answers a different question altogether.
Instead of helping someone investigate individual transactions, it helps leadership monitor overall business performance.
Microsoft provides pre-built Power BI apps for Business Central covering finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, telemetry, subscription billing, and more. These dashboards connect directly to Business Central and can even be embedded within Role Centers.
Best Used For
- Executive dashboards
- KPI monitoring
- Trend analysis
- Department scorecards
- Organization-wide visibility
Strengths
- Interactive dashboards
- Drill-through capabilities
- Built-in Business Central apps
- Embedded directly inside Business Central
- Designed for ongoing performance monitoring
Keep in mind
Power BI complements Business Central reporting it doesn’t replace Analysis Mode or Excel Report Layouts.
How the Tools Work Together
One of the biggest misconceptions about Business Central reporting is that you need to choose a single reporting solution.
In reality, these tools complement one another.
A finance team might use:
- Analysis Mode to investigate an unexpected variance.
- Excel Report Layouts to generate the monthly financial package.
- Power BI to monitor financial KPIs throughout the month.
Likewise, an operations team might use Analysis Mode to investigate inventory discrepancies while leadership monitors inventory trends through Power BI dashboards.
Each tool serves a different purpose. Together, they create a reporting ecosystem that helps users move from asking questions to making informed decisions faster.
As Gino summarizes in the webinar, the goal isn’t to use every tool for every task it’s to start with one reporting need and choose the tool that best fits that scenario.
Need Help Evaluating Your Reporting Approach?
If your organization is relying heavily on spreadsheet exports, custom reports, or manual reporting processes, it may not be because Business Central lacks reporting capabilities.
It may simply be time to rethink which reporting tools you’re using and when.
The team at Bond Consulting Services helps organizations get more value from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central by matching reporting solutions to real business needs.
Whether you’re looking to streamline financial reporting, improve operational visibility, or make better use of the capabilities already available in Business Central, we’d be happy to help you evaluate your current reporting approach.
