Finance Analytics - BI

Reporting options for finance data with Power BI, standard apps, and the Finance Cube.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers integrated analyses. If these are not sufficient, there are three further options for evaluating the data. The decision depends on the size of the company and the volume of data.

Power BI Desktop/Power BI Services - Microsoft

Power BI Desktop is a free Microsoft product that enables the modeling and creation of interactive reports within moments. A direct connection to Business Central or to many other data sources, such as Excel or SharePoint, can be established. With functions such as quick measures, groupings, forecasts, clustering, or the DAX formula language, the data is analyzed in the best possible way. A pool of hundreds of visualizations is available for clear presentation of the data.

In combination with the Power BI Service, the reports can be made available across devices with colleagues. In addition, reports can be designed jointly in order to gain precise insights from company data.

BE-terna supports the setup and integration of Power BI solutions.

Power BI Standard App - eKnowtion

Microsoft gives users the possibility to use standardized third-party apps. These apps were developed for the Microsoft environment and are subject to its guidelines. The Business Central Insights Finance app provides extensive analyses, key figures, and visual representations from the Business Central finance area.

The advantage of this approach is the easier setup. The app can be downloaded easily from App Source and, with little effort, the reports can be synchronized with your Business Central data. The Business Central Insights app currently costs 80 USD per month. If more detailed analyses are required, further apps can be used. The company eKnowtion offers apps in the areas of cash flow, liabilities, and receivables, among others.

Microsoft App Source link: eKnowtion Apps Business Apps – Microsoft AppSource

Finance Standard BI - BE-terna

BE-terna Finance Standard BI includes key figures, calculations, and visual representations based on your financial accounting. In addition to standard evaluations, further individual topics (for example industry-specific key figures or account schedules) can be implemented in Power BI on request.

The queries in the background are created directly in Business Central and are ultimately connected to Power BI only via an OData link. This gives you the possibility to visualize, calculate, and combine all your Business Central data in Power BI. In addition to Business Central data, further data sources can be added and combined with the data.

BE Finance CUBE - BE-terna

The BE Finance Cube is available for extended reporting tasks. In this module, in addition to standard analyses such as income statement/P&L, balance sheet, and various result calculations, financial key figures can also be calculated across companies. Extensive BI options are available for creating ad hoc analyses. Excel and Power BI are used as front ends.

Current financial accounting data from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is used as the basis to provide, among other things, the following evaluations:

Financial accounting key figures

  • Income statement and balance sheet key figures
    • Balance sheet asset key figures
      • Balance sheet total
      • Current assets
      • Fixed assets
      • Inventories
      • Operating capital employed
      • Liquidity
      • Cash and cash equivalents
      • Trade receivables
      • Input tax
      • Share of affiliated companies
    • Balance sheet liabilities key figures
      • Equity
      • Short-term liabilities
      • Long-term liabilities
      • Trade payables
      • Liabilities
      • VAT
      • Total capital
      • Capital reserve
      • Revenue reserve
    • Balance sheet performance
      • Liquidity ratios 1/2/3
      • Asset coverage
      • Debt ratio
      • ROI
      • ROA
      • ROE
      • ROCE
      • Working capital
      • Equity ratio
    • P&L key figures
      • Profit/loss
      • Operating result
      • Capital gain
      • Sales revenue
      • Other operating income
      • Interest income
      • Cash flow
      • Personnel costs
      • Depreciation
      • Operating costs
      • Total operating costs
      • Interest expenses
      • Material expenses
  • P&L performance
  • Return on sales
  • Depreciation ratio
  • Inventory commitment
  • Margin
  • Material cost ratio
  • Personnel ratio
  • Other operating cost ratio
  • Operating cost ratio
  • P&L BWA evaluations
  • Performance cockpit
  • P&L by year/quarter/month/day
  • P&L by cost center
  • P&L with budget actual-vs-plan comparison
  • Balance sheet evaluations