Introduction
In this module and the other modules in this learning path, you get an overview on how you can create Power BI reports based upon data from Dynamics 365 Business Central.
We start with an overview on how to obtain and install Power BI Desktop. Next you learn how you can expose data from Business Central as web services. You can create API queries and API pages. To create these objects, you create custom-made objects in the development environment.
Performance is important, especially when selecting thousands of records from multiple tables in Business Central. Therefore, you learn some tips and trick on how to deal with this situation.
After you've created your data sets, you need to import them in Power BI Desktop, convert them into a star schema and you can even enrich your data using DAX expressions.
When your reports are ready, you make them available in the Power BI service and you can embed them in Business Central, so your fellow users can also make use of their functionality.
Creating any report first requires a good dataset. I would even say that creating a good dataset is the most important aspect of creating a good report. You need to analyze what data you need in your report. Then, you need to figure out how you expose that data to Power BI. And finally, it's important that you should try to do it in a repeatable way, so you're able to reuse these datasets in other Power BI reports.
To get Business Central data in Power BI, you can use the existing APIs or web services or you can create a new dataset using the development environment. It's also important that you consider the performance impact of your queries.