Connect to Power BI from Business Central on-premises

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04/24/2024

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For using Business Central on-premises, it must be enabled for Power BI integration. This task is typically done by an administrator. For more information about enabling Power BI integration with Business Central online, see Set up Business Central on-premises for Power BI integration.

Some features are only available with Business Central online, not on-premises. For more information, see Introduction to Business Central and Power BI

Set up Business Central on-premises for Power BI integration

This section explains the requirements for a Business Central on-premises deployment to integrate with Power BI.

Configure either NavUserPassword or Microsoft Entra ID as the authentication method for the deployment.

Note

Power BI integration doesn't support Windows authentication and is not supported on Windows Client.
Enable OData web services and the ODataV4 endpoint.

OData web service must be enabled on the Business Central Server, and OData port opened in firewall. For more information, see Configuring Business Central Server - OData Web Services.

The local server must be accessible from the Internet.
Give Business Central user accounts a web service access key.

A web service access key is only needed to view Business Central data in Power BI. You can assign a web service access key to each user account. Or instead, create a specific account with a web service access key for use by all users. For more information, see Web Services Authentication.
Create an application registration for Business Central in Microsoft Azure.

To view Power BI reports embedded in Business Central pages, an application must be registered for Business Central in Microsoft Azure. The registered application needs permission to Power BI services. At a minimum, the app requires User.ReadWrite.All permission. For users to view reports from shared Power BI workspaces, the app requires Workspace.Read.All permission. For more information, see Registering Business Central on-premises in Microsoft Entra ID for Integrating with Other Services.

Note

If your deployment uses NavUserPassword authentication, Business Central connects to the same Power BI service for all users. You'll specify this service account as part of registering the application. With Microsoft Entra authentication, Business Central connects to the Power BI service associated with the individual user accounts.
Make the initial connection from Business Central to Power BI.

Before end-users can use Power BI in Business Central, an Azure application administrator will have to give consent to the Power BI service.

To make the initial connection, open Business Central, and run Get Started with Power BI from the Home page. This action will lead you through the consent process, and check your Power BI license. When prompted sign in using a Microsoft Entra admin account. For more information, see Connect to Power BI - one time only.

Build Power BI reports to display Dynamics 365 Business Central data

You can make your Dynamics 365 Business Central data available as a data source in Power BI Desktop and build powerful reports of the state of your business.

Use Power BI Desktop to create reports that display Dynamics 365 Business Central data. After you create reports, you can publish them to your Power BI service, or share them with all users in your organization. Once these reports are in the Power BI service, users that are set up for it, can then view the reports in Dynamics 365 Business Central.

For Business Central on-premises, get the following information:
- The OData URL for Business Central.
  
  Typically, this URL has the format http[s]://[computer]:[port]/[serverinstance]/ODataV4, for example, https://localhost:7048/BC190/ODataV4. If you have a multi-tenant deployment, include the tenant in the URL, for example, https://localhost:7048/BC190/ODataV4?tenant=tenant1.
- A user name and web service access key of a Business Central account.
  
  To get data from Business Central, Power BI uses basic authentication. So, you'll need a user name and web service access key to connect. The account might be your own user account, or your organization may have specific account for this purpose.

Add Business Central as a data source in Power BI Desktop

The first task in creating reports is to add Business Central as a data source in Power BI Desktop. Once connected, you can start to build the report.

Start Power BI Desktop.
Select Get Data.

If you don't see Get Data, select the File menu, then Get Data.
On the Get Data page, select Online Services.
In the Online Services pane, connect to Business Central on-premises, select Dynamics 365 Business Central (on-premises), then Connect.
Sign-in to Business Central (one-time only).

If you haven't signed in to Business Central from Power BI desktop before, you're prompted to sign in.
- For Business Central on-premises, first enter the OData URL for Business Central, then select OK. When prompted, enter the user name and password of the account to use for connecting to Business Central. In the Password box, enter the web service access key. When done, select Connect.
Note

Once you have successfully connected to Business Central, you won't be prompted again to sign in. How do I change or clear the account I'm currently using to connect to Business Central from Power BI Desktop?
Once connected, Power BI contacts to the Business Central service. The Navigator windows appears and displays available data sources for building reports. Select a folder to expand it and see the available data sources.

These data sources represent all the web services and API pages that are published for Business Central. The data sources are grouped by the Business Central environments and companies.

Note

The structure for Business Central on-premises is different because it doesn't support API pages.
Select the data source or sources that you want to add to your data model, and then select the Load button.
If later you want to add more Business Central data, you can repeat the previous steps.

Once the data is loaded, you can see it in the right navigation on the page. At this point, you've successfully connected to your Business Central data, and you can begin building your Power BI report.

Tip

For more information about using Power BI Desktop, see Get started with Power BI Desktop.

Manage and modify reports

Note

You can’t manage and modify reports.

Upload reports

For Business Central on-premises, there are no demo reports available, so you'll have to start from scratch by using Power BI Desktop. Alternatively, Power BI reports can be distributed as files that you can upload directly from Power BI online service. For more information, see Upload the report to the service.