Power BI Extra is a tool or feature designed to enhance the data visualization capabilities in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central software environment. Its primary function is to enable users to access and display a comprehensive set of data visualizations, often comprising various charts, graphs, and reports, all from within the Business Central platform.

This enhancement is particularly valuable because it simplifies accessing and analyzing data. Instead of switching between different applications or tools to view multiple visualizations, users can remain within the familiar Business Central interface. By providing a full display of these visualizations, Power BI Extra offers a more holistic and efficient way for users to gain insights from their data.

In practical terms, this means that users can quickly access and interact with diverse data representations, aiding in decision-making, trend analysis, and data-driven actions directly within the Business Central environment. This streamlines workflows saves time, and enhances the user experience for those working with complex data sets or business intelligence needs.

Power BI Extra is currently available on Cloud, Software As A Service (SAAS) only.

Availability of Power BI Extra Functionality

Power BI Extra can be found on many pages (the full list including screenshots is available at the end of this documentation). It can be seen on List Pages and even Card Pages. The availability of this add-on is seen within the Factbox Pane, Details section.

It is important that the user purchases the Power BI licence in order to use this functionality, otherwise the above section will not appear in the fact box area. To get the most out of our solution, we recommend acquiring the Power BI Pro licence.

By analysing and retrieving data from Business Central pages, the add-on transforms it into an easy-to-understand graphs. Whether the add-on is available on sales orders, bank accounts, assets or item pages, users can spot trends, patterns, and anomalies that might go unnoticed when viewing the page alone. It gives the user a quick overview of the page in a very concise manner.

Adding a Power BI Report

We have created a standard set of reports called New Power BI Fact Boxes that are embedded in our solution. These reports are available to anyone who decides to download and use Power BI Extra. It is not possible to modify this type of reports, only to view them. Users will be able to edit the reports, but the ability to save, copy or share them via a link will be disabled. All these actions are only enabled for reports created by the users themselves.

Users can add a new report by clicking on the ‘Select reports’ hyperlink. This in turn directs the user to a modal to choose the desired Power BI Report.

From here the user chooses the report and the add-on immediately sets up the graph or other graphical data to the corresponding page. The same report will be available for all elements in the list and all corresponding cards. If the user wishes to change the pre-selected reports manually, they can also use the Edit List option below and tick the Enabled checkbox next to the desired report.

In this case according to the Bank Account the user is on the appropriate information is shown.

This is the same report after the user has entered the bank account card. They can change what they see by choosing a different report from the selection, which is explained in more detail in the following sections.

Hover Menu

When the user hovers over the top right corner of the fact box, a menu appears with the following options.

Copying Image

It is possible to copy the image including the caption by clicking on the icon below. After clicking the icon, the system will display information that the image is being created. When the image is ready, a confirmation appears and the user needs to scroll to the bottom of the factbox and click the green Copy button.

Filtering Data

When the user clicks on this icon, all currently filtered data affecting the report will be displayed. The ability to modify the filters and access more granular settings of the given report is available in Edit Mode after selecting the Manage Report option, described in more detail in the sections below.

Focus Mode

The user can also focus on the entire graph by clicking on the icon below. To go back to the original data representation the ‘Back to report’ button must be clicked. It is also possible to zoom in and out using the right Ctrl key and the mouse wheel.

Three dots menu

The rightmost part of the hover menu is the following three-dot submenu, which allows users to export the data to CSV or Excel format, change the sorting options, or view the displayed data as a table, for example.

Power BI Report Heading Menu

When the user clicks on the selected Power BI report heading, the following drop-down menu appears.

Choosing another Report

If for some reason the user wishes to select a different report to be displayed on the screen, this can be changed by clicking on the Power BI heading, which will display several options. Then select the first option 'Select Report' and follow the same process as above.

Expanding the Report

To view the report in full screen, the user can select the 'Expand Report' option. The user can scroll left and right to view other parts of the displayed data. It is also possible to modify filters affecting the visual.

Choosing the Previous or Next Report

If multiple reports have been set up for the same list or card page, the user can switch between the reports by clicking on the 'Previous Report' or 'Next Report' button from the Power BI heading dropdown menu.

Managing a Report

If the user needs to edit something within the report visualization itself it can be done by choosing the ‘Manage Report’ option from the drop-down.

Edit Mode

Although the Edit Mode is available for the standard set of reports as well as for user’s own reports, copying, saving and sharing of reports is available only for the reports created by the users themselves. Therefore we recommend working with the editting mode only to users who have already some level of experience in Power BI. In case the user is interested in other reports below the standard set and they do not have expertise with the Power BI tool, they can contact us at info@onpointserv.com and we will prepare the custom reports for them.

Once this option is chosen, the user will be directed to a more detailed aspect and view of the report itself. The user will be set inside the ‘Edit Mode’ panel at first as seen below.

Editing Mode Ribbon

When the user enters Edit Mode, they will be able to benefit from all sorts of drop-down menus and tools that are placed on the grey horizontal ribbon that can be seen in the image above. This ribbon contains rather advanced features that are directly related to Power BI tool, so we will only describe the most basic features that any user can benefit from.

File Drop-down Menu

From here the user has the ability of either saving their report or saving a copy of their report by clicking the File drop-down button from the editing ribbon, and choosing one of the two options:

Save which saves the modifications that were done to the report layout and applies the changes immediately
Save as which saves a copy of the report changes that have been done

View Drop-down Menu

The next drop down menu available on the editing ribbon is the View menu.

Here the user can adjust the view of the report, choose a different colour scheme for the view, or show or hide different sections of the advanced menu using various toggle buttons.

Vertical Menus

In addition to the features accessible from the horizontal grey ribbon described above, there are also three vertical menus available in editing mode. The tools in these menus allow the user to further specify what type of data is displayed and how it is represented visually.

Filters Pane

The filters pane lets the user to apply filters on the available report visualization. This pane can be collapsed using the arrow buttons.

If the user wishes to keep the filters but hide them for the moment, they should click on the eye icon within the pane.

Visualizations Pane

From the pane below, the user can change the graphical representation of the report by simply clicking on the required visual.

Data Pane

This pane displays all the variables and attributes that can be included in the selected Power BI report.

View Mode

Besides the Edit Mode the user also has the option to acces the View Mode where it is possible to modify filters affecting the visual. The same mode can be accessed from the Power BI Report Heading menu mentioned in one of the sections above.

Refreshing the Page

The available Power BI graphical report can be refreshed using the Refresh Page button.

Uploading a New Report

The user can choose to upload a new report from the PBIX file by clicking on the Upload Report option from the below drop-down.

Once clicking on this option, a modal will pop up and the user will be able to choose the needed report by clicking on the three dots as show below.

Then the user must drag and drop or select a PBIX report file from his device.

After choosing the report, Upload Report should be chosen to proceed.

Resetting All Reports

The last option within the drop-down menu is the Reset All Reports functionality. This button resets all Power BI setup in Business Central, for all users. Reports with the users Power BI workspace are not affected but need to be removed manually.