As of version 25.1 of Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud, you have access to a comprehensive set of new Power BI reports, integrated directly into the Business Central environment.
This provides end users with much better data analysis capabilities. For organizations that don't initially have much need for data analysis, these reports may be fine.
However, when you want to go further with in-depth analysis in Power BI, you may run into limitations.
What if you need more than the basics?
Comprehensive reports that go beyond just ERP data
Birds BI goes beyond the capabilities of Business Central’s enhanced reporting.
If your organization needs to analyze data from multiple (international) BC environments in a single platform or combine data from other systems with ERP data for in-depth analyses in Power BI, you’ll quickly outgrow Business Central’s standard reporting options.
With Birds BI, you gain a comprehensive view for advanced Power BI analyses and access to a single source of truth, enabling informed decision-making.
Birds BI reports vs Microsoft BC
To highlight the differences between the reporting capabilities of Business Central and Birds BI, we’ve compiled a comparison table for you.
| Microsoft Business Central | Birds BI | |
|---|---|---|
| Reports for Purchasing | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reports for Inventory | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reports for Accounts Receivable | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reports for Accounts Payable | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reports for Finance | ✔ | ✔ |
| Rapporten for Production | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reports for Projects | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reports for Fixed Assets | ✔ | ✔ |
| Data from multiple business processes in a single report | — | ✔ |
| Reports for software/add-ons | — | Including 4PS Construct, ItSuitsFashion, PrintVis, Dynalogic Jobmanager, 9A Memberships, and other add-ons. |
| Support for multiple BC cloud environments | — | ✔ |
| Historical data from legacy BC/NAV environments | — | ✔ |
| Combing data from multiple source systems | — | ✔ |
| Multi-currency support | — | ✔ |
| Multi-company support | — | ✔ |
| Power BI license | Pro | Pro |
| Pricing |
- Power BI user license - Business Central user license - Service fees |
- Power BI user license - Fabric or Azure license - Service fees - Starting from €600 for BC and/or CE |
FAQ
No, the completely new reports available from Dynamics 365 Business Central v25.1 are only compatible with the cloud version.
Yes, the open-source solution BC2ADLS allows structured data export from a Business Central Cloud environment to an Azure Data Lake.
Yes, accessing the new reports requires an additional account—and therefore an extra license—for everyone in your organization who wants to view them. With Birds BI, however, this is not necessary.