A feature called Business Intelligence is used by to assist end-users in data analysis and reporting. This works mainly with the help of dimensions. These dimensions in Business Central are custom attributes that can be assigned to a variety of different entry records. Also, it can then be grouped by similarities such as a region or product, and with reporting via account schedules. Business Intelligence accomplishes a variety of tasks including:
- Comparing actual v/s budgeted amounts
- Set up analysis views using dimensions
- Create analysis reports for sales, purchases, and inventory
- Establishing KPIs and analyzing financial performance
Budget V/S Actual Amount Analysis
This comparison of analyzing budget, actual amounts make use of G/L Budgets. These budgets can be seen by entering G/L Budgets in the search function. After opening the desired budget, there are filter fields at the top that allow for the definition of which data is shown. These actual and budgeted amounts can be viewed for all accounts by navigating to the Chart of Accounts page and selecting the G/L Balance/Budget action.
Analyzing by Dimension
It can be done through the ‘Analysis Views’ page of . When opening an analysis view, there is an ‘Analysis by Dimensions’ function. After applying the desired filters and dimensions, the left columns will contain the information defined by the ‘Show as Lines’ field. The right columns will have the data from the Show as Columns field.
Creating Analysis Reports
Analysis reports assist in the creation of customized reports on the records of transactions. It can be personalized to focus on key accounts to examine things like profits, sales, and turnover to then compare with previous months or years and calculate differences. This is all done within the same view and gives the ability to easily jump to areas that are posing problems. There are a few analysis reports templates that come with Business Central, but they can be further customized to fit each business’s individual needs.
Financial Reporting with Account Schedules
Account schedules are mainly used to help generate information of financial data stored into the pieces within the chart of accounts. They analyze data within G/L accounts and compare entries on the general ledger with G/L budgets. There are a few default accounts schedules that come with Dynamics 365 Business Central, but new columns and rows can be created to provide more customization and serve different functions like calculating profit margins by the department.
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