Four Important Power BI Updates in Business Central

Microsoft continues to invest heavily in embedded Power BI within Business Central, with recent updates introducing practical improvements for reporting, forecasting, and decision-making.

Rather than listing every change, this article focuses on four Power BI updates that have the most practical impact for Business Central customers, based on how reporting and insight are commonly used across finance, operations, and purchasing teams.

Forecasting Inventory Flow with the Enhanced Inventory Power BI App

One of the most valuable updates is the enhancement of the Inventory Power BI app to support future inventory flow forecasting.

Historically, inventory reporting has been largely retrospective. Businesses could see stock levels, movements, and historical trends, but forward visibility was limited. The enhanced app now makes it easier to understand where inventory is heading, not just where it has been.

This supports:

• Earlier identification of potential stock shortages

• Improved visibility of excess or slow-moving stock

• Better alignment between purchasing decisions and expected demand

For organisations managing high-value, fast-moving, or constrained inventory, this shift enables more proactive planning and fewer reactive decisions.

Read more: "Use the enhanced Inventory Power BI app to forecast future inventory flow" >

Enhanced Financial Reporting for Clearer Insight

Financial reporting within Business Central has also been strengthened, with improvements designed to make Power BI reports clearer and easier to work with.

The emphasis here is on usability and consistency, helping finance teams reach answers more quickly without relying on repeated exports or manual manipulation.

These enhancements help to:

• Reduce time spent reconciling figures across reports

• Improve consistency between operational and financial data

• Make reports easier for non-technical users to interpret

For finance teams, this means fewer offline workarounds and greater confidence that dashboards accurately reflect the underlying data.

Read more: "Use enhanced Financial Reporting" >

Drill-Back and Dynamic Dimensions in Power BI Apps

A particularly practical usability improvement is the introduction of drill-back from Power BI visuals into Business Central, alongside support for dynamic dimension names.

This closes the gap between summary-level insight and transactional detail.

Instead of seeing a number in a report and needing to export data or ask for clarification, users can move more directly from insight to the underlying information that explains it.

Dynamic dimension names also make reports more intuitive, particularly for organisations that use dimensions extensively or apply their own terminology. Reports become easier to understand and less dependent on Power BI expertise to interpret correctly.

This is a meaningful step towards more effective self-service reporting.

Read more: "Use drill-back and dynamic dimension names in Power BI apps" >

Analysing Vendor Risk with the Enhanced Purchasing Power BI App

The enhanced Purchasing Power BI app introduces improved visibility into vendor performance and risk, an area that has become increasingly important for many organisations.

These enhancements allow purchasing teams to:

• Identify suppliers that consistently cause delays or issues

• Spot patterns that may indicate future supply risk

• Support supplier reviews and negotiations with data

Rather than relying purely on anecdotal experience or static reports, teams can use insight to inform decisions and conversations with suppliers.

When viewed alongside inventory and financial reporting, this creates a more complete picture of how vendor performance impacts stock availability, cash flow, and operational stability.

Read more: "Use the enhanced Purchasing Power BI app to analyze risk related to vendors" >

How These Updates Work Together

Individually, each of these updates improves a specific area of reporting. Taken together, they reflect a broader shift towards:

• More forward-looking insight

• Reduced reliance on manual reporting

• Better alignment between finance, operations, and purchasing

For organisations already using Power BI with Business Central, these updates are about getting more value from existing data, rather than introducing additional tools or complexity.

What This Means for Business Central Users

If you are already using Power BI with Business Central, these updates provide a good opportunity to review:

• Whether your current reports still meet business needs

• How easily teams can move from insight to action

• Where manual reporting or explanation is still slowing decisions down

If you would like to discuss how any of these Power BI updates apply to your Business Central setup, just let us know.