Making strategic and advantageous decisions without a solid foundation can feel like groping in the dark. But with Power BI, the light is turned on. Using Power BI as an analytical tool enhances your Business Intelligence (BI), providing clear insights into how your business functions on a holistic level. By obtaining a clear visualization of what’s going well, what’s not, or what needs to change. You gain an overview that simplifies future decisions to enhance and develop your specific operations!

What is Power BI?

Understanding Business Intelligence and Power BI might seem challenging, but the positive thing is that you don’t need to be super knowledgeable about the geekiest aspects – we’ve got that covered. Business Intelligence (BI) consists of many components that can measure and gather all the numbers and data created in a business. However, to utilize all the information about the operations that Business Intelligence (BI) collects, a BI tool is needed – like Power BI.

Power BI is Microsoft’s platform that applies Business Intelligence (BI) and compiles and visualizes all the complex numbers and data, for instance from Business Central and Excel, into clear reports that you can use to make strategic decisions.

Power BI suits all companies that want to monitor and visualize their operations, gain an overview, and make advantageous and well-informed decisions, which most companies desire. If you are already using Business Central, it’s a natural step to start leveraging Power BI as well, since both tools are part of the Microsoft family. Here are three reasons why your company should use Power BI:

Power BI is sleek!

– With Power BI, you’re not just looking at data from your operations; you’re experiencing it. With elegant statistics, such as reports and graphs, you gain control over what’s happening within the business – so you’re relieved from the headache of trying to grasp and present complex data from various sources on your own.

Power BI is convenient!

– Since Power BI is cloud-based, all the data presented can be accessed from various devices. The convenience of this allows easy sharing and scaling of materials with all employees within the company. This way, knowledge about the operations spread to all parts of the company in a straightforward manner. With Power BI, you don’t need to be a math whiz to gain a clear insight into, for example, the company’s finances.

Power BI is valuable!

– For all companies aiming to progress, staying informed is crucial. Staying informed about what’s going well, what’s not, and what can be improved. Without understanding your company’s status, knowing which decisions are right becomes an incredibly challenging task. Understanding comes from measuring the company’s data and, most importantly, being able to extract valuable information from the measured data – something that Power BI does for you.

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1. The ability to perform smart analysis

By creating a data model, you build relationships within your data. This enables dynamic reports where you can easily filter, group, and navigate between different levels of your data. You can also use your data model for in-depth analysis where you can drag and drop the fields and metrics you want to examine. The data model can be used in both Power BI and Excel. Power BI caters to the need for standardized reports, in-depth analysis, and everything in between.

2. Accessibility increases understanding within the company

Power BI helps make data accessible to more people. Instead of only you, having access to your KPIs, more people within the company can see how you are performing. “I believe it makes a huge difference in engagement and understanding of the organization when their performance is visualized in numbers,” explains Emil. Power BI is not a must-have tool for running a business, but it’s hard to live without it once it’s used. Such a significant difference does it make to have a good follow-up for your business.

3. A living tool

I have a long experience with how happy customers are when they get started and the penny drops when they understand the tool for real and get lots of new ideas. ‘We want to look at this too, and this, and this,'” Emil says. Power BI is a living tool that can be developed together with you and your business. He concludes that the ability to customize and develop is also one of the best things about the tool.

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Power BI – NAB Solutions

Utilize workflows and approval processes

Business Central offers built-in workflow functionality that allows you to automate and streamline various business processes. You can define workflows for tasks such as purchase approvals, sales order processing, expense reimbursements, and more. By setting up workflows, you can eliminate manual intervention and ensure that tasks are automatically routed to the right individuals for approval or action.

Leverage scheduled tasks and batch jobs

Business Central provides scheduled tasks and batch job features that allow you to automate routine activities and processes. For example, you can schedule recurring reports, data imports, exports, or integrations to run at specific times or intervals. By automating these tasks, you can save time, reduce errors, and free up resources for more value-added activities.

Explore the power of business automation with Power Automate

Business Central integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow), a powerful cloud-based automation platform. Power Automate enables you to create automated workflows across various applications and services, connecting Business Central with other tools like email, SharePoint, Excel, and more. You can automate tasks such as data synchronization, notifications, document generation, and data entry, further increasing productivity and efficiency.

By implementing these tips, you can reduce manual work, improve accuracy, and focus on higher-level tasks that require human expertise and decision-making in your daily work!

What is PowerApps?

When you read about PowerApps it can sound a bit complicated, but what is it exactly? It can be described as a tool for building applications that can assist you with specific processes that may be challenging to find support for in a pre-built business system. If you have a cumbersome process that could be simplified through digitization, PowerApps is the tool for you.

How does PowerApps work?

PowerApps is useful in unique workflows with specific problems, and it is designed to make it easier to build apps to solve these particular problems. What you do with it is simply build your own apps, just the way you want them. You can quickly build prototypes of what you want to do and connect them with data from other systems and sources, without having to worry about the complex technical part. You use low code.

Why PowerApps?

PowerApps is designed to build apps that enable the digitization of otherwise challenging processes. However, this “challenging process” can vary from company to company, which is what makes it so great! You get a platform to build exactly what you need in an easy and smooth way. The advantage of it is that you use low code and therefore avoid all the technical work of building a standalone application yourself. Instead, you build the software using the PowerApps tool and can focus on more enjoyable things like interface and functionality. You can also integrate multiple systems from both Microsoft and other sources into your app through PowerApps, which simplifies your work.

The future of PowerApps?

The answer to how the future of PowerApps looks is simply that it is the future. The technology behind the tool has been developed for many years, and the possibilities for creating individual solutions to specific problems are endless!

If you want to work faster and more efficiently in your list views, there is the option to save views.

By saving your current view, the system retains your filter settings, and you can easily switch between your different saved views without having to repeat your filter configuration.

Here’s how to save a view:

1. Open any list page.
2. Select the filter box at the top of the list or press Shift+F3.
3. Enter your desired combination of filters.
4. Once you have set the filters, choose the save icon. If you specify a filter for a list view that has already been saved as a view, the existing view will be updated when you save it.
5. If you are saving a new view, enter a name for the view in the All (Copy) box.
6. Press Enter or move the cursor away from the text box to accept the name.

Choose the right timing

Make sure to select a time of the year when you may have a bit less going on in your regular operations. Adjust the scope accordingly to the identified timeframe.

Clearly define the scope

Clearly define what should be included in the project and what should not. Set boundaries and limitations.

Build a focused team

Ensure that it is clearly defined within your own organization which individuals should be part of the project team and what their responsibilities are.

Manage risks

List the risks you foresee with the project and evaluate them. Some risks may be mitigated or eliminated.

Personal chemistry

Choose a vendor with whom you feel a good personal connection since it is, after all, a collaborative effort.

Have fun!

With the right conditions, a business systems project can be incredibly inspiring and transformative. Ensure you create a conducive and enjoyable environment.

Contact us, and we will assist you in finding the right solution.