With Business Intelligence Data Access, it is possible to connect any Business Intelligence tool to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Technical setup
A SQL replica is created, which is constantly updated with data from the Business Central operational database. The solution makes it possible to gain read access to the SQL replica database with a SQL username and password and thereby extract and process data in any BI tool or software and with a BI supplier of your own choice.
Price
NaviPartner typically need two hours to set up and prepare the solution. In addition, there are monthly operating costs for the replica database. As a customer, you choose your own BI tool and BI supplier and cover all associated expenses.
Example 1 – free choice of BI tool and BI supplier
Example 2 – Power BI and PowerBI.com as BI tool
Prerequisites for Business Intelligence Data Access
- NaviPartner provides documentation of the table structure in NP Retail. The documentation includes the most common and most used tables
- The table structure in the Business Central database, and thus also in the replica database, may change as the database is updated with new versions of Business Central and NP Retail. This may mean that queries from the BI tool will subsequently need to be corrected. This is done by the selected BI supplier, at the customer’s expense
- The SQL replica database is configured to a level of performance that suits the needs of most customers – provided that queries to the database follow best practice. If you have special needs, we would like to have a dialogue about which solution is right for you
- The connection method to the SQL replica database requires that outbound traffic on port 1433 is allowed
- It is recommended to place IP restrictions on the SQL replica database, so it is only accessible from selected IP addresses
- If PowerBI reports are wished to be displayed inside Business Central, the customer is required to acquire PowerBI Pro licenses for each of the users who must be able to access PowerBI reports in Business Central.
