What is Analysis Mode and who is it for?
Here is the scenario: You are a company who currently implements Business Central. However, you are not quite ready to make the plunge into the world of Power BI. Perhaps you are craving more flexibility with the out of the box reports offering within standard Business Central. In comes Analysis Mode.
Analysis Mode is a feature that is currently in Preview, however it can be accessed through “Feature Management”. Analysis Mode an ad-hoc reporting tool that can be accessed directly though Business Central. It is great for those who want a custom view into reports that may be available out of the box within Business Central.
Feature Breakdown
As of 8/30/2023 there are currently 5 areas that are included in Analysis Mode:
- Data View – The Data View is the tabular replication of what you would typically see on whatever page you entered Analysis Mode on. In this example, it is displaying Customer Ledger Entries.
- Summary Bar – Summary Bar will show you a summarized total of rows originally vs filtered results.
- Columns – This component is very similar to what you would find within Power BI or an Excel pivot table. It allows you to create a customized view and select which columns are most essential for your analysis. Within this component you are also able to group by fields that are relevant for your analysis, giving the option for a collapsible view.
- Analysis Filters – Analysis Filters allow you to filter by reporting requirements. In this example, I wanted to create an ad-hoc report that showed Open AR, so I filtered the view to show anything with remaining amount that is greater than 0.
- Tabs – Analysis Mode allows you to rename tabs, to give you a personalized, reusable report. NOTE: Tabs are credential specific. There is currently no Companywide ability to save and distribute.
- Another notable feature is Pivot Mode, which allows you to subtotal data into categories and subcategories. This is similar to excel Pivot Tables.
Getting Started
Follow the directions below to get started experimenting with this preview feature within Business Central.
While this feature is still in Preview, I think it is great for those who want a bit more flexibility with reporting that is currently available out of the box within Business Central. It is a User-Centric tool that gives more UI control to make Data-Driven choices.
While I will always advocate for Power BI (Connecting Power BI to Business Central) I believe this could be a very intuitive tool for reporting that doesn’t need dynamic interaction.
Resources
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