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Stop Building Reports in Business Central. Start Asking Questions
Have you ever spent hours—or even days—creating a report, only to realize it didn’t actually answer your question? You know the drill: export data from your ERP, clean it up in Excel, build pivot tables, double-check formulas, and finally…hand it over to your boss or team, hoping it makes sense. And then, inevitably, a follow-up question comes, and you have to start all over again.
It’s exhausting. And frustrating. And frankly, it shouldn’t be this way.
What if instead of wrestling with spreadsheets and dashboards, you could simply ask your ERP a question in plain English and get a clear, actionable answer instantly? What if your time was spent analyzing insights, not wrangling data?
This isn’t a fantasy. With conversational analytics built into modern ERPs like Dynamics 365 Business Central, asking questions—not building reports—can become the new normal. And trust me, once you experience it, you’ll wonder why you ever tolerated endless reporting cycles.
The Old Way: Reports as a Ritual
Before AI and natural-language querying became a thing, business insights were a grind. Each department had its own “reporting rituals.”
Finance teams spent countless hours consolidating ledgers, reconciling bank statements, and building cash flow models. Variance analysis often meant pulling separate reports from accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general ledger systems, then cross- checking them manually in Excel.
Sales and operations? Forget instant visibility. Managers exported pipeline reports, updated CRM dashboards, and sometimes called each salesperson individually just to make sure the numbers were accurate. Reordering inventory or understanding production bottlenecks often relied on manually collating data from multiple systems.
Marketing teams tracked campaign performance in one platform, sales outcomes in another, and customer engagement in a third. The result? Disconnected insights and hours of time spent reconciling conflicting numbers.
HR wasn’t spared either. Headcount reports, attrition analysis, and payroll summaries often required juggling multiple spreadsheets—and a lot of patience.
The common thread? A reliance on manual effort. Reports were slow, inflexible, and often outdated by the time they were circulated. And yet, let’s be clear: traditional reports aren’t going anywhere. They’re still critical for invoices, statutory reports, compliance, and audit purposes. But for day-to-day decision-making? They often feel like an obstacle rather than an enabler.
The Shift: Asking Beats Reporting
Imagine instead of navigating multiple dashboards or manually pulling data, you could just ask your ERP a question in plain language and get an instant answer.
Enter Dynamics 365 Business Central Copilot.
Embedded directly in the ERP, Copilot acts as a conversational assistant. No complicated queries, no writing DAX formulas from scratch—just questions like:
- “What’s our cash position for the next 30 days?”
- “Which customers contributed the most to revenue last quarter?”
- “Which production orders are at risk of delay this week?”
Coupled with Power BI ǪCA and semantic models, Copilot understands the business context behind your question. It’s not just pulling numbers—it’s interpreting your data in a way that makes sense for your role and your team.
Practical Examples Across Teams
Finance - Cash flow analysis: “Copilot, show me projected cash flow for the next quarter.” Instant insight, no spreadsheet gymnastics. - Variance explanations: “Why did actual expenses exceed budget last month?” Copilot can trace discrepancies across accounts. - Reconciliation support: “List all outstanding invoices older than 60 days.”
Sales - Top customers: “Who are our top 10 customers by revenue this month?” - Pipeline summaries: “Show me deals at risk in the current quarter.” - Ǫuote-to-cash insights: “How long does it typically take from quote to cash for product X?”
Operations - Inventory levels: “What items are below minimum stock thresholds?” - Reorder alerts: “Which products need to be reordered this week?” - Production status: “Show me production orders that are behind schedule.”
Marketing - Campaign performance: “Which campaigns drove the most qualified leads this quarter?” - Customer trends: “What segments grew the fastest in the last six months?” - Revenue by segment: “Break down revenue by region and product line.”
HR - Headcount per department: “How many employees do we have in each department?”
- Attrition analysis: “Which teams experienced the highest turnover this year?” - Payroll summaries: “Summarize payroll costs by department for Ǫ3.”
Notice a pattern? Instead of wrestling with spreadsheets or dashboards, teams can ask natural questions and get actionable insights immediately. And the beauty is, Copilot’s answers are powered by real-time ERP data—so you’re not making decisions based on outdated reports.
Why Asking Beats Reporting
Faster insights: No more building reports over days or weeks. A single question can yield the insight you need in seconds.
Democratization of data: Non-technical team members can interact with the ERP without needing advanced formulas or BI expertise.
Improved collaboration: Everyone works from the same data source and the same context, reducing confusion and miscommunication.
Less manual effort: No more endless pivot tables, reconciliations, or chasing down colleagues for missing data.
Reporting fatigue reduction: Finance, operations, and other teams spend less time preparing reports and more time interpreting and acting on insights.
Crucially, this doesn’t replace essential transactional and regulatory reports. Copilot complements them, making day-to-day decisions smoother while keeping compliance intact.
Challenges and Best Practices
Data quality and governance: Copilot is only as good as the data feeding it. Ensure master data, transactions, and records are accurate.
Clear, business-specific questions: Teams need to learn how to frame their queries in ways the system can understand. Ambiguity leads to ambiguity in answers.
Consistent terminology across teams: If finance calls it “revenue” but marketing calls it “sales,” Copilot might get confused. Standardizing language is essential.
Think of it like training a colleague. The better you communicate, the better answers you get.
The Future: From Report Builders to Decision-Makers
The exciting part? Copilot isn’t stopping at answering questions. Future capabilities include:
- Summarizing trends: “Summarize last quarter’s revenue trends by product ”
- Explaining variances: “Explain why operational costs increased this ”
Generating narratives: Department-specific insights that can be shared in meetings or emails without manual report creation.
Teams are moving from report builders to decision-makers. The focus shifts from data collection and formatting to analysis, interpretation, and action.
Imagine a world where your ERP isn’t just a repository of numbers but a proactive partner guiding strategy across finance, sales, marketing, HR, and operations.
Reflection: Stop Building Reports, Start Asking Ǫuestions
Take a moment to think about your current reporting habits. How much time is spent just building reports versus making decisions?
Now imagine asking your ERP a question and getting an instant, reliable answer. What would that question be?
“If you could ask your ERP one question right now and get an instant answer, what would it be?”
For me, it might be: “Which customers are at risk of churning this quarter, and why?” That one insight could shape strategy across sales, marketing, and customer success, without waiting for multiple reports to be reconciled.
Conversational analytics in Business Central is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s here, embedded in the tools you already use every day. And it doesn’t replace essential transactional or regulatory reports; it amplifies their value by freeing teams to focus on questions that drive action.
So, stop spending hours crafting reports no one reads. Start asking questions your business actually needs answered. Your team—and your sanity—will thank you.
For more insights or to explore how to implement conversational analytics in your Business Central environment, reach out to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
