Dynamics 365 Business Central AS 101 Lesson 2: Am I anti add-on?
Quite a few people have asked me if I’m anti add-on. The answer is, “No, I’m not anti add-on, I’m just really pro account schedule.” I believe account schedules can do whatever you need related to foundational financial reporting using Dynamics 365 Business Central. If you are looking to produce your basic financial statements using the software you already own with no additional cost or separate tool, then account schedules are exactly what you need.
There are many more reasons for needing reporting other than financial reporting, and Dynamics 365 Business Central does not fulfill all of these needs. If you are looking for a comprehensive Business Intelligence solution, Key Performance Indicators, Dashboards, sophisticated graphics, beautiful interfaces, or even operational reporting that reaches out to other areas of your ERP system before the information hits the general ledger, then account schedules are not the tool for you.
If you’re a Dynamics 365 Business Central user, like I am, there are a whole ton of choices to make regarding financial reporting.
Account Schedules, the native financial reporting package that reports on general ledger transactions.
Analysis Reports, also a native Dynamics 365 Business Central reporting option, that extends reporting to item ledger entries from the sales and purchasing tables.
SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services), a Microsoft reporting tool package that uses the SQL programming language.
PowerPivot, the free Microsoft Excel add-on, allowing data to load from Dynamics 365 Business Central (and other data sources) through a direct connection to Excel.
PowerBI, the primary business analytics product from Microsoft which is quickly becoming a leader in reporting for all Dynamics products. It’s got beautiful data interfaces and great capabilities, but does require some special skills to understand how to make them perform to their capabilities.
Any large number of additional ISV solutions, sold as separate purchases to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
As the Controller for any company, it’s your job to stay informed on what’s available and determine which choices are the best possible given the available skills sets of the employees who use them and the overall cost. It’s also your job to make sure you know what the future direction of the ERP software is, so you can advise on decisions made for a company with that knowledge in hand.
I have to admit, I’m the kind of person who likes choices, and I’ve sampled every single option on the list above in one way or another. The reporting strategy for my company is based on three principles: 1) the report must balance to the general ledger, 2) it must be consistently replicated in future periods, 3) it must be able to be maintained by someone in the company with the right skill set.
Ultimately, my choice for foundational financial reporting, the reporting that I need to produce as a deliverable for my company each and every month, is account schedules.
This posting is part of the Dynamics 365 Business Central Account Schedules 101 series. Find the entire list of lessons here.