Optimized Microsoft Excel integration for Business Central
Despite the emergence of powerful Business Intelligence (BI) tools such as Microsoft Power BI, many finance professionals still turn to Microsoft Excel to perform their reporting tasks.
Better leveraging of BC data in Excel with FORNAV
BC users know that, while BC does support Excel report layouts, this solution has a few limitations, for example:
– Excel must be launched from Business Central rather than using refreshable OData data sources
– The data moved to Excel is produced by the Business Central reporting engine, which by design loops all involved records without using the power of SQL queries
– The Excel table created with BC data contains a flat dataset that requires extensive clean up
– The table header names in Excel are inherited from the column names in the AL-report dataset, which can be difficult to understand for non-developers. Changing it requires coding
This is why FORNAV came up with an enhanced Excel integration that lets you take advantage of your BC data and the excellent functionality in Excel to perform your reporting tasks. The FORNAV Excel integration simply transfers BC data in Excel where needed, so it is immediately ready to be used.
Take a detailed look at Business Central reports with FORNAV
All FORNAV solutions are fast to set up, easy to use, and affordable. The FORNAV All-in-one licensing model follows the same principles of simplicity and value for money. The FORNAV license gives you access to all the solutions mentioned above. For example, if you originally purchased FORNAV for the Customizable Report Pack and Designer, upgrading to the latest version unlocks Direct Print, File Service, and E-invoicing. All you need to do is activate and set them up. This All-in-one licensing also ensures access to future FORNAV features, giving you the tools to continually improve and streamline your work with BC documents.
Get started faster with you Business Central documents
“We find that in most cases, the standard FORNAV Report Pack meets our customers’ needs with minimal adjustments. This advantage allows us to use them as a foundation, saving time and effort compared to creating reports from scratch. FORNAV is the perfect answer to the struggle it can be to create reports in Business Central.”
Top eight benefits of using FORNAV to integrate BC with Excel
- Optimized integration with Excel. A fully secure solution that transfers BC data to feed your Excel reports and lets you drill back down to Business Central to see where the data displayed in Excel originates from
- Fast data transfers. Provides a very fast transfer of data and report creation. Using the FORNAV queries, you can create Excel reports with BC data in no time. Data is aggregated in Business Central rather than in Excel, avoiding large data transfers and optimizing transfer time
- Full access to BC data. Gives you access to any table and field inside BC – including flow-fields
- Reliable data. The BC data you get in Excel is clean, live and ready-to-use, removing the need for manual and error-prone data clean-up
- The right captions, in the right language. Provides captions in your local language, eliminating the need for extra translation or clean-up tasks. Your table header names will be the same as the translated captions in Business Central
- Leverage Excel functions. Allows you to leverage all fields, sheets, and functions available in Excel to create the desired layouts
- Simple access. Lets you use credentials and permissions from BC
- Centralized report storage. Allows you to save your Excel report layouts in Business Central. All your reports are stored in one central location, eliminating the need for data-filled Excel sheets spread across various file shares
FORNAV Excel Integration video tutorials
Creating new FORNAV Excel reports
This 11-minute video teaches you how to create a new Excel report from the FORNAV Designer, populate it with BC data, and add data from related tables to the source table data sources and secondary Data Item.
Editing the FORNAV Excel reports layout
This 16-minute video takes a close look at the layout of the FORNAV Excel reports and how to edit them – from a simple change of table style to creating new table styles or making changes to the worksheet.
THE FORNAV DIFFERENCE
While other providers also offer an integration between Excel and Business Central, FORNAV takes it a step further with four unique features that transform the way you handle Excel reporting. These special FORNAV features make creating and editing your report layout in Excel simple and straightforward.
FORNAV transfers aggregated data from Business Central
This means that data transfers are done faster. Aggregated data is great, but what if you need the details? No worries. With FORNAV, you can also drill down to Business Central to see all the details behind the data displayed in Excel.
FORNAV keeps captions coherent
When you transfer data from BC to Excel, FORNAV makes sure that your captions are coherent. For example, your table headers contain a title that makes sense, is the same as you have in BC, and is displayed in your local language. No need for extra coding to make this happen.
FORNAV lets you save your Excel reports inside Business Central
FORNAV allows you to save your Excel reports inside BC so that they are stored in one place where other BC users in your company can access them. Best of all, you can keep on making changes to improve these reports again and again – without any problem.
FORNAV allows you to access full BC data inside Excel
In the FORNAV Designer, you can easily create a dynamic dataset where you specify hierarchy and the data you would like to use – this is done with a simple drag-and-drop function. This gives you access to full BC data in Excel, without having to write a single line of code.
All the FORNAV Solutions
FAQ – FORNAV Excel Integration
Are there any Excel reports included in the FORNAV Customizable Report Pack?
With FORNAV, you can get started faster with a set of out-of-the-box Excel reports.
The FORNAV Customizable Report Pack contains a set of out-of-the-box Excel reports to enable exporting aggregated data from the Business Central Ledger tables. Read more about how to use them in this FORNAV Excel reports Knowledge Base article.
Is the FORNAV Excel Integration limited to a number of fields/tables?
No, the FORNAV Excel Integration allows you to leverage all fields, sheets, and functions available in Excel to create the desired layouts. What’s more, the data you get from BC in Excel is live, well-structured, and immediately usable—eliminating the need for manual corrections or time-consuming clean-up.
Why is FORNAV’s Excel integration faster?
FORNAV accelerates data transfer from Business Central to Excel by aggregating data inside BC before exporting it—rather than sending large datasets to Excel for post-processing. This minimizes the volume of data being transferred and eliminates time-consuming operations within Excel. As a result, reports are generated more quickly, without compromising detail: users can still drill down into the data from Excel back into BC if needed. Unlike standard Excel layouts in BC, which rely on slower report engine loops, FORNAV leverages efficient SQL-based queries for significantly faster performance.
For which countries is FORNAV available?
The FORNAV solutions are available in all countries where Business Central is available.
In which languages are the FORNAV solutions available?
Supported languages include: English, Danish, German, Dutch, Finish, Islandic, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Portuguese, and Czech.
Where can I download the FORNAV Solutions?
The FORNAV solutions can be downloaded on the FORNAV website. When you download FORNAV without a license file, you will get a trial version of our solutions. FORNAV trial downloads are fully functional versions of our solutions. They do, however, include a prominent “Trial Version” watermark that does not allow you to use our solution and reports for professional purposes. To remove this watermark, you must purchase a FORNAV License. To do this, you must get in touch with one of our partners.
Is it possible to get a free trial?
It is possible to get a free trial of the FORNAV solutions. These trial versions are free of charge, and you can use them while investigating how FORNAV can help you simplify working with documents and reports in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. They do, however, include a prominent “Trial Version” watermark that does not allow you to use our solution and reports for professional purposes. To remove this watermark, you must purchase a FORNAV License. To do this, you must get in touch with one of our partners.