Taking Your Financial Planning to the Next Level
Business Performance Planning in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance
Financial planning can be a chore, especially if it involves piles of Excel spreadsheets with endless v-lookups filling up a network drive somewhere. Every time you dig in, you think to yourself that you wish it didn’t have to be this way. Well, your wish may very well have become reality. With Business Performance Planning (BPP), Microsoft has leveraged Power BI to allow users to see their financial data in a graphical setting and interact with that data to see changes in real time.
Well Versed in Financial Data
The core of BPP is that the data for it resides in Dataverse. Using the BPP app, you create two types of data sets that are stored in Dataverse. The first is dimensions, which describe the “Who, What, When, and Where” of the data. For example, you might have a dimension which includes the item name and item number. Or you might have one that is GL account and GL account name. You can create as many dimensions as you need. Those dimensions are then combined with factual data to create cubes. So, you might have a cube with production information, GL accounts, and sales quantities. All the dimension and cube data are stored in Dataverse and can be updated/refreshed using tools such as dataflows. This can alleviate the concern of having stale data impacting your analysis.
You’ve Got the Power (BI)
The planning part of BPP is done by leveraging the tools within Power BI. Seven new visuals have been introduced as part of BPP. But rather than just being a set of static KPIs or something similar, these visualizations tie back to the data stored in Dataverse to allow updates, giving users the ability to do real-time what if analysis.
The seven visuals are Matrix, Reporting, Comment, Planning, Copy, Table edit, and Variance. The Matrix visual allows for editing of data right in Power BI so you can see the effect of each change. Those changes can also be seen by other Power BI users for enhanced collaboration. The Reporting visual allows for custom calculations to be added to the report. The Comment visual links comments to data values so everyone can collaborate on the planning process. The Planning visual allows you to make adjustments directly in a chart or graph. For example, if you were adjusting a sales forecast, you could drag up or down the sales amount for a particular month and see the effect on the other months as the other columns automatically adjust. The copy visual allows for the transfer of baseline data from one scenario to another. You can use this to do what-if planning scenarios without having to make changes to your base scenario. The table edit visual is a tool that can be used to directly edit dimension data. For example, you could update the status of a particular plan so that others know exactly what state it is in. The final visual is variance. This allows you to compare budget versus actual and quickly identify differences between them.
Making Sure it’s All Secure
With any financial planning tool, you want to make sure only the right people have access to make changes or even see certain data. With BPP, there are multiple layers of security. The first is that each user can be assigned one of five roles for access, from Administrator to Viewer. The second security tool is the ability to create Dimension Groups. Here you can group dimensions that you’ve made and then for each dimension within assign full, read-only, or row level access. This allows for flexibility in deciding which users can view or edit specific data.
The Next Level of Financial Planning
Business performance planning gives high flexibility in approaching your planning tasks. Built on a core of Dataverse combined with the flexibility of seven new Power BI visualizations, you can create an efficient and collaborative process. So, say goodbye to all those old spreadsheets with broken v-lookups. There is a new player in town and your financial planning will be so much better for it.