Purchasing analytics

Path: Business functionality > Purchasing > Purchasing analytics · tier official · system purchasing · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)

Overview

Purchasing analytics groups the ways to monitor purchasing KPIs, vendor performance, and purchasing trends. The two own pages give the entry points: an overview of analytics options (Power BI reports, ad-hoc analysis, financial reporting, data analysis, Excel integration, dimension analysis) and a page on ad-hoc analysis using the Data Analysis feature, which lets you analyze purchase orders, invoices, and vendor ledger entries without running a report.

The subtopics go deeper. The Power BI purchasing app section documents the app, its semantic model, the KPI and measure reference, and each report. The built-in reports section describes what each standard report shows and who uses it, such as aged payables, vendor balances, open purchase orders, and purchase document layouts. The legacy section lists four reports that will be removed.

Start with “Analytics in purchasing” to choose an approach. Use Data Analysis for quick questions on live data, built-in reports for standard payables and purchasing output, and the Power BI app for spend, vendor, budget, return, and trend analysis. Avoid the legacy reports in new work.

Key points

• Analytics in purchasing is the starting page, covering Power BI, ad-hoc analysis, financial reporting, data analysis, Excel integration, and dimension analysis.
• Ad-hoc analysis uses the Data Analysis feature on purchase orders, invoices, and vendor ledger entries, with Pivot Mode and Analysis Filters, and includes a GRNI overview and payment analysis.
• The Power BI purchasing app has 20 pages covering the app, its semantic model, KPI and measure reference, and each report.
• Built-in reports (17 pages) include aged payables, vendor balances and trial balances, vendor ledger day books, open purchase orders, purchase history and statistics, and item/vendor catalogs.
• Built-in reports also cover purchase reservation availability and document layouts such as purchase orders and e-document invoice previews.
• Legacy reports marked for removal: Aged Accounts Payable, Payments on Hold, Vendor - List, and Vendor - Top 10 List.

Subtopics

• Power BI purchasing app (20 pages)
• Built-in purchasing reports (17 pages)
• Legacy reports (will be removed) (4 pages)

More Learn pages

• Ad-hoc analyses in purchasing: Learn how to use the data analysis mode to analyze data in purchasing.
• Analytics in purchasing: Learn how to use Business Central’s analytics features to monitor purchasing KPIs, perform ad-hoc analysis, and create financial reports.

Business Central pages and reports

The pages, reports and queries this hub’s Learn pages name (ms.search.form, API reference), joined to the code by exact object id (data/index/docs-objects.json); a page shows the table it runs on.

• Page 29 “Vendor Ledger Entries” · on Table 25 “Vendor Ledger Entry”
• Page 518 “Purchase Lines” · on Table 39 “Purchase Line”
• Page 9306 “Purchase Quotes” · on Table 38 “Purchase Header”
• Page 9307 “Purchase Order List” · captioned “Purchase Orders” · on Table 38 “Purchase Header”
• Page 36996 “Detailed Vendor Ledger Entries” · captioned “Detailed Vendor Ledger Entries (Power BI)”
• Page 37009 “Purchases Overview” · captioned “Purchases Overview (Power BI)”
• Page 37010 “Purchases Decomposition” · captioned “Purchases Decomposition (Power BI)”
• Page 37011 “Daily Purchases” · captioned “Daily Purchases (Power BI)”
• Page 37012 “Purchases Moving Averages” · captioned “Purchases Moving Averages (Power BI)”
• Page 37013 “Purchases Moving Annual Total” · captioned “Purchases Moving Annual Total (Power BI)”
• Page 37014 “Purchases Period-Over-Period” · captioned “Purchases Period-Over-Period (Power BI)”
• Page 37015 “Purchases Year-Over-Year” · captioned “Purchases Year-Over-Year (Power BI)”
• Page 37016 “Purchases by Item” · captioned “Purchases by Item (Power BI)”
• Page 37017 “Purchases by Purchaser” · captioned “Purchases by Purchaser (Power BI)”
• Page 37018 “Purchases by Vendor” · captioned “Purchases by Vendor (Power BI)”
• Page 37019 “Purchases by Location” · captioned “Purchases by Location (Power BI)”
• Page 37020 “Purch. Actual vs. Budget Qty.” · captioned “Purchase Actual vs. Budget Quantity (Power BI)”
• Page 37021 “Purch. Actual vs. Budget Amt.” · captioned “Purchases Actual vs. Budget Amount (Power BI)”
• Page 37025 “Purchase and Sales Quantity” · captioned “Purchase and Sales Quantity (Power BI)”
• Report 307 “Vendor - Order Summary”
• Report 308 “Vendor - Order Detail”
• Report 311 “Vendor - Top 10 List” · captioned “Vendor - Top 10 List (Obsolete)”
• Report 312 “Purchase Statistics”
• Report 313 “Vendor/Item Purchases”
• Report 319 “Payments on Hold” · captioned “Payments on Hold (Obsolete)”
• Report 320 “Vendor Item Catalog”
• Report 409 “Purchase Reservation Avail.”
• Report 707 “Inventory - Availability Plan” · captioned “Inventory - Availability Plan (Obsolete)”
• Report 709 “Inventory Purchase Orders”
• Report 714 “Inventory - Vendor Purchases”
• Report 716 “Inventory Cost and Price List”
• Report 720 “Item/Vendor Catalog”
• Page 36951 “PowerBI Reports Setup” · captioned “Power BI Reports Setup” · on Table 36951 “PowerBI Reports Setup” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Page 37061 “Purchases Report” · captioned “Purchases Report (Power BI)” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Page 37112 “Purchase Forecasting” · captioned “Purchase Forecasting (Power BI)” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Page 37115 “Vendor Quality Analysis” · captioned “Vendor Quality Analysis (Power BI)” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Page 37116 “Purchase Return Overview” · captioned “Purchase Return Overview (Power BI)” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Page 37117 “Key Purchase Influencers” · captioned “Key Purchase Influencers (Power BI)” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Page 37118 “Purchase Quote Overview” · captioned “Purchase Quote Overview (Power BI)” · via Power BI purchasing app
• Report 301 “Vendor - List” · captioned “Vendor List (Obsolete)” · via Legacy reports (will be removed)
• Report 304 “Vendor - Detail Trial Balance” · via Built-in purchasing reports
• Report 322 “Aged Accounts Payable” · captioned “Aged Accounts Payable (Obsolete)” · via Legacy reports (will be removed)
• Report 329 “Vendor - Trial Balance” · via Built-in purchasing reports
• Report 1322 “Standard Purchase - Order” · captioned “Purchase - Order” · via Built-in purchasing reports
• Report 2502 “Day Book Vendor Ledger Entry” · via Built-in purchasing reports
• Report 4403 “EXR Aged Acc Payable Excel” · captioned “Aged Accounts Payable (Excel)” · via Built-in purchasing reports
• Report 4404 “EXR Vendor Top List” · captioned “Vendor - Top List (Excel)” · via Built-in purchasing reports
• Report 6102 “E-Doc Sample Purchase Invoice” · via Built-in purchasing reports

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.