What's New: Sales Analytics (2025 release wave 2)

Overview

The session covers the completion of the analytical report modernization in Business Central and an updated PowerBI app for sales. The PowerBI data model and reports now cover sales of resources and G/L account lines as well as items, which matters for project-based sales. A forecasting report uses a statistical machine learning model, not generative AI, on historical transactions. It has parameters for seasonality, look-back period and confidence bounds that are set manually in the report visuals.

The PowerBI app for sales is now open source, so the PBIX file with report visuals and semantic models can be downloaded and customized. This only works with version 27 released in October, not with earlier versions of the app. A new Sales by project report is shown. Analytical reports gain Word layouts for printing and Excel layouts for interactive analysis, with the Customer item sales report as the example. Teaching tips and descriptions are added, and the descriptions are reused in Tell me and Copilot chat. Seven reports were updated and four legacy reports deprecated.

Key points

• The PowerBI app for sales now supports selling resources and G/L account lines in addition to items, relevant for project sales.
• Sales forecasting in PowerBI is a statistical machine learning model, not generative AI. Seasonality, look-back period and confidence bounds are configured manually in the report visuals.
• The PowerBI app for sales is open source: the PBIX file can be downloaded and customized. It works only with version 27 released in October, not previous app versions.
• A new Sales by project report shows sales from projects, including resources and G/L account lines sold within project scope.
• Analytical reports now have Word layouts for printing and Excel layouts with multiple worksheets and pivot analysis, shown with the Customer item sales report.
• Seven analytical reports were updated and four legacy reports deprecated. Their function is covered by data analysis or the PowerBI app for sales.
• Report descriptions and teaching tips appear in the help pane and are reused in Tell me and Copilot chat.

Features

AL objects mentioned

As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

• report “sales forecasting” at 2:52
• report “sales by project” at 5:51
• report “customer item sales report” at 8:02

Not found in BC28-30: report “sales forecasting”, report “sales by project”, report “customer item sales report”.

Quotes

• 1:23 “In this wave, we are completing the modernization of existing reports in Business Central and also updating the PowerBI app”
• 2:12 “updating the data model and reports uh with other types of sales than selling items. So you can also in business central sell gines”
• 2:24 “we have uh made the the model and the reports in a quality where we believe now we can open source this.”
• 3:02 “This is a statistical model. This is AI but like classic AI or machine learning. Um so not generative AI.”
• 6:55 “Note that this only works in the version 27 in the one we release here in October. Doesn’t work for sales for the sales”
• 8:30 “now you actually have a fully interactive way of analyzing that report data set.”
• 10:14 “We reuse those descriptions both in a new advanced tellme and also in uh in the co-pilot chat.”
• 10:52 “We actually modernized all the analytical reports uh that exist in business central updating I think it’s seven of those and deprecating four.”

Disclaimers in the video

• 6:55 not-in-this-release: this only works in the version 27 in the one we release here in October. Doesn’t work for sales for the sales app for previous versions
• 11:08 subject-to-change: These four reports are no longer needed. They are covered in other places of the product either with data analysis and or with a PowerBI app for sales.

Presenters (as heard): Unknown presenter.