How to Create Reports in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

We share a detailed guide on creating reports in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. As a guide, this empowers users to harness the full potential of their finance and operational data. We explore the different types of reports available, including financial statements and operational insights.

Reporting is an essential element of your business strategy because you can use it to track your company’s performance, gain insights, and make data-based decisions. This is especially true for finance and operations teams, which need to constantly adjust based on past and current performance. Using Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations reporting, you can quickly generate reports that become foundational to your business intelligence system.

We outline the steps required for designing, generating, and customizing reports for specific business requirements. If you’re a finance expert or an operations manager, this guide provides the resources for creating impactful reports that support informed decision-making.

Types of Reporting Available in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

In the context of Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, reporting involves pulling the data you need from existing forms and presenting it in a document stakeholders use for analysis or to provide information to customers.

You have several options when creating reports, but D365 F&O includes a couple of convenient tools to make the process easier — without forcing you to sacrifice flexibility:

• Power BI — Using Power BI, you can choose fields to include in your reports from a range of different applications. Your Power BI tools then integrate these into your reports, giving you the ability to take advantage of real-time data as well.
• Excel integration — Reporting in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is also easier using the included Excel integration because you have the option of using data to generate reports in either Excel or D365, using whichever tool you prefer.

What Types of Reports Can D365 F&O Produce?

The kind of report you build may depend on whether you need it for compliance or internal reasons, including disseminating info to multiple teams or stakeholders. Here are some options:

• SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) — With SSRS, which we discuss more later, you can choose different formats for your reports, such as PDFs or Excel sheets, and make them available via a server.
• Electronic reporting — This tool is ideal for creating reports used to meet compliance or regulatory requirements, slashing the time needed to produce documents essential for meeting oversight requirements.
• Financial reporting — D365 F&O has financial reporting tools built in. For example, you can quickly build a balance sheet using a preset tool.

Knowing the features and types of reporting at your disposal, the next step is to consider the pros and cons of using reports in D365 F&O.

Pros and Cons of Using Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Reporting Tools

While there are relatively few drawbacks to reporting using D365’s features, here are some factors you may want to consider:

• You don’t have extensive customization features built in. Yes, you can choose the fields that go into your report and make modest adjustments to how data appears, but you have little control over how your reports look. For example, if you wanted to integrate animations and dynamic charts, you’d have to build these features out manually using code.
• There may be a steep learning curve for some users. Suppose you have only a few select people on your team who currently produce reports. If you want to teach everyone on your finance and operations teams to build reports, this may take some time.

That being said, the benefits typically outweigh the disadvantages. For instance, you get:

• An integrated reporting system that includes data from multiple elements of your finances and operations.
• Fast, accurate, automated reports that take relatively little effort to produce.
• Real-time insights because the data gets integrated from live sources. If, for example, you have to step into a meeting in a few minutes, you can quickly make a cash flow statement, and it will automatically include up-to-the-minute sales and expense data.

Each of these benefits can help your organization evolve its reporting into a comprehensive business intelligence asset. So how do you get started?

How to Create Reports in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

Dynamics 365 F&O makes creating reports fairly straightforward by giving users a simple, logical workflow. Even though the exact steps vary based on the type of report you’re making, here’s how the process generally works.

Steps for Creating Reports

As you explore how to create reports in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, you can use D365’s Report Wizard. This tool enables you to quickly generate comprehensive reports in a few minutes — or less. Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to Reports.
2. Select New to add a new report.
3. Once inside the Report: New Report dialog, inside the Report Type list, choose Report Wizard Report.
4. Choose Report Wizard.
5. Choose your starting point, which will be either:
   1. Creating a new report. To do this, you choose Start a new report, then click Next.
   2. Starting from a copy of an existing report or editing one you already have. If this is where you want to start, select Start from an existing report. You also have to check the box for Overwrite existing report, then click Next.
6. Put in the name of your report, and choose the kinds of records you’ll use to create it. To do this, you should enter information in the following fields:
   1. Report name.
   2. Primary record type. This tells the wizard to include data from this record type, as well as those related to it, in your report.
   3. Related record type. This is where you add a related record type from which your report pulls data.
7. Choose Next.
8. Define a filter to decide which records get included in your report.

Even though the wizard’s workflow may be one of the most straightforward options for creating a report, you can generate them in Dynamics 365 in other ways. Here are some options:

• Use the Power BI integration. This may give you even more control over the kind of report you generate and enables you to incorporate real-time data.
• Use the Excel integration. Since D365 F&O integrates with Excel, you can export data into Excel and create reports there.
• Customize a report by writing code in Visual Studio vs. Code or another platform. You don’t have to rely on no-code report-generation tools. For specialized use cases, you can code in your report manually using a development environment.
• Use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). When you create an SSRS report in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, you generate it in a server-based environment. This enables you to integrate your reports with apps and provide easy access to users via an internet browser. You also have access to templates you can implement and adjust in Visual Studio.

Example of How to Create a Report

There are several ways to create reports, and the type of report you’re making may dictate your approach. Here’s one way to do it, using a sales order for which you’ve already created an invoice:

14. Within your sales order window, click on Invoice in the menu towards the top of your screen.
15. Click on the Invoice button in the dialog underneath the menu.
16. In the Document dropdown, choose Original Preview to show what your report will look like.

You then get a full preview of a report containing all of your sales order invoice information, such as your business address, that of your customer, the cost of each unit, the number of units, discount percentages, and other fields you’ve included in your invoice.

Now that you understand the basic steps for creating reports in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, you’re ready to help your organization gain insights into your finances and operations.

Use Reporting in Dynamics Finance and Ops to Generate Valuable Insights

Reporting from within Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is straightforward and fast. It also gives you the ability to integrate data from multiple apps and surface insights in real time. To get started, you can use the steps above and start guiding your organization towards making better data-based decisions.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 can help you connect sales and marketing, modernize service experience, create a resilient supply chain, and optimize financial models. As a Microsoft partner, our consultants have hands-on experience deploying and integrating Dynamics 365 packages to meet your business needs. Learn more