Power BI + Business Central Integration: 2026 IT Admin Guide

Power BI and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are two of Microsoft’s most widely deployed business tools — but connecting them correctly is where most integrations go sideways. Wrong connector, unsupported authentication, a missing gateway, or a wrong assumption about SQL access, and the whole thing silently breaks two weeks after launch.

This guide walks through what an IT admin or decision-maker needs to get right before touching a setting: the three ways users actually consume Power BI, how the integration differs between Business Central online and on-premises, and the exact Microsoft-documented steps to connect each.

Disclaimer: All information in this post is based on current Microsoft Learn documentation at the time of writing. Microsoft updates features and documentation regularly — always verify against the current Microsoft Learn pages for your specific Business Central version before implementing in production.

Three Ways Users Consume Power BI

Before any setup, it’s worth being clear on where users will actually see Power BI reports. Microsoft documents three distinct consumption paths, and each one has different prerequisites.

Path A

Power BI Service

Users open a browser, sign into powerbi.com, and view reports in the Power BI cloud service. This is the standard Power BI consumer experience.

powerbi.com

Path B

Power BI Desktop

Report creators use the free Power BI Desktop application to connect to Business Central, build reports, and publish them to a workspace in the Power BI Service.

Path C

Embedded in Business Central

Reports render directly inside Business Central pages — Role Centers, FactBoxes on list pages, and dedicated embed pages. Users never leave the ERP.

Per Microsoft Learn: “Some Power BI reports can also be embedded in Business Central and viewed without leaving the system.”

Remember A, B, and C. Each path has different prerequisites — especially Path C on on-premises, which we’ll cover in detail later.

How Business Central Connects to Power BI

Business Central is the system of record — it holds your transactions, postings, documents, and master data. Power BI sits on top as the system of insight — turning that data into dashboards, KPIs, and cross-company analysis.

The two systems are connected by OData. Per Microsoft Learn:

“Business Central integrates with Power BI through a connector using OData. The data source for Power BI reports is exposed as API pages and OData web services.”

A few architectural notes that matter downstream:

The same connector works in both Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service.
Different connectors exist for Business Central online versus on-premises.
Since Business Central 2021 release wave 2, only OData V4 is supported.
Business Central online uses a secondary, read-only database replica (read scale-out) since February 2022, so reporting doesn’t compete with transactional workload.
API pages are a Business Central online-only construct. On-premises exposes data through OData web services only.

Business Central Online vs. On-Premises: The Integration Split

Business Central comes in two deployments — online (SaaS, cloud-hosted by Microsoft) and on-premises (you host it yourself). The Power BI integration is very different between the two.

Aspect	Business Central ONLINE	Business Central ON-PREMISES
Integration enablement	Pre-enabled by Microsoft	Manual admin setup required
Data exposure	API pages + OData web services	OData web services only
Power BI Desktop connector	“Dynamics 365 Business Central”	“Dynamics 365 Business Central (on-premises)”
Read-scale-out replica	Yes (since Feb 2022)	No
Default Power BI reports	Deployed automatically	None — build from scratch
Power BI Apps on Marketplace	Supported	Not supported
Datamarts & dataflows	Supported	Not supported
Embedded Power BI in BC	Supported	Supported (requires Entra ID app registration)
Supported authentication	Microsoft Entra ID	NavUserPassword or Entra ID (NOT Windows auth)

Key gotcha: On-premises Power BI integration does NOT support Windows authentication. Only NavUserPassword or Microsoft Entra ID are supported. This is the single most common on-prem integration mistake.

How to Connect: Business Central Online (Seven Steps)

Business Central online is the easy path — Microsoft has done most of the work. You only need a Power BI account and Power BI Desktop.

Business Central online is already configured. Nothing to enable on the BC side — Microsoft states it is already set up for Power BI integration.
Sign in to a Power BI account at powerbi.microsoft.com. A paid Power BI Pro license is required to publish reports to shared workspaces.
In Power BI Desktop, go to Get Data → Online Services → "Dynamics 365 Business Central".
Sign in with your Microsoft Entra (work) account. OAuth handles authentication — no access key needed.
The Navigator displays your environments and companies. Select the data, run any Power Query transformations, and click Load.
Publish the .pbix file to a workspace in the Power BI Service.
(Optional) In Business Central, open a Role Center → Power BI Reports part → Select Report → pick the published report to embed.

Online takeaway: No Web Service Access Key, no on-premises data gateway, no Entra ID app registration needed. OAuth does all the heavy lifting.

How to Connect: Business Central On-Premises (Seven Steps + One for Refresh)

On-premises is where the work happens. You set up the OData endpoint, authentication, and access keys yourself.

Configure Service Tier authentication. Must be NavUserPassword or Microsoft Entra ID. Windows authentication is not supported for Power BI integration.
Enable OData web services and the ODataV4 endpoint on the Business Central Service Tier. Open the OData port in the firewall. The local server must be reachable from the internet.
Generate a Web Service Access Key for the BC user. Assign one per user or create a dedicated service account that all Power BI connections use.
In Power BI Desktop, choose Get Data → Online Services → "Dynamics 365 Business Central (on-premises)" — not the plain online connector.
Enter the OData URL in the Microsoft-documented format (see code block below).
Authenticate with Basic. Enter the BC username. In the password field, paste the Web Service Access Key — not the user’s login password.
Load the data. The Navigator displays your published web services.

# OData URL format
http[s]://[computer]:[port]/[serverinstance]/ODataV4
 
# Example — single tenant
https://localhost:7048/BC190/ODataV4
 
# Example — multi-tenant
https://localhost:7048/BC190/ODataV4?tenant=tenant1

Important — OData, not direct SQL. Power BI connects to Business Central through OData, not directly to the SQL database. Direct SQL would bypass BC’s Service Tier, losing FlowFields, FlowFilters, and the permission model. Microsoft doesn’t guarantee SQL schema stability across BC versions, so direct SQL is not the supported integration path. Use OData.

Step 8: The On-Premises Data Gateway (for scheduled refresh)

The seven steps above are enough to connect Power BI Desktop to on-premises Business Central and to publish the report. But if users will view that report in the Power BI Service (browser, mobile, Teams) and expect fresh data, you need one more thing: the On-Premises Data Gateway.

Per Microsoft Learn: “If your semantic model uses a data source that Power BI can’t access over a direct network connection, you must configure a gateway connection for this semantic model before you can enable a refresh schedule.”

Four sub-steps:

Download and install the On-Premises Data Gateway in standard mode inside your network (ideally on a dedicated VM, not the BC server).
In the Power BI Service, go to Manage Connections and Gateways and register an OData data source on the gateway with the same URL and credentials used in Power BI Desktop.
Open the published dataset’s Gateway Connection settings and bind it to your gateway + OData data source.
Enable Scheduled Refresh and set the cadence.

On-Premises Extra: Embedded View (Path C) Needs Four More Steps

If your users will view Power BI reports inside Business Central pages (Role Centers, FactBoxes, embed pages) — that’s Path C — on-premises needs an additional configuration: a Microsoft Entra ID application registration. Per Microsoft Learn’s Register Business Central on-premises in Microsoft Entra ID documentation:

Register an application for Business Central in the Microsoft Entra admin centre.
- Redirect URI: https://MyServer/BC250/OAuthLanding.htm (adjust for your server/instance)
- Create a client secret and save it immediately — Microsoft notes the secret is not retrievable after you leave the page.
Grant delegated API permissions to Power BI Service. Microsoft’s documentation specifies these exact permissions:
- Report.Read.All (Power BI Service, Delegated) — required to view Power BI reports in Business Central
- Workspace.Read.All (Power BI Service, Delegated) — required for shared Power BI workspaces
- User.Read (Microsoft Graph, Delegated) — baseline sign-in / read user profile
In Business Central, configure the registered app. Run Assisted Setup → "Set up your Microsoft Entra accounts" and paste the Redirect URL, Application (Client) ID, and Client Secret.
First-time consent. A Microsoft Entra administrator runs Get Started with Power BI from the BC Home page. Consent is required once.

Scope note: These four steps are only for Path C (embedded view inside BC). If your users only need Paths A and B (Power BI Service or Desktop), skip the Entra ID app registration entirely.

Common Pitfalls

These are the issues that trip teams up most often in real on-premises integrations:

Using Windows authentication. Not supported. Only NavUserPassword or Microsoft Entra ID.
Picking the wrong connector. Use “Dynamics 365 Business Central (on-premises)” for on-prem, not the online connector.
Pasting the login password. Basic auth expects the Web Service Access Key, not the user’s login password.
Self-signed certificates. Work in Power BI Desktop during development but fail through the gateway. Use a CA-issued certificate for production.
Forgetting the gateway. No gateway is needed for the initial Desktop connection, but it IS required for Power BI Service scheduled refresh of on-prem data.
Trying direct SQL. The data gateway supports SQL Server as a source, but Power BI to BC via direct SQL is not Microsoft’s supported path and bypasses BC’s business logic.
Reusing the same dataset hundreds of times. Dataset sprawl in Power BI makes the Service Tier serve redundant queries. Consolidate around a small number of certified datasets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an on-premises data gateway for Business Central online?

No. Business Central online is a SaaS service hosted by Microsoft. The Power BI Service can reach it over a direct network connection, so no gateway is required for either initial connection or scheduled refresh.

Can Power BI connect directly to the Business Central SQL database?

Technically you can point Power BI at SQL Server through the On-Premises Data Gateway, but this is not Microsoft’s supported integration path for Business Central. Direct SQL bypasses the BC Service Tier, which means you lose FlowFields, FlowFilters, computed values, and the permission model. Microsoft also doesn’t guarantee SQL schema stability between BC releases. Always use OData through the Service Tier.

What's the difference between API pages and OData web services?

API pages are available on Business Central online only — developers define page or query objects as type API, which exposes data through a REST service. OData web services work on both online and on-premises deployments. For on-premises Power BI integration, OData web services are your only option.

Does the Entra ID app registration matter if I only need reports in the Power BI Service?

No. The Microsoft Entra ID app registration (with Report.Read.All and Workspace.Read.All permissions) is only required if you want to embed Power BI reports inside Business Central pages — Path C. If users will view reports at powerbi.com or in Power BI Desktop only, you can skip the app registration entirely.

Why can't I use Windows authentication on on-premises Business Central with Power BI?

Microsoft Learn explicitly states Power BI integration does not support Windows authentication for on-premises Business Central. You must configure the Service Tier to use either NavUserPassword or Microsoft Entra ID authentication. This is a hard constraint, not a recommendation.

Which Power BI license do my users need?

Per Microsoft’s licensing documentation, a Power BI account is required. Using Business Central’s Power BI Apps requires a paid Power BI license (Pro, Premium Per User, or Premium capacity). For embedding reports inside Business Central, the per-user Power BI license requirements apply to each viewer unless the tenant uses Power BI Premium capacity. Verify the current licensing with your Microsoft partner before rollout — licensing rules change.

Next Steps

Start with the consumption path that matches your users:

If they work primarily at powerbi.com, focus on the Service setup and gateway for refresh.
If they’re authoring reports, invest in Power BI Desktop training and a certified dataset per domain.
If they spend their day inside Business Central, invest in the Entra ID app registration and embedded view configuration.

For on-premises deployments, the two most critical decisions are authentication mode (NavUserPassword vs. Entra ID) and whether you need the data gateway (yes, if you publish to the Power BI Service).

Ready to set this up in your environment?

Our next guide walks through the hands-on OData web service configuration in Business Central, step by step.

Read the next guide

Microsoft Learn Sources

Every technical claim in this post is traceable to one of the following Microsoft Learn documentation pages. No third-party sources were used for technical facts.

Integrating Power BI with Business Central: The IT Admin Guide