This entry is part of our Feature Review Series. These short, to the point blogs strive to provide a quick snapshot of information to a user looking for a quick overview of a feature, how it’s managed or configured, some insight into how a business / organization would use it, and provide links to resources or tutorials for a deeper dive.
Although still in preview mode (meaning the feature may be changed at any given time as the Dynamics 365 [D365] team refines its functionality), this feature is worth mentioning early!
Power BI data visualizations provide a quick and easy way to get powerful insights from your D365 data directly within D365 itself.
This feature needs to be enabled within the Settings area of an app, which can be a bit tricky to navigate. To find it, launch the ‘maker’ (make.powerapps.com) and identify the app you wish to enable the feature within.
Click the vertical ellipses and then hover the word Edit to expose the Edit in Preview button – click that to launch the new editing experience.
Next, click Settings at the top, then click the Features tab and locate the Enable Power BI quick report visualization on a table (preview).
Once enabled, click Save in the bottom right of the window. The feature has now been enabled!
Now, navigate to the app you turned the features on within, and navigate to a table (example: Opportunities).
When the table loads, you will now find the Visualize this View icon in the ribbon of the view.
This feature allows end users to visualize the table data in Power BI quick reports. Any user can leverage this feature. However, it’s important to note that in order for the user to gain enhanced Power BI functionality, they must possess Power BI licensing. You can find details on Power BI licensing here.
Note that a user must have a Power BI Free license to be able to view data this way. This can either be added by a Microsoft 365 administrator, or the user can click the Get a free license option the first time they attempt to open the visualization.
Upon clicking the Get a free license icon, a new browser will open asking the user to fill in some basic information. Once the user inputs the information and clicks Get Started, the system will append a license to their account and launch the Power BI web-application. The user can close this window for now and return to D365 and click Visualize this view again to launch the visualization.
The first time a view is visualized using this feature, it may take a few minutes to load. Future visits to the view should be more efficient.
Power BI takes the columns and filters in the current view and renders them as Power BI visuals. The user can view the columns and filters that are applied in the flyout on the right, and can adapt the visual by adding or removing filters as they see fit. Note, however, that these modifications are not saved.
This feature is a fabulous addition to Dynamics 365 and yet another example of how products within the Microsoft stack work better, together.
