Harnessing the Power of Custom Reports in Business Central

In today's data-driven business landscape, the ability to extract actionable insights from your organization's data is crucial for making informed decisions. Custom reports in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central empower users to transform raw data into meaningful information tailored to their specific needs. In this blog post, I will explore how to effectively add new custom reports in Business Central, enabling you to unlock valuable insights and drive growth.

Add a new Custom Report Layout in Business Central

Step 1: Accessing Custom Reports:

1. Log in to your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central account.
2. Under the main search bar in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, type in “custom report layouts.”

3. From the Custom Report Layout page, select “New.”

4.To find the appropriate report, either enter the Report ID or select it from the drop-down menu. The name appears on its own.

5. Use the radio buttons to select the desired layout to insert (Word or RDLC). If you aren’t sure which one you want, select both. At least one selection must be made. Select “OK” to insert the layout.

New Template will be looked like this (Copy of Built-in layout), you can give appropriate description by using Edit List option on tab.

Edit a Report Layout in Business Central

1. Choose Layout, then Export Layout, from the Custom Report Layout page.

These exports the layout, which can be opened or saved for editing. Now Export that Copied Template in your local Computer as follow. It would be a word file.

2. Open Downloaded Document,and go to File

3. File --> Options -> CustomizedRibbons -> Enable Developer option.

4. File --> Options -> CustomizedRibbons -> Enable Developer option

5. After developer option is enabled, A developer Tab at top would be visible, go to developer -> open XML Mapping Pane, after opening it a window from right side would pop out by name XML Mapping, use dropdown to select highlighted value in below snapshot.

After expanding header we will see two types of fields,?_lbl?field that contain actual field name in?salesInvoiceHeader?and apart from that all other fields are?value type?which would be different for every sales-invoice.

6. Let’s try to add new field with new value type and check if that works on invoice template or not.

I will add DocumentNo. Field and value on this example template.

First create a cell and keep your pointer there then from XML Mapping window go to DocumentNo_Lbl field, right click on it -> select Insert Content Control -> Select plain Text.

Do the same procedure with DocumentNo. Field which is actually a value of Document label.

Once designing is done, we are ready to import this document template into our Business Central environment.

7. Now go back to Custom Report Layouts page, select Sales-Invoice row that we copied earlier then go to Layout option and select Import layout.

8. Test the report from the Custom Report Layout page by selecting Run Report.

9. A new Sales-Invoice window will pop up, select any existing invoice for No. field and press Preview.

Select the option from

Send to: Send email.

Print: Print Document

Preview: Preview Document

Cancel: Cancel the operation

10. After selecting a preview option, Invoice report would be generated which contain the changes we made to the document.

Using this procedure, we can add any field in our invoice template or logos or static text according to our requirement.

Conclusion:

Custom reports in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central empower users to derive actionable insights from their organization's data. By following these steps, you can effectively utilize custom reports to filter, sort, customize layouts, and export reports for enhanced decision-making and collaboration. Embrace the power of custom reports in Business Central to gain valuable insights and stay ahead in today's competitive business landscape.

I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. How do you work with Custom report layout in Business central? Let's continue this conversation and learn from each other's insights.

I'm truly grateful for your time and engagement. Thank you for reading this blog, and I look forward to connecting with you further. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to me.?

Best regards,