Steven Renders
Partner at Plataan.TV | Companial, former MVP, MCT, Consultant
Halen, Belgium
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Steven is a trainer/consultant, with skills spanning business and technical domains, with more than 20 years of experience. He provides training and consultancy focused on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power BI.
Steven is a Partner at Plataan | Companial, based in Belgium. Plataan is a leading off and online learning company. Plataan helps organizations and individuals excel through learning and training programs.
On Januari 1st, 2016, Steven received the Microsoft® MVP Award. This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others.
Steven is the author of the books:
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009: Professional Reporting
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015: Professional Reporting
Specialties:
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Business Intelligence & Reporting
Area of Expertise
Topics
90-Minute Crash Course on Power BI and Business Central
I'll teach you how to create powerful reports by covering Query APIs, importing data, building a data model, visualizing data, publishing reports, and setting up dashboards and scorecards.
Plus, I'll share tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Power BI.
By the end, you'll have the skills to create Power BI reports using Business Central data.
Key Takeaways:
- How to create Query APIs for data retrieval.
- Importing data into Power BI and building a data model.
- Visualizing data in interactive reports.
- Publishing reports and setting up the Power BI service.
- Creating dashboards and scorecards.
- Tips and tricks for optimizing your Power BI reports.
Reporting capabilities in Business Central
For decades, developers have had the possibility to develop reports based on various data sources.
With the new version of Dynamics 365 Business Central, developers, key users, and consultants can build reports and modify them even without having development experience.
In our session, we will show you how to create a report from scratch, the possibilities of RDLC, Word, and Excel layouts, and when to use them. When standard reporting is not enough, users can utilize BI reporting through Power BI and share reports with colleagues. Join our session about reports and Power BI capabilities.
Workshop: Business Central Excel Layout Reports Demystified
Learn in this workshop, using the Excel report layout, how you can create a report that generates a dataset and leave it up to the end-user to further modify it by using the full palette of capabilities in Excel such as sliders, diagrams, charts, pivot tables, and Power Query to design the report.
Discover how you can offer flexibility and freedom for the end-user, being able to change the look and feel of a report, adding additional views, filtering, and sorting on data, using the Excel Layout reports in Business Central.
This workshop will focus on the development of the ideal dataset and of course also the Excel layouts.
Business Central reporting capabilities for consultants
Is every reporting need reliant on developers for technical analysis, or is there space for consultants to collaborate with users in crafting impactful reports? With each new iteration of Power BI, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365 Business Central, consultants can leverage diverse features to deliver reports to clients sans writing complex code.
Join our enlightening session to discover how you can:
- Maximize Power BI Service and Power BI Desktop as a consultant.
- Harness Excel's reporting prowess through novel layouts, organizational data, and API connectors.
- Unleash the potential of Word layouts across diverse scenarios.
- Pinpoint bottlenecks through Telemetry analysis and proactively suggest enhancements.
- Utilize collaborative tools to share insights within your teams seamlessly.
Seize the opportunity to empower your reporting endeavors without the need for extensive coding. Join us and embark on a journey towards elevated reporting efficiency.
Mastering Reporting in Business Central
Unlock the Full Spectrum of Reporting Capabilities:
- Strategic Data Modeling
Tailor your data models for specific purposes, ensuring reports deliver targeted insights.
- Seamless Embedded Reports
Integrate reports seamlessly within Business Central for an enhanced user experience.
- Dynamic Data Exploration with Analysis Mode
Dive into analysis mode to dynamically explore data and unveil actionable insights.
- Excel Empowerment for Data Export
Craft robust Excel layouts for effortless data export and user-controlled report building.
- AI-Powered Power BI Reporting
Harness the advanced features of Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service, elevating your reporting with artificial intelligence.
- Performance Monitoring and Automation
Monitor Business Central performance, setting up alerts and automated workflows with Power Automate based on report data.
- Efficient Job Queue Management
Utilize Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI Service for streamlined job queue monitoring.
- Data Transformation Mastery with Dataflows
Connect to diverse data sources, transform and enrich data using dataflows for a versatile data model supporting multiple Power BI reports and dashboards.
- Strategic KPI Visualization
Implement scorecards and metrics to measure and display essential Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Embed them in custom Business Central pages for convenient access and visualization.
Join our session to discover these invaluable tips and tricks, transforming your reporting capabilities in Dynamics 365 Business Central. Elevate your insights and empower your decision-making processes!
Deep Dive into Report Objects and Layouts in Business Central
Join me for a deep dive into report objects and layouts in Business Central.
We'll start with the basics of report objects. You'll get to know the different layout types available, like RDLC, Word, and Excel layouts, and how to pick the best one for your needs.
Next, we'll get into the specifics of each layout type. You'll learn how to design and customize RDLC layouts for more complex reports, create professional-looking Word layouts for document-style reports, and use Excel layouts for data analysis.
Throughout the session, I'll share practical tips and tricks to help you optimize your report designs and make your reporting processes more efficient.
Key Takeaways:
- Understanding the basics of report objects in Business Central.
- Creating and modifying report objects.
- Choosing the best layout types for your needs.
- Creating professional-looking Word layouts.
- Using Excel layouts for data analysis.
- Tips and tricks for optimizing report designs.
Join me and take your Business Central reporting to the next level!
Power BI and Business Central Deep dive, Tips and Tricks
Join us on a comprehensive journey through compelling Power BI subjects in this session.
Explore key inquiries such as:
- Optimizing data retrieval from Business Central and its impact on query efficiency and performance.
- Constructing a robust data model for superior insights.
- Mastering incremental refresh implementation.
- Unleashing the intelligent features of Power BI for valuable insights.
- Harnessing Power Platform and AI functionalities for Dynamics 365 Business Central reporting.
Moreover, don't miss out on practical demonstrations and insightful guidance for effectively crafting Power BI reports with handy tips and tricks. This session promises to enrich your Power BI expertise.
What every consultant needs to know about Business Central reporting
Are all reporting needs dependent on developers for technical analysis, or can consultants work with users to create impactful reports?
Join our session to discover how you can:
- Maximize Power BI as a consultant.
- Use Excel for reporting with new layouts, organizational data, AI, and API connectors.
- Apply Word layouts in various scenarios.
- Identify and address bottlenecks with Telemetry analysis.
- Share insights using collaborative tools.
- Combine Power Platform and AI features for Dynamics 365 Business Central reporting.
Take the chance to improve your reports without needing to do lots of coding. Come join us and make your reporting more efficient.
Why are Dataflows so interesting for Power BI and Business Central?
As data volume continues to grow, so does the challenge of wrangling that data into well-formed, actionable information.
Once you’ve created a dataflow, you can use Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service to create datasets, reports, dashboards, and apps that leverage the Common Data Model to drive deep insights into your business activities.
In this session I will demo how you can create reusable dataflows and consume them in Power BI, based using the Business Central dataflow connector.
Business Central Excel Layout Reports Demystified
Learn in this session, how to create Excel report layouts in Business Central
Discover how you can create a report that generates a dataset and leave it up to the end-user to further modify it by using the full palette of capabilities in Excel such as sliders, diagrams, charts, pivot tables, and Power Query to design the report.
On top of that, let's also look how Power BI Datasets and/or Dataflows can be integrated in the same Excel layouts.
Business Central Reporting demystified
With almost every new version of Dynamics 365 Business Central, developers and consults get new, improved, and better ways how to make customers happy with reporting on top of Business Central data.
In this session, we will deep dive technically in all reporting capabilities, like for example:
- Out-of the-box and custom reports (RDLC, WORD, EXCEL,...)
- Analyze data in tabs on list pages
- Open/Edit in Excel
- Data integrations with Dataverse, Dataflows, Power BI,...
So if you want a good overview and a technical deep dive of all Business Central reporting capabilities, advantages/disadvantages, use cases, then this session is the one!
Use Power BI to create Business Central insights
In this session, we are explore how to use Power BI to analyze what happens in Business Central.
Here’s what you can look forward to learning:
- Master Data Retrieval: Learn how to extract data from Business Central quickly and effectively.
- Build for Scale: Discover the secrets to constructing a scalable data model that paves the way for superior analysis.
- Use the Power of AI: Uncover how to utilize the advanced AI features of Power BI to your advantage.
- Design with Impact: Learn to create compelling reports, dashboards, and scorecards using the Power BI Service (online).
But that's not all, We have a lot of demos prepared along with some good tips and tricks!
AI-Powered AL Development: GitHub Copilot for Business Central
GitHub Copilot and Copilot Chat are transforming Business Central AL development by automating repetitive tasks, improving code quality, and boosting productivity.
In this session, you'll learn how to leverage AI-driven coding assistance to generate AL objects, debug efficiently, and optimize your development workflow.
Through live demos, we’ll explore best practices, prompt engineering techniques, and key security considerations to help you make the most of Copilot in VS Code.
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