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Atlas and Power BI: The Powerful Collaboration You Need Now

insightsoftware -
February 21, 2019

insightsoftware is a global provider of reporting, analytics, and performance management solutions, empowering organizations to unlock business data and transform the way finance and data teams operate.

These days when we hear about Business Intelligence and reporting, the conversation is all about Microsoft Power BI. Not only is it a great app, it’s also free. So you’d be foolish not to take advantage of its capabilities, right? Right! But you do need to be aware that there are some complexities when you adopt this technology, particularly with respect to IT security policies and access rights.

All those high hopes of self-service data analysis, visualizations, and contextual insights can be dashed at the door of sophisticated group policies and the like. With Atlas for Microsoft Dynamics, your data access rights are integral to the process of getting data out of your business systems. You can only get access to the data you have permissions to see, which makes it an ideal conduit and data source for Microsoft Power BI. This leaves you more time to create your own dashboard and data visualizations.

The Conduit between Enterprise Data Systems and Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI needs a connection to your data sources, and in most cases this needs to be facilitated through IT. Depending on what access is granted, you then have to understand the internal data structures before you even think about building a dashboard or visualization. Atlas overcomes this: It understands your access rights and understands the data structures, allowing you more time to be productive and creative.

Use Existing Atlas Reports with Microsoft Power BI

Because Microsoft Power BI natively understands the objects and structures inside Microsoft Excel, any range, charts, table, or pivot tables can be pinned as a tile to your dashboard. This means that your Atlas reports, and all their associated representations in Excel, can be consumed as is inside Microsoft Power BI. This includes calculations and managed columns, which are dynamically brought into Microsoft Power BI and kept up to date.

Get in on the Action from Anywhere

Atlas reports can be published directly to PowerBI.com. This approach does not require the user to access the Microsoft Power BI Desktop. Your reports and data analysis are directly accessible in the Power BI cloud service. This also means you can get to your vital business information from any computer, phone, or tablet with an internet connection. Even your carefully crafted formatting is maintained through the publishing process.

Refresh On Demand or Schedule for Up-to-Date Results

One of the outstanding capabilities of Atlas is that you can refresh your spreadsheet on demand, giving you up-to-date results. If stored on Microsoft’s OneDrive, your Atlas reports can be refreshed automatically on a set schedule or on demand using the Atlas automation tool. If your Microsoft Power BI dashboards use these as a data source, then your dashboards will be synchronized and will also be up-to-date. There is no need to install a separate gateway for this refresh to occur. Build your Microsoft Power BI dashboards and be confident that they are always up-to-date and available on the device of your choice.

More Reporting Power with Atlas 6.4

Atlas empowers ad hoc analysis and visual exploration by giving you access to a complete new world of live customized data, anytime, anywhere. Now with Atlas for Microsoft Dynamics NEW version 6.4, you’ll experience increased capabilities to organize and automate batches, enhanced automation to handle recurring tasks, and the fastest file-based cache performance yet.

Log in to upgrade to Atlas 6.4 today. Not an Atlas user yet? Request a FREE demo and find out how Atlas for Dynamics can transform how you report against Microsoft Dynamics.