Accessing and using Power BI Content Pack: Actual versus Budgeted

In this blog, we will look into actual Microsoft Power BI v/s budgeted Power BI content pack. You will be introduced to Power BI reports along with data models and data entities that make up the content.

What you can do with Actual v/s Budget Power BI

The aim of this feature is to facilitate professionals in keeping track of the actual performance in comparison to the budgeted one, in an organization. Through this, you gain a clear perspective of budget variances involved. You can perform present year’s budget analysis based on budget code, category, fiscal period, main account and its descriptions. This aids you in understanding the reasons for variances, if any.

To access the Power BI content, you need to access the CFO and Ledger Budget and Forecasts workspaces. Here, you will find the different reports resulting from the actual versus budget Power BI.
Note: This applies to the Enterprise Edition of MS Dynamics 365 (Finance & Operations) with July 2017 update.

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List of Power BI Reports

Here are the reports and associated metrices that you would find under the Microsoft Actual versus Budget Power BI:

Report	Metrics
Expenses - Actual vs budget	Total expenses this year Budget total expenses this year
Revenue - Actual vs budget	Total revenue this year Budget total revenue this year
Expense	Total expenses this year Goal for expenses based on budget
Revenue	Total revenue this year Goal for revenue based on budget
Net income	Net income this year Goal for net income based on budget

How to modify content packs

You would want to modify the content packs when there is a need to add more reports, visuals or information. By doing so, you can render better analytics to guest users of Microsoft Dynamics 365 who do not essentially sign-in. Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) helps you do this with ease. You just need to make the required modification to the content pack and publish it to your tenant on Power Bi.com.

List of the encompassed Data Model and Entities

Entity	Contents
General Ledger Activities	Transaction amounts for the general ledger
Budget Activities	Transaction amounts for the budget register
Main Accounts	Main accounts to filter reports by
Fiscal Calendars	Fiscal calendars to filter reports by
Ledgers	Ledgers that can be used to filter the report to the current ledger
Budget Codes	Budget codes to filter reports by
Legal Entities	Legal entities that can be used to filter the report to the current legal entity

Where to find the content of Actual versus Budget Power BI

LCS is where you’d find this content. Look for the Shared Assets Library and get into it to access your Actual versus Budget Power BI content pack.

Explore more about downloading the content and implementing it for your specific use by following the link: Power BI content in LCS from Microsoft and your partners.

Lastly, an easier way to understand the accessing and implementation mechanism of the content pack is this demo: Power BI content from Microsoft and your partners in Dynamics Lifecycle Services Office Mix.

If you are looking to implement Power BI for your organization, please feel free to contact us.