Business Process Outsourcing Firm Finds Value in Power BI with Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Group O is a Microsoft Dynamics NAV user company that specializes in marketing, supply chain, packaging, and business analytics solutions. Now it is a Power BI shop as well, and says Director of Business Technology Kim Congleton, "It's really exciting. Power BI is something that continues to grow and new things come out every week. It's crazy how much Microsoft has done with Power BI in the last year and a half."

Congleton is a veteran of Dynamics NAV and of NAVUG. She spoke at NAVUG Summit 2015, is on the NAVUG Focus 2016 Planning Committee, and will deliver a session about Power BI at that event, called IRL: Power BI.

The session is for companies that have implemented Power BI or are still considering it. Congleton will cover the finer points of installing Power BI and integrating it with Dynamics NAV, then will share real-world examples of using it for operational analysis, monitoring NAV transactions via a dashboard, and how to develop and scorecard and share it via SharePoint.

Asked about the strengths of Power BI, Congleton says "One of the strengths is that it has the whole Microsoft engine behind it. When Microsoft decides to turn its attention to a product and focus on it, it is amazing what it can generate as far as features.

"And one of the biggest strengths is that it is integrated with Microsoft products like Azure and SharePoint. If you're a Microsoft shop like we are, a user can tap more capabilities than with [the company's other BI solution] Tableau when it comes to cloud ...