In the event you’re shifting finance knowledge into Microsoft Cloth to unify knowledge administration and analytics, can you shortly get the stories you want for real-time enterprise-wide collaboration and decision-making? You may if you happen to’re utilizing Atlas from insightsoftware to wrangle all that knowledge and reporting.
Atlas provides your staff the power to construct and refresh the core stories they want—monetary statements, reconciliations, line-item evaluation—with out ready for IT, exporting to spreadsheets, or remodeling formulation each month. With a reside connection to Cloth, Atlas enables you to entry all of your enterprise knowledge shortly for real-time Excel-based reporting.
Atlas is constructed for Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365 Finance and Provide Chain Administration (F&SCM). It’s designed for finance customers who must entry reside knowledge, drill down, and create or modify stories with out coding.
Making the Most of Atlas and Its Cloth Connection
A few of advantages you’ll discover once you mix the benefit of Atlas reporting with Cloth’s enterprise analytics platform:
- A reside connection to the Cloth platform
- The flexibility to adapt stories for altering enterprise wants
- Sensible methods to chop handbook work, drill to subledgers, and velocity shut
- Quick entry to cohesive, correct knowledge in Excel
As your wants change, you possibly can customise pre-built Atlas stories somewhat than ready within the queue for IT to develop new stories on your finance staff.
Going Past Cloth for Versatile Finance Reporting
Microsoft Cloth brings knowledge engineering, warehousing, and Energy BI underneath one umbrella. It’s a wise transfer for organizations standardizing analytics throughout ERP, CRM, and operational programs. However finance reporting wants greater than a fantastic knowledge platform and enticing dashboards:
- Monetary statements require structured layouts, interval logic, and nuanced groupings which can be cumbersome in BI-only instruments.
- Month-end and audit work demand quick drill-down from GL to subledgers and transaction strains.
- Static exports from Energy BI or Dynamics 365 reintroduce silos, rework, and threat of error.
Cloth strengthens your knowledge basis. Atlas builds on that basis by providing you with the power to create refreshable, ruled spreadsheets your staff can belief.
Atlas + Cloth: How They Resolve Issues Collectively
Atlas connects to your Dynamics knowledge whether or not you learn it straight from D365 by way of optimized OData (learn and write) or out of your Cloth atmosphere by way of SQL endpoints.
This helps you as a result of:
- Your finance staff can maintain utilizing the identical Atlas-powered Excel templates as IT evolves the backend from direct D365 to Dataverse, Synapse, or Cloth. The front-end report-building expertise in Atlas stays the identical.
- You select the very best path for efficiency and modeling. Use Cloth for unified knowledge from a number of sources and enormous volumes. Use Atlas to eat that mannequin in Excel with reside refresh and drill-down.
As insightsoftware’s Senior Options Engineer Jason Carter mentioned in a current webinar, “It’s about having the ability to have a report and in the course of the day, simply hit refresh and see the final bill that’s been posted or the final cost that’s been utilized.” Then you possibly can act on that knowledge in real-time.
Introduction to Actual-Time Reporting in Dynamics
Your payoff is one ruled dataset with a number of best-in-class experiences:
- Energy BI for visuals and storytelling.
- Atlas for Excel-based monetary reporting and evaluation.
Let’s have a look at a number of the frequent challenges this solves.
ERP Information Constructions Complicate Your Reporting
Dynamics has a whole lot of interrelated tables. Even skilled analysts spend hours combining knowledge for a single report. Atlas contains ready-to-use knowledge fashions and pleasant area choice in Excel so you possibly can construct stories with out deciphering uncooked desk relationships or writing SQL.
In different phrases, you possibly can:
- Create revenue and loss, stability sheet, and development stories with pre-built templates.
- Pull knowledge throughout entities and firms in a number of clicks.
- Use acquainted Excel formulation alongside Atlas features, with out ready for IT coding.
Guide Exports Carry Dangers of Errors and Delays
While you depend on handbook exports, you’re breaking your knowledge connection. Each refresh is a brand new file, a brand new copy and paste, and a contemporary threat of errors. Atlas retains Excel stories reside. Click on refresh and your template pulls present figures from D365 or Cloth. Your mapping, groupings, and codecs keep intact.
The outcomes you will get utilizing Atlas are:
- Shorter shut cycles, from weeks to days
- Much less time wrangling information, extra time analyzing outcomes
- Stronger confidence in numbers for management opinions and audits
BI Dashboards Don’t Meet All Your Wants
Energy BI is great for visuals, KPIs, and slicing. However you possibly can construct a money stream assertion, assemble a disclosure-ready stability sheet, or carry out transaction-level reconciliations quicker in Excel. Atlas provides you that flexibility whereas ensuring you’ve connections to correct, up-to-date knowledge.
With Atlas, you possibly can:
- Drill from GL balances to subledgers and all the way down to transaction strains
- Tie out variances with clear, auditable paths
- Convey line-item element into your work papers with out static exports
IT Report Constructing Can Gradual You Down
Ready weeks for a brand new dataset or Energy BI change will not be sensible at month finish. Atlas permits self-service reporting for finance, with ruled entry. You may adapt layouts, add fields, change durations, or introduce new calculations with no dev cycle.
Bonus: Atlas additionally helps safe bulk uploads again to D365, decreasing handbook knowledge entry when you’ll want to append or replace knowledge at scale.
Use Instances Finance Leaders Care About
Utilizing Cloth and Atlas collectively can save time, scale back handbook reporting and add hassles, and streamline your processes for higher value effectivity and staff morale.
Monetary Statements You Can Refresh on Demand
Construct revenue statements, stability sheets, and money stream in Excel with Atlas. Apply your account groupings and rollups, then refresh any time for the newest posted transactions, whether or not your supply is D365 straight or Cloth.
- Consolidations throughout entities or enterprise items
- Aspect-by-side precise vs. price range vs. prior interval
- Development and variance with drill to element
Month-Finish Reconciliations and Audit Help
Begin within the GL stability, drill to subledger, and proceed to transaction line objects to tie out balances. No exports. No rework. Atlas preserves the hyperlink to supply knowledge whilst you examine.
- AR and AP growing old with drill into invoices and funds
- Stock and challenge subledger tie-outs
- Quick variance analysis throughout shut
Advert Hoc Evaluation With out Bottlenecks
Management asks a brand new query. As a substitute of opening a ticket, your finance analyst provides a area, modifications a filter, or builds a fast slice in Excel utilizing Atlas. You retain governance and management over knowledge entry whereas enabling self-service.
Information Uploads That Save Hours
Use Atlas to securely bulk add changes or operational updates again into D365. Select from templates or create your individual. This reduces handbook entry and retains your system the supply of fact.
Why Finance Groups Choose Atlas Alongside Cloth and Energy BI
By including Atlas together with Cloth and Energy BI, you possibly can expertise:
- An Excel-first expertise constructed for D365 F&SCM. With no steep studying curve, finance can shortly personal their stories.
- Stay, correct knowledge. Remove static extracts and handbook refreshes.
- Drill all the way down to supply. Transfer from abstract to transaction in seconds.
- Sooner shut. Compress cycles and shift time from preparation to evaluation.
- A decrease IT burden. Pre-built fashions and self-service tooling scale back dev tickets.
- Future-proofing with Cloth. Preserve your Excel templates whereas IT modernizes the backend.
Maximize Your Cloth Funding
Cloth unifies your knowledge. Atlas turns that knowledge into reside, reliable Excel stories that match how finance works. You’ll reduce handbook steps, scale back errors, and get solutions quicker, with out including to the IT backlog. Preserve your dashboards in Energy BI for executives and analytics, and empower your finance staff with Atlas to construct, refresh, and drill into the stories they want on daily basis.
When finance owns reporting in Excel—backed by Cloth’s unified knowledge—you progress from firefighting to forward-looking evaluation.
To study extra about how Atlas integrates with Microsoft Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365 Finance & Provide Chain Administration for monetary reporting ease, obtain our white paper.