How to Use Power BI in NetSuite

Businesses have more data than ever, but turning it into action remains a challenge. Research from Alteryx shows that 80% of global enterprise leaders recognize the power of data-driven decision-making to stay ahead of the competition. Yet, according to New Vantage, only a quarter of top companies are truly data-driven.

So how can businesses unlock the value hidden within their data? The answer lies in business intelligence (BI) solutions, which are the catalyst for transforming complex data into actionable insights. Tools like Power BI can be central to staying forward-thinking, appropriately reactive and most importantly, profitable.

Combining Power BI and NetSuite can help you consolidate multiple data sources, leverage advanced data analytics and automate reports to improve visibility across the business and make informed decisions.

This article explores Power BI in NetSuite and provides insight into how these solutions can benefit your enterprise.

Key highlights:

• Power BI in NetSuite unlocks real-time insights by transforming raw ERP data into actionable business intelligence.
• Businesses gain stronger forecasting, visibility and decision-making by consolidating data sources into one centralized BI platform.
• While integration can be complex due to data structures, performance issues and licensing costs, pre-built solutions simplify the process.
• ZoneReporting offers a purpose-built, pre-configured platform that accelerates Power BI Integration, delivering faster value with ready-made reports and enterprise-wide visibility.

What is NetSuite business intelligence?

NetSuite business intelligence (BI) refers to the tools that transform masses of complex data into easily understandable and actionable information.

Whether you work in finance, operations or management, better insights help you answer difficult, critical questions quickly and accurately, based on real-time data. BI introduces a combination of reports and processes with an interface that makes it easier to identify any gaps in data and uncover any hidden patterns. If implemented correctly, you can:

• Enable your senior team to access critical information
• Empower your entire organization to notice any trends or performance issues

BI tools often access historical data that brings awareness to trends and potential errors. This is particularly important for businesses operating in diverse regions, giving teams the ability to assess the impact of working with multiple currencies, react to any errors and address future implications.

Ultimately, with business intelligence driving strategic insights, you can work out the true cost of your services and products.

We understand what commitment is needed for a BI implementation within a business, so when determining which connector to use and whether to build or buy a BI solution, you should consider the following questions:

• What data sources do you need to connect to?
• Who will be setting it up internally?
• Should you choose a pre-built out-of-the-box solution or build your own?

What is Microsoft Power BI?

Microsoft Power Bl is the world's most popular business intelligence tool. It's an intuitive, cloud-based data visualization platform with a user-friendly interface similar to Excel. With this solution, you can create dynamic reports and dashboards to track business performance, spot trends, gauge your business's health and answer any questions your stakeholders might have.

Here's why businesses choose Power BI:

• According to Microsoft, 95% of Fortune 500 companies rely on Power BI for its robust capabilities
• Gartner consistently ranks Power Bl as a #1 leader in the Bl and analytics market

Power Bl has proven itself to be a most valuable enterprise-wide reporting tool. It is designed to integrate with a range of connectors to access your data warehouse (including NetSuite, or for example, Salesforce) to drive insights by spotting trends that might have previously slipped through the cracks.

To maximize value, Power Bl integrations can require investment and expertise from data consultants to implement and set up reports to drive insights.

What are the advantages of Power BI data integrations?

Power Bl integrations give teams a centralized way to connect, model and visualize data from just about any source. The advantages include faster access to insights, flexible reporting and support for real-time decision-making at scale.

Power Bl excels in:

• Data integration: The tool has capabilities to easily integrate and report on practically every major database, beyond the Microsoft stack. This means you can pull data from your data warehouse, no matter the platform, all into one reporting environment.
• Data modeling: Power BI hosts the capabilities for unlimited joins to facilitate the same sequential flow of transactions in your ERP system, meaning you can unlock key segments of information for end-to-end processes.
• Data visualization: With 30+ visualization options, the tool supports advanced analytics to view your data in a range of formats, including pivot tables, line and bar charts. This means you can view your data in a manageable way to drive actionable insights from large data sets.
• Al-driven insights: Integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning with Power BI takes things up a notch. This means you get advanced analytics like predictive insights, automated data prep and the ability to spot trends and anomalies in your data. All of this helps you make more informed, accurate decisions.
• Scalability: For small businesses and large enterprises, Power Bl is a scalable solution. It grows with your business without any infrastructure worries and performs consistently regardless of data volume or user count.

How to connect NetSuite to Power BI

To connect NetSuite to Power Bl, you'll need a connector - a bridge that pulls raw NetSuite data and reshapes it for reporting. Some teams build custom pipelines using NetSuite's ODBC-based Analytics Connect. Others lean on third-party tools, purpose-built for this exact use case.

Choosing the right Power BI NetSuite connector means protecting your data's integrity and quality from day one. When using third-party tools, consider more than just compatibility - performance, reliability, and long-term design matter just as much.

NetSuite Analytics Connect

One way to implement Power Bl in NetSuite is through Suite Analytics Connect, NetSuite's ODBC-based connector that exposes raw data tables for reporting. It's flexible - but not exactly turnkey.

Limitations include:

• No support for saved searches or custom joins
• Requires external ETL pipelines and manual data modeling
• Limited performance when working with large datasets
• Dashboards won't auto-refresh unless you script it yourself

Focused third-party tools

Many teams turn to third-party tools when they need to move fast - and don't want to maintain pipelines forever. These tools often handle NetSuite's quirks out of the box: saved searches, schema mapping, even custom records.

Options include tools like ZoneReporting, built for Power Bl NetSuite reporting, or Zone Data Warehouse, which models NetSuite data for use in any Bl platform.

Common challenges when connecting Power BI to NetSuite

Even after the connection's live, reporting isn't always smooth. NetSuite and Power BI don't speak the same language out of the box - so the translation can be messy, manual and fragile.

That creates some challenges:

• Data doesn't line up: NetSuite's structure rarely matches what Power Bl expects so teams end up reshaping and reorganizing data before reporting can even begin.
• Reports fall out of sync: Dashboards refresh with old or partial data because of timing issues, AP limits or errors, making it tough to trust the numbers.
• Too many versions of the truth: Business rules live in different places like Excel, NetSuite and Power Bl, leading to mismatched results and messy handoffs.
• Not everyone sees what they should: Without proper filters, users see too much or too little. That creates compliance risks and forces teams to manage access manually.
• It's hard to trace what's behind the numbers: If you can't drill into a KPI and trace it back to NetSuite, audits get harder and errors slip through.

Why enterprises choose pre-built NetSuite Power BI solutions

Pre-built NetSuite Power BI solutions extend your reporting capabilities. You can now access insights and drive results that were once reserved for larger businesses, without needing to hire skilled developers to build your Bl solutions from scratch.

This is where ZoneReporting comes in. It's a leading example of a pre-built Power BI solution for NetSuite. The tool offers an out-of-the-box consolidated reporting platform with pre-built solutions for enhanced reporting capabilities. The tool has been intentionally built by CFOs and COOs who understand the tough questions that need to be answered.

With a connection between Power Bl and your NetSuite ERP, data can be pulled in and connected with other data sources to drive reports, and the implementation happens in weeks, not months.

ZoneReporting's three-step process makes this happen through:

1. Reconstructing ERP data from NetSuite
2. Enhancing data through pre-built reports
3. Leveraging 350+ prebuilt connectors to integrate additional key data sources

Real-time NetSuite data extraction in Power BI enables accurate reporting

Accessing live business data from your ERP, CRIM and other tools in a manageable, readable form can empower your business to make strategic decisions and future-proof your organization. The pre-built Bl solution ZoneReporting connects Microsoft Power Bl to NetSuite, ensuring your reports always reflect the latest business insights.

This real-time visibility empowers your finance, management and operations teams to:

• Identify trends quickly
• Make evidence-based, informed decisions
• Improve forecasting
• Optimize operations

Maximize your Power BI NetSuite ROl with ZoneReporting

If you're looking to drive real ROl from Power BI in NetSuite, a pre-built solution like ZoneReporting can help you get there faster. Here's what you unlock when you stop stitching systems together and start reporting natively.

• Get a single enterprise-wide reporting platform: With native integration, there's no additional requirement for 3rd-party connectors such as ODBC - and no need to purchase NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connect. You can access all your data sources in one reporting tool, i.e., Salesforce, Google Analytics and Microsoft Stack. And since ZoneReporting refreshes automatically, you'll see the most up-to-date data in your reports to drive impactful insights.
• Save both time and money: As a pre-built solution, ZoneReporting allows you to spend less time and budget building and maintaining your data-warehousing capabilities - and more time acting on the insights.
• Access pre-built reports: With 200+ customizable reports, you get business insights from day one. Whether it's financial, supply chain, SaaS, Amazon, billing or CRM, ZoneReporting has it covered. And with Power Bl's machine learning capabilities, you can tailor reports to your specific business needs.

Want to see how ZoneReporting can help your teams save time on manual reports and automate everything in Power Bl with pre-built reports? Book a personalized demo or explore the tool at your own pace with our interactive product tour.