From Connection to Report

Once your Acumatica instance is connected to Power BI (see “Setting Up Power BI Integration with Acumatica”), building a report follows the same pattern you already know from Crystal Reports: you start from a Generic Inquiry as the data source and let AstraReports handle the plumbing. The difference is that you set the report engine to Power BI, create a dataset, and design a paginated report in the Power BI service. This article walks through the full flow, from creating the report definition in Acumatica to previewing the finished report back inside your ERP.

Step 1: Create the Report in Astra Report Design

Start in Acumatica by defining the report and pointing it at your data.

• Go to Astra Report > Report Design.
• Fill in the Report Name and an Alias.
• Set Report Engine to Power BI.
• Choose your data source under Generic Inquiry — for example, Work Center Dispatch.
• Click Save.

As with Crystal Reports, we strongly recommend building on a Generic Inquiry rather than raw tables. The Generic Inquiry gives you a clean, governed view of your Acumatica data that both reporting engines can share.

Step 2: Create the Power BI Dataset

The dataset is the bridge that publishes your Generic Inquiry data into Power BI.

• Open the Power BI tab on the Astra Report Design screen.
• Choose Create Power BI Dataset.
• AstraReports pushes the dataset into the Power BI workspace you configured during setup.

Step 3: Design a Paginated Report in Power BI

Now switch to the Power BI service to lay out the report itself.

• Sign in to the Power BI service at app.powerbi.com and open your Astra Report workspace.
• Select the report (for example, Report 123), open the More options (…) menu, and choose Create Paginated Report (preview).
• Select the fields you want on the report — for a Work Center Dispatch report that might be Work Center, Status, Branch, and Customer Name.
• Save the report.

Step 4: Link the Report Back to Acumatica

Return to Acumatica to connect the report you just saved.

• Go to Astra Report > Report Design and open the Power BI tab.
• Click Select Report and choose the report you saved in the Power BI service.

Step 5: Preview the Report in Acumatica

With the report linked, you can run and preview it without leaving Acumatica.

• Open the report and choose Preview.
• The paginated report renders inside Acumatica using live Generic Inquiry data.

Crystal or Power BI?

Because both engines read from the same Generic Inquiries, you can offer the same underlying data as a pixel-perfect Crystal Report for finance and as an interactive Power BI report for operations. Choose Crystal Reports when you need print-ready, precisely formatted documents; choose Power BI when you want interactive exploration and dashboards on the Microsoft Fabric platform. For a fuller comparison, see “Crystal Reports vs. Power BI in AstraReports: Which Engine to Use.”