Actual vs. Budget (Power BI Report)
APPLIES TO: Generally available in Business Central 2024 release wave 2 (version 25.1).
The Actual vs. Budget report provides a clear overview of your organization's purchase performance by comparing actual purchase amount and quantity with the budget figures. Use this report to analyze and monitor purchase data by item categories and items to get a detailed view of purchase budget and variance.
How to use the report
The report helps purchase and finance teams to track actual spending against budgets.
CEOs can easily track and analyze the purchasing performance of your organization against your budget to ensure that you're meeting your financial goals. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the entire organization's purchasing performance, helping you make informed decisions when you manage your budget. With this report, you can identify areas where your organization is overspending or underspending, and adjust your purchasing budget accordingly.
Purchasing managers can use this report to analyze purchasing data and make decisions about inventory management. By analyzing the Variance and Budget Amount Variance indicators in the report, you can see how specific item categories and items are tracking against their allocated budget. This report helps you to understand which items are being purchased frequently and which ones aren't. Use this information to optimize your inventory and ensure that your organization is always stocked with the products that you need.
Purchasers can monitor the variance metrics to ensure that you're meeting your purchasing targets. Use this report to see the purchasing performance of specific item categories, and items that you purchase. With this information, you can identify opportunities to reduce cost and optimize your approach to purchasing specific items.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The Actual vs Budget report includes the following KPIs and measures:
- Purchase Quantity
- Purchase Amount
- Budget Quantity
- Budget Amount
- Budget Amount Variance
- Budget Amount Variance %
- Variance
- Variance %
Click on the link for a KPI to learn more about what it means, how it is calculated, and what data was used in the calculations.
Tip
You can easily track the KPIs that the Power BI reports display against your business objectives. To learn more, go to Track your business KPIs with Power BI metrics.
Data used in the report
The report uses data from the following tables in Business Central:
- Item
- Item Category
- Value Entry
- Purchase Line
- Item Budget Entry
Try the report
Try the report here: Actual vs. Budget
Tip
If you hold down the CTRL key while you select the report link, the report opens on a new browser tab. In this way, you can stay on the current page while you explore the report on the other browser tab.
See also
Track KPIs with Power BI metrics
Power BI Purchasing app
Ad hoc analysis of purchasing data
Built-in purchasing reports
Purchasing analytics overview
Purchasing overview