Business Central and Power BI - additional table access

[Marcin_]

I use Power BI and Business Central cloud connector. I see that Microsoft prepared many tables available for Power BI, however some of them are not accessible by default (e.g. Warehouse Shipment Line, Warehouse Receipt Line).

I noticed that I can make those tables accessible for Power BI in Web Services page in BC -> just to add new entry with type = Page.

On the other hand I read that this option is not preferable by Microsoft due to performance issues (i.e. it cannot be guaranteed that data is taken into Power BI from “replica”/secondary/read only BC database or primary?

Do you have any experiences on that?

[grazitti_sapna · Accepted solution]

Hi @Marcin_ , 

Yes, you're correct. By default, Power BI using the Business Central connector only has access to a limited set of pre-published web service pages (typically the ones Microsoft has exposed in the Web Services list). These are mostly high-level entities like customers, vendors, sales headers, etc.

To access additional tables — such as Warehouse Shipment Line or Warehouse Receipt Line — you can publish them manually via:
Business Central → Web Services → New → Type = Page → Select the relevant object and publish it.

Important Consideration: Performance & Read Replicas

• Microsoft does not recommend exposing additional Pages or Queries unless necessary.

• This is because manually published web services may not use Business Central's read-only replicas, meaning:

  • The data could be pulled directly from the primary transactional database.

  • This can introduce performance overhead to your production environment — especially if your Power BI reports refresh frequently or pull large volumes of data.

Summary sort of for you:
Yes, you can manually publish additional BC tables via Web Services (Page objects), and Power BI will be able to access them. However, it's important to note that Microsoft does not recommend this for high-traffic or large datasets due to potential performance risks on the production database. If available, prefer APIs or build optimized queries/APIs in AL for safer and more scalable integration.

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[Marcin_]

Hi, thanks for the replies and not it's clearer for me that we'll need some development to get relevant data source,

[HarishKM · Accepted solution]

@Marcin_ Hey,

you should use OData or SOAP web services for data extraction instead of using pages directly in Business Central. This ensures you're connecting to a read-only replica or secondary database, optimizing performance and data consistency.

Connection steps of SOAP web services- SOAP API Connector for Power BI - API Integration Hub | ZappySys

Thanks
Harish M
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly and give Kudos if helped you resolve your query

[v-pgoloju]

Hi @Marcin_,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

For better performance and scalability, the recommended route is to either:

Use standard API endpoints if available (check under the “API Setup” and “Web Services” with Type = API), or Create custom API Pages using AL if the data entity isn’t already exposed.

This ensures that Power BI pulls data from the read-optimized replica rather than the production database, reducing performance risk and ensuring more efficient refreshes.

If your reporting needs are heavy or enterprise-scale, also consider Azure Data Lake integration or Dataflows with staged transformation to minimize load on Business Central and centralize data handling.

Thank you & Regards,
Prasanna kumar

[grazitti_sapna · Accepted solution]

Hi @Marcin_ , 

Yes, you're correct. By default, Power BI using the Business Central connector only has access to a limited set of pre-published web service pages (typically the ones Microsoft has exposed in the Web Services list). These are mostly high-level entities like customers, vendors, sales headers, etc.

To access additional tables — such as Warehouse Shipment Line or Warehouse Receipt Line — you can publish them manually via:
Business Central → Web Services → New → Type = Page → Select the relevant object and publish it.

Important Consideration: Performance & Read Replicas

• Microsoft does not recommend exposing additional Pages or Queries unless necessary.

• This is because manually published web services may not use Business Central's read-only replicas, meaning:

  • The data could be pulled directly from the primary transactional database.

  • This can introduce performance overhead to your production environment — especially if your Power BI reports refresh frequently or pull large volumes of data.

Summary sort of for you:
Yes, you can manually publish additional BC tables via Web Services (Page objects), and Power BI will be able to access them. However, it's important to note that Microsoft does not recommend this for high-traffic or large datasets due to potential performance risks on the production database. If available, prefer APIs or build optimized queries/APIs in AL for safer and more scalable integration.

🌟 I hope this solution helps you unlock your Power BI potential! If you found it helpful, click 'Mark as Solution' to guide others toward the answers they need.
💡 Love the effort? Drop the kudos! Your appreciation fuels community spirit and innovation.
🎖 As a proud SuperUserand Microsoft Partner, we’re here to empower your data journey and the Power BI Community at large.
🔗 Curious to explore more? [Discover here].
Let’s keep building smarter solutions together!