There are a number of ideas around how to pre-filter PowerBI visualizations to explore CRM data – but there’s not a clear replacement for in-line charts on forms, just yet.

But don’t despair, celebrated CRM chart blogger, Ulrik “CRM Chart Guy” Carlsson recently joined Scott “Captain Redlaces” Sewell  and Joel “Just Joel” Lindstrom on the CRM.audio PowerBI podcast and discussed some of the ins and outs of combining CRM and PowerBI – (and cleared up some misconceptions about the use of ‘Embedded PowerBI’ in the process.)

Ulrik posted a cool tip on how to add a hyperlink link from CRM to a pre-filtered PowerBI report. – This tip gives you, in a one-click-away method, a dynamically pre-filtered PowerBI report, filtered to the record in CRM you’re currently viewing. Examples might be to build a ‘Customer Overview’ dashboard that shows various charts and visualizations of CRM, combined with non-CRM, data for a specific customer. – Or a Salesperson Dashboard that links from a CRM user record to a mashup in PowerBI of all kinds of interesting visualizations.

It’s a great start to take advantage of PowerBI’s visuals and ability to combine CRM and Non CRM data.

Take a look at Ulrich’s blog post here for the full instructions:https://crmchartguy.wordpress.com/2017/03/30/record-specific-power-bi-reports-in-dynamics-365-only-one-click-away/

Here’s a great video related to structuring your PowerBI report for use with a dynamic filter via a URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXObcA9G9Vw