Typical ERP dashboards are very impressive looking, but they do not contribute to running the business.
- They provide charts.
- They display numbers.
However, they do not tell you what to do. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is different but only if you understand how to use the tool effectively. The Role Centres in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central aren’t just dashboards. They’re interactive command centres.
What is the Role Centre in Business Central?
A role centre is the first screen displayed when accessing the Business Central system after login.
“But it’s not just a homepage, it’s a personalized workspace designed around:”
- Job role
- Daily tasks
- Approvals
- Notifications
- KPIs
- To-do list
A CFO, warehouse manager, buyer, and sales representative should not share the same Role Centre. That’s the whole point.
Why Most Role Centres Fail
Most firms do not customize these. They leave:
- Default cues
- Generic charts
- Unused Reports
- Irrelevant activities
They carry on doing so until the users stop paying attention and then they go back to Excel. The ERP turns into a data warehouse instead of being a decision engine. It’s a configuration problem, not a tech problem.
How Role Centres should be
An ideal Role Centre must be able to provide answers to following three queries each morning:
- What do I need to pay attention to
- What’s going wrong
- Next, what do I do
If the Role Centres in your Dynamics solution are unable to provide these answers, they are not functioning correctly.
Cues: The Most Powerful (And Overlooked) Element
Cues refers to the clickable tiles shown with numbers such as:
- Opening sales orders
- Products below safety stock
- Invoices awaiting approval
- Customers who are overdue
- Purchase orders not received
“But they are not just numbers,” Scott Kelly, they are:
- Filters
- Drilldowns
- Action triggers
Just click one, and you’re right into the list of records to act. They are talking dashboard.
Notifications & Alerts = ERP That Speaks Up
Business Central can:
- Alert with low inventory warning
- Inform when approvals are pending
- Warn when credit limits are exceeded
- Flag delayed shipments
Instead of manually checking reports, BC tells you when something needs attention. That’s the difference between passive and active systems.
Personalization Turns Noise into Clarity
Using Personalize, each user can:
- Remove useless fields
- Add critical ones
- Rearrange lists
- Eliminate clutter
- Focus on what matters
Two people can be on the same page and see totally different things. That’s how Role Centres become useful.
Power BI Tiles Bring Strategy into Daily Work
With Power BI, embedding can be directly done into Role Centres. This means:
- Gross margin trends
- Inventory turns
- Sales by Channel
- Customer profitability
are visible the very instant a user logs in.
Not in some separate tool.
Not in the current monthly report.
Right where work gets done.
Workflows: Turning Dashboards into Action
Approvals, reminders, and automated activities can all start from the Role Centres. That means:
- A buyer views a pending approval of a PO
- Clicks It
- Approves it
- The order is sent
- The vendor is notified
All of this without having to leave the dashboard.
What Great Role Centres Look Like
CFO sees:
- Cash position
- AR Outstanding
- Budget & Actual
- Profitability
Sales sees:
- Quotes waiting
- Orders not shipped
- Customers vs. credit
- Top Deals
Warehouse sees:
- Selections to be processed
- Late shipments
- Stockouts
- Pending receipts
Same ERP. Variable command centres.
Final Thoughts: Your ERP Should Talk to You
If your ERP dashboards only shows data, then it’s useless. If it tells you what you need to pay attention to and you get to do something about it, it’s very powerful.
Business Central Role Centres were developed to be:
- Interactive
- Personalized
- Actionable
- Intelligent
When implemented properly, these become the brain centre for your business. Its not a report or just a home page, but a breathing, living command centre.
