1. Decide what the first pack must do
A reporting pack is ready to build when the business can name its decisions, definitions, source controls and sign-off owners. A connector or dashboard template alone does not establish readiness.
Start with a decision, not a list of visuals
Choose one recurring decision or reporting task that causes material work. Examples include explaining a P&L movement, prioritising overdue debt, or identifying orders that will miss a shipping commitment. Write down the action a user should take after reading the report.
| Scope question | Record the answer |
|---|---|
| Business decision | What will someone decide, and how often? |
| Pack boundary | Which reports, entities, periods and user groups are included? |
| Reference control | Which source report, filters and cutoff must match? |
| Business owner | Who approves the definition and the reconciled result? |
| Success evidence | Which checks demonstrate that the pack is useful and correct? |
Six readiness gates
2. Specify the reporting pack
Use this matrix as a workshop starting point. The examples are proposed requirements, not a claim that every report or integration is included in a standard subscription.
| Area | Definition to agree | Acceptance evidence |
|---|---|---|
| GL and finance | Legal entities, account mapping, financial dimensions, fiscal calendar and reporting currency. | Trial balance or agreed financial statement reconciles at the same cutoff. |
| Receivables | As-of date, ageing basis, settlements, credits, disputes and currency. | An invoice, partial settlement and credit follow the approved ageing logic. |
| Payables | Open liability, due-date rules, credits, disputes and payment status. | A supplier balance traces to agreed source entries. |
| Stock | Sites, warehouses, units, availability definition and valuation basis. | Quantity and value reconcile separately to agreed controls. |
| Sales and shipping | Ordered, released, shipped, delivered and invoiced are distinct events. | A partial shipment is not counted as a complete order. |
| Purchasing | Orders, receipts, invoices and commitment definitions. | A partly received order has the agreed remaining commitment. |
Agree exclusions before they become surprises
Specify whether currency translation, consolidation, eliminations, budgets, external CRM data, custom extensions and historical restatements are included. Do not add amounts across currencies or treat a multi-entity dashboard as statutory consolidation without an agreed method.
Capture one metric contract
| Field | Workshop prompt |
|---|---|
| Measure and grain | What is counted? At invoice, line, order or entity level? |
| Date and status | Which date drives the period? Which posted or operational statuses qualify? |
| Adjustments | How are returns, reversals, cancellations, tax and credits handled? |
| Ownership | Who approves it, when did it become effective, and how will changes be versioned? |
3. Prove the pipeline and the numbers
Microsoft documents supported F&O extraction through Synapse Link and Link to Fabric [1, 2]. Confirm your environment, selected tables, customisations and recovery route before committing to a design.
This is a logical design pattern, not a promise of three separate copies or a universal technology recipe. Preserve traceability from a reported amount back to its source and transformation rules.
Use an illustrative test pack
| Test | What should be demonstrated |
|---|---|
| Normal posting | Entity, period, dimensions, currency and amount match the agreed source. |
| Reversal or correction | The correction reaches the report once, without retaining a duplicate effect. |
| Partial settlement | The original invoice, settlement and remaining position are consistent. |
| Period boundary | A backdated posting follows the agreed period and restatement rules. |
| Incremental recovery | A repeated load does not double-count, and a failed load is recoverable. |
| Access boundary | An authorised user sees the right scope; a restricted user does not. |
Measure the whole journey
Record source-posted time, arrival time, curated-data completion and report-visible time on a common clock. Direct Lake changes how the model reads prepared data; it does not eliminate upstream synchronisation or preparation [3].
Test quiet and busy periods, a failed feed and initial history separately. Display the latest successfully processed source position and a stale-data warning, rather than only a page refresh time.
4. Agree the handover and launch decision
Approve the pack from evidence. Keep an action log for every unresolved exception, with an owner, next step and target date.
Make ownership visible
The business owner signs off definitions and results. The source administrator owns access and source changes. The delivery team owns the agreed pipeline and report work. The service owner owns monitoring, support and escalation. Record the people for your project rather than assuming one team performs every role.
| Decision record | Complete before launch |
|---|---|
| Pack and entities | ____________________________________________ |
| Business sign-off and date | ____________________________________________ |
| Open exceptions and owner | ____________________________________________ |
| Freshness target and evidence | ____________________________________________ |
| Support contact and escalation | ____________________________________________ |
How DataNova can help
DataNova can start from an agreed reporting pack and configure mappings, measures and drilldowns around your organisation. We target a customisable first suite within two weeks after source access, required mappings and scope are confirmed. We target data freshness within 15 minutes for supported, validated configurations. Initial loads, custom extensions, complex consolidation and additional sources can change both targets. Agree the implementation scope, hosting and ongoing service before work starts.
Bring this checklist, one recurring report and the source control it must reconcile to when you discuss your reporting requirements. Avoid sending production extracts or personal data in an initial enquiry.
Sources and next steps
Technical sources checked 29 October 2026. The checklists, examples and acceptance criteria are DataNova recommendations, not Microsoft requirements.
- Microsoft Learn: Finance and operations data in Synapse Link
- Microsoft Learn: Link to Microsoft Fabric
- Microsoft Learn: Direct Lake overview
Explore this DataNova reporting pack | Read the companion article | Discuss your reporting requirements