Future Financeby Sparkle

Financial management on Microsoft Fabric

At month end, you know why. Not just how much.

We bring your accounting and ERP data into Microsoft Fabric and agree the financial definitions behind your reports. Your finance team can compare actuals with budget, investigate variances and update the forecast using approved assumptions.

For finance teams reporting across entities or systems.

Book a call

The first step is a finance review, with price and scope agreed before it starts. What it includes

Illustrative sample dataSample period: month 1 · € thousands
  1. ERP and budget
  2. Finance model in Fabric
  3. Management report
−55

EBITDA below budget.Budget 205 Actual 150

Effect on profit, with the owner’s explanation

  1. Revenue−50Head of sales: lower prices for two key customers
  2. Operating expenses−10Head of HR: one-off recruiting fee
  3. Cost of sales+5Head of logistics: cheaper freight

Assumption: part of the price reduction continues; the one-off recruiting fee does not. The CFO approves the forecast.

Next month’s EBITDA forecast, once approved205 175

Sample control totals match the source data: 3 of 3 lines

See the calculation and assumptions
Teaching example with fictional data. Not a client report or connected Fabric solution.

Typical situations

Does this sound familiar?

With one company and one system, built-in reporting or an existing Power BI model is often enough. If so, we will tell you in the first call.

  • 01

    Entity numbers do not line up.

    The parent company runs Business Central, a subsidiary runs Merit. The management report is assembled by hand every month.

  • 02

    The forecast is rebuilt from files.

    Every update means copying data between files and checking which version is current.

  • 03

    Power BI is there. Shared definitions are not.

    There are plenty of reports, but account mappings and report lines differ from one report to the next.

Moving the data is only half the job.

A connection brings entries into Fabric. The finance model connects them to reports and forecasts.

Your systems

Microsoft ERPs and Odoo

  • Business CentralSparkle package
  • Dynamics 365 Finance and OperationsAssessed with you
  • OdooAssessed with you

Estonian accounting systems

Merit Aktiva, SmartAccounts, Standard Books, Erply BooksPrevious Power BI experience

Budget and other agreed sources

The review checks your version, access and data before scope is agreed.

All systems

Microsoft FabricIn your Microsoft environment

The agreed finance model

  • Account mapping to report lines
  • Entities, periods and dimensions
  • Balance comparison with the books
  • Budget and approved assumptions

Reporting and planning

  • Power BI reports
  • Planning in Fabric IQMicrosoft’s budgeting and forecasting in Fabric

Connected to the model

  • Excel
  • A planning add-in of your choice

Tools that work can stay, connected to agreed data and definitions.

  1. 01

    Connect

    Bring the agreed data from your systems into the finance model.

  2. 02

    Reconcile

    Compare balances and agree the reporting definitions.

  3. 03

    Plan

    Connect actual results to the assumptions behind the next forecast.

Technical view: from source to report, layer by layer

How the numbers travel from the ledger to the report and the forecast.

  1. Source data

    Ledger and ERP: entries, accounts, dimensions and budget. We choose the connection per system.

Microsoft Fabric

  1. OneLake

    Fabric’s single data lake. Source data and loads in one place.

  2. Finance model

    A semantic model with accounts, dimensions and report lines. We reconcile balances with the ledger.

  3. Reports and planning

    Power BI reports, plus budget, forecast and scenarios in Planning in Fabric IQ, based on a shared semantic model.

  1. Connected tools

    Excel connects to the same semantic model. We check how a chosen add-in connects before you choose it.

According to Microsoft, Planning in Fabric IQ supports budgets, forecasts and scenarios on a shared semantic model and writes results back to a SQL database in Fabric (Microsoft Learn, checked 9 October 2026).

Three stages. You decide.

Price and scope are agreed before each stage. Each stage ends with acceptance.

  1. TemplateReview summary
    Question
    Systems and data
    Gaps
    Solution options
    Cost assumptions
    Next-stage scope
    01

    Finance review

    Solution options, documented inputs and gaps, cost assumptions and the next stage’s scope.

    Price on request
  2. TemplateAccount mapping and checks
    40xx
    Revenue✓
    50xx
    Cost of sales✓
    60xx
    Operating expenses✓
    Check
    Balances match3/3
    02

    Implementation

    Data, finance model and planning. Accepted stage by stage.

    Quoted after the review
  3. TemplateService overview
    Data refresh
    Agreed schedule✓
    Balance checks
    At month end✓
    Change requests
    Within agreed scope1 open
    03

    Managed service

    Monitoring, incidents and changes within agreed scope.

    From €1,000 + VAT per month

Microsoft licences and Fabric capacity are separate.

View services

Check what the solution is built on

Explore the worked example, the acceptance criteria and Sparkle’s published technical analysis.

Method

The arithmetic is visible

Inspect the EBITDA difference, forecast bridge and each weekly cash balance. All figures are fictional.

See the example
Article

Sparkle’s technical analysis

A Business Central reporting article explains data-route choices. Published by Sparkle on 5 October 2026, in Estonian.

Read the analysis
Way of working

Acceptance agreed in advance

Before implementation, we agree report lines, balance checks and what is out of scope.

Review the scope
A meetup of the Estonian Microsoft Fabric user group
Community

Estonian Fabric user group

Sparkle is a member of the Estonian Microsoft Fabric user group. Its meetups cover real Fabric projects and architecture.

Read Sparkle’s article

Clear responsibilities for each team

After launch, the managed-service agreement defines monitoring, incident handling and change scope.

The Sparkle team in the office
The Sparkle team. Future Finance is Sparkle’s finance practice.

Your CFO or controller

Approves reporting definitions, forecast assumptions and the result.

Your IT team

Approves the environment, access and security requirements.

Sparkle’s team

Delivers the agreed implementation. Monitors and handles incidents within the managed-service agreement.

Bring your next finance question.

We look at your systems and one reporting or forecast obstacle, and tell you whether a finance review is a sensible next step. No files are needed for the first call.