Copilot in Business Central can set up an analysis view from a plain language question. You type what you want to see, click Generate, and Copilot creates a pivot-style layout based on your request.
Business Central includes a built-in feature called the analysis view. It lets you group and filter list data in a pivot-style layout, similar to what you can do in Excel. Before Copilot arrived, setting it up required manual steps and field selection. Now, you can describe what you want in plain language and Copilot builds the layout for you.
What Is the Analysis View in Business Central?
The analysis view is a feature available on list pages in Business Central. From a list, you can switch into analysis mode and create a structured view of the data. You choose which fields to use as row groups, column groups, and filters. The result is a live, in-system pivot layout that you can interact with directly in BC.
This is useful when you want to summarise or segment data without leaving BC. For example, on the customer ledger entries page, you might want to group all open invoices by customer or by due date. Additionally, you might want to filter by a specific date range or salesperson. Rather than exporting to Excel, you can do this directly in the list. Also, you can save and reuse any view you create. Consequently, you do not need to set it up again each time you need the same layout.
How Copilot Sets Up an Analysis View
To use Copilot for the analysis view, open a list page in Business Central. In the top-left corner of the list, there is an option to analyse the list. Click it and a Copilot prompt panel appears. You type your request in plain language. Then Copilot interprets the request and generates an analysis layout to match.
For example, on the customer ledger entries page, you could type: sort by due date. Copilot reads that, creates an analysis tab, and groups the data by due date. BC names the tab based on your question. So the result is clear and easy to identify later. Moreover, you can adjust the layout further after Copilot generates it. So you start from Copilot’s suggestion and fine-tune from there.
Using It on Customer Ledger Entries
The customer ledger entries page is a natural starting point for the analysis view. It contains all invoices, credit memos, and payments. Without any grouping, the list can be long and hard to read. However, with a Copilot-generated layout, you can quickly group that data by customer name, by due date, or by salesperson. As a result, you get a high-level view that you can expand to see the detail underneath.
Using the Suggest Options in the Copilot Panel
In addition to the free-text prompt, the Copilot panel for the analysis view includes a suggest button next to the Generate button. When you click it, Copilot offers a set of structured options for how to set up the layout. For example, it might suggest grouping by salesperson, by country, or by another relevant field from the current list.
You can select one of these suggestions and then generate the layout. Alternatively, you can skip the suggestions and type your own request. This is useful when you are not sure exactly what to type, or when you want to explore different ways to look at the data. Furthermore, you can combine a suggestion with your own typed request. So you might start with a Copilot suggestion and add extra details to refine it. Therefore, the feature works well both for users who know what they want and for those who are still exploring.
Saving an Analysis View for Later Use
When Copilot generates an analysis view, it asks if you want to keep it or discard it. If you keep it, BC saves it as a named analysis tab. The next time you open the same list page, that tab is still there. So you do not need to run the Copilot prompt again to get the same view.
This makes the analysis view a practical tool for daily work. You set it up once with Copilot’s help, save it, and use it on demand. Also, you can have multiple saved tabs on the same page, each with a different grouping or filter. So if you need one view grouped by customer and another grouped by due date, both can be saved side by side. In short, Copilot helps with the initial setup, but the saved view becomes a permanent part of your workflow. Moreover, you can rename or delete saved tabs at any time if your needs change.
Why Copilot Makes This Feature More Accessible
Before Copilot, the analysis view was a useful feature but had a barrier to entry. Setting it up manually meant choosing fields, defining groups, and configuring the layout step by step. Users who were not familiar with pivot tables or with BC’s field structure often skipped it entirely. As a result, the feature was underused by many BC users.
With Copilot, that barrier is removed. You describe what you want in plain language and BC handles the configuration. Also, this means users at any skill level can get value from the feature. Therefore, you do not need to know pivot table logic or BC field structures to get a useful result. Also, Copilot is designed to improve over time. The more users interact with it, the better it gets at understanding different types of requests. Therefore, the feature will continue to get more reliable with each update. Furthermore, as Copilot becomes a standard part of BC navigation, more list pages will likely support this kind of natural language analysis in future releases.
Wrapping Up: Set Up an Analysis View in Business Central
Copilot makes it straightforward to set up an analysis view in Business Central without manual field configuration. You type a plain language question, Copilot generates the layout, and you can save it for repeated use. The suggest options in the panel also give you structured choices when you are not sure what to type.
For any BC user who works with long list pages and needs to summarise data quickly, this Copilot feature is worth exploring. Indeed, it turns a complex setup step into a single question. NAV SEAL will continue covering Copilot features in Business Central as they develop. Check the NAV SEAL YouTube channel and visit navseal.com for more BC guides.
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