Jet Express Reports and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 tutorial

How to download, install and create your first Jet Express report

Hello everyone, it’s me again. My name is Christos Pittis, and I am a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Consultant. In this episode, I am going to show you how to download, install and create your first Jet Express report.

Jet Reports are one of the market leaders for fast, flexible financial reporting and business analytics solutions.

Jet Express for Excel with Dynamics NAV is an extension included with Microsoft Dynamics NAV to give users an easy way to create basic reports and business queries inside of Excel.

Open your browser and type https://www.jetreports.com/jet-express/jet-express-excel-nav/

Scroll down and find the Download button. Click on it. Have in mind the following requirements and prerequisites:

Database: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 - NAV 2016

Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, Microsoft Office 365 Desktop Edition

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 through 2012R2

Prerequisites: Microsoft.NET Framework 4.5**

**Microsoft.NET Framework will be installed with Jet Express.

Fill in the form with your business details to get access to the executable file.

You will receive a confirmation email with the downloadable link. The link is also accessible via the page that opens immediately after this one.

Once the file gets downloaded, hit the jet express executable file to start installing the suite. Follow the wizard and wait patiently to finish J.

As soon as it completes, Excel application will pop up. Notice there is an extra tab in the end named Jet. Click on it.

Now it’s time to download and import into the Microsoft Dynamics NAV development database the NAV web services code unit. You can also connect directly to the SQL database, but I am not showing this option here.

Go to this URL http://kb.jetreports.com/article/AA-01212/0/Configuring-NAV-Web-Services-for-Jet-Essentials.html

Download the zip file based on your NAV version. In this example, I am downloading the zip file for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 release.

Unzip the file and import the fob file into Microsoft Dynamics NAV development database.

Go to your NAV client and search for web services. Notice that code unit 14125500 Jet Data Source has been published automatically.

Now go to the Excel application and hit the Data Source Settings button which can be found under the Jet tab.

In the New Data Source window, enter a name for your data source and then select the type of database you will be accessing:

For most databases, you can now click the OK button to return to the Data Source Settings window and supply the remaining information needed to configure your data source.

If, however, your database is "Dynamics NAV 2013 or later", your next step is to specify the type of connection that you will be using to access your database:

The option you choose is determined by your organization's system administrator based on your organization's installation of Dynamics NAV.

Direct SQL Server and Direct SQL Server - Multitenant

For organizations and users with direct access to the SQL Server on which their NAV 2013 (or later) database is stored, this data source can provide substantially faster reporting access than is traditionally possible through NAV's Web Services.

Please see the Requirements for this data source and also Instructions for Configuring this data source.

If your organization uses Dynamics NAV in a multitenant environment, see the Instructions for Configuring a NAV 2013 and higher multitenant data source.

Remote Data Server

The Jet Remote Data Service (JRDS) data source provides a fast, secure connection method for environments where Jet users have Excel installed locally, and their Dynamics NAV system is hosted on a different domain.

System administrators should refer to the Admin Guide for the JRDS.  End users can see the article on configuring a JRDS that has been set up by your system administrator.

Web Services

If the two requirements for using the Direct SQL Server connector do not apply to you, you can access your NAV 2013 data by using NAV's Web Services to handle the communications.

I prefer using this option in this YouTube video.

You can find more details here http://kb.jetreports.com/article/AA-01112

Under the Jet tab, you can click on the Table Builder and search for the table you are interested into. Select the fields or flow fields you wish to include in your report and you are ready to go. Click ok.

There are some pre-built reports as well so go to https://www.jetreports.com/p/jet-reports-report-players/ and download and install the report player.

Thanks for reading this blog post and watching my YouTube video. You can connect with me on LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/christospittis or 365 talent portal https://www.365talentportal.com/

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 tutorial

Christos Pittis

Microsoft Dynamics NAV/Dynamics 365 Business Central Consultant