Christiania Shipping, a maritime group with 14 Business Central companies and 46 ships, replaced company-by-company reporting with one Excel file that refreshes fresh data from all 14 companies in seconds. With Exsion Reporting the finance team filters by company, vessel, voyage, ship manager or dimension, reviews balance sheet, P&L and funding checks across the group, and catches postings booked to the wrong company early. Getting there took two 3-hour sessions and a key multi-company report built in a couple of hours, without a Business Central consultant. Finance Manager Estian Koch explains how it works.
Project snapshot
Christiania Shipping needed a practical way to combine complex data across multiple companies and dimensions. Exsion Reporting brings it all into Excel in a familiar, flexible format. Instead of running separate reports for each company, the team can refresh one report, apply filters by company, vessel, date, ship manager, or dimension, and quickly review financial information across the group. As part of its move to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the finance team needed a reporting solution that goes beyond the out-of-the-box functionality to support the way the business actually operates: across companies, vessels, voyages, and ship management structures.
Results at a glance
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Metric | Before | After
Group reporting | Separate reports per company, 14 companies switched one by one in Business Central | One Excel file with fresh data from all 14 companies side by side
Changing or creating a report | Request to the Business Central implementation partner | Done in-house by the finance team, no consultant
Refreshing a report | Re-export per company | Change the settings, click refresh, result within seconds
Time to become productive | Not measured | Two 3-hour sessions with Exsion365
Building the key multi-company report | Not available out of the box | A couple of hours with guidance from Exsion365
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How do you report across multiple companies in Business Central?
"The big challenge with Business Central is that each company has its own data," says Estian Koch, Finance Manager at Christiania Shipping. "From a group reporting view, you want everything together so you can get accurate insights."
Without Exsion Reporting, the team would need to ask its Business Central implementation partner to build custom reports. Even then, the results would still need to be reviewed individually, not as a whole. "Exsion's biggest benefit for us is having all our companies visible immediately," Koch says. "Instead of running separate reports by company, we have each one's data side-by-side to see everything in one view."
In Exsion that is a matter of ticking the companies in the query grid. The result comes back with a company column, so a G/L Entry (table 17) query across 14 companies lands in one table that a pivot can slice by company, vessel or ship manager. Microsoft's own route to group figures is described in its guide to consolidated company reporting in Business Central; Christiania Shipping wanted the underlying entries side by side in Excel, not only the consolidated totals.
Why Excel, not Business Central?
"We were accustomed to exporting data into Excel," Koch says. "Exsion was recommended as the best solution to get data out of Business Central across different companies into our reports." He elaborates, "If you have data structured in a table, it is easy to view it in different formats and compare different dimensions against each other. Excel gives us more flexibility for analytics and analysis than trying to pull the report directly from Business Central."
There is some learning involved, especially in understanding which Business Central tables hold the information needed for a report. However, the learning curve is manageable. "On most Business Central screens, there are shortcuts that pull up an information bar to show you where your data is located within the database. Once you understand where the information is coming from, pulling it into Excel with Exsion is fairly straightforward," Koch says. "For someone in a controlling or financial reporting role, that basic knowledge is already part of the job."
One file, fresh data from all 14 companies
"Instead of having to switch between companies in Business Central, we have one Excel file that pulls fresh data from them all. We've created multiple views to support different reporting needs, including balance sheet review, P&L analysis, and funding-related checks. Then, we can filter the data according to our needs in that moment," notes Koch.
"With Exsion, we can alter our existing reports, or even create new ones, without hiring a Business Central consultant. For example, I've built a management report that pulls data from the general ledger to show total expenses per ship. Each month we compare that against ship budgets to evaluate performance. We can filter and sort by dimensions, or even combine the data into one table." Exsion Reporting is not only flexible, but also gives them access to the latest financial data. "Once the report is built, you change the settings, click refresh, and the result is available within seconds," Koch says.
The speed holds at volume: Exsion refreshes 700,000 G/L Entry rows in under five seconds and Excel stays responsive while it runs. Because the query definition is written into the workbook as a readable grid, the expenses-per-ship report can be copied and adjusted by a colleague without rebuilding it.
How does Christiania Shipping catch errors across 46 ships?
Christiania Shipping uses Business Central dimensions to support detailed financial analysis. "One dimension tracks by vessel. Another dimension tracks by voyage. We also use a separate dimension to keep track of the ship manager responsible for the vessel in question, and to compare costs between ship managers," Koch says.
Exsion365 makes that information easier to access and analyze in Excel.
"We use Exsion to monitor and control our multi-company and multi-dimensional accounting," he explains. "It helps us see what has been posted in different companies and for different ships, and whether the ship's activity is posted to the correct company. That helps us spot errors quickly and ensure uniformity across our entire group."
That check is only possible when all 14 companies sit in one table. A vessel dimension that appears in a company where that ship is not managed stands out immediately in a pivot, and Show Details opens Business Central at the exact account and date range behind the cell so the posting can be corrected at the source.
Productive within hours, not weeks
Christiania Shipping did not need a long training process to start using Exsion Reporting. "We had a 3-hour introduction to get us up and running," Koch says. "After we started using it, in another 3-hour session, the Exsion365 team shared best practices and showed me how to use the more advanced functionality."
A key multi-company report was also developed in a couple of hours with guidance from Exsion365. That practical support helped Christiania Shipping move from concept to usable reporting quickly. "The product is straightforward to use," Koch says. "And when we had questions, the Exsion team was quick to respond."
The technical setup is short as well. The add-in installs from AppSource through Extension Management in about five minutes, and it inherits Business Central user permissions, so a finance manager who may see all 14 companies in Business Central sees all 14 in Excel, and a colleague with access to two companies sees two. Pricing is public and the 30-day trial covers the full product.
Built for Business Central users with multiple companies
For Christiania Shipping, the strongest value of Exsion365 is clear: if you know where the numbers are, you can report on them, no matter how complex your company structure is. "If you are a Business Central user with multiple companies, Exsion is definitely worthwhile," Koch says. "The biggest benefit is having all your companies visible immediately." As the maritime group continues its voyage toward modern, cloud-based ERP across the organization, Exsion365 gives them a foundation, and a partner, that is familiar, flexible, and rises to the challenge of multi-company reporting.
If your group faces the same question, our guide on how to consolidate multiple companies in Business Central using Excel walks through the steps, and groups that need eliminations and currency translation on top can look at Exsion Corporate.
Frequently asked questions
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How many companies does Christiania Shipping report on in one Excel file? | All 14 Business Central companies. One workbook pulls fresh data from every company and the team filters by company, vessel, date, ship manager or dimension.
Which Business Central dimensions does Christiania Shipping use? | One dimension tracks the vessel, one tracks the voyage and a third tracks the ship manager responsible for the vessel, which lets the team compare costs between ship managers across 46 ships.
How long did it take Christiania Shipping to become productive with Exsion? | A 3-hour introduction got the team running, a second 3-hour session covered best practices and advanced functionality, and a key multi-company report was built in a couple of hours with guidance from Exsion365.
Does Christiania Shipping still need a Business Central consultant for reports? | No. The finance team alters existing reports and builds new ones itself, such as a management report showing total expenses per ship compared with ship budgets each month.
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