Two questions come up in almost every Irish conversation: where does the data live, and how do we report a group that trades in euro and sterling? Here are plain answers to both.
For an Irish business, Power BI and Microsoft Fabric data is stored in the region chosen for your Microsoft tenant and your capacity, and Microsoft's North Europe Azure region is in Ireland. Groups that trade on both sides of the border, or across Ireland and Great Britain, report in one model by holding transactions in their original currency, translating them at agreed rates, and letting the board choose the reporting currency.
Where the data lives
Every Power BI tenant has a home region, set when the tenant is created, which is where Power BI content is stored by default. Fabric capacities are created in a region you choose, and Microsoft supports placing a capacity in a region other than the home region, which it calls Multi-Geo. For most Irish organisations the natural choice is North Europe, which is Microsoft's Azure region in Ireland; for groups that are mostly UK-based, UK South may make more sense.
Check your home region before you build anything. It is shown in the Power BI service under Help, then About Power BI. If your tenant was created years ago by someone in another country, it may not be where you expect.
Residency is only part of compliance. GDPR, your Data Protection Commission obligations and your own policies still decide who may see what, and that is enforced in the model with row-level security and in the workspace with access controls, not by the choice of region. Our Microsoft Fabric page sets out how we configure both.
Reporting across euro and sterling
Many Irish groups have entities in the Republic, Northern Ireland and Great Britain, so the same management pack has to bring euro and sterling together. The approach that holds up is simple to describe:
- Keep every transaction in its original currency. Do not convert in the source extract.
- Hold a rates table. Monthly average rates for profit and loss, month-end closing rates for the balance sheet, maintained by finance and loaded with the data.
- Translate in the model. Each measure is calculated in local currency and translated using the right rate for its type, so the board can view the group in euro or in sterling and drill into any entity in its own currency.
- Reconcile to the consolidation. The model's group totals should match the figures finance signs off. Where they differ, the cause is usually a rate or an intercompany elimination, and the model should show it.
The same pattern works whether the entities run Business Central, Sage, Xero or something else. Our post on consolidated P&L across multiple Business Central companies goes into the entity side in more detail.
Licensing in euro
Power BI Pro and Premium Per User are licensed per user, and Fabric capacity per month, with Irish pricing in euro. For most mid-market groups a small Fabric capacity plus Pro licences for report authors is enough to start. Our Fabric licensing calculator gives an indicative size.
Working with a partner in Ireland
Hopton works with clients across Ireland and Great Britain from Leeds, London and Dublin. If you want a second view on where your data should live, or how your euro and sterling reporting should work, our free audit starts with exactly those questions.
Related reading
How do you build a consolidated P&L across multiple Business Central companies?
Power BI and Fabric licensing explained: Pro, PPU and Fabric capacity costs compared
Sizing Microsoft Fabric capacity without overpaying or throttling
AI, your data and UK data protection: what a leader needs to get right
Shauna Duffy
Director of Professional Services
Part of the Hopton Analytics team, delivering governed analytics programmes for UK mid-market organisations.
