Strategic partnership
Analytics for LS Central, delivered by Hopton as BC4's strategic partner in the UK.
BC4 builds purpose-built analytics software for retailers running LS Central on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Hopton Analytics is BC4's strategic partner in the UK - we implement, configure and support it for retailers across the country.
Talk to us about LS Central analyticsWho is BC4?
BC4 is a software company that specialises in analytics and reporting for the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem, with a particular focus on LS Central. They build pre-built, configurable analytics products that sit on top of Dynamics data and deliver reporting through Power BI - without retailers needing to design a custom data warehouse or write reports from scratch.
Their flagship product is Analytics for LS Central, a reporting layer built specifically around the LS Central data model. BC4 built it by going deep into how LS Central structures its data - transactions, stock, loyalty, promotions, staff - and designing a product that knows what that data looks like and what retailers need to do with it.
The result is a product that a retailer on LS Central can adopt and be live on in weeks, rather than spending months building custom reporting infrastructure. It covers the reporting areas that matter most to retail finance, trading and operations teams, and it is configurable to match how each business is set up.
Hopton Analytics is BC4's strategic partner in the UK, responsible for bringing the product to UK retailers - from initial scoping and implementation through to training, ongoing support and any extensions the business needs over time.
The platform
What is LS Central?
LS Central is a unified retail management software built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It is made by LS Retail and used by retailers, hospitality businesses and service operators across the world. The key thing about LS Central is that it runs the whole operation on a single platform - Business Central handles finance, purchasing and inventory at the back-office level, while LS Central extends it to cover point of sale, promotions, customer loyalty programmes, staff scheduling and e-commerce. Everything that happens in your stores goes into one system.
Because LS Central sits across the whole operation, it captures a large amount of retail data: every transaction at the till, every stock movement, every loyalty redemption, every promotion that runs, every refund and every staff hour. That data is what makes LS Central users attractive candidates for proper analytics - the raw material is already there. The challenge is getting it out in a form that a finance director, trading manager or store operations team can actually work from.
The product
Analytics for LS Central
Analytics for LS Central is BC4's pre-built Power BI reporting product for retailers on LS Central. It connects directly to the LS Central data and delivers dashboards across the main areas of retail performance - sales, stock, margin, customer and loyalty, and operations - without needing a custom data warehouse or bespoke report development.
The reason it can be deployed quickly is that BC4 has already done the data modelling work. They built the product around the specific way LS Central structures its data, so it arrives knowing what a till transaction looks like, how stock records are held, and how a loyalty scheme is set up. That means the configuration work is about matching the product to your business - your store hierarchy, your categories, your KPI definitions - rather than building a data model from scratch.
Reports cover sales by store, category and product, like-for-like comparisons, gross margin analysis, stock positions and replenishment, promotion performance and uplift, customer spend and loyalty redemption rates, and operational metrics including basket size, transaction counts and voids. Hopton configures each area for the specific dimensions and definitions your business uses.
Who it is for
Retailers and hospitality operators running LS Central.
Fashion and apparel retailers
LS Central is widely used across fashion retail. Analytics for LS Central delivers like-for-like sales, sell-through by product and size, margin by category, and store-level performance without manual exports.
Convenience and grocery chains
High transaction volumes and tight margins mean reporting needs to be fast and granular. Analytics for LS Central gives convenience and grocery operators waste tracking, category performance and store benchmarking on a daily basis.
Hospitality and food service businesses
LS Central is used by restaurants, cafes and quick-service operators alongside retailers. The analytics layer covers covers, spend per head, item mix and operational performance across sites.
Multi-site retailers comparing locations
If you run more than one site and currently rely on weekly spreadsheets from store managers, Analytics for LS Central replaces that with a single live view across every location.
Finance and trading teams needing governed numbers
If your trading meeting runs on a report someone builds manually each week, and you are never quite sure it matches the system, this gives everyone one governed source.
Businesses going live on LS Central for the first time
If you are implementing LS Central, adding Analytics for LS Central at the same time means you go live with reporting already in place rather than six months later.
See the kind of reporting Analytics for LS Central makes possible:
What we deliver
What Analytics for LS Central covers.
The product delivers pre-built dashboards across the main areas of retail performance. Hopton configures each one for your business, your store hierarchy, and your KPI definitions.
Sales and trading performance
Daily, weekly and period sales by store, category, product and channel. Like-for-like comparisons. Hourly trading patterns. Everything a trading team needs to run their week.
Stock and inventory
Stock positions by location. Days cover by product. Stock movement and replenishment tracking. Waste and shrinkage by store and category.
Margin and profitability
Gross margin by product, category and supplier. Promotion performance and uplift. Markdown analysis. The numbers a finance director and trading director both need in one place.
Customer and loyalty analytics
Loyalty scheme performance, redemption rates, customer spend and visit frequency. Segment-level analysis of your most valuable customers.
Operational reporting
Store operations metrics including transaction counts, basket size, voids and refunds, and staff productivity where LS Central covers scheduling.
Configuration and support
Hopton connects the product to your LS Central environment, configures the dashboards for your store structure and dimensions, validates the numbers with your finance team, trains your people, and stays involved as your business changes.
How it works
From scoping to live reporting in weeks.
Discovery and scoping
We spend time understanding your business, your reporting needs, and what good looks like for your team. We confirm what Analytics for LS Central covers out of the box and where we need to extend it.
Connection and configuration
We connect the product to your LS Central environment, configure the data model for your structure, and set up the dashboards with your dimensions, store hierarchy and KPI definitions.
Validation
We check the numbers against your source system and sign them off with your finance team before anything goes live. If it does not match, we find out why.
Training and handover
We train your team on the dashboards and hand over documentation. You leave knowing how to use it, how to maintain it, and who to call if you need help.
Ongoing support
We stay involved. New stores, structural changes, additional reporting needs - we handle them as part of a continuing relationship, not a new project each time.
Common questions
Questions about BC4 and Analytics for LS Central
What is LS Central?
LS Central is a retail management software built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It is made by LS Retail and used by retailers, hospitality operators and service businesses worldwide. It runs the whole operation on one platform - Business Central for finance and back-office functions, extended by LS Central to cover point of sale, promotions, loyalty, staff scheduling and e-commerce. Because it sits across the whole operation, it holds a large amount of retail data that is often not being used for reporting.
What does Analytics for LS Central do?
Analytics for LS Central is a pre-built Power BI reporting layer built by BC4 that connects directly to the LS Central data model. It gives retailers dashboards covering sales, stock, margin, loyalty and operations without needing to build a custom data warehouse or design any reports from scratch. Hopton configures it for your business, your store structure, and your KPI definitions.
How is this different from building our own Power BI reports on top of LS Central?
Building your own Power BI reports on LS Central from scratch requires understanding the LS Central data model, designing a data warehouse, building the semantic model, and writing every report. That work takes months and costs accordingly. Analytics for LS Central arrives having done all of that already. BC4 built the product around the LS Central data model specifically, so the retail dashboards are ready to configure and use rather than design and build.
We already have some Power BI reporting on LS Central. Can Analytics for LS Central sit alongside it?
Yes. Analytics for LS Central connects to your LS Central data and delivers its own dashboards. It does not replace any existing reporting you have. If your existing reports are working well, you keep them. The product fills in the areas they do not cover.
What retail sectors use LS Central?
LS Central is used across fashion and apparel, convenience and grocery, pharmacy, hospitality and food service, fuel retail, and general multi-site retail. Analytics for LS Central works across all of these, with configuration to match the specific metrics and dimensions that matter in each sector.
Is this only for large retailers?
No. The product works well for retailers with a handful of stores through to larger multi-site operations. If you are running LS Central and want better reporting from it, it is worth a conversation regardless of size.
Also explore
Related resources
Business Central Analytics
Reporting and analytics for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central across finance, operations and supply chain.
DemoRetail analytics dashboard
See an example of the kind of store-level reporting Analytics for LS Central makes possible.
PartnersHopton Alliance
How we work with technology partners and ERP consultancies to deliver analytics alongside wider programmes.
Get started
Running LS Central and want better reporting from it?
Tell us about your current setup - which version of LS Central you run, how many sites, and what you need to report on. We will show you what Analytics for LS Central covers out of the box and what a realistic implementation looks like.
Last reviewed October 2026