Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central

Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central

If you are looking for Microsoft Dynamics NAV but was told to upgrade to Business Central, this is because Microsoft Dynamics NAV brand name has expired and the latest version was not named Dynamics NAV 2019 but instead was renamed as Dynamics 365 Business Central. The new Business Central is available on cloud, on-premise or as a hybrid installation.

Upgrading Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft built Dynamics 365 Business Central from the ground up and brought the full Dynamics NAV functionality into the cloud, thereby creating a modern and integrated ERP application that is available on cloud and on-premise.

The new Dynamics 365 Business Central will be upgraded with new functionality, similar to previous versions of Dynamics NAV. Thus it make sense to upgrade to Business Central, which is basically the latest version of Dynamics NAV, and thereby benefiting from the new functionality and technology.

It is no longer possible to purchase Dynamics NAV 2018 at time of writing (September 2019), so it is no longer possible to license NAV 2018 but it will still be available for an existing customer to purchase additional licenses whenever they need it.

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central licensing model is different from Dynamics NAV as there are no longer simultaneous licenses, but instead that each license purchased is for a named user. A named user is defined as a single person. This means, that each employee who needs to have access to the solution, requires their own license. However, a named user can access the application from multiple devices.

The upgrade process

Upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central depends to a large extent on the age of your current solution and how much of the functionality you want to bring along.

The time required to upgrade to Business Central depends on which version is being upgraded from, the number of users and the reports, data, and modifications you want to bring along. In some instances, customizations may be incompatible with Dynamics 365 in their current form or might even be redundant by the built-in functionality in the new solution.

Customizations and Modifications

If you have large amount of customization in your current solution, you may want to think whether it’s worthwhile transferring them to Business Central. The new Business Central comes with a lot of new functionalities that may override some of these customizations. The built-in integration is closely linked to other services and applications within the Dynamics 365 ecosystem that adds extra functionality to the application.

In spite of the newly added functionality and built-in integration in Business Central, there may still be a need for customization and adjustments to fit into the new Dynamics 365 environment. The first thing to do is to assess and review the business needs and functionality needed before starting the migration to Business Central. This is an important step to take so that there are no surprises during the migration process to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Reports

You have to decide which reports are crucial for your business and which you want to discard. Because of tools and data structure in Dynamics solutions are continuously updated, some reports may or may not be compatible with Dynamics 365 and should, therefore, be rebuilt into the new platform. With new reporting functionalities, it may be best to start creating the reports from scratch.

On-Premise / Cloud

The Dynamics 365 Business Central is available both as cloud and on-premise solution. If you are unsure, you can always revert back to on-premise if needed. Speak to us for more information on how this works.

To start upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central, speak to the MicroChannel team today.