Dynamics Business Central (NAV)
Experts:
When should businesses consider moving from on-premises ERP to Dynamics 365 BC?
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When should businesses consider moving from on-premises ERP to Dynamics 365 BC?
How can organizations successfully plan, implement, and optimize Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to support long-term business growth while minimizing risks related to data migration, system integration, user adoption, and ongoing scalability?
I’m looking for detailed insights from professionals who have hands-on experience with Dynamics 365 Business Central implementations. Specifically, what best practices should businesses follow when migrating from legacy ERP systems, integrating Business Central with third-party applications like CRM, eCommerce, payroll, or reporting tools, and configuring workflows to match real-world operational needs? Additionally, how can companies ensure strong user adoption through training and change management, while also keeping performance, security, and compliance in check as the system scales? Any real-world examples, lessons learned, or recommended tools and strategies would be highly appreciated.
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2 Replies
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Hi Mark,
Good question.
If you are moving from Dynamics NAV or BC on-prem then I answered a lot of this in a YouTube video – https://youtu.be/m9XqvNOrsrM?si=JTqGHdhQlz7M216w.
If you are moving from a non-Dynamics ERP on-prem to the cloud then the answer isn’t quite as concise.
First – you can’t really move history into the LIVE data tables in your target ERP (I don’t really care what ERP – none of them can do this with any ease). I explain why in depth here – https://youtu.be/G3p6TIMHJWg?si=f74F7u-Avhhnm0lt
If you do move from a legacy ERP to BC probably the biggest pressure will be change management, and that manifests when you have the wrong people on your team. Yes – I have a video about that too – https://youtu.be/9SBjz73ePVI?si=H8i-RkeOkzhThnjs
With the wrong team there will be a lot of pushback that “BC can’t do what we want” because people try and force it to run the workflows the way the OLD ERP DID IT. This can create a conflict.
Eg: In the old ERP I couldn’t track inventory accurately, so now I use BC and I need to start recording BINS and LOCATIONS correctly, but this makes people’s jobs harder so they try and push back and customize the system to somehow allow it to work the old way (when I did not track inventory) but expect it to magically track inventory. Ends up becoming a disaster. Most of the time people are too close to see this happen if they have the wrong team.
I won’t post another video but if you search YouTube you should find several that talk about ERP implementation mistakes with BC.
Here is what I tell customers:
1) Start with the out of the box features and try and use them where practical (the word practical is intentional – possible isn’t always practical).
2) Failing 1 – Move to an ISV Addon from AppSource (I tell customers to avoid Addons that are not in AppSource).
3) Failing 2 – See if you can change the business process
4) Failing 3 – Customize the change without changing the way Microsoft does whatever it does – streamline but do not rewrite.
5) Failing 4 – Really think out all the permutations and repercussions of some new and weird customization before you do it.
If you follow this pattern you’ll be fine. AppSource is there to be used – don’t be afraid of it. Trust your partner too (although some partners are a lot better than others so make sure they’ve done what you need with a customer more or less like you before).
Hope that helps,
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