Business Central vs Great Plains: what changes when a GP company moves

Business Central vs Great Plains: what each product is

Great Plains Software built its accounting system in Fargo, North Dakota. Microsoft then bought the company and renamed the product Dynamics GP. It runs on SQL Server, on your own or hosted servers, with a Windows client. It has a loyal base, especially among North American finance teams.

Microsoft delivers Business Central mainly as an online service that it hosts and updates. You use it in a browser or the mobile app. It covers finance, sales, purchasing, stock and projects. With Premium, it adds manufacturing and service management. Microsoft has posted end dates for GP support on its lifecycle pages.

Segmented accounts versus dimensions

The biggest change for a GP accountant is the chart of accounts. GP builds account numbers from segments. So department and location are part of the number itself, and the chart multiplies as the business adds either one. Many GP charts grow very long for that reason.

BC keeps a short chart of natural accounts. It then attaches dimensions, such as department or region, to each entry. Reports can slice by any dimension. During a move, we can turn GP segments into dimensions. We plan that mapping with your controller early, because it shapes every report that follows.

How GP tasks look in Business Central vs Great Plains

GP users rely on SmartList for ad hoc queries. In Business Central, you can filter any list page, save it as a view, open it in Excel or pivot it in analysis mode. We rebuild Management Reporter layouts as financial reports with row and column definitions. GP accountants usually grasp those quickly.

Batch posting exists in both. Still, BC users more often post documents directly and use journals for adjustments. Payroll is a real difference. GP includes US payroll, while Business Central relies on a payroll provider or a payroll app. We raise this at the start, so you plan for it and do not discover it late.

Moving from Great Plains to Business Central

Microsoft provides a cloud migration tool inside BC for Dynamics GP. It can bring across the chart of accounts, customers, vendors, items, open transactions and summary history. You can run it more than once while you test. You can keep detailed history in the old database for lookup.

The tool does not move custom changes, Dexterity changes or third-party products. So we list every add-on you use in GP and find its match. That may be a standard feature, an AppSource app or a small extension. Often a GP add-on is no longer needed, because Business Central covers the job itself.

Staying on GP for now, or moving

In a Business Central vs Great Plains plan, there is no need to panic. GP keeps working, and a firm with a stable system can plan its move calmly. Still, there are practical reasons to move sooner. Old servers, remote staff who need browser access, hard-to-build links and a finance team that wants current reporting tools all count.

The reasons to wait are just as practical. A busy season counts, and so does heavy use of a GP add-on with no ready match. We go through your GP setup with you and give an honest view of readiness. We tell you which parts of the move will be simple and which need thought.

Business Central vs Great Plains: questions from GP users

Is Great Plains the same as Dynamics GP?

Yes. Great Plains was the name of the company and product before Microsoft bought it. Microsoft then renamed it Dynamics GP, and many long-time users still call it Great Plains. It is a different product from BC, with its own code, its own tools and its own way of storing data. So a move from GP is a planned project, and not a simple upgrade. We treat it that way from the first workshop, and we plan each step with your finance team.

Is Microsoft ending Dynamics GP?

Microsoft has announced that support for GP will end, and it has posted the dates on its lifecycle pages. The product keeps working until then, but it will stop getting updates. So check Microsoft's site for the current schedule. Then plan your move with a safe margin, so you can rehearse the data load and train your staff without pressure. We can help you build that plan around your own close calendar and busy seasons.

Will our GP history come across to Business Central?

The migration tool brings master records, open transactions and summary ledger history. Full transaction detail from past periods usually stays in the GP database, which you can keep for reference. Or you can place it in a data lake for reporting. We agree with your finance team how much history they really use. That list is often shorter than people expect, and it keeps the move lean and quick to check.

Does Business Central have payroll like GP does?

Not built in for the United States. Business Central customers use an outside payroll provider or a payroll app from Microsoft's marketplace. The payroll results then post to the general ledger through a journal or a link. We plan this early, because payroll touches HR, tax and bank steps. A clear plan for it keeps the rest of the move on track.

Business Central vs Great Plains: how different will it feel?

It looks different, since it runs in a browser and centers on role centers. The accounting ideas are the same. Most finance users adapt quickly once they learn dimensions and how documents post to the ledgers. We train people by role, using their own data, so the first live day feels familiar.

More on moving from older Microsoft systems

GP customers usually read about migration next. Then they compare BC with the other systems on their shortlist. These pages cover both, and the comparisons hub lists every pairing we have written up. If Business Central vs Great Plains is your open question, start with the migration page. Then send us your list of GP add-ons and reports, and we will show you how each one maps across. For the product detail, see Microsoft's guide to migrating Dynamics GP to Business Central online.