Migration guide for Business Central: moving and checking your data

Business Central migration guide step one: decide what to migrate

Separate data into three groups. Master data always moves. That means customers, vendors, items and the chart of accounts. Open transactions move as of the cutover date. Examples are unpaid invoices, open orders and stock on hand. Closed history is the group to question. It takes the most effort and gets the least daily use.

Most companies bring balances and open items into Business Central. They keep detailed history elsewhere. That can be the old system in read-only form. It can also be a reporting database. Agree this early with finance and with your auditors. Also, a smaller, cleaner migration is easier to reconcile. It also gives the new system a fresh start.

Business Central migration guide: the cloud tool for GP and NAV

For Dynamics GP and for on-premises NAV and Business Central, Microsoft provides a cloud migration tool. You start it from the Cloud Migration Setup guide in the online environment. It connects to the on-premises SQL database through an integration runtime and copies the selected companies. The Cloud Migration Management page shows each run and its status.

With NAV, you must first upgrade the database to a supported version. Convert customizations to extensions before data is copied. From GP, the tool brings the chart of accounts, customers, vendors and items. It also brings open transactions, with options for history. GP account segments are mapped to dimensions during setup.

Migration guide for QuickBooks, Sage and other sources

For other systems, configuration packages do the heavy lifting. On the Configuration Packages page, you choose tables and fields. Then you export an Excel template. Then you fill it with cleaned data and import it. The tool lists errors per row. You can correct them before you apply the package. Templates set default posting groups for new records.

Balances and open items go in through journals, so the ledgers are built correctly. Post open receivables and payables through general journals per customer and vendor. Use item journals for inventory, with quantities and unit costs. Post the remaining trial balance through a general journal. A temporary opening balance account offsets each batch and must end at zero.

Reconcile first: a Business Central migration guide step

Check every load against the source. The aged receivables and aged payables reports must match the old system's totals. Inventory valuation must match stock value. Then the trial balance must match account by account. Also compare record counts for customers, vendors and items, along with a sample of individual records.

Differences are normal on the first attempt. They usually point to data problems. Examples are inactive accounts with balances, negative stock and foreign currency invoices. So fix them at the source where possible. Then adjust the mapping and load again. Then finance signs the reconciliation. That signature is the real proof the migration worked.

Step five of the migration guide: rehearse, then cut over

Run the whole migration at least once as a rehearsal in a sandbox. Use the same order and the same people as the real event. Note how long each step takes and what went wrong. The rehearsal turns a risky weekend into a routine one. It also gives users realistic data for training.

At cutover, stop entry in the old system and take final extracts. Then load, reconcile and open Business Central to users. Keep the old system readable for lookups. If you would like experienced help, our consultants plan and run migrations from GP, NAV, QuickBooks and Sage. They work with your finance team throughout.

Business Central migration guide: questions and answers

How much history should we bring into Business Central?

As little as the business truly needs day to day. Open items and balances are essential. Summarized prior-period balances help with comparative reports. Closed transactions are usually better kept in the old system or a reporting database. There you can still search them. So decide this first, because it sets the size of the whole migration.

Does the cloud migration tool move our customizations?

No. It moves data. Custom fields and logic must exist as extensions in the online environment first. Then the data that depends on them can be copied. Deciding which customizations to rebuild, replace or retire is separate work. So list your customizations early. Treat that list as part of the migration.

What is the cleanest moment to cut over?

A period end works best. Ideally it is a quarter or financial year end. Balances are already being reconciled then. Payroll dates, stock counts and busy trading periods matter as well. We choose the date with finance and operations. The calendar alone does not decide it. Then the plan works backwards from that date to the first trial load. That is the safest cutover plan in this Business Central migration guide.

Can inventory be migrated with lot or serial numbers?

Yes. However, item journals accept item tracking lines. So you can load quantities per lot or serial number. Add expiration dates where needed. It requires accurate source data. So a physical count close to cutover is strongly advised for tracked items. Then the Business Central migration guide steps for stock can run without surprises.

Who should check the migrated data?

The people who own it. Finance reconciles ledgers and balances. Sales checks customers and prices. Purchasing checks vendors and open orders, and the warehouse checks stock. Consultants prepare the comparisons, but the sign-off must come from inside the company. That keeps ownership of the figures where it belongs.

Migration services and the Business Central migration guide

One of these pages will be more specific than this Business Central migration guide. Pick the one that names the system you are leaving. They cover each migration route our consultants handle. They also cover upgrade steps for companies on older NAV versions. Start with the page that names your current system. Then return here for the shared steps of cleaning, loading and reconciling. For the product detail, see Migrate on-premises data to Business Central online.