Business Central migration routes

Deciding to leave an ageing ERP is usually the easy part. The harder questions are what the move will look like, how long it will take and what it will cost. This is how Braintree answers them for businesses moving to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

The short version

A Braintree migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central starts with where your business is today. Dynamics NAV businesses that choose Business Central usually upgrade, because it is built on the NAV codebase. Dynamics GP businesses move across with consultants who know GP from the inside. Businesses on Sage, another ERP they have outgrown, or spreadsheets take the new-implementation route. Every route begins with the same assessment, which fixes the scope and the price before anything moves.

Where you start decides the route

"Legacy ERP" covers very different starting points, from an ageing NAV or GP system to an ERP you have simply outgrown, and each one leads to a different kind of project. How long yours takes is set by the assessment, because it depends on your data, customisations and integrations.

What you run today	Likely route	Support deadline	What comes across
Dynamics NAV 2018	Upgrade, or reimplement where NAV no longer fits how you work	Extended support (security fixes only) ends 11 January 2028	Data model, posting logic and history. Customisations are reviewed and rebuilt as Business Central extensions where they are still needed.
Dynamics NAV 2017 or earlier	Upgrade or reimplement, decided at the assessment	NAV 2017 extended support ends 11 January 2027. Earlier versions are already out of support.	As for NAV 2018, once the route is confirmed at the assessment
Dynamics GP (current version)	Migration, using Microsoft's GP migration tools	Support and enhancements end 31 December 2029. Security updates end 30 April 2031.	Chart of accounts, balances, customers, vendors and open transactions, with detailed history available as a snapshot
Sage (for example Sage 300, Sage X3 or Sage 200 Evolution), Acumatica, NetSuite or another ERP you have outgrown	New implementation	No shared date. The usual triggers are a contract renewal, a version reaching end of life or a capability you need	Master data, opening balances and the history agreed at the assessment
Spreadsheets or entry-level accounting	New implementation	None	Master data and opening balances

For a business on NAV, Business Central is the natural next step in Microsoft's ERP line, and the route many NAV businesses weigh first when they evaluate what comes next. Microsoft built it on the NAV codebase, with the same data model and posting logic, and publishes a documented path for turning NAV's C/AL customisations into Business Central extensions. For businesses that choose it, the move is a continuation rather than a rebuild.

For a GP business moving to Business Central, the move crosses to a different codebase, so the work is a migration. Microsoft provides dedicated tools for it, covered below.

For everyone else, it is a new implementation. Business Central is set up around how you run the business today, and your data comes across selectively.

The support dates are no reason to panic, but they are a reason to start. Allow for the whole project: from first conversations through scoping, contracts and implementation, an ERP project of this kind typically runs 10 to 18 months. For a business on NAV 2018 or GP 2018, that means starting the conversation now to go live before January 2028, in a window you choose rather than one the deadline chooses for you.

Older versions have earlier dates, and some have already passed. Support for Dynamics GP 2016 ended on 14 July 2026, and Dynamics GP 2018 support ends on 11 January 2028 unless a current tax release or hotfix has been installed, which moves it to the current version and onto the 2029 and 2031 dates above. Earlier NAV releases are further along: extended support for NAV 2017 ends on 11 January 2027, and support for NAV 2016 has already ended. If you run either, the assessment is the first conversation to have.

What "tailored" means here

Tailored is easy to misread as custom-built. In practice, the most tailored migration often carries the least custom code, because standard Business Central now covers much of what older systems needed code for. What we fit to your business is everything around the code:

The route. Upgrade, migration or new implementation, chosen at the assessment once we have seen your system.
The scope. A fixed scope and a fixed price before any build starts, so the project is priced on facts.
The team. Consultants who know the system you run today. On GP migrations, that means people who worked in GP before they worked in Business Central.
The code. Every customisation is reviewed. We keep the ones that still pay for themselves, retire the ones that do not, and rebuild the rest as supported Business Central extensions.
The country. South African tax, banking and reporting, set up by a local partner. More on why below.

How the migration runs: Assess, Map, Migrate, Extend

Every route runs through the same four stages. What changes between routes is how much work sits in each one.

Assess

We audit what you run today: the version, customisations, add-ons, integrations and the state of your data. This is also where we identify the reporting and automation you will need, such as Power BI dashboards or Power Platform workflows. You receive the recommended route, a fixed-scope migration plan and a real number, along with a three-year cost comparison, so you can see what staying costs next to what moving costs before you commit.

Map

Every customisation, report and workflow is mapped to its Business Central equivalent, and each decision goes into a line-by-line log you can see. Each add-on is checked against its vendor's Business Central plans. We identify whether it has a direct Business Central equivalent, whether standard Business Central now does what it did, or whether it needs a substitute. You get that recommendation vendor by vendor before you sign anything off.

Migrate

Build, testing and user acceptance come first. Then the cut-over: your old system is frozen, the data is migrated, every ledger total is reconciled and signed off by your finance team, and a go or no-go decision is made against a documented rollback plan. You choose the cut-over date and window that suit your business, and we plan the cut-over around it.

Extend

Your first month-end close on Business Central runs alongside a Braintree lead. After go-live, the system keeps growing with the business. Power BI reporting and Power Platform automation are usually scoped into the implementation, and either can be added later as your needs change. Copilot in Business Central starts as a conversation: when you are ready, we explore where it fits your processes before anything is switched on. Business Central online receives two major Microsoft updates a year, in April and October, with monthly updates in between, so the upgrade project every few years falls away. Extensions still need testing before each major update, so agree up front who does that under your support agreement.

What happens to your data, customisations and reports

Data from NAV. On the upgrade route, your data model, posting logic and history come forward with you.

Data from GP. Microsoft's migration tools for Business Central online bring across:

your chart of accounts, with the main account segment as the account and the remaining segments as dimensions
summary balances for your open years and the history years you choose
customers and vendors, with their outstanding transactions
open purchase orders and inventory quantities
unreconciled bank transactions.

Detailed GP history can also come across as a historical snapshot that you can report on in Power BI.

Data from other systems. Master data, opening balances and the history you agree to keep at the assessment.

Clean data first. Duplicate customer records, incomplete supplier details, inconsistencies in the chart of accounts and unresolved historical errors will follow you into Business Central if nobody fixes them. We deal with them before the move, while they are still cheap to fix.

Reports. Analytical NAV reports are usually rebuilt in Power BI, working from the same Business Central data. Statements that must look exactly right stay in Business Central as Word or RDL layouts. For GP customers who build their board pack in Management Reporter, simpler packs can often move to Business Central's built-in financial reporting, and for more complex ones Braintree works with FYIsoft, a reporting product designed to replace Management Reporter.

Why South African localisation needs a local partner

Microsoft delivers its own localisation of Business Central for a small group of countries. South Africa is not one of them. Microsoft's availability list shows South Africa as localised by partners, built on the international version of Business Central, with South African environments deployed to Microsoft's South Africa Azure geography.

That makes your partner responsible for the local detail: VAT set up the way SARS expects it, the rand as your currency, South African bank feeds and payment providers, and local reporting. It is also why Braintree builds its own Business Central extensions for regional requirements, such as tax compliance in Zambia and Zimbabwe, for businesses that trade across the region.

South African Business Central environments are deployed to Microsoft's South African Azure geography, so your Business Central database is hosted in South Africa. Whichever system you run, under POPIA your business remains the responsible party for the personal information about customers, staff and suppliers held in your finance system.

What it looked like for ControlGear Instramac

ControlGear Instramac is a 33-person South African engineering firm that delivers turnkey electrical, control and instrumentation projects. It had run its business on Dynamics GP until the move to Business Central, which started in May 2024 and went live on 1 November 2024. The cut-over took a single weekend, and the team was trading on Business Central on the Monday.

The new system gave the business what GP could not: an online store connected to the back office, real-time customer visibility and API integrations with the other tools it runs.

"The Braintree team knew their stuff. The implementation was phenomenal," says Deon Nieuwoudt, Operations Director at ControlGear Instramac.

Building the business case

The business case that counts is the one built from your own numbers. At the assessment we put together a three-year comparison. On one side sits what staying costs: server hardware and its refresh, licence renewals, backup and patching, support contracts, periodic upgrade projects and the time your team spends on spreadsheet workarounds. On the other sits what moving costs: a per-user Business Central subscription, the migration itself, training and change support.

The return usually shows up in a few familiar places: a faster month-end close, less manual work in payables, receivables and billing, fewer systems to maintain, and quicker reporting and audit preparation. These are the benefit areas Forrester measured in its 2026 Total Economic Impact™ study of Business Central, commissioned by Microsoft.

For a South African business, the gains are often very practical. At Matumi Fresh Group, a fresh produce business that moved from spreadsheets and email chains to Business Central, the price recalculation that took 2 to 3 hours a week by hand now runs as a background workflow. Accurate costing also gives the business a clear view of gross profit, which Matumi's finance lead credits with an improvement to margin.

Is your business ready?

You do not need every answer before you start. These five points tell you how much work sits in the assessment:

You know which version you run and who supports it today.
You have a list of customisations and add-ons, or someone who can put one together.
Your customer and supplier records are reasonably clean.
Your chart of accounts still matches how you report.
Your finance and operations leads can give time to testing before go-live.

If you run NAV, the 8-minute readiness check on our Modernise ERP SMB page scores your environment and lists the actions that close any gaps before you scope.

On GP or another system? Book the assessment directly and bring the five points above.

Questions to ask any Business Central migration partner

Whoever runs your migration, ask these five questions before you sign:

Will the scope and the price be fixed before the build starts?
Who on the team has worked on the system we run today?
What happens to each customisation, and where is that decision recorded?
What is the rollback plan if the cut-over does not go to plan?
Who supports the system after go-live, and under which agreement?

A partner who can answer all five in writing is a partner you can plan around.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a migration to Business Central take?

Plan for the whole project. From early discussions through scoping, contracts and implementation, an ERP project of this kind typically takes 10 to 18 months. The implementation is one part of that. Your own timeline is set at the assessment, because it depends on your data, customisations and integrations. For a business on NAV 2018 or GP 2018, that makes now the time to start.

Can we keep our customisations?

Every customisation is reviewed during mapping. Those that still pay for themselves are rebuilt as supported Business Central extensions, which sit apart from Microsoft's core code, so updates are far less likely to disturb them. Those that no longer earn their keep are retired, often because standard Business Central now does the job.

Do we have to move to the cloud?

Business Central online is the recommended target, because it is where Microsoft applies updates for you, and it is the only place Copilot is available. Business Central on-premises is still available if your business case genuinely needs it, and we set out the trade-offs, including the extra administration it carries, before you choose.

What happens to our historical data?

It depends on your starting system. A NAV upgrade carries your history forward. From GP, Microsoft's tools bring across summary balances for the years you choose, and detailed history can come across as a snapshot you can report on. From other systems, we agree at the assessment how much history is worth moving.

We are not on NAV or GP. Can we still move to Business Central?

Yes. Businesses on Sage, Acumatica, NetSuite, another ERP they have outgrown, or spreadsheets take the new-implementation route. Business Central is set up around how you work today, and your master data, opening balances and agreed history come across. The assessment fixes the plan and the price before any build starts.

Start with the assessment

Every Braintree migration starts in the same place. Book a migration assessment, and we will look at what you run, recommend the route and give you a fixed-scope plan with a three-year cost comparison. Running NAV? Start with the 8-minute readiness check on our Modernise ERP SMB page. Running GP or another system? Book the assessment directly.

About the author. Claire van der Merwe is Practice Head for Dynamics 365 Business Central Consulting at Braintree.

Specialists in Business Applications, Modern Workplace and Azure.

Let's grow.

Leaving legacy ERP? How a Business Central migration works, route by route