Microsoft Dynamics GP support sunsets on December 31, 2029. After that date, product enhancements, tax and security updates, and mainstream support will be discontinued. As a result, many organizations running Dynamics GP are beginning to evaluate Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as a potential next step.
Business Central is a modern, cloud-based ERP option for small and mid-sized businesses, offering core financial functionality similar to GP alongside an extensible platform supported by a broad ISV ecosystem. If you’re still evaluating whether Business Central is the right fit and what actually changes for GP teams, this overview walks through GP-to-Business-Central considerations before getting into migration mechanics.
Similar to Dynamics GP, Business Central provides a solid foundation of core ERP capabilities while allowing Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to develop and maintain specialized extensions for specific business needs. Many Dynamics GP ISV products are also available for Business Central, with a wide range of extensions published in Microsoft Appsource offers a wide range of extensions for consideration.
What Business Central Offers GP Organizations
- Modern cloud-based infrastructure that allows access from anywhere.
- Regular and incremental automatic cloud-based functionality and security updates.
- Reduced technical support costs and upgrade costs.
- Integration of Microsoft AI capabilities, along with compatibility across the Microsoft suite of products, including Teams, Outlook, Power BI, and others.
- Flexible licensing options allow easy assignment to M365 Entra IDs or any user email, with annual or monthly subscriptions available.
- Dimension accounting rather than account segments.
- Multiple options for importing from and exporting to Excel.
What Moves Automatically and What Requires Planning
Business Central Cloud Migration Tool Overview
The Business Central cloud migration tool is available for migration from Dynamics GP version 2015 or newer. This tool migrates G/L Account, Customer, Vendor, Items, and Bank Account master records, Segment/Dimension coding and outstanding transactions. Historical documents are migrated into archive tables for reference.
Some modules do not migrate via the migration tools and require manual migration. Examples include:
- G/L Budgets
- Fixed Assets
- Project Accounting
- Manufacturing
- Some inventory item attributes (e.g. serial & lot nos.)
ISV data, custom code, and custom data require manual migration.
Handling Historical Dynamics GP Data
As mentioned above, historical Dynamics GP transactions are migrated to archive tables for reference. Also, Dynamics GP and/or SQL can be maintained for archiving and can reported with Business Central data by using tools like Microsoft Power BI or EOne Popdock. Further, SQL can be migrated to Azure SQL and maintained for archive and reporting purposes.
Things to Consider for Migrating from GP to BC
- Technical requirements for BC Cloud Migration Tool
- ISVs and External Integrations
- Custom Code and Custom Fields
Deciding Whether Business Central Is the Right Next Step
This article covers migration mechanics. If you’re still evaluating whether Business Central makes sense for your organization, and what actually changes for GP teams, this overview focuses on the decision before implementation details.
