If your business needs operational software to manage financials, projects, supply chain, and more, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central may be a good fit. But before you get started, it’s essential to understand everything that goes into a Business Central implementation.
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Book a MeetingImplementation Planning
Once you’ve determined that Business Central is the ERP your team wants, it takes plenty of time and energy to get the solution up and running. This is especially true if you require custom reports, third-party integrations, and other unique workflows.
The time needed for a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation, and the success of the implementation, will depend on several factors:
How much customization you require
The integrity, volume, and organization of your data to be imported
The structure of your existing software environment
Your team’s expectations about new software adoption
How well you and your chosen Business Central partner collaborate
Selecting a Business Central Partner
Implementing Business Central may seem stressful, but don’t worry—that’s where your dedicated implementation partner comes in. Thousands of businesses have teamed up with Microsoft’s partner network to implement, support, and customize solutions like Business Central.
There are plenty of partners to choose from, but you’ll want to look for an experienced partner that can work closely with your team to reduce operational disruption, assist with data migration, develop custom workflows, and train your team on the new system. In short, you’ll want a partner that can ensure a smooth transition from your existing systems to Business Central.
Business Central Implementation Steps
You’ll work closely with your chosen software partner to pull off a frictionless Business Central implementation. Here’s a breakdown of the eight-part implementation process and what you can expect:
1. Assemble Implementation Team
To define the scope of your project, you’ll need to create a team in charge of every aspect of the implementation. This will include your Business Central implementation partner, but it will also include your own teammates. Cross-functional alignment is crucial here, so depending on which features you’re using and which edition you select, you will need to loop in folks from multiple departments:
- CFO: A software implementation is no small project, which means it requires an executive sponsor to ensure alignment with business strategies and clear roadblocks as they arise.
- Project Manager: A strong, organized decision-maker should take the lead on the project, acting as the main contact between your company and your implementation partner.
- Finance/Accounting Lead: Since Business Central comes equipped with accounting capabilities, you’ll want a finance team representative on your implementation team to ensure the software aligns with existing workflows.
- Operations/Supply Chain Lead: Both the Essentials and Premium editions of Business Central come equipped with supply planning, project management, and inventory features, so you’ll need an operations or supply chain lead on the team to help set up the software according to your workflows.
- IT/Systems Lead: Any new software implementation should include a member of the IT team to handle data migration, integrations, and user access.
- Departmental Representatives: If members of other teams, such as sales or customer service, will use Business Central, you will want to include representatives in the implementation team so they can offer input before go-live.
2: Establish Goals with Dates
Once you’ve brought your team together, it’s time to collaborate with your Business Central partner and establish clear goals and objectives for what you want to achieve. These goals are based around your current operations and what you anticipate will change once you’ve gone live with your new software. Here’s how you can determine those goals:
- Dig into your metrics
- Keep staff engaged
- Map out the tools you want to integrate
- Communicate clearly
By carefully assessing your processes and determining what you want to achieve with Business Central, you’ll gain information to help you estimate the time and resources you’ll need to devote to your implementation.
Your goals will set the stage for the scope of your Business Central implementation, which in turn establishes the timeline and budget. Here’s what you should decide in the scoping process:
- Users: How many people will need to access Business Central, and what level of clearance do they need?
- System integrations: Will Business Central handle all your needs, or do you need to keep or invest in additional solutions for areas like payroll or CRM?
- Compliance and security restrictions: If you operate in a regulated industry like healthcare or construction, are your software and integrations compliant?
- Training and change management: How much training is required to get your team started on the software?
Before migrating any data between systems, your team will need to work with your implementation partner to audit your existing data. You’ll determine the information and fields that are essential to your business and should be preserved during migration, but you’ll also identify ways to clean up your data. Typically, this involves the following:
- Removing duplicate accounts
- Purging or revising outdated information
- Removing unnecessary fields
- Standardizing data formats
This step is what takes Business Central from being an ERP system to being your ERP system. While configuration will vary from business to business, these are the most common areas that are tailored during this step:
- Financials
- Reporting
- Workflows
- Custom fields and screens
- User roles and permissions
- Integrations
Before your team goes live with Business Central, your implementation partner will help you test-drive the software and ensure that its components will work independently and in tandem. As you orient yourself to Business Central, here’s what you’re looking for:
- Configuration errors
- Integration issues
- User concerns
- Data validation
Once you’ve identified any lingering issues, you’ll work with your implementation partner to smooth everything out in anticipation of your official Business Central start date.
Welcome to Business Central (officially)! Once you deploy the software, your team will work full-time with the system. You won’t be alone, though—your implementation partner will stay by your side as you learn the ropes for activities like reconciliations, month-end close, and parts ordering.
Even after you’ve grown accustomed to Business Central, you’re likely to discover imperfections in your workflows and new report formats you want to build. No matter how big or small the project, your Business Central partner is on standby to help you as your needs change. Here’s how they can help:
- Integrations: Did a software update for one of your peripheral systems break its connection to Business Central? Or perhaps you’re investing in a new tool that you’d like to synchronize with your new ERP. Your Business Central partner can help ensure smooth data flow between systems.
- Ongoing training: The Dynamics 365 platform is always growing, and so is your business. To make the most of the software as it changes, or to help new employees learn the ropes, you can tap your Microsoft partner for training. This can be broad training for a large group or one-on-one sessions that dive deep into features relevant to a specific job role.
- Software support: If you run into trouble with the software and can’t figure out how to proceed, your Business Central partner can step in to review the issues and offer quick fixes as well as permanent solutions.
- Ongoing audits: Your Business Central partner can work with you to review how the software has kept pace with changes to your business and make relevant adjustments. For instance, if you opened a new office location, your Business Central partner can expand your data network to accommodate.
How Long Does It Take to Implement?
Depending on which modules and features your business needs, a Business Central implementation can take anywhere from 3–6 months. But the software’s depth is just one piece of the implementation puzzle.
Large organizations using various software solutions may experience a longer implementation process. This is especially true of businesses that use third-party software; while Business Central easily integrates with other Microsoft solutions, synchronization to non-Microsoft products may pose challenges. It’s best to have a clear picture of all the solutions you want to use with Business Central when planning your implementation.
You and your software partner will collaborate at every stage of the process to ensure effective implementation. The benefit of collaboration is two-fold—the implementation is faster and smoother, and the software is configured more accurately to the needs of your business.
Pricing and Cost
Business Central comes in two editions, Essentials and Premium, that offer different levels of functionality. Although all business users are required to hold the same license type, estimating your implementation cost is surprisingly tricky.
A Business Central implementation will cost more depending on the amount of setup and configuration, data migration, and user training required.
Our Business Central pricing guide will give you a reliable estimate for implementation and ongoing costs based on the software edition you select.
Ready to Implement Business Central?
Implementing ERP software like Business Central requires your team to juggle several moving parts. Without the right implementation partner, it’s easy for things to go awry, making go-live feel like a distant dream. But with a skilled Microsoft partner like Cargas, you’ll have all the expertise you need to make your implementation a roaring success.
First, we’ll discuss your challenges and needs and identify how Business Central can help you achieve your business goals. Once you’ve signed our implementation agreement, we’ll schedule a kickoff meeting to plan your implementation. Our schedule will include time for customization, data migration, training, and a test-run of the software before you go live.
Our approach to software implementation and support stems from our purpose of Shared Success—when you succeed, we succeed, too. This strategy has helped us achieve a 99% success rate when implementing top ERP and CRM solutions from Acumatica, Sage, Microsoft, HubSpot, and Salesforce, and it’s why we stick with our customers for the long-term to help their businesses grow.
