Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Business Central consulting led from the finance outcome backwards
Business Central rewards organizations that decide how they want to operate before they configure. The role of the consultant is to force those decisions early and to hold the design to them.
Functional depth
Where the expertise sits
Twenty-two years across Microsoft ERP means the functional questions have been asked before, in most industries, at most scales.
Finance
Chart of accounts and dimension design, intercompany and consolidation, fixed assets, cash management, and a close cycle that can be run by the team rather than by a specialist.
Supply chain
Purchasing, inventory valuation, warehouse configuration, landed cost and replenishment tuned to real demand patterns rather than default parameters.
Manufacturing
Routings, BOM structures, capacity and standard versus actual cost, including reconciliation with shop-floor and MES data.
Power Platform
Power BI reporting on Business Central data, Power Automate for approval and exception flows, and Power Apps for capture at the edge of the process.
AL collaboration
Working with AL developers as the functional authority: extension scope, upgrade-safe design, and a firm boundary between configuration and code.
Assessment and optimization
Independent review of a live environment: customization debt, licensing position, performance, and the specific changes that would shorten the close.
Implementation methodology
How implementations are run
The method is deliberately conventional. Programmes fail on discipline, not on novelty.
- 01
Operating model definition
Before configuration begins, the financial and operational model is agreed with leadership: legal entity structure, dimensional reporting, approval authority and the definition of a completed transaction.
- 02
Conference room pilot
The business runs its own transactions through a configured system, using its own data. Gaps surface here, where they are inexpensive, rather than in user acceptance testing.
- 03
Controlled extension scope
Every proposed extension is tested against process change first. What survives is specified functionally and built upgrade-safe by AL developers.
- 04
Cutover and stabilization
A rehearsed cutover with a defined rollback position, followed by a supported first close where the consultant is present rather than on call.
Migration methodology
GP to Business Central migration
A migration is a chance to retire two decades of accumulated workaround. Treated as a lift-and-shift, it carries all of it forward.
- 01
History strategy first
Decide what history moves, what stays queryable in an archive, and what is retired. This decision drives migration effort more than any other and is frequently deferred until it is expensive.
- 02
Sequence by legal entity
Entity-led sequencing keeps each close intact throughout the programme. Module-led sequencing optimizes for the implementation team and puts the close at risk.
- 03
Rebuild, do not replicate
GP customizations frequently encode a process workaround. Each one is examined against native Business Central capability before it is recreated.
- 04
Parallel close and sign-off
At least one parallel close before decommissioning GP, reconciled line by line, signed off by finance rather than by the project team.
Evaluating Business Central
Whether the question is a first implementation, a migration from Dynamics GP, or an environment that is live but underperforming, the first step is an honest assessment.