Chapter 6. Migrating Data

Microsoft Dynamics NAV, since its 2013 release, is completely configured and tuned. A range of brand new functionalities have been developed and everything is ready for you to go live. There's only one thing missing in the database—the data. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 365 Business Central offer many ways and useful tools to import the data.

In this chapter, we'll see which tools can be used in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to migrate data into the system, and how to convert the data to meet Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central requirements. We'll look at tools including the following:

• RapidStart Services
• XMLport
• User-defined tools
• APIs

Not all of these tools are available on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS. We'll also see what kind of data is commonly migrated to Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and which strategies can be used...

Tools for migrating data

There are several ways to migrate data into Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. You choose the method depending on what is to be migrated and whether any additional processes need to be carried out on the provided data to meet the Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Business Central requirements.

We'll go through the different tools available to migrate the data. We'll also explain how to write our own tools if the ones provided out of the box don't meet our requirements or expectations.

RapidStart Services with configuration packages

RapidStart Services is a feature introduced in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, and is available today in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It allows you to import your company data by using a built-in data-import engine. 

With RapidStart Services, you can set up the tables involved in the configuration process of new companies. You can create a questionnaire to guide you and your customers...

Converting data from the old system to Microsoft Dynamics NAV's or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central's needs

The company's legacy system will probably have a very different data structure. However, in the meantime, a conversion process must be done. In this section, we'll give you a few tips for converting data to meet Microsoft Dynamics NAV's or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central's needs.

In most of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central tables (including all master and document tables), the primary key uses a code field type. The code field type is alphanumeric and is stored in the database in uppercase characters. You can write either numbers or characters in a code field. If a code contains only numbers, people expect the data to be ordered by a number. But Microsoft Dynamics NAV does not act this way. A code is always sorted by a character, even if it only contains numbers. This may confuse the user, so using fixed-length number codes is recommended...

Master data

Master data can be defined as information key to the operation of a business that is often non-transactional but supports transactional processes and operations.

Customers are a good example of master data. Data about customers (their names, addresses, phone numbers, and so on) is not transactional data, but will support a transactional operation, for example, a sales order for a customer.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central have several master data tables, namely, Customer, Vendor, Item, Contact, Resource, and Fixed Asset. Each master data table is the primary table in an application area. The Customer table is the main table in the sales application area, while the Vendor table is the main table in the Purchases application area.

Secondary tables, such as Sales Prices, support transactions just as the master tables do. You'll also need to take the secondary tables into account when migrating the master data.

 

The master and secondary tables that will...

Open entries

Open entries are transactions that haven't reached their final status yet and aren't included in the Open documents section. You can only post open entries when the corresponding master data is already imported. In a common scenario, the open entries include the following:

• Customer entries: It means all of the money each customer owes on the day of the migration—basically, accounts receivable.
• Vendor entries: It means all of the money the company owes to each of their vendors on the day of the migration—basically, accounts payable.
• Bank entries: It means the money the company has in each bank account.
• Item entries: It means the stock the company has in each location on the day of the migration.
• Accounting balances: It means the balance that each account has on the day of the migration.
• Fixed asset entries: It means all ofthe company's assets with their initial cost and the amount depreciated, as on the day of the migration.

All of these entries must be posted through their corresponding...

Historical data

When moving from an ERP system to another ERP system, such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, a lot of companies want to import their historical data into the new ERP. For example, companies may want to import all of the inventory entries made for the previous year for statistical purposes. If they start working with Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in the middle of a fiscal year, they may want to import all of the G/L entries made in the old system for the current fiscal year.

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, this kind of data is stored in ledger-entry tables. If you have to conduct a migration of such data, never import it directly into the ledger entry tables. Use journals instead and post the data. This way, Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central will create the ledger entries for you in a consistent way.

For the item ledger entries, for instance...

Open documents

The day a company moves to Microsoft Dynamics NAV or to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, they can start creating all kinds of documents in the system for their daily work, such as sales orders, purchase orders, and production orders.

There may be cases where some documents on the old system have not yet been completed; for example, sales orders that have not yet been shipped, purchase orders that have not yet been received, or production orders that have yet not been finished.

What should be done with all of these documents?

The first recommendation is to have the fewest possible open documents on the old system on the day you start working with Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Make sure the customer calls their vendor, informs the production team, and notifies the shipping team that during this date all open orders should be closed in their legacy system.

For those documents that could not be finished before migrating to Microsoft Dynamics...

Choosing a go-live date

If you ask any accountant which date to start working with Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, they will always answer January 1^st. The reason behind this answer is that, for most companies, January 1^st is the beginning of their fiscal year. It has advantages, no doubt, but it also has drawbacks. The year has 364 additional days to work, but limiting yourself this much is not worth the hassle and stress.

In this section, we'll see the pros and cons of going live at the beginning of a fiscal year versus going live on any other date. With all of this information, you should be able to choose the best date in your case and know the consequences of your choice.

Note

There are no differences between on-premises and online releases in relation to the dates to go-live, they are just technical product differences.

Going live at the beginning of the fiscal year

All companies analyze information at least annually, because, among other reasons, the...

Summary

Several kinds of data may be imported into Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. There are different ways to import that data and a variety of ways to present that data.

Do you remember anything about statistics classes? Let's remember a few of the basics:

Several x Different x Many x A bunch = Too many options

This means that the migration processes should be carefully designed and planned. Everyone, both at the partner and at the customer end, should know what will be migrated, how it will be migrated, when it will be migrated, who is responsible for retrieving or filling in the data, how the data has to be presented, and what the result in Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central will be.

The tools that can be used, the ways you can use them, and the kind of data that is commonly migrated have been covered in this chapter. We hope all of this helps you to plan your migration process.

In the next chapter, we'll learn how to upgrade...