How to Migrate from Dynamics NAV to Business Central

Microsoft Dynamics NAV served businesses well for over two decades, but it has reached end of mainstream support. Business Central is its successor - cloud-native, continuously updated, and integrated with the full Microsoft ecosystem.

If you are still running NAV (any version from 2009 to 2018), migration is not optional - it is a question of when, not if. Here is how to approach it.

Why Migrate Now

• End of support: NAV 2018 (the last version) left mainstream support in 2023. Security patches and updates are no longer guaranteed.
• Cloud benefits: Business Central on Azure means automatic updates, no server maintenance, and access from anywhere.
• Modern integrations: Native connections to Teams, Power BI, Power Platform, and hundreds of AppSource extensions.
• AL extensions: The modern extension model replaces C/AL modifications - cleaner, upgrade-safe, and easier to maintain.

What Gets Migrated

A NAV to BC migration typically includes:

• Chart of accounts and financial dimensions
• Customer, vendor, and item master data
• Open transactions (purchase orders, sales orders, general journal entries)
• Opening balances (GL, AR, AP, inventory)
• Historical transactions (typically 2–3 years for reporting)

Handling NAV Customisations

This is the hardest part. NAV customisations were built in C/AL - which does not exist in Business Central. Every customisation needs to be evaluated:

• Still needed? Many NAV customisations were workarounds for features that now exist natively in BC.
• Rebuild as AL extension? Critical customisations get rebuilt using the modern AL extension model.
• Replace with AppSource app? Many common needs (advanced warehouse, electronic invoicing, bank integration) are now covered by third-party extensions.

Migration Timeline

A typical NAV to BC migration runs 3–6 months depending on complexity. Heavily customised systems with large datasets take longer. We run 2–3 mock migrations before the real cutover to validate data accuracy.

At DynamicUnit, we have migrated businesses from NAV 2009 through NAV 2018. We know where the data mapping breaks, where the edge cases hide, and how to get your opening balances right on day one.

Plan your NAV migration →