Dynamics 365 Business Central FAQs

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Find the answers to our most commonly asked questions about Business Central...
All our packs include everything you need - the tenant setup, module configuration, import of master data, import of opening balances, and remote training.
Yes - you can’t build the house without laying the foundations, right? Check out the description of each pack to see what each pack requires as a prerequisite.
Of course. Microsoft openly publishes all the help documentation for Business Central on their Business Central Docs page. It’s the user guide included with Business Central so it’s quite detailed, but it’s a great place to read the full capabilities and features.
All our packs include the relevant standard Business Central reporting to each pack (e.g. aged accounts payable reporting is included with the Purchase pack).
They can either be included in your initial project or added shortly after, once you’ve had a chance to familiarize yourself with the standard reporting features. Find out more about business central reporting, and learn about about Jet Reports here and Power BI here.
Sure. This video demonstrates the ‘look and feel’ as well as the core finance functions within Business Central. We can run a live demo with you too, but this is great to get a quick look.
Absolutely. Dynamics Trials lets you create a 30-day trial of Business Central. This trial will specifically be for the user who signs up and is hosted on a temporary domain (i.e. not linked to your Office 365 account).
We can set you up a multi-user trial on your domain too – we’ll need delegate CSP access rights to your current Office 365 domain first.
If you’re interested, ask us to set you up. This Microsoft Docs page explains the process.
Our KickStart implementation takes just 1 week – make sure that you speak with us in advance to ensure that the requirements of your project fit the criteria for this highly compressed timeline. If you need more than just the Starter, Purchase and Sales packs included within KickStart then the implementation time for the initial project is dependent on the number of packs needed, typically between 4 to 12 weeks.
We’ve summarized this in a handy guide, comparing moving systems to moving to a new house. Download it here.
The Business Central Docs page covers this too, check out the techy info on the API Overview page. We’d be happy to talk through individual requirements.
We’ll provide Excel templates for you to add your data from your current system(s). This is the perfect time to cleanse the data, making sure only the good stuff come across. Then we’ll load this into Business Central and give you plenty of opportunity to make sure it looks right.
We’ve built a tool to guide you through importing and posting your opening balances when you’re ready. Typically bank, customer, vendor, stock and fixed assets opening balances are imported just before going live. Then the general ledger opening balances are imported once you’ve finished off closing the month in your previous system.
Typically no. Matching the data from one system to another and then re-posting it is a time-consuming and costly process that’s usually avoidable. You’ll need sporadic read-only access to the legacy data for a period of time, but most of the time the benefit doesn't outweigh the cost of transferring it. Your current provider/partner can continue to give you read-only access to the data or, if that’s too costly in terms of licenses and hosting, they can provide it in a database/spreadsheet format. If it’s critical, talk to us – there are other options we can explore with you too.
You may need to bring over some General Ledger summary balances for the previous year to allow for year-on-year comparison reporting. That isn’t a problem and follows the same easy steps as per importing the opening balances
In short, years of experience has taught us that multiple short, concise project phases are much more successful (and less costly) than one big wish-list orientated project. There’s no sacrifice to these features or what you’d get day 1, only a different way to approach the same goal. Check out our MVP vs. ERP eBook for more detail and find out why ilke Homes loved their Business Central implementation so much.
Of course! The number 1 question on licensing technicalities is if the Team Member (TM) license can support the raising and approving of purchase requisitions/orders. Yes it can, for example – a user with a TM license can raise a Purchase Quote and then this can then be approved by another user with a TM license. A full user can then convert the approve Purchase Quote into a Purchase Order and continue the process as normal.
We can talk you through any licensing scenarios to confirm the exact license types needed, but in case you want to read more, then this is Microsoft’s Business Central Licensing guide.
Yes, there are significant discounts for NFP and educational usage. If you are eligible for these discounts, it’s likely you’ll have already been through the Microsoft registration prices for discount on Office 365 licenses. Please ask for the discounted license prices!
Microsoft publicly provides all of this detail on Trust Center. This link covers all Microsoft products and services, so your answers will be in the Dynamics 365 section or, if they’re related to hosting, in the Azure section.
We do implement this module, but we’d like to talk it through with you first. There’s a full suite of Customer Engagement apps within Dynamics 365 that offer a much broader array of features and functions. We want to help you make the right decision as to which route is best for you in the long term.
With Manufacturing and Service Management, there’s a large amount of functionality and therefore a high degree of variance in how complex the implementation can be – that’s also the reason why Microsoft has a separate license (Premium) for these modules. Speak to us to find out more about how we can help.
It depends on how those other countries plan to operate moving forward. There are 3 options to consider:
Multiple databases – Within your Microsoft domain, you can currently have up to 3 live / production databases (with the availability for more scheduled for the end of 2020), each with their own localization. This localization adds the code for the tax and compliance functionality specific to that country. So, in the case of the UK it adds VAT and Making Tax Digital functionality – this Docs page covers the detail for each country.
Where there isn’t a localization for a specific country available from Microsoft yet, other regional Business Central partners have provided solutions via apps to bridge the gap between ‘vanilla’ Business Central and any local requirements. For full details of regional availability, please see this Docs page. You’ll need this option if any of the countries require the local tax and compliance functionality and/or they need their own codebase to manage any development to Business Central in the future. We cover the setup of the extra databases in our Additional Database pack.
Multiple companies – Within a Business Central database there’s no limit on the number of companies. So, if the subsequent countries don’t currently have the local functionality today and/or they have local accountants to handle this outside the system, then you may consider keeping to one database with multiple companies.
This means no additional setup costs for the extra databases. The points to consider are that the other regions won’t have access to the local tax and compliance functionality available now or any released in the future. Other points to consider that that all companies will share the same code within the database and that some apps may rely on the regional functionality.
Multiple companies within Multiple databases – As you’ve probably guessed, you can also have a combination of the above. Perhaps some country’s operations are larger than others, perhaps some have external accountants already, and perhaps some are on regional versions of their current software or perhaps some just need their own codebase.
It’s also worth noting that the intercompany and consolidation functionality within Business Central work regardless of the above setup. The same goes for system language. Localized functionality and system language are two separate things – each user can have a different language, irrespective of the database’s localization. Again, see this Docs page for availability.
Confused? Got questions? Don’t worry - we’ll guide you to the right decision, just reach out to us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find the answers to our most commonly asked questions about Business Central...
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