I worked with Microsoft Dynamics GP for just over 19 years before I decided that the writing on the wall had become too large to ignore. With the announcement of the new cloud ERPs by Microsoft a few years ago, it became apparent that the focus from Microsoft was on these ERP, rather than the old on premises ones.
Unfortunately, from a Dynamics GP perspective, the new ERP were based on Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV, which became, respectively, Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management and Business Central.
As I’d been working with Dynamics GP, a mid market ERP, it seemed a reasonable move to start working with Business Central, which is largely aimed at the same (size) market. When considering my options for a new role, I had looked at some of the non-Microsoft alternatives, but ended up going with Business Central as I am used to Microsoft technologies and my initial review had suggested that Business Central was quite similar to Dynamics GP.
Below is a table comparing Dynamics GP vs. Business Central covering a number of different areas:
| Dynamics GP | Business Central | |
|---|---|---|
| On-premises |  |
|
| Cloud |  |
|
| Scalable | (requires additional resources added to server) |
(automatic based on usage) |
| Upgrades | Annual releases manually applied | Twice-yearly release waves automatically applied over 6 months |
| Microsoft Office 365 | (basic integration) |
(seamless integration) |
| Financial Reporting | Management Reporter and/or Jet Reports | Financial Reporting (formerly called Account Schedules) and/or Jet Reports |
| Multi-dimensional analysis | Analytical Accounting module needs to be installed and configured | Standard with unlimited Dimensions |
| COA Structure | Multi-segment G/L Accounts | G/L Accounts with (unlimited) Dimensions |
| Purchase Order Matching | Three way matching | Three way matching |
| Warehouse Management | (available as an add-on from 3rd parties) |
(standard functionality with bins, zones, picks, put-aways and more) |
| Audit Trails | (available as an add-on from 3rd parties) |
|
| Search Feature | (not in desktop client) |
|
| Easy Personalisation of Windows/Pages | |
|
| Easy Analysis of Data | |
(every list page has an analyze function) |
| Workflow Approvals | |
(extendable with Power Automate) |
| CRM | |
(lightweight CRM included as standard) |
| Power Automate | |
|
| Power BI | (OData Service needs to be implemented) |
|
| Easy Data Migration | (limited with Integration Manager and only for 240 days without buying a licence) |
(standard via Configuration Packages from Excel spreadsheets |
| 3rd Party Extensions | |
|
| Customisation/Development | (Dexterity scripting language in Dexterity editor) |
(AL language via standard tools like VS Code or Visual Studio) |
After working with Business Central for the last two years, I think that all of the customers I worked with over the 19 years on Dynamics GP, would be able to transition to Business Central and be able to work more efficiently than they are currently able.
