Dynamics NAV to Business Central Upgrade for a Multi-Site Manufacturer
A multi-site Australian wholesale distributor had been running Dynamics NAV 2016 for 11 years. The platform was out of support, the codebase carried 34 undocumented custom modifications, and month-end close was consuming 8 business days every cycle. Weblink Plus delivered a structured migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central — retiring technical debt, consolidating history, and transforming the finance close process.
Discuss Your NAV MigrationResults at a glance
Multi-Site Australian Wholesale Distributor
Three Warehouse Locations · Dynamics NAV 2016 · 80+ Staff
The Organisation
The client is an Australian wholesale distributor operating across three warehouse locations — a main distribution centre and two regional sites. The business had been running Microsoft Dynamics NAV since 2013, initially on NAV 2013 before upgrading to NAV 2016. Over that period, the system had been customised extensively to accommodate specific pricing, approval, and reporting requirements. By 2024, the platform was out of mainstream support and the accumulated technical debt was creating real operational risk.
Why Migration Became Urgent
The trigger was a combination of factors: Microsoft ending mainstream support for NAV 2016, a failed attempt by the internal IT team to self-manage a minor upgrade, and a CFO who had inherited the system and was determined to fix the month-end close problem that had been accepted as normal for years. The business engaged Weblink Plus to assess the migration scope and deliver the project.
What the Business Was Dealing With
Four compounding problems that made staying on NAV increasingly untenable.
End-of-support platform with no upgrade path
Dynamics NAV 2016 had passed its mainstream support window. Microsoft patches were no longer being issued, and the client's IT team was managing security risk manually. Every month on NAV was a month of compounding exposure.
34 custom modifications with no documentation
Over 11 years, the business had accumulated 34 C/AL code modifications — workarounds for reporting gaps, custom approval flows, and bespoke pricing logic. None were formally documented. Migrating them directly would have carried the same technical debt into the new system.
Month-end close taking 8 business days
Finance was running manual reconciliation processes across three warehouse locations. Intercompany transactions were reconciled by spreadsheet. The 8-day close cycle was consuming the entire finance team and delaying management reporting.
No cloud access for remote staff
The NAV environment was hosted on-premise at the head office. Remote staff — including sales reps and warehouse managers at two regional sites — had no reliable access outside the office network. The business had grown beyond what the infrastructure could support.
How Weblink Plus Delivered the Migration
A structured five-phase approach that addressed technical debt before building the new environment.
Discovery and modification audit
Before writing a single line of configuration, Weblink Plus conducted a full audit of all 34 NAV modifications. Each was categorised: native Business Central capability (retire), AL extension required (rebuild), or process redesign (eliminate). Eighteen modifications were retired entirely. Twelve were rebuilt as clean AL extensions. Four were eliminated through process redesign with the finance team.
Data migration and history consolidation
Eleven years of transaction history across three legal entities was migrated using a structured approach — open transactions first, then historical data in defined batches. Master data was cleansed during migration: 2,400 duplicate vendor records were merged, item numbering was standardised, and the chart of accounts was restructured to support the reporting the business actually needed.
Warehouse and inventory configuration
Business Central's warehouse management module was configured for all three locations — including bin management, directed put-away and pick, and cross-docking for the main distribution centre. This replaced a combination of NAV warehouse functionality and manual spreadsheet processes that had been running in parallel.
Finance close process redesign
The 8-day close was not a system problem — it was a process problem the system had been built around. Weblink Plus worked with the CFO to redesign the close process alongside the Business Central configuration, automating intercompany eliminations, configuring bank reconciliation feeds, and building the month-end checklist directly into the system workflow.
Training and hypercare
Role-based training was delivered across all three sites — finance, warehouse, and sales. A four-week hypercare period followed go-live, with a dedicated Weblink Plus consultant available daily. The business transitioned to managed support at the end of hypercare with all critical issues resolved.
What the Business Gained
Measured results from the 90 days following go-live.
Month-end close reduced from 8 business days to 2 — finance team redirected to analysis rather than reconciliation
All three warehouse locations running Business Central warehouse management with bin-level tracking
Remote staff accessing Business Central from any device via browser — no VPN, no on-premise dependency
18 custom modifications retired and replaced by native Business Central functionality
12 custom modifications rebuilt as clean AL extensions with full documentation
Intercompany transactions automated — eliminating the spreadsheet reconciliation process entirely
2,400 duplicate vendor records merged during data migration — master data quality significantly improved
Management reporting available within 2 days of period end — previously not possible until close was complete
Why Business Central Is the Right Destination for NAV Users
Genuine upgrade path, not a re-implementation
Business Central is the direct successor to Dynamics NAV. The data model, terminology, and core finance logic are familiar to NAV users. Migration is a structured upgrade — not starting from scratch on a foreign platform.
Microsoft's ongoing investment
Business Central receives two major release waves per year from Microsoft. NAV received its last mainstream update in 2018. Migrating to Business Central means moving onto a platform that is actively developed, not one being maintained in place.
Cloud-native with full Microsoft 365 integration
Business Central integrates natively with Teams, Outlook, Excel, and Power BI. For businesses already in the Microsoft ecosystem, this eliminates the re-keying and context-switching that NAV users typically work around.
Explore Further
Running Dynamics NAV?
If your business is still on Dynamics NAV — any version — the migration to Business Central is a well-defined path. Weblink Plus has delivered NAV-to-BC migrations across multiple industries and can scope your project accurately from the first conversation.
Book a Migration Assessment