A perspective of Business Central from a former Dynamics GP user

As a long-term user of Microsoft Dynamics GP, I will admit it was daunting when we initially transitioned to Dynamics 365 Business Central. However, within a few months of working in Business Central daily, I quickly became familiar with the ins and outs of navigating the system and have come to appreciate the ease of use and flexibility that Business Central has to offer.

Here are a few key user differences that I have come to appreciate in Business Central as measured against Dynamics GP.

Financial

• Business Central licensing is less expensive than Dynamics GP.
• Many Business Central add-ins and apps available allow individuals and organizations to tailor the system to their unique organizational needs.
• Dimensional Chart of Accounts = reporting powerhouse with flexible data analysis while still maintaining a clean chart of accounts.

Sales/Sales Order Processing

• Updating customer information and customer ID’s is simple.
• Navigating to customer information through the customer list using the tiles and links within the Fact Box tiles provides clear visibility and quick access to all customer documents in open and history for either inquiry or processing functionality.
• Drilling into a customer’s open balance to quickly view and or mass email outstanding receivables documents for collections is a breeze.
• For Sales order processing, the ability to easily return posted documents using the “Correct” option to create corrective credit memos takes the guesswork out of standard returns, free from dimension variances, and inventory stays clean and accurate.

Inventory

• Using item templates and the copy item feature make creating inventory items fast and consistent.
• Click of a button inquiry into item transaction history and on hand quantities.

Purchasing/Purchase Order Processing

• Updating Vendor information and ID’s is easy.

• Like with sales order processing, navigating to vendor information through the vendor list using the tiles and links within the Fact Box tiles provides clear visibility and quick access to all vendor documents in open and history for either inquiry or processing functionality.
• Drilling into a vendor’s open balance to quickly view outstanding payables documents for payment is a easy to do.
• For purchase order processing, the ability to easily return posted documents using the “Correct” option to create corrective credit memos takes the guesswork out of standard returns, free from dimension variances, and inventory stays clean and accurate.
• Open Purchase Order View has an easily customizable view to add in desired columns to view various information with the ability to sort & filter any desired column/row.

Project Accounting

• Project setup using the project setup wizard is relatively straight forward and walks users through selecting the desired options.
• Adding items to projects using item journals or items purchases through POP is as simple as adding the item reference and task code on orders, once received, the project is updated and if returns are completed, they reverse from the project with ease.
• Easily set individual project task codes to separate dimensions.

Overall, that add-ins and apps options for Business Central are widely available. Furthermore, the customization potential will continue to expand as apps are continuously added offering robust functionality with ability to easily customize and tailor the system to unique organizational needs.

While I think Business Central is a big step forward, I still have a strong appreciation for Dynamics GP. It’s a strong product, backed by many years of development and aligns accounting best practices from a business or finance perspective.