NAV Migration · Microsoft Business Central
Your NAV Knows
Your Business.
Business Central Runs It Better.
Ten years of NAV customizations, institutional knowledge, and workflow configuration, none of it gets left behind. TechWise Group has migrated every version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, from Navision 1.x through NAV 2018, to Business Central. Led by Microsoft MVPs who wrote the code you’re running.
Every NAV Version, Navision 1.x Through NAV 2018
Microsoft MVP-Led Migrations
30+ Years NAV Expertise
Zero Customization Abandoned Without a Plan
Tell Us If This Sounds Familiar
NAV Served You Well.
Now It’s Holding You Back.
NAV buyers don’t have accounting software problems. They have a modern stack problem, NAV was built before Microsoft 365, Power BI, Teams, and Azure became the operating system of the mid-market business.
“Our NAV is so customized that nobody wants to touch it. Our IT guy who built most of it left three years ago. Every upgrade is a project.“
CFO, $90M Manufacturer, Chicago
“We’re paying six figures a year to maintain a system that doesn’t connect to Teams, doesn’t talk to our CRM, and still produces reports in Excel 2007 format.“
Controller, $55M Distributor, Philadelphia
“Our auditors want documentation we can’t produce without a consultant. Every audit cycle costs us two weeks and $30,000 in professional fees just to prepare.“
VP Finance, $120M Life Sciences Company, Philadelphia
“We’ve been told we need to migrate three times. Every time we get a scope, the customization list is so long that it scares everyone and we table it for another year.“
CEO, $75M Food & Beverage Company
Version Coverage
We Know Your Version.
Every One of Them.
Deep NAV expertise spans every release, from the earliest Navision builds to the most recent NAV versions. Whatever version you’re on, we’ve migrated it before.
Navision 1.x – 3.x
1987 – 2004
Legacy Navision
The original Navision platform. Heavy C/SIDE code, early customizations, running on-premise for 15–20 years. Requires full data restructuring and extension rebuilding.
NAV 4.0 – 5.0
2005 – 2009
Early Dynamics NAV
First generation of Microsoft-branded NAV. Common customizations in financials and inventory. Running with a mix of Jet Reports and manual Excel workflows.
NAV 2009 – 2013 R2
2009 – 2014
Mid-Generation NAV
The RoleTailored Client era. Deeper functional customizations, more complex integrations. Frequently has significant third-party ISV add-ons that need mapping to BC equivalents.
NAV 2015 – 2018
2015 – 2018
Modern NAV
The closest to Business Central architecture. Extensions exist but many are still C/AL. The migration path is cleaner, but the customization inventory is generally larger and more complex.
No version is too old. We’ve migrated Navision 1.x environments that had been running for 20+ years. The older the system, the more institutional knowledge is embedded in it, and the more important it is to migrate with a partner who reads C/AL, not just AL.
The Customization Question
Every Customization Gets
a Plan. Nothing Gets Abandoned.
The customization list is what scares most companies away from migrating. Here’s exactly how we handle it, and why it’s less daunting than your previous partners made it sound.
Category 01, Rebuild
Rebuilt as a Business Central Extension
Business-critical customizations with no native BC equivalent are rebuilt as proper AL extensions, cleaner, supportable, and upgrade-safe.
- Industry-specific workflow logic
- Custom approval and authorization flows
- Proprietary pricing and discount engines
- Compliance-specific audit controls
- Legacy EDI and integration logic
Category 02, Replace
Replaced by Native BC or a Better ISV
Many NAV customizations exist because the functionality didn’t exist natively. Business Central makes them redundant, and the native version is better.
- Custom financial reporting → Power BI native
- Manual approval workflows → BC workflow engine
- Legacy Jet Reports → ForNAV or BC reporting
- Custom AP automation → Continia
- Old EDI modules → SPS Commerce or Lanham
Category 03, Retire
Retired, No Longer Needed
Some customizations solved problems that don’t exist anymore, or were workarounds for NAV limitations that Business Central handles natively.
- Workarounds for NAV posting limitations
- Manual consolidation logic (BC does this natively)
- Legacy currency conversion hacks
- Outdated compliance patches
- Orphaned modules nobody uses
The customization inventory is the first deliverable we produce, before any configuration, before any timeline commitment. Every customization is categorized, documented, and assigned a disposition. You know exactly what’s being rebuilt, what’s being replaced, and what’s being retired before the project starts.
The Migration Process
From NAV to Business Central.
A Process That Respects What You’ve Built.
This isn’t a lift-and-shift. It’s a deliberate migration that preserves your institutional knowledge, modernizes your architecture, and lands you on a platform your team can actually use.
01
NAV Audit
Full version assessment, customization inventory, integration map, and compliance gap analysis. Every C/AL object documented before migration design begins.
Deliverable: NAV audit + customization inventory
02
Migration Design
Migration Design
BC architecture mapped to your NAV environment. Customizations assessed, rebuilt as AL extensions, replaced natively, or retired. Fixed timeline and scope agreed.
Deliverable: Migration plan + fixed scope
03
Extension Build
Extension Build
AL extensions built for customizations that matter. Native BC capabilities confirmed for those that don’t need rebuilding. Integration layer designed and tested.
Deliverable: Built + tested extensions
04
Data Migration &
Validation
Validation
Every posted NAV transaction migrated and reconciled to your final NAV trial balance. Historical data intact and auditable from Day 1 in BC.
Deliverable: Validated data, zero loss
05
Training &
UAT
UAT
Role-based training for finance and operations. UAT against your real NAV data in the new BC environment. Your team signs off before cutover is scheduled.
Deliverable: Trained team + UAT sign-off
06
Go-Live &
Strategic Support
Strategic Support
Cutover on the agreed date. TechWise present for Day 1 and your first close. Ongoing Strategic Business Reviews. NAV retired cleanly, no legacy systems left running.
Deliverable: Live in BC + ongoing partnership
The Zero-Surprise Guarantee
Every TechWise NAV migration includes a weekly status checkpoint covering timeline, budget, customization build progress, and data validation status. If anything is off track, you know immediately, not at go-live, not on the invoice. Before it becomes a problem.
Why TechWise for This Migration
30 Years of NAV Expertise
Doesn’t Just Walk In the Door.
NAV migrations require a fundamentally different skill set than a fresh Business Central implementation. Here’s what makes TechWise the right partner for a company with deep NAV roots.
01
Microsoft MVP-Led Architecture
Our technical leads include named Microsoft MVPs with deep NAV expertise, they read C/AL, they wrote AL extensions before most partners knew the language existed, and they have direct Microsoft escalation access when edge cases surface.
02
We Read Your Code
Most partners treat NAV customizations as a black box to be replaced. We read the C/AL, understand what it was doing, and make an informed decision, rebuild, replace, or retire. Nothing disappears without a documented plan.
03
30+ Years Across Every Version
From Navision 1.x through NAV 2018, we have seen every version, every customization pattern, every migration scenario. There is no NAV environment we haven’t encountered a version of before.
04
Your Budget Model. Zero Surprises.
Fixed-Fee or Time & Materials, you choose. The customization inventory is scoped in discovery before any cost commitment. No surprises when the extension builds surface unexpected complexity.
05
Compliance Baked In
SOX, HIPAA, FDA 21 CFR, CMMC, built into the Business Central architecture from Day 1. Your NAV compliance workarounds become proper, audit-ready controls. Your auditors will notice the difference immediately.
06
ISV Partners Who Know the Gap
Continia for AP automation. Insight Works for shop floor. ForNAV for reporting. Lanham for EDI. We bring the right ISV ecosystem to replace your legacy NAV add-ons, so your team lands on a better stack, not just a newer one.
Migration Results
What NAV Clients Find
on the Other Side.
Numbers from actual TechWise NAV migrations, not estimates.
30+
Years combined NAV expertise across our team
From Navision 1.x to NAV 2018
3
Average days to close after go-live
vs. 10–15 days on legacy NAV
Zero
Customizations abandoned without a replacement plan
Every object accounted for
100%
Data integrity on every migration completed
Validated pre-cutover, always
“We’d been on NAV 2015 for seven years with 140 customizations. Every partner we talked to quoted us 18 months and a number that scared our board. TechWise audited our customizations in two weeks, told us 60 of them were already native in Business Central, rebuilt the ones that mattered, and went live in 14 weeks. Our close went from 12 days to 4.”
CFO, $95M Manufacturer, Chicago Metropolitan Area
Common Questions
NAV Migration Questions
We Hear Every Week.
Also in Migrations
Not on NAV?
We Migrate From These Too.
Most Common
QuickBooks to Business Central
over 150 migrations from QuickBooks and QuickBooks Enterprise. Zero data loss. 90-day go-live. The most common path to Business Central for growing mid-market companies.
See QB migration →
Tell Us What’s Broken.
We’ll Tell You How to Fix It.
Every managed engagement starts with a free assessment of your environment: no scope surprises. Tell us what’s broken, what’s keeping you up at night, or what you’re trying to build. We’ll tell you exactly what it takes and which model fits.