AP Questions to Ask Before a GP-to-Business Central Migration
What Microsoft Partners Should Ask About AP Before a GP-to-Business Central Migration
A Microsoft Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central migration naturally comes with a long list of technical questions.
What data needs to move?
Which integrations need attention?
How should the new environment be configured?
But there is another question worth asking early: Is the client’s accounts payable (AP) operation ready for the move?
The answer may influence more of the migration plan than expected.
A client can be technically ready for Business Central while still relying on accounts payable (AP) processes that have evolved around Dynamics GP over many years. Understanding AP risk before a GP-to-Business Central migration can help partners identify which processes should carry forward and which may deserve a closer look.
For partners, the opportunity is not to turn every ERP migration into an AP transformation project, but to ask enough questions early to understand where existing processes could affect the transition.
Technical readiness and AP readiness are not the same thing
A client can be technically ready for Business Central while still relying on AP processes that have evolved around Dynamics GP over many years.
Think about everything surrounding the ERP: approval policies, vendor information, payment controls, integrations, manual workarounds, and the habits people rely on to get through the day.
Some of those processes may still serve the business well. Others may create friction or risk in a new environment.
That makes discovery important.
Rather than beginning with “How do we recreate this process in Business Central?” partners can start with a broader question:
“Is this a process the client should carry forward?”
That small change in perspective can uncover important considerations before migration decisions are already set.
Three conversations worth having before migration
Partners do not need to conduct a complete AP transformation assessment during initial migration planning. But a few conversations can reveal where a closer look may be worthwhile.
What has become “just the way we do it”?
Long-time Dynamics GP users may have processes built around years of business changes, staff preferences, or previous system limitations.
Ask where the AP team still depends on manual steps, workarounds, or repeated handoffs. The goal is to understand why the processes exist before assuming they belong in the future environment.
Which AP controls cannot be disrupted?
AP is responsible for outgoing cash, so migration decisions can have implications beyond efficiency.
Understanding the client’s approval policies, segregation of duties, audit requirements, and other payment controls gives partners a clearer picture of what needs to remain reliable throughout the transition.
This is also where the people who perform the work every day can provide context that a technical assessment alone may miss.
How much change can the organization absorb?
An ERP migration already asks users to learn a new environment.
Adding several new processes at the same time may create more change than the organization can comfortably manage.
It might make sense to make some AP improvements before migration. Other improvements may be easier to implement after users have settled into Business Central. Be sure to make the decision intentionally rather than assuming every improvement needs to happen at go-live.
AP discovery can strengthen the migration roadmap
These conversations are not meant to complicate a Business Central migration. Instead, they can help partners separate two questions that are easy to blend:
What needs to happen for a successful technical migration?
And:
What should happen to improve AP over time?
Those answers can lead to two related roadmaps, one for the ERP migration and another for AP best practices. The timelines may overlap, but they do not have to be identical.
This distinction can help clients avoid two extremes: carrying every existing process into Business Central without questioning it or attempting to transform everything at once.
Give AP a seat at the migration table
For Microsoft partners, it’s important to remember that AP readiness should be part of the migration conversation from the beginning, not addressed after the technical plan is already in motion.
You do not need every answer during discovery, but it's important to ask the questions that uncover what needs to be in place to support AP before the move to Business Central.
Mekorma explores these questions in more depth in The Partner’s Guide to Assessing AP Transformation Risk During Dynamics GP-to-Business Central Migrations. The whitepaper gives Microsoft partners a practical framework for evaluating a client’s AP readiness, identifying potential areas of risk, and deciding when changes should happen as part of the migration journey.