ERP Cloud Migration: The Lego Approach to Seamless Data Transition

ERP cloud migration projects are notorious for being complex, but what if we could transform them into something as enjoyable as playing with Legos?

The question may sound too optimistic. Everyone knows the challenges in ERP migrations go beyond moving data from point A to point B. These projects involve data quality issues, resource allocation, and project management. They also require intricate coordination skills due to ERP systems' interconnections between various business functions. To address these hurdles, ISVs typically invest heavily in planning, data cleansing, mapping, testing, and other processes.

But there's an alternative that revolutionizes the migration process with a modular approach. Let me explain using something we all know very well—building sets like Legos or Fischertechnik, a German construction toy brand I loved as a kid.

Two Building Options

As someone who's always enjoyed construction toys, both in my childhood and later with my children, I've found there's a certain symmetry, logic, and planning involved that appeals to my mathematical mind. In the world of construction toys, there are two primary building methods:

1. Using plain blocks to construct something from scratch, piece by piece. It's creative but can be challenging.
2. Building with prefabricated elements with 'hooks' or Lego studs (those small cylindrical bumps that ensure the bricks interlock) to attach new components, enabling easier construction of complex systems.

This concept mirrors the evolution we've seen in ERP systems.

In the past, legacy ERP systems like Navision were monolithic structures nested within Microsoft's standard code. Each new version release required code rewrites and customization overhauls, causing significant disruptions.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central changed the game fundamentally. Updates are now seamless and automatic, thanks to 'Events in AL'—a programming concept that allows code modifications without altering the original application, and vice versa. Events function like the studs on Lego blocks, allowing for modular and easy additions.

Initially Harder, But Easier Now

At acadon AG, we've been developing ERP solutions for the timber sector for decades, and now we build on top of Business Central. Timber companies, some of which are century-old manufacturers, are very traditional. We knew migrating our existing customers to the cloud would be difficult, from the technical and user adoption perspective, and that they would want to keep their historical data. 

Unlike many ISVs who rewrote the code and rebuilt their apps from scratch, we took a strategic approach that followed the advice of former Microsoft executive Marko Perisic, who led Dynamics SMB through the emergence Business Central. We rotated our old, monolithic code by 90 degrees to make it compatible with the new environment, using Events to attach our customizations.