Back in 2000 Microsoft acquired four separate ERP software companies: Navision, Axapta, Great Plains and Solomon. There was a lot of messaging from Microsoft about how Project Green was going to combine all of them into one super ERP software package.
In this timeframe there was also a stripped-down version Great Plains called Small Business Accounting, and Microsoft also tried to create a Peachtree-like competitor from scratch built into the MS Office Suite called Office Accounting (it was around from about 2005-2009).
It seems like Microsoft thought ERP software was like a spreadsheet so that it would be an easy thing to acquire these different products and just make everybody start using the merged Project Green. Somewhere along the line they perhaps realized that different ERP packages are not interchangeable, so instead of actually merging them into one application they merged the names and thus they became Dynamics.
More recently we have another rebranding that covers two of the four separate ERP products: D365. The term D365 is often used as if it is a thing, but as you can see from the graphic above, it is a name only that wraps around two separate ERP packages: Navision/Dynamics NAV/BC and Axapta/Dynamics AX/F&O (F&O is Finance & Operations).
There are a few important implications of the D365 wrapper around BC and F&O:
- The D365 wrapper covers two separate ERP packages
- They are not interchangeable with each other or with any of the other Dynamics ERP packages, or with any of the other ERP packages in the world.
- A marketing answer of “YES! D365 can do that” needs to be carefully examined to determine if the YES pertains to BC or F&O.
- BC is not an “upgrade” or “next version” for GP. This is not true now any more than it was 25 years ago. Moving to BC or F&O is implementing a new ERP package from scratch.
With all of this in mind let’s address a few common misconceptions.
D365 is the next version of GP. No. D365 is two completely separate online ERP packages (see above) that are in no way related to each other or to Dynamics GP.
GP migration to D365 is simple. Probably not. It might be easy if you are a very simple, financials only Dynamics GP deployment, with no 3rd party products, no report modifications and no window modifications. Even with all of those restrictions, you are still implementing a completely new, completely unrelated piece of software so there will not be a direct migration for everything.
Dynamics GP turns off soon. Absolutely not. We recently did a custom project for somebody still using GP 2010. If you own your GP license, it does not “turn off” because “support” ends. There is no rush to do anything. If you feel there is a strong business case for implementing new ERP software you can take your time to make a careful decision. Do you know what can shut off at any time? Software that you pay for on a monthly basis.
D365 is my logical migration path. Maybe? Since BC and F&O are in no way related to Dynamics GP or each other, you might as well consider all of your ERP options. Why not also look at SAP, Oracle, Infor, Netsuite, Acumatica or others?
Dynamics GP is slow. No. This is a resource issue. GP can be as quick and snappy as anything else. If it is slow look at resources (hardware). Also make sure there isn’t a 3rd party product that is killing performance.
D365 can do everything GP does. If you already asked questions to confirm that “D365” can do what you need, make sure you know if the “yes” refers to BC or F&O. Honestly, F&O is amazing and if you can afford it, go for it, but know this will be a very big implementation.
Dynamics GP is not “online”. Dynamics GP can easily be moved to Microsoft Azure. If you are not familiar with what Azure is, just think “server that lives at Microsoft”. What is cool about Azure is you can add more RAM and CPUs at any time. Better performance is just a few clicks away, then a couple minutes later GP is even faster!
Microsoft support for GP is ending. Yup. How much support do you get from Microsoft? If you need support, who do you actually turn to? What you need is a good Dynamics GP partner who is committed to helping you. WilloWare is still developing for, and supporting our products on, every version of Dynamics GP from 2010 and up.
Lastly, a question that you can probably answer by this point:
Will my (3rd party product/Excel report/Web-store integration/etc) work with D365? No, because D365 does not exist. How about with BC or F&O? Probably not, but the details are important:
- Is it “part of” GP? Examples are: Modified windows, reports, 3rd party products, customizations. NO.
- Is it external to GP and integrates data into GP. MAYBE. It depends on whether an integration into BC or F&O has already been created.
- Custom Reports (SSRS, Excel, other). NO. These depend on the specific database tables of the ERP system.