Why Most NAV Migrations Break
Moving from Dynamics NAV to Business Central should be straightforward. Modern cloud platform. Better performance. Future-proof system.
But most migrations fail.
Not because Business Central is broken. Because companies treat it like a technical upgrade instead of a business decision.
After 15+ years fixing broken migrations, we see the same patterns. The same mistakes. The same warning signs that everyone ignores until it's too late.
Here are the 7 signs your migration is headed for failure.
Sign 1: You're Migrating Everything Without Questioning Anything
The problem: 15 years of customizations. Half of them nobody remembers building. The other half nobody uses anymore.
And the plan? Migrate it all.
This is how you turn a 3-month migration into a 2-year nightmare.
What breaks: Technical debt compounds. Old bugs migrate with old code. Your new system is slower than the old one.
What to do instead: Audit everything. Kill what's dead. Simplify what's left. Start clean.
Sign 2: Leadership Isn't Involved
IT runs the project. Finance hears about it in meetings. Operations finds out when the system goes live.
This is a business transformation, not a server upgrade.
What breaks: No one owns the outcome. Requirements drift. Priorities conflict. Budget disappears.
What to do instead: Executive sponsor from day one. Weekly steering committee. Business stakeholders approve decisions.
Sign 3: No One Knows What the Custom Code Actually Does
You have modifications. Lots of them. But the developer who built them left 8 years ago.
Documentation? None. Comments in the code? Rarely.
What breaks: You can't decide what to keep. You migrate blindly. Critical workflows break in production.
What to do instead: Map every customization to a business process. Interview users. Document actual usage. Delete the rest.
Sign 4: You Think It's Just a Technical Upgrade
Same data. Same workflows. Same screen layouts. Just newer technology.
Wrong.
Business Central works differently than NAV. The data model changed. Integration patterns evolved. Cloud architecture requires different thinking.
What breaks: You force old patterns into new systems. Performance suffers. Users hate it. ROI never materializes.
What to do instead: Redesign workflows for Business Central. Embrace standard functionality. Let go of the past.
Sign 5: Your Timeline Is Based on Hope, Not Reality
Three months. That's the plan.
No buffer. No testing phase. No user training period. Just... three months.
What breaks: Everything takes longer than expected. Quality gets cut. Go-live becomes a crisis.
What to do instead: Build in buffer time. Plan for discovery phase. Budget for proper UAT. Train users before go-live.
Sign 6: You're Trying To Do It Without External Help
Internal team knows NAV. They'll figure out Business Central.
Maybe. Eventually. After expensive mistakes.
What breaks: Learning curve hits during critical phases. Best practices get missed. Technical debt builds from day one.
What to do instead: Bring expertise for architecture and critical decisions. Train internal team alongside. Transfer knowledge properly.
Sign 7: No One Has Defined Success
What does good look like? When do you know the migration worked?
If you can't answer that, you're already failing.
What breaks: Scope creep. Endless refinement. No clear go-live criteria. Project drags forever.
What to do instead: Define success metrics upfront. Set acceptance criteria. Know your go/no-go decision points.
What To Do If You See These Signs
Seeing one or two warning signs? You can still course-correct.
Seeing five or more? Stop. Reassess. Get help before you're too deep.
Most migration failures are predictable. The signs show up early. The question is whether you'll act on them.
If you're planning a NAV to Business Central migration and want to avoid these mistakes, we can help you build a realistic plan.