Ready for the next BC version: a checklist

Microsoft releases two major versions of Business Central a year, spring and autumn, plus smaller updates along the way. For most companies in the cloud, updating is therefore not a one-off project but a routine, and it goes best when it is prepared. Here is the short checklist: Which customisations and apps do you have, and are they ready for the new version? Which integrations to other systems may be affected? Do you have a test environment where someone actually tries the most important processes before the version reaches production? Do the users know what is changing, and whom to ask? And are your licences still the right ones? We go through each point with examples of what typically goes wrong and what it costs to fix afterwards. We charge upgrades by time spent, and the licence review is free.

Customisations and apps

Make a list of all installed apps and your own customisations. For AppSource apps, the publisher must have them ready. For your own customisations, it is you or your partner.

Typical error: a customisation that nobody owns any more breaks at the update, and nobody knows what it did.

Integrations

Webshop, payroll, bank, warehouse scanners and reporting tools talk to Business Central through interfaces that can change. Ask the supplier of each integration whether it has been tested against the new version.

Test in a test environment

In Business Central online you can create a test environment as a copy of production and update it first. Let the daily users run the most important processes: sales order to invoice, purchase order to payment, stock transfer and month-end.

Users and licences

Tell the users what is changing and whom to ask. Use the occasion to check whether the licences still fit the users you have.

The short checklist

A list of apps and customisations with an owner for each
Confirmation from each integration supplier
Test environment updated and tried by the users
A message to the users about the changes
Licences reviewed

Help with the upgrade

We charge upgrades by time spent, and the licence review is free.