7-Step Guide to Transfer Data from QuickBooks to Business Central

QuickBooks is a great option for smaller companies looking for an efficient solution to manage their financials. However, it’s not designed to handle more complex operations. Dynamics 365 Business Central provides more advanced automation features and can scale to meet a growing company's demands. 

In addition to accounting, Business Central includes modules for supply chain, customer service, sales, and supply chain management. You get everything you need to run a company on a single platform. 

Below is a seven-step guide to transferring data from QuickBooks to Business Central. Get familiar with Business Central's requirements and data structures. Working with a partner like Internet eBusiness Solutions (IES) can help ensure you do everything correctly, including mapping out key data elements. 

1. Back Up Your Data

Create a backup of your QuickBooks data file. Follow the instructions provided by your Desktop or Online Advanced instance. You want to make sure the data is available in case your transfer to Business Central goes wrong. 

Once you’ve backed up your data, start preparing it for transfer. Remove any duplicate entries that you find. You should also go through your records and make sure they contain the most current vendor, product, and customer information. It’s also a good idea to close any incomplete transactions. 

2. Start Mapping Your Accounts

Start planning how to migrate the information from your QuickBooks accounts to Business Central tables. You need to account for all transactions, including customer sales, general ledger adjustments, and items purchased from vendors. Set up tax accounts for tax jurisdictions in Business Central so you can post transactions. Below is an overview of everything you can import from QuickBooks to Business Central:

• Vendors
• Customers
• Account Charts
• Items
• General ledger beginning balance transaction
• On-hand inventory
• Open documents (invoices, payments, credit memos, etc.)

You cannot migrate partially paid items. Business Central only accepts full amounts on sales and purchase documents. If a customer owes $200 on a $1,000 purchase, Business Central will migrate the entire $1,000. Any partial payments already made must be updated manually. 

3. Use the QuickBooks Data Migration Extension

Once you’ve exported your QuickBooks Data, go to the search icon in Business Central and look for Assisted Setup. Choose the QuickBooks option, then select Migrate business data. Make sure you select QuickBooks as the source system. Follow the prompt and upload your QuickBooks export files.

Follow the steps provided by the assisted guide to map QuickBooks data fields to Business Central. You’ll need to validate the mappings and the accuracy of the imported data, including:

• Vendors
• Customers
• Financial Transactions
• Inventory Balances

4. Configure Finance Settings in Business Central

You’ll need to adjust your financial settings to start tracking and reporting on different aspects of your company. After establishing your company’s core accounting records, you’ll need to create posting groups. They make it more efficient for you to set up default general ledger posting accounts.

While assisted setup guides are available for some tasks, you will need to handle others manually. A setup page provided for the General Ledger shows you how to handle accounting issues like address formats, financial reporting, and invoice rounding details.

There’s a Chart of Accounts page that displays general ledger accounts. This page lets you perform tasks like:

• Closing your income statement
• View reports with general ledger entries
• Look at posting groups for an account
• Review debit and credit balances for accounts
• Open general ledger accounts to add or change settings

Business Central lets you personalize your financial statements by mapping general ledger accounts to account categories. Below is an example of establishing a balance statement that includes petty cash and checking.

1. Go to the search icon, look up G/L Account Categories, and click the link.
2. Select the Edit List action, then add two subcategories. The first should be petty cash, and the second should be for your checking account.
   1. Choose the category Current Assets, then select New.
   2. Enter the name of your subcategory in the Description field.
   3. Go to the G/L Accounts in the Category field to select the correct G/L account.
   4. Go to the Additional Report Definition field and select Cash Accounts.
3. Intent the two new items under the Cash subcategory using the Indent and Move Down actions. 

5. Perform Extensive Testing

Before you go live, create a sandbox to test your Business Central instance. This will allow you to locate and resolve issues before they impact live information. From there, start running test imports of smaller data sets so you can validate the mappings you have in place. Validate the integrity and accuracy of the information by checking for the following:

• Improperly mapped fields
• Incomplete or missing records
• Consistency between Business Central and QuickBooks

You should also mimic everyday business operations, such as entering payments, generating invoices, and running financial reports. This will let you confirm that the system is operating as expected with the imported QuickBooks data. 

6. Start Training the Team on the New System

Once your data is in place, start familiarizing your team with Business Central’s interface. Provided guided instruction on the features required for them to complete their daily tasks. It’s a good idea to break training down based on the roles of different team members. That streamlines the instruction and can prevent confusion.

Provide guides that users can refer back to upon completion of training. IES can assist in correctly training company workers on best practices for using Business Central. They can help your organization use automated workflows to improve established business processes. 

7. Learn to Leverage More Advanced Business Central Features

In addition to improving your financial operations, IES can help you use other features of Business Central, including advanced reporting with Power BI and integrating with other office instances.

Learn more about our consulting services by reaching out to our experts.