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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Formerly Dynamics NAV

Overview

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. The technology is based on the Navision product acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This product is the best-selling Microsoft ERP platform, and…

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Recent Reviews
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 66 features
  • Role-based user permissions (20)
    9.0
    90%
  • Accounts payable (20)
    9.0
    90%
  • Standard reports (21)
    5.1
    51%
  • Custom reports (20)
    5.1
    51%
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Pricing

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N/A
Unavailable

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. The technology is based on the Navision product acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This product is the best-selling Microsoft ERP platform, and is often used by companies in the…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Demos

Microsoft Power BI Demo | Tensoft

YouTube
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Features

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

7.6
Avg 7.2

Customization

This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.

8
Avg 7.2

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

9
Avg 8.1

Reporting & Analytics

Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.

5.1
Avg 7.0

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting

8.8
Avg 7.6

Inventory Management

The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.

8.7
Avg 7.9

Order Management

The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.

7.9
Avg 7.8

Subledger and Financial Process

Revenue management solution including capabilities for subledgers and financial processes

8.4
Avg 7.4

Project Financial Management

Project financial management solution including capabilities for project budgeting, cost control, billing and contract management.

8.7
Avg 7.6

Project Execution Management

Project execution management solution including capabilities for project scheduling, resource management, and team member task management.

7.7
Avg 6.8

Grants Management

Grants management solution for higher education, public sector, or non-profits with capabilities for managing financial awards for program and project funding

9.7
Avg 7.6

Procurement

Procurement management solution with capabilities for sourcing, contracting, procure-to-pay and supplier management

8
Avg 7.0

Risk Management

Risk management solution with capabilities for managing controls, assessing control effectiveness, certifying controls, and addressing deficiencies

9.6
Avg 6.5

Logistics

Logistics solution with capabilities for transportation planning, transportation execution, trade compliance, customs management, warehouse management and warehouse workforce management.

7.7
Avg 6.9

Manufacturing

Manufacturing solution for managing manufacturing processes and costs.

7.1
Avg 7.5

Supply Chain

Supply Chain Planning solution with capabilities for planning, performance monitoring, change responses and execution.

9.5
Avg 7.2

Product Lifecycle Management

Product Lifecycle Management solution with capabilities for innovation management, product development

9.3
Avg 7.3
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Product Details

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Video

Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Integrations

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Competitors

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. The technology is based on the Navision product acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This product is the best-selling Microsoft ERP platform, and is often used by companies in the manufacturing and distribution verticals.

Infor ERP, NetSuite ERP, and Sage 300 are common alternatives for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Reviewers rate Credit card processing and Primary and Secondary Ledgers and Journals and Reconciliations highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(202)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-21 of 21)
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Patient Gomba | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Vendor Application - able to generate a report on the number if open documents and initiate application of these open documents.
  • Vendor Statements -This is the procedure to run the vendor statement, which you can either print to pdf or excel, depending on how you choose to send it to your supplier.
  • Vendor Balances - able to generate a report of vendor balances in Excel or PDF.
  • Manual Journals - One is able to upload a Journal in NAV then export it before emailing it to Approver before posting it for checks and accuracy.
  • Vendor Ledger entries - Should give an option on filters to be able to produce a report with multiple User IDs.
  • Automatically allocate payments.
  • Sending a notification for Overdue payments.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Lot/Serial tracking, due to our parts being imported worldwide, and in order to ship to clients and clear customs, this helps a lot.
  • Reporting in the platform, this helps us a lot in our weekly management meetings so everyone can help present and make sure everyone is aware.
  • Getting information from the old NAV, if you're transitioning not everything is easily available.
  • Some of the 3rd party software we use are not integrated or required customization which added to the cost.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Reporting is top-notch, and the ability to dig down into an entry is fantastic. If I'm curious about where a specific number or total came from, finding out is as simple as clicking on it and drilling down until I have my answer.
  • The stability of the platform is excellent -- no worries about our servers going down at all. :)
  • Our CFO position is outsourced, and this platform lets him work on our GL from anywhere. He showed me the other day on his phone how we can review journal entries, and was raving about how it makes him more responsive and effective.
  • The only downside I've really seen so far is that the licensing can get expensive if you have a large accounting department. It's several times the cost of a single O365 license, which makes it a bit cost-prohibitive to spread the love around. This sucks because there's some great executive dashboarding that I'd love to be able to set up for my CEO, but burning a license each month just so he can look at a dashboard is a waste of money.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Good integration with other software and technologies.
  • Good viewing interface for both AP and AR.
  • Ability to customize most reports.
  • Some functions could be a bit more user friendly, intuitive.
  • Better migration from previous ERP software (especially other Microsoft products). "Growing pains" associated with change?! Maybe.
  • A few redundancies and procedural missteps on menus and tabs can make the portal a bit crowded.
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Automate the creation of bills of materials for production. We can now generate a BoM from a sales order.
  • Organization of all data pertaining to thousands of parts, assemblies, and finished goods. Engineering and purchasing have a common portal.
  • We can create sales orders from quotations instead of re-entering them (this did require some bolt-on software). Less redundant work with fewer entry errors.
  • Accounting can provide reports based on specific criteria stored in NAV. We can pull better and more detailed intelligence.
  • It doesn't work out of the box. It requires consultants and experts to make it work. This makes it far more expensive to get up and running and maintain than originally anticipated.
  • Additional software purchases are needed for full functionality. For example, it doesn't offer a product configurator which was an expensive purchase that needed to be made separately.
  • It is difficult to get data into NAV from old systems. Now, for sales data prior to the implementation of NAV, we have to go back into the legacy system.
Akos Krommer, CISA, ACDA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • It is really great to use for financial reporting and generating invoices for clients.
  • Cloud capabilities of the system
  • Automation of several features (notifications, etc.)
  • Integration with many 3rd party tools
  • Permission setup can get quite complicated.
  • Requires lots of training to get fully confident with the software.
  • Sometimes it can get really slow, which makes the whole user experience bad.
Thayer Ramahi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • User friendly, does not need much to train users on how to use it, enter data or generate reports.
  • Secure, it has a very secure & permission account setup.
  • Flexible and customizable for all the company needs: general accounting, A/R, A/P, Fixed Assets, and Budgeting needs.
  • Love the search tool, very powerful.
  • Reports need improvement for sure.
  • Does not integrate with other software or tools.
  • Navigation could be a challenge to some users.
  • Customization, modifications and upgrades require a 3rd party vendor to do.
Johnn Karanja | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Financial Management: We are able to carry out some financial tasks such as invoicing and purchase.
  • Human Resource Management: the HR department use this platform to track skills of employees.
  • Sales and marketing: With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, it is now simple to track sales and marketing.
  • The cost estimation of getting a genuine Microsoft Dynamics NAV is extremely high. It would be better if they would reduce the total cost of subscription.
  • Some templates available are outdated, hence this platform is less competitive on the market.
Lukas Sundahl, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV allows a copy and paste feature from Excel. This allows quicker input of data.
  • Dynamics NAV connects to Microsoft OneNote which helps us organize pertinent information. Then, from within NAV we can access the documents/information saved in OneNote.
  • Dynamics NAV is very intuitive to use especially if you are familiar with using Excel, Word and even Access on a consistent basis.
  • Dynamics NAV allows easy customization of data organization and the columns that are displayed on various tabs within the program.
  • While Dynamics NAV has the copy paste feature it could have more options for importing data quickly (like the ones Microsoft Access has built in).
  • Dynamics NAV could have some of its menu items consolidated and accessible from within one screen versus going out to another place in NAV.
  • The dashboards within NAV could be improved and offer more detail.
Roberta Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a really great software to use if you need to create and track purchase orders for your organization. The software is very easy to use and works well with most operating systems. The software is also a useful tool for tracking your budget because you can create reports to see exactly where your money is being spent. It even allows you to break down expenditures by the type, ie: hardware, software, service contracts, etc.
  • One of the best things that I like about the software is that it will not allow you to process duplicate invoices or write duplicate checks. If you trying putting in an invoice number that has already been processed then it will notify you immediately. It basically repeats the same functionality when creating checks for the payment of invoices. If you've already posted a check for a specific invoice then it will ask you a series of questions to ensure you're not creating a duplicate and actually need to print an additional check.
  • Another function that I like about the software is that it's so easy to use. I never had to read a manual to learn how to operate the software or complete tasks. The software basically walks you step by step through each process and guides you along so there are few mistakes that you can make while using the software.
  • The version of software that we currently use isn't compatible with Windows 7, therefore we had to install it using the virtual computer under Windows XP. This created a few additional steps that the users had to go through in order to access the software which generated more calls to our IT Helpdesk.
  • We did research how much it would cost to upgrade the software so that we could get a version compatible with Windows 7, but the cost was way too expensive for our organization. Also, when we need to make updates or changes to the software, there are very few consultants who are familiar with the software so we are limited in who we can use for consulting services. Since we are limited in choosing consultants who can make updates and changes to the software the fees are usually really expensive for their services.
  • There is a .zup file that we constantly have to delete in order for the database to work properly and update. Users get a pop-up about once a week asking if they want to replace the .zup file and if the file is not deleted then the opening page for the software will not show up correctly and the database will not have the most up to date information.
Gene Fagelson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
  • All of the Dynamics ERP systems are fully integrated with the full family of their Office products (Word, Excel, etc.) but the true power behind Dynamics-NAV is that it comes with complete access to the source code. Although most ERP packages provide some type of a development environment, it is always a third-party software package and requires an additional expense. NAV comes with full source code access and devolvement tools out-of-the-box and requires no additional purchase. The user is able to modify pages, reports and even add additional fields to the standard tables. If your company has an internal development staff you have the ability to purchase the same full development license that the VAR has, allowing you to handle all system customizations and support in-house. The sum total of this high flexibility is that you are able to make NAV conform to your business rather than you conforming to the software.
  • In addition to the available source code, NAV provides the user with an unlimited ability to modify and build within the rich environment of C/AL code. In over 20 years of modifying the NAV product I have never had a client ask for a modification or custom functionality that I was not able to provide. Add to this the fact that NAV now includes many development points that allow the user to place their custom code inside of the system without impacting the base code. This makes the upgrade process quick and easy and avoids the common occurrence of being version locked.
  • The user interface of Dynamics NAV has been well thought out and provides a very easy to learn and use package. Master records (Customer, Vendor, Items, etc.) have been laid out in a standard format. Once you learn where fields are located on one record you have learned them all. The forms (called Pages in NAV) have a very similar structure and, by design, are uncluttered and easily customized by the user without impacting the base code. This allows each user to configure the Page to the way they work, easing the learning process and speeding up daily work and data entry.
  • The NAV environment has grown to be very feature rich in the functionality offered and provides the user with almost everything they need with the purchase of the base product. Advanced features can be added if required as can a large number of third party add-ons made exclusively for the NAV environment. Additionally, user licenses are sold as concurrent and not as named. Concurrent licenses control the number of users allowed into the system at any one time meaning that anyone can be provided with the ability to log into the system. This allows the company to setup an unlimited number of users with the ability to access the system at any given time. This allows the occasional user to share a license with other users who only need to access the system to enter a small amount of data or run a few reports. This functionality is a plus for the company with a large sales staff or outside workers who only need limited access to the system. Named licenses would require that you purchase an access license for every person who needs to access the system.
  • As with most ERP packages, the Jobs functionality within NAV is somewhat limited in functions. It has been primarily designed for large projects such as building a house or large piece of equipment where the process is set from the start and has little change. Small job shops where each project is custom find the package very restrictive and inflexible to use. The WIP calculation has been greatly improved with the last couple of releases but still does not allow the user to a great amount of flexibility or provide you with the ability to post in detail to the general ledger.
  • The item reservation process is very restrictive in the way it was written. NAV does allow you to reserve inventory against sales and projects but is very unforgiving if the need arises to change or release those goods. It is possible but requires that the user jump through multiple hoops to accomplish the task.
  • Security within NAV is very good but requires that you build custom user roles as the standard roles provided by the package do not lend themselves well to the normal company environment. The standard permission roles tend to either provide too much access or too little and are often hard to follow and understand. However, NAV has provided a new tool that makes the creation of custom roles quick and easy but still requires that they be created. Additionally, NAV still does not provide field-level security, only record level. It is possible to modify the code to control this or purchase an add-on but is not available out-of-the-box.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Data integrity is paramount and in 18+ years of using Dynamics NAV with both the original native database as well as SQL, we have never lost any data.
  • Dynamics NAV has all of the functionality that small to medium sized businesses need to operate in an efficient and effective manner.
  • The ability to customize Dynamics NAV allows it to be adapted to practically any environment.
  • Report generation has always been somewhat below what would be expected. We rely on third-party tools to produce our reports.
  • User documentation, although better than previous versions still needs a lot of improvement.
Joe Florio | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Financial Reporting.
  • Inventory Control.
  • Ease of order to cash process - Shipping.
  • Ease of purchase to pay process - Receiving.
  • They could use improvement on inter-company eliminations in the consolidations module.
  • They could use improvement with regard to scaling down the user security - it is complex and robust.
Brian Sanders | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV is highly customizable. Many ERP systems provide similar functionality, however, they can be difficult (or costly) to customize to meet your companies' specific needs.
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV has a relatively-low cost of entry, for its feature set. Other similar ERP systems, can cost substantially more.
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides a fully-integrated system, for running your business. With it, there is no need to have separate warehouse, EDI or accounting systems, for example. Everything is in one place and access to the information, can be restricted by user role.
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV allows you to easily "navigate" or "drill-down" into the underlying data, for things such as inventory or customer balance. There is no need to launch a separate window or form, to find related information,
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV has extensive filtering capabilities, which allows you to look at only the data you are interested in seeing.
  • There are not a lot of "out of the box" automation processes, for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Different versions of NAV, have had various job scheduling functionality. However, each process that is automated, must be confirmed that it will function correctly, in an automatic mode. In our installation, most of the automation processes have been custom-developed.
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV could have better documentation. Much of the documentation is original, from multiple versions ago. There is generally no step-by-step instructions, on performing various functions. Instead, most help is context-sensitive, obtained by pressing F1, on a particular field.
  • Older versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV had a built-in WYSIWYG report builder, which made designing reports fairly straight-forward. Later versions (2013 and forward) rely exclusively on Visual Studio and SQL Reporting Services, which require a greater technical level of expertise, to use.
James Yeates | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Its EDI function allows for an easy way to process orders. When there are several hundreds of orders, this is extremely efficient.
  • NAV can pull historical data.
  • NAV can be great when needed to know how certain customers handle their credit terms.
  • With multiple users, it gets slow, especially if working offline from a VPN.
  • One has to be very careful in making sure they do not hit a wrong button by mistake. Not enough safeguards.
  • NAV should be able to limit access to certain licensees so that information can not be improperly used.
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