Is your team working with a Legacy NAV or GP ERP solution and considering upgrading to the cloud with Dynamics 365 Business Central? Whether your business is looking to take advantage of the native cloud-based infrastructure, the responsive web-based interface, or any of the wide-ranging benefits offered by the integrated Power Platform, there are plenty of good reasons to make the move. If you’re considering an upgrade, you’re probably aware of most of the benefits, but one of the most common reasons we hear from businesses that are hesitating is the potential difficulty of accessing historical data. Now, thanks to our expert team of consultants and the power of our partner software, Jet Analytics, your team can access the historical data you need without the headaches of a costly data migration.
The Difficulty with Data Migrations
In the past, if your business wanted reporting on historical data stored in your legacy solution, it would require a migration of that data into your new Business Central solution. Depending on the complexity of your legacy solution, this process could be difficult, time-consuming, and costly. For many businesses, this forced some hard questions about how important the inclusion of historical data was to their new Business Central reports and how far back they really needed that data to go. Generally, certain trade-offs would need to be made.
What Is Jet Analytics?
Jet Analytics is part of the trusted network of software partners we work with to help extend the functionality of Dynamics 365 to meet our customer’s specific needs. It is an advanced financial and business reporting solution designed specifically to work with D365. Jet has been built to maximize end-user reporting productivity by providing easy to use tools for building reports and dashboards with user-friendly drag and drop no-code interfaces. While Business Central offers a wide array of powerful reporting features, it lacks the easy-to-use self-service versatility of Jet Analytics, which many of our customers are looking for.
On top of the more user-friendly interface, Jet can run reports much faster than Business Central and utilize multiple data sources. This is because Jet Analytics uses its own cloud-based data warehouse, which allows customers to store their historical legacy ERP data along with new Business Central data on managed servers and easily run consolidated reports across both data sources.
Live Data Versus Fast Data
Now, you may be asking yourself, “if Jet Analytics stores data on its own servers, will I still be able to use ‘live’ data in my reporting?” It’s a fair question, but we’ve found, for most of our clients, there is a more relevant questions at hand — “do I need live reporting, or do I need fast reporting?” In our experience, most businesses that think they need live data, actually need fast data and if you’re looking for fast data, Jet Analytics is the solution for you.
While the data used in Jet Analytics reporting isn’t’ technically ‘live’, data syncs can be configured to run as frequently as every 5 minutes. On top of that, Jet Analytics reports can run significantly faster than Dynamics 365 reports, generally making up the potential five-minute time span between syncs. Because of this, ‘live data’ reports generated by Business Central can actually end up providing older data than a similar report run by Jet.
The reason for this lies in how the two platforms are built. While Dynamics 365 is built as a data-in solution, Jet Analytics is built as a data-out solution. Essentially, the internal architecture that makes Business Central so user-friendly and efficient for entering and updating your data also makes it less efficient at extracting that data for reports. Jet Analytics, on the other hand, is built specifically to extract data for analysis in the most efficient way possible, making it’s reporting much faster and more flexible for end-users.
Is an Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central Right for You?
In short, if your business needs the benefits that come with upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central but is hesitating out of fear of losing access to your historical data reporting, a Jet Analytics reporting solution can likely put your worries to rest. Of course, every business has their own unique set of needs. Having upgraded many legacy solutions to the Dynamics 365 cloud over the years, our team has learned first-hand the impact a proper understanding of solution requirements has on the success of the evaluation process and we’re here to help. Our client Success Framework has been designed specifically to help mid-sized business make the right decisions about their ERP implementation and set them up for long-term success. If your business is considering making the upgrade from GP or NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central, get in touch today to set up a consultation to review your requirements.
