Planning your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Upgrades

Posted 9th June 2023

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides businesses with a powerful yet cost-effective comprehensive connected solution that can be tailored for day-to-day tasks and support process automation.

Unlike other ERP solutions, Dynamics 365 Business Central comes with comprehensive capabilities and additional potential for integration, which can support enhancements, customisation and add-on software, known as extensions, to meet industry or other specific needs. In addition, the solution is updated by Microsoft to help you remain secure as your business evolves.

Microsoft currently releases minor version updates every month, and major version releases every six months. Your upgrade path to making the most of the latest Microsoft updates depends on whether you are running Business Central in the cloud or on-premise.

Upgrading Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud

If your Business Central environment is running in the cloud, Microsoft will automatically upgrade your environment with cumulative updates on a monthly basis, and new releases twice per year.

Next steps we’d recommend you consider/plan:

Managing Per Tenant Extensions (PTEs)
Review breaking changes that may be being introduced by Microsoft in the near future.
Use the Dynamics 365 release planner which announces the latest updates to customers of the features prepared for release.
At the earliest opportunity, create a new sandbox environment with the latest release, or preview version of the next release so you can test your PTEs.

Upgrading Dynamics 365 Business Central On-premise

If you are running your Business Central on-premise, new releases must be manually installed on your servers to ensure you are getting the latest functionality and technology.

Next steps we’d recommend you consider/plan:

Create an upgrade plan.
Decide how often you want to update – monthly cumulative update, each major release, or every two years.
Review any new hardware & software requirements to understand if the new version of Business Central will operate correctly in your environment.
Plan for any downtime required to perform the update.
See the Dynamics 365 release planner which announces the latest updates to customers of the features prepared for release.

Let the experts help

Cloud or On-Prem, we can help you create an upgrade plan to ensure your business is always running on the latest version of the application without breaking changes.

We can build an upgrade plan that works for you. Our upgrade processes are streamlined to help you implement the latest versions of the Business Central, making the process easier and more efficient!

About Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides technology for business to thrive in the future, with the scalable functionality you need to manage business processes.

Whether you are an existing client or are looking for a new partner to help you with your upgrade process, with over 200 years of combined experience in upgrades, we’re the Business Central partner for you.

Useful links

Dynamics 365 Business Central road map

Supported upgrade paths to Dynamics 365 Business Central releases

On-premise upgrade overview

Single tenant full upgrade checklist

Speak to our Dynamics 365 Business Central Experts

Get in touch