# Business Central Go-Live Readiness Checklist > Source: https://netray.co/tools/business-central-go-live-readiness-checklist > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Free Tools ## Short answer A cutover checklist for Business Central implementations covering opening balances, setup, security, integrations, training and fallback. ## Category microsoft-dynamics ## Erp Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ## Audience - BC project manager - BC partner consultant - Finance controller ## Tool **Kind:** checklist **Groups:** #### Data and opening balances **Items:** **Text:** Customers, vendors, items and chart of accounts loaded and spot-checked against the legacy system **Critical:** true **Text:** Opening G/L balances posted through a general journal and reconciled to the trial balance **Critical:** true **Text:** Open customer and vendor invoices loaded with original dates and reconcile to control accounts **Critical:** true Inventory quantities and values loaded through item journals and reconciled to the stock valuation Open sales and purchase orders loaded or reentered with agreed cutoff rule Production BOMs and routings certified and linked to items Bank account balances and last statement reconciled Duplicate and obsolete master data removed before the final load #### Setup and posting **Items:** **Text:** General Ledger Setup, number series and fiscal year with accounting periods confirmed **Critical:** true **Text:** General, VAT and inventory posting setup tested for each item and customer type **Critical:** true Dimensions and default dimension rules agreed with finance and tested Payment terms, payment methods and currencies with exchange rates loaded Item templates, costing methods and reordering policies set per item category Reporting layouts, document layouts and email templates approved Job queue entries for cost adjustment and posting batches scheduled Companies, user setup and posting date restrictions configured #### Security and users **Items:** **Text:** Permission sets assigned per role and tested with a representative user for each role **Critical:** true Segregation of duties reviewed for posting, payments and master data SUPER permission restricted to a small named group Licensing assigned correctly to each user in Microsoft 365 admin center Multi-factor authentication and conditional access confirmed for admins Test and sandbox environments separated from production #### Integrations and reporting **Items:** **Text:** Every integration tested end to end with production-like data and error handling checked **Critical:** true API or web service credentials stored securely and expiry dates documented Power BI or Excel reports validated against standard Business Central reports Bank file formats and EDI or e-commerce feeds tested Monitoring and alerts for failed job queue entries configured #### Cutover and support **Items:** **Text:** User acceptance test signed off with open defects triaged **Critical:** true **Text:** Cutover plan with owners, times and checkpoints rehearsed at least once **Critical:** true Fallback decision point and rollback steps written down Key users trained and quick reference guides distributed Legacy system set read-only on the cutover date Hypercare support roster and issue log in place for the first closing period Sandbox refreshed for post go-live testing of changes **Scoring Note:** Do not go live with any critical item unchecked. Non-critical items can be planned as post go-live tasks with a named owner and date. ## Content **Intro:** Go-live is when small gaps in data, posting setup or security become real problems. This checklist covers the areas that most often cause delays or reconciliation pain in a Business Central implementation. **Sections:** #### How to use the checklist **Body:** Work through each group with the owner of that area: finance for balances and posting, operations for items and BOMs, IT for security and integrations. Tick an item only when there is evidence, such as a reconciliation, a test result or a sign-off. Critical items are those where a gap has financial or compliance consequences, so treat them as blockers. Export the result to share it with the steering group. #### Opening balances done safely **Body:** Opening balances are normally posted with journals dated at the cutover, then reconciled to the legacy trial balance. Customer and vendor balances should be loaded as open entries so they can be applied later. Inventory should be loaded by quantity and value so the inventory account agrees with the G/L. Reconcile each subledger to its control account before release, and keep the reconciliation file as audit evidence. **Bullets:** - Pick a cutover date at a period boundary - Reconcile subledger to G/L in the same session - Keep a dated copy of the legacy trial balance #### Security and posting setup **Body:** Most post go-live incidents are caused by missing permissions or incomplete posting groups. Test every role with a real user, not an administrator. Create one item, customer and vendor per posting combination and run a full transaction through to the ledger. Confirm that dimensions flow as expected and that period restrictions prevent posting into closed periods. #### Common mistakes **Body:** Teams often leave integration testing too late and discover mapping gaps in the final week. Another common mistake is not rehearsing the cutover, so the real run takes twice as long as planned. Skipping a rollback decision point is the third. Finally, avoid loading dirty master data on the assumption it will be cleaned later, because cleanup after posting is slow. **Cta:** If you want an independent check of data quality before loading, we can profile your legacy data on-premises and list duplicates and gaps for your team to resolve. **Faq:** #### How long before go-live should we start this checklist? **Answer:** Start about eight to twelve weeks before cutover for most small and mid-size projects, and review it weekly. The data and security groups need the longest lead time, so they should be started first. #### Which items are truly blockers? **Answer:** Those marked critical: reconciled opening balances, tested posting setup, role-based permissions, working integrations, signed-off user acceptance testing and a rehearsed cutover. Any of these missing risks wrong financials or a stalled business on day one. #### Should we run old and new systems in parallel? **Answer:** Full parallel running doubles the workload and is rarely needed. A common approach is a short parallel check for one cycle of key reports, then set the legacy system read-only and keep it for reference. #### Does this apply to NAV to Business Central upgrades? **Answer:** Mostly yes. Upgrades add technical steps such as converting extensions and data, but security, posting setup, integrations and user acceptance still need the same discipline before users return to the system. ## Search terms business central go live checklist, dynamics 365 business central implementation checklist, business central cutover plan, business central opening balances, business central user acceptance test checklist, erp go live readiness, business central data migration checklist --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json