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Business Central

ABILITY GmbH

How Companial’s Upgrade to Business Central Service Helped Save Time and Resources for the leading Microsoft Dynamics Partner

2023

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About ABILITY GmbH
ABILITY GmbH is one of the leading Microsoft Dynamics Partners dedicated to consulting, software development, and implementation of business solutions. The ABILITY ecosystem consists of ERP, document management systems, analytics/BI, and mobile solutions such as portals, dashboards, and apps. The offered solutions fit together through integrated interfaces allowing quick project starts, ongoing workflows, and a single point of truth by central data warehousing. ABILITY GmbH specializes in real estate, production, and wholesale industries with 50% of its customers focused on Microsoft Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central.

Sylvia Blank

PR and Marketing Manager, ABILITY GmbH

Challenge

One of ABILITY’s long-term customers is a dairy products producer that runs production on a 24/7 basis. The customer was using Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and had the whole ABILITY ecosystem set up:

  • Integration of DMS/ELO Digital Office
  • Analytics for data analysis
  • Interface to a food-production planning tool
  • EDI-Interface
  • Scanning technology for storing and commissioning

The customer solution was due an upgrade, but the customer found it difficult to stop the 24/7 processes and find an adequate slot to run the upgrade. In addition, without having an upgraded system, it was challenging to combine and look after all interfaces and specialties. ABILITY, on the other hand, had a lack of resources to help the customer in a timely and efficient manner.

“Lack of time and resources is a permanently existing challenge for us, therefore we are happy to find a partner like Companial to support us“, says Sylvia Blank, PR and Marketing Manager at ABILITY.

Major Steps in the Upgrade Process

ABILITY is a long-term Companial partner. They outsource technical NAV/Business Central services to Companial when the projects are piling up. To start this upgrade project, ABILITY analyzed the customer’s solution using the Companial Upgrade Analyzer. The Upgrade Analyzer is a free online analysis and estimate tool that helps Dynamics Partners consider various Business Central On-Premises and Online upgrade options and get a fixed price proposal. After the analysis, ABILITY chose to upgrade the customer’s Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 solution to Business Central On-Premises (version 14 in C/AL).

Once the upgrade agreement was signed, the Companial project managers got in touch with the Partner to collect the prerequisites, set up the project environment, and arrange the kick-off meeting to discuss the upgrade process and technical details.

The upgrade project scope included:

  • Object upgrade
  • Replacing two Add-ons with the new version
  • Data migration
  • Customizations upgrade to standard events
  • Live data migration

The code was upgraded using Companial’s in-house developed tools, which automated converting of data and objects, and helped speed up the upgrade process. After that, data migration of the test database was performed using standard Microsoft tools with integrated Add-on data migration tools. All the code customizations were moved to custom codeunits using standard events, and subscriber events were created in new codeunits, which were grouped by functional areas where possible. Three weeks prior to the live data migration, pre-live data migration was carried out, to mitigate any possible risks of the live data migration. The live migration was done during the weekend so as not to disrupt customer business processes.

The successful upgrade project execution and Go-Live were a result of the interconnectedness of two parties working hand in hand with each other.

“The Partner’s quick reaction and decision making allowed us to keep very smooth communication throughout the project, which led to a strong partnership that Companial will continue in the future, always ready to exceed the Partner’s expectations”, says Judita Nikaite, Project Manager at Companial.

Meeting Partner Expectations with Successful Project Results

ABILITY is happy with Companial’s upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central service. The Partner and the customer found the upgrade project price acceptable, the project was led by highly skilled project management professionals, and it was executed on time. 

“Special thanks to the project manager. The communication and transfer of information were exemplary. We regularly got reports on status and milestones. Also, the roadmap was on a high level and always kept on time,” says Jürgen Cilek, the ABILITY Project Manager.

With the Companial experts‘ help, ABILITY implemented the project twice as quickly as they could have if the Partner was working on their own.

“A clear yes in recommending Companial! We saved a lot of time and resources. That means we could deal with the project better and deliver it earlier. That makes the customer happy – and us, too, since we could start the next project earlier in the timeline.”

Jürgen Cilek Project Manager, Ability GmbH

Results

50%

Saved project team’s time

80%

Increased focus on core business

100%

Time management

High-Quality Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Upgrades with Companial

Companial has over 13 years of expertise in helping Microsoft Dynamics Partners successfully upgrade any Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central solution, no matter how complex. This experience allows us to solve any challenges that crop up on time and risk-free, while still providing upgrades at a lower cost. Using automation tools to optimize performance (such as the Upgrade Analyzer and C/AL to Extension Analyzer), Companial saves 70% of the time that’s typically utilized during the upgrade process. We provide a free upgrade project assessment, a fixed price proposal, and a free upgrade project warranty for up to 3 months, helping Microsoft Dynamics Partners to deliver the best possible service to their customers.

Request an upgrade service today for a FREE upgrade analysis or contact us at service@companial.com if you have any questions.

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