The company's legacy system will probably have a very different data structure. However, in the meantime, a conversion process must be done. In this section, we'll explain a few tips to convert data to meet Dynamics NAV's needs.
In most of the Dynamics NAV tables (including all master and document tables), the primary key uses a code field type. The code field type is alphanumeric and is stored in the database in uppercase characters. You can write either numbers or characters in a Code field. If a code contains only numbers, people expect the data to be ordered by a number. But Dynamics NAV does not act this way. A code is always sorted by a character, even if it only contains numbers. This may confuse the user, so using fixed-length number codes is recommended. Let's look at this with an example:
|
Number Sort |
Dynamics NAV Sort |
Fixed length Sort |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
1 |
01 |
|
2 |
10 |
02 |
|
3 |
2 |
03 |
|
10 |
3 |
10 |
As you can see, if you use fixed length codes, the way these codes are sorted in Dynamics NAV is the same as the number sort. Therefore, we recommend that you identify those codes in the old system data and convert them before importing the data into Dynamics NAV.
In Dynamics NAV, posting groups are used in the master tables (customers, vendors, items, banks, fixed assets, and other such master tables) to identify which accounts must be used while posting entries related to them. This information may not be available in the old system or may need to be transformed. For instance, the company could be using a system that uses one single account for each customer. In Dynamics NAV, just a few accounts are necessary, so you may have to figure out which posting group fits all the master data the best.
You also need to know which fields are mandatory for each master table in order to use its registers. For instance, a customer needs to have the Customer Posting Group field filled, in order to create a new order; also, items need the Base Unit of Measure field. You may not find this information in the old system, but you need to define how to fill these fields during the migration process.
In general, find all Dynamics NAV required fields and also the fields required by the company's business logic, determine how they are going to be filled, and fill them during the migration process.