Migrate from Aptean SouthWare to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

SouthWare Customer master records (named file) map directly to Dynamics 365 Business Central Customer or Finance and Operations Customer. We map address fields, contact information, payment terms, and credit limit to their destination equivalents. The SouthWare customer code becomes the destination Customer Number; we use it as the dedupe key during import. If the destination system uses a different number format, we either pad or hash the SouthWare code and store the original in a reference field.

SouthWare Vendor records map to Dynamics 365 Vendor. Address, 1099 settings, and accounts payable terms migrate 1:1. SouthWare's vendor-to-item cross-reference relationships (preferred vendors per item) migrate as Vendor Inventory Setup records in Business Central or as Trade Agreements in Finance and Supply Chain Management. Vendor number becomes Vendor Account Number in the destination with the original SouthWare vendor code preserved for reconciliation.

SouthWare Item records (description, cost, price, unit of measure, warehouse tracking) map to Dynamics 365 Item. Assembly kit structures and bill-of-materials items require decomposition during the transform step; we extract the kit components and line items separately, then write them as Business Central Production BOM and Assembly components or Finance and Supply Chain Management BOM lines. UOM conversions migrate as Unit of Measure Conversion records in the destination.

Outstanding AP invoices, credit memos, and payment applications from SouthWare migrate as open Purchase Ledger records in Business Central or as open Vendor Transactions in Finance. The document date, due date, amount, and currency code map directly. We separate posted from unposted AP records in the source; only posted records with a confirmed document date enter the destination as open items. Unposted records require a posting action in the destination and are flagged for the customer's AP team to handle post-migration.

Outstanding AR invoices, credit memos, and payment applications migrate as open Customer Ledger entries in Business Central or as open Customer Transactions in Finance. SouthWare's AR aging status maps to the destination's Due Date and remaining amount fields. We preserve the original invoice number as an external document number for audit trails and bank reconciliation reference.

SouthWare GL records include journal entries, account balances, and cashflow ledger entries. Pre-closed fiscal years migrate as read-only G/L Entry snapshots with the posting date locked and the user cannot modify. Current-year open periods migrate as regular G/L entries with the Account Number mapped to the destination's G/L Account numbering scheme. SouthWare's account structure (segment codes if used) maps to Dynamics 365 Business Central Dimensions or Finance's Financial Dimensions. Historical balances for locked years carry forward as opening balances in the next open fiscal year.

SouthWare order headers and lines migrate as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Order or Purchase Order records. Order status (entered, picking, picked, shipped, invoiced) maps to the destination's Document Status field. We separate posted versus unposted orders: shipped and invoiced SouthWare orders migrate as posted documents with the original document date and amount preserved; unposted orders migrate as open documents requiring the destination's posting workflow to complete. Line-level discount, markup, and tax information map to Sales Line and Purchase Line fields in the destination.

Warehouse tracking, quantity on hand, and bin locations migrate as Item Ledger Entries in Business Central or Inventory Transactions in Finance and Supply Chain Management. We map the inventory valuation date to the destination's Posting Date and preserve the cost at the time of migration as the current unit cost. SouthWare's Assembly Work Order and Equipment Rental Management inventory sub-types require separate object handling: assembly items decompose to BOM output entries, and equipment rental items map to Resource records with rental pricing.

Payroll history and compensation records (earnings, deductions, tax withheld, year-to-date figures) migrate as historical Payroll Data in Business Central's Payroll module (if licensed) or as manual journal entries in the General Ledger. FICA and tax data require careful tax-code mapping to the destination's tax jurisdiction setup. SouthWare payroll records include current-period and YTD figures; we write the YTD accumulators as opening balances on the destination's payroll records so that W-2 and quarter-end reporting is accurate from day one.

SouthWare Job Cost records track project-level profitability for project-service companies with phase-level tracking. Each SouthWare job file maps to a Dynamics 365 Job (Business Central) or Project entity (Finance and Operations Project Management). Job phases and cost categories migrate as Job Task lines and Job Planning Lines. We preserve phase-level revenue, cost, and margin data so that the destination's Job WIP reporting matches the source's profitability view on day one.

Fixed asset registers, depreciation schedules, and asset classifications migrate as Fixed Asset records in Dynamics 365. Accumulated depreciation and net book value migrate as Fixed Asset Ledger entries with the most recent depreciation run date as the posting date. Asset book configuration (tax book, GAAP book, depreciation method) maps to the destination's Depreciation Book linked to the Fixed Asset.

SouthWare service orders with dispatch scheduling, technician assignment, repair history, and warranty references map to Dynamics 365 Business Central Service Orders or, if the Field Service app is licensed, to Field Service Work Orders. Warranty references migrate as Warranty Agreement records linked to the service item. Repair history migrates as service item ledger entries with the item's service history preserved. Technician assignments map to Resources in the destination service module.

SouthWare user accounts and owner assignments are not normalized in export files. We extract users by login name and role, then reconcile against the destination Dynamics 365 User table matched by email alias or display name. Users without a matching Dynamics 365 account are placed in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record migration proceeds. Owner references on Customer, Vendor, Order, and Job records are resolved through the User mapping before the dependent record import phase.

SouthWare Field-Level Objects and custom Field Filters are created by Solution Partners and are not visible in standard data dictionaries. We run a full metadata discovery pass against the SouthWare database during the profiling sprint to identify all custom objects and their field schemas. Each discovered custom object is then mapped individually to a Dynamics 365 Business Central custom field (on the equivalent standard table) or a custom table extension (AL-based) in Finance and Operations. The destination must be in a Developer environment to receive custom table extensions; the admin configures standard custom fields in the Business Central web client for simpler cases.