Migrate from Embrace ERP to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Embrace ERP stores account codes, descriptions, and hierarchical structure in a standard relational COA table. We extract the full account tree including the parent-child hierarchy and map it to the Dynamics 365 G/L Account structure, preserving account numbers, account type (posting type), and the dimension values (Cost Centre, Department, Division) that Drive allocation. The G/L Account must be imported and validated before any transaction or master-data import because all journal lines reference an account number as a foreign key. We flag any accounts that map to a suspended or blocked status in Dynamics 365 for customer review before posting begins.

Embrace Customer records include billing address, contact details, tax registration number (SARS VAT number), payment terms, and credit limit. We map these to Dynamics 365 Customer with the address and contact data split into the Customer Address and Contact Info records per the Dynamics 365 postal-address model. The SARS VAT registration number maps to the Tax Identification Number field on Customer, and the VAT Business Posting Group maps based on the customer type (standard rated, zero rated, exempt). Payment terms migrate as a Payment Term reference, with the Days Due Calculation preserved for Aging schedules.

Embrace Vendor records mirror the customer structure with supplier-specific fields including banking details for payment configuration. We extract the full vendor list including the bank account name, account number, bank code, and SWIFT/BIC where present, and map them to Dynamics 365 Vendor with payment address, contact info, and Remittance Advice fields populated. The SARS VAT vendor status maps to the applicable Tax Business Posting Group in Dynamics 365.

Embrace inventory items include stock codes, costing methods (standard, average, FIFO), warehouse locations, reorder parameters, and unit of measure. We map these to Dynamics 365 Item with the costing method preserved on the Item Card, along with the inventory posting group for the general ledger interface. If the item uses batch tracking or serial number management in Embrace, we configure the corresponding lot size and tracking dimensions in Dynamics 365 Item tracking policy.

Embrace BOM records represent the manufacturing recipe structure with component items, quantities per assembly, routing steps, and work centre assignments. Business Central supports assembly lists (non-work-order production) and Manufacturing BOMs (discrete production orders). We discover the BOM nesting depth during scoping and split multi-level BOMs into parent and child records in Dynamics 365, setting the BoM Type to either Assembly or Production based on the customer's manufacturing execution model. Any BOM lines that reference items not yet imported are held in a component resolution queue until the full item set lands.

Outstanding vendor invoices and credit notes from Embrace's AP register must be reconciled at migration cutover. We extract open items with full aging detail (invoice number, invoice date, due date, gross amount, tax amount, remaining amount, and discount taken) and load them as open Vendor Ledger Entries in Dynamics 365. The open item flag and remaining amount are critical for the customer's vendor payable aging report to reflect the correct starting position at go-live. We flag any invoices with partial payments that require manual reconciliation before the cutover date.

Outstanding customer invoices and credit notes from Embrace's AR register migrate as open Customer Ledger Entries in Dynamics 365 with the same aging detail fields. We preserve the original invoice number, document date, due date, sales person assignment, and dimension values (cost centre, department) so that the customer can run an accurate AR aging report at go-live without reconstructing the aging buckets manually.

Historical posted journals migrate as General Journal Lines with the G/L Account, debit/credit amount, dimension values, and posting date preserved. We scope the required fiscal-year depth with the customer during scoping (typically two to five years of history for audit compliance). Any journal lines that reference a G/L Account not present in the Dynamics 365 chart of accounts are flagged for account creation before the transaction import batch resumes. Report-specific calculations embedded in Embrace report layouts do not carry forward because they are not data-layer constructs.

Embrace ERP ships with SARS-compliant tax codes and rate tables covering standard-rate VAT (15%), zero-rate VAT, exempt supplies, and withholding tax configurations. We extract all active tax codes with their effective rates and map them to the Dynamics 365 Tax Setup including Tax Group codes, Tax Business Posting Groups, and the Tax Posting Setup that links Tax Groups to G/L Accounts. South African VAT reverse-charge scenarios (import of services) are configured as separate Tax Posting Setup lines. Tax codes with rates effective after the migration date are pre-populated for the customer's tax team to activate.

Embrace supports user-defined fields on master and transaction records, but the set of custom fields varies between installations. We discover the complete custom-field schema during the migration scoping phase by querying the Embrace database metadata for fields not present in the base schema. Each custom field is then pre-created in Dynamics 365 with the equivalent data type (text, decimal, integer, date, boolean, or option set), added to the appropriate Page Layout, and mapped in the migration transform scripts. Any custom fields with unsupported data types or picklist values not documented in the base schema are flagged for manual review before final import.

Embrace report layouts frequently contain client-specific calculations, groupings, branding, and footer text that exist only within the report definition file and are not stored as data-layer records. We capture all named custom report layouts during scoping, document the report name, purpose, key calculations, and the business logic they encode, and deliver this as a written report rebuild inventory. The base transaction and master data migrate normally; the report logic must be rebuilt by the customer's Dynamics 365 functional consultant or a reporting partner post-migration.

Embrace user accounts, passwords, and role-based permissions must be mapped to the Dynamics 365 security model. We extract the user list with their assigned permission scopes and map them to Dynamics 365 User records (provisioned manually by the customer's tenant admin) and Security Roles selected from the built-in role library or from custom roles the customer defines. Any Embrace permission sets that do not have a direct Dynamics 365 Security Role equivalent are documented as a gap list for the customer's security admin to configure manually post-migration.

Documents linked to transactions or master records are stored in the Embrace document management layer. We extract files reachable via the file export path (typically stored as PDFs, Word documents, or images on the Embrace file share) and attach them to the corresponding record in Dynamics 365 via the Document Handling facility or SharePoint integration if the customer's Dynamics 365 is configured with OneDrive or SharePoint document management. Documents that cannot be reached via the export path require manual retrieval and are flagged as a manual handoff item in the cutover documentation.