The company's old system will probably have a very different data structure. A conversion process must be done in the meantime. In this chapter we'll explain a few tips to convert data to meet Dynamics NAV's needs.
In most of the Dynamics NAV tables, the primary key uses a code field type. For example, all master and document tables do. 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 number. But Dynamics NAV does not act this way. A code is always sorted by character, even if it only contains numbers. This may confuse the user, so using fixed-length number codes is recommended. Let's see 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 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 use a system that used 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 master data the best.
You also need to know what 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; 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 those 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.