The business in the world changes every day, and according to that every business needs to adapt as well. Nowadays, there is no way to support the business changes without flexible and adaptive IT system.
If ten years ago you can use just some excel table or “homemade software” designed by small developers’ group, now all companies are standing in front of changes. The business digitalization is not just some modern word from a magazine or YouTube, it’s real – and it’s here. This reality means that only industrial solutions based on modern ERP system can cover all business needs not only today, but during the years to come. So, if we are thinking about this choice, we should understand why so many ERP solutions exist in the market today – especially when choosing the right ERP for your business can be such an overwhelming task.
As Microsoft partner we have a strong experience with both major ERP solutions from the worldwide software leader – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics Finance& Operation/Supply chain. Sometimes our potential customers ask us – “What is difference between Microsoft Dynamics D365FO and D365BC and how to make the right decision ?"
We can help you to make the right decision in your choice between Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, or Dynamics 365 Supply Chain. We don’t need to dive deep into the history for now, but we should mention that both systems have a very long story and has absorbed the best world practice.
Both solutions can be run on-premises or on the cloud as well, moreover you can use it as a service, without buying license - just pay by consumption as for any other cloud software.
The main criteria for comparison could be the functionality.
Let’s see the table below:
Spotlight On: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Finance & Operations/Supply Chain Management
| Factors for comparison |
Business Central |
Finance and Operations/Supply chain |
| Deployment Types |
'Essentials License' =Finance and Distribution
'Premium License' = Manufacturing Company |
Finance and Operations modules in one suite; separate licensing for Finance vs Operations (Including supply chain) |
| Inventory |
1-5. Basic Inventory Management. Locations - Bins |
5. Improved Inventory Management Site - Warehouse - Location |
| Prod. BOMS |
1 per Item |
BOM by Site, Warehouse, QTY, etc |
| Multi-Country Ops. |
Consolidation and Intercompany |
Sophisticated inter-company and cross-company inventory visibility |
| Variants |
Very Simple |
Costing by variant |
| QA |
Not included, requires ISV |
Included |
| WMS |
Basic WMS, no support for handhelds included, handheld scanning requires ISV |
Enterprise level WMS with handheld scanning functionality included |
| Manufacturing Methods |
Discrete only
Support for Processes Manufacturing via ISVs |
Buit in support for Discrete vs. Process Manufacturing |
| Configuration Management |
Not included
Requires ISV or 3rd party solution |
Product Configuration included |
| Commissions and Trade Management |
Basic Commissions, no Trade Management Typically covered via ISV |
Complex Comissoons and Trade Management included |
As you can see Microsoft Dynamics Business Central (D365BC) generally has less functionalities than Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365FO) and therefore can be suggested to small or mid-size companies.
But the main advantages are that Microsoft Dynamics Business Central can be deployed faster and with less cost associated to it, especially if you find the right vertical solution fitted for your needs.
On another hand you can spend more time for modifications and implementation ISV solution in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central instead of deploying “out of the box” ready-to-use functionality in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.
For reference, please check the table below:
Compare and Contrast: Business Central and F&O
| Feature |
Business Central |
F&O |
| Advanced Picking Strategies |
|
|
| Advanced Warehouse Management |
|
|
| Asset Management (Schedule Maintenance ) |
|
|
| Credit Management (Advanced Rules) |
|
|
| Direct Delivery Support |
|
|
| Fleet Management |
|
|
| Freight Reconciliation |
|
|
| Integration with Power BI |
|
|
| Inter-Company Commerce |
|
|
| Inventory Management |
|
|
| Label Printing (ZPL) |
|
|
| Management Report (Financial Reporting) |
|
|
| Mobile Device Support |
|
|
| Multi-company support |
|
|
| Product Management |
|
|
| Product Variants (Configurator, Color, Size) |
|
|
| Production (Discrete and Process Manufacturing) |
|
|
| Purchase orders |
|
|
| Quality Management |
|
|
| Request for Quotation (RFQ) |
|
|
| Sales Orders |
|
|
| Sales Quotations |
|
|
| Security administration |
|
|
| Shared Chart of Accounts |
|
|
| Support of Multiple Inventory Costing Methods (STD, LIFO, FIFO, Wght Avg, Mov.Avg) |
|
|
| Transportation Management |
|
|
| Unlimited Financial Dimensions |
|
|
| Vendor Collaboration |
|
|
| Workflow Framework |
|
|
In both cases you have the modern software which is often updated by Microsoft and partners, and thanks to SaaS model, every time it happens you are at the edge of technology with no input required on your side. In case of acquiring D365FO – don’t forget that you will have deep integration with another Microsoft Software solution – in nearest future D365FO might become a part of Office.
Finally, we should discuss the very important thing – the cost and time to go live. As we mentioned above, D365BC can be set up faster that D365FO, so this directly connected to the project costs and timeline.
But in case of a huge international installation with entities from different parts of the world or high transaction load with big database and concurrent users, the implementation of D365FO looks like more convenient decision.
We will share with you some average figures that can help you make the right decision:
Spotlight On: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Finance and Operations/Supply Chain Management
| Factors for comparison |
Business Central |
Finance and Operations/Supply Chain |
| Company Size |
Small to Mid |
Mid to Enterprise |
| Employees |
25 — 500 |
100 — 2,000+ |
| Minimum number of users |
10 |
20 |
| Industry |
Distribution/Trade, Manufacturing, Professional Services |
Distribution, Finance, Manufacturing, retail, Professional Services, Public Sector |
| Implementation Cost |
$15K — $700K |
$100K — $1M+ |
| Deployment Timeframe |
30 — 270 days |
180 — 365 days |
| Multi-language Support |
Yes, 80+ |
Yes, 30+ |
| Scalability |
Fit to business that process 1,000+ transactions |
Fit to business that process 100,000+ transactions |
| Integration with other Dynamics 365 Components |
Connects financials, sales, purchase, inventory, projects, service and operations |
Designed to work out-of-the-box with other Dynamics 365 components |
| Types of Licenses |
Subscription model — Team Member, Essential, Premium, and Device Licenses |
Subscription model — User Licenses, Device Licenses |
Every time when you think of ERP you should think wider.
First, no single system cannot be chosen ,,once for the lifetime’’. The second – no single ERP can cover whole company needs out of the box without any additional integration, customization and so on - check the system flexibility, adaptive possibility, and cost for the future support. The cost is very important thing of course, but try to calculate whole lifecycle investment for your system, not only the license cost.
We are ready to support you during your journey towards Microsoft Business Solutions at any time. Just contact us!
Chief of Marketing : Feb 23, 2023 8:57:44 AM
Product Owner : May 20, 2022 5:48:06 AM