DYNAMICS GP MIGRATION CHECKLIST

    Microsoft Dynamics GP Migration Checklist — 60+ Items Across 7 Workstreams

    Complete dynamics gp migration checklist. Per-company DB audit, Dexterity / VBA / Modifier inventory, ISV add-on triage with contract end dates, partner cooperation tracking, audit evidence template signoff, Modern Lifecycle (September 2025 / April 2031) status. Owner per item, due date per item, evidence link per item.

    60+ items
    Across 7 workstreams
    Owner per item
    Accountability built in
    Evidence link
    Per item
    12–18 weeks
    Worked end-to-end

    Why a real dynamics gp migration checklist beats a generic ERP checklist

    Generic ERP migration checklists miss the GP-specific items that turn into 6-week project delays. A real dynamics gp migration checklist starts with GP's structural quirks and works forward.

    Generic ERP migration checklists give you 'extract data, transform data, load data, reconcile data, cut over' and call it a checklist. That covers maybe 30% of what a real Great Plains migration needs. The other 70% sits in items generic checklists don't have: per-company DB audit because GP has one DB per company, Dexterity inventory because the proprietary scripting language drives critical posting logic, ISV add-on triage with per-vendor contract end dates because the Mekorma/Greenshades/Integrity Data ecosystem each has its own decommission timeline, Microsoft Modern Lifecycle positioning because the September 2025 / April 2031 window frames everything.

    Syntra ETL's dynamics gp migration checklist is 60+ items across 7 workstreams (discovery, design, build, validate, cut over, post-go-live, decommission). Every item has an owner from a specific role (finance lead, AP lead, AR lead, ops lead, IT lead, audit lead, partner lead, ISV lead), a due date in the project timeline, and an evidence link pointing to the artefact that proves completion. The dynamics gp migration checklist is a tracker with daily standup-style status, not a slide deck that gets produced once and filed.

    Critically, the checklist is populated for 80% of its discovery items automatically by Syntra ETL's discovery engine in the first 3 weeks of the project. That replaces the 8–12 weeks consultant-led projects spend hand-cataloguing GP customisations, ISV schemas and SmartList queries. Project momentum follows from having the checklist 80% populated by week 3.

    The seven workstreams of the dynamics gp migration checklist

    1
    Discovery & inventory
    Per-company DB audit, Dexterity / VBA / Modifier catalog, SmartList Builder inventory, ISV schema fingerprint, partner relationship map.
    2
    Design & signoff
    Per-company COA crosswalk, vendor / customer de-dup, item rationalisation, Dexterity classification, SmartList rebuild, ISV decommission sequence.
    3
    Build & unit test
    Extract / transform / FBDI load pipeline per company, top-30 SmartList rebuild in OTBI / BI Publisher, ISV-equivalent Fusion configuration.
    4
    Validate & parallel run
    Daily reconciliation packs, variance investigation, change management Fusion familiarisation, cutover dress rehearsal × 2.
    5
    Cut over
    Quiesce → final delta → FBDI load → reconciliation → signoff. Per-company sequencing for phased cutovers, runbook with owner per step.
    6
    Post-go-live & hypercare
    2 weeks hypercare, daily anomaly triage, day-1 closing-balance reconciliation, hypercare exit criteria.
    7
    Decommission
    GP read-only archive (90–180 days), long-term cloud archive migration, ISV contracts lapsed per plan, infrastructure cost savings realised.

    The high-leverage items on the dynamics gp migration checklist

    Six items that consultant-led GP-to-Fusion projects underestimate — and that the checklist makes structurally hard to skip.

    🏢

    Per-company DB audit

    Every active company DB enumerated from DYNAMICS, fiscal year start/end captured, account framework documented (segment count / width / order), live account combinations per fiscal year inventoried. Foundation for every downstream design decision.

    🔧

    Dexterity / VBA / Modifier catalog

    Every .dic dictionary, every Modifier-altered window, every VBA project event handler and module, classified by business purpose with Fusion-equivalent recommendation. Retire-or-port decision per customisation with signoff owner.

    📊

    SmartList Builder inventory

    Every active SmartList Builder query catalogued with last-run date, run-frequency and business owner. Top-30 / top-100 / full catalog rebuild plan with OTBI / BI Publisher / Smart View targets.

    🧩

    ISV add-on triage

    Each ISV with vendor, version, contract end date, data footprint, functional purpose, Fusion-equivalent target, decommission date plan, data preservation strategy. Mekorma, Greenshades, Integrity Data, Rockton, Encore — each treated as a distinct decommission workstream.

    🤝

    Partner contract review

    Every active GP partner relationship with contract status, support SLA, credential issuance status, customisation source-code ownership and handover status. Written notification of migration timeline to every partner.

    📅

    Modern Lifecycle position

    Current GP version, current support status, last patch applied, customer's stated cutover target date and its position on the September 2025 / April 2031 window. Contingency plan if cutover slips.

    The dynamics gp migration checklist applied across the timeline

    Which items land in which week. Owner per item, due date per item, evidence link per item.

    1

    Week 1–3: Discovery items (20) — Inventory phase

    Per-company DB audit, Dexterity / VBA inventory, SmartList Builder catalog, ISV schema fingerprint, partner relationship map, Modern Lifecycle status, current support / patch level. 80% populated automatically by discovery engine.

    2

    Week 3–6: Design items (15) — Design phase

    Per-company COA crosswalk signoff, vendor / customer de-dup signoff, item rationalisation signoff, Dexterity / SmartList target plan signoff, ISV decommission sequence signoff, audit evidence pack template signoff.

    3

    Week 6–10: Build items (10) — Build phase

    Extract / transform / FBDI load pipeline per company built and unit-tested, top-30 SmartList rebuilt in OTBI / BI Publisher, ISV-equivalent Fusion configuration built, partner cooperation agreements executed.

    4

    Week 10–13: Validation items (8) — Validation phase

    Parallel-run reconciliation per period passed, change management Fusion familiarisation delivered, cutover dress rehearsal × 1 completed, rollback drill completed, hypercare team confirmed.

    5

    Week 13–16: Cutover items (7) — Cutover phase

    Dress rehearsal × 2 completed, ISV decommission notifications sent, Fusion enterprise structure frozen, cutover weekend executed per runbook, signed evidence pack issued Monday morning.

    6

    Week 16–18: Decommission items (5) — Post-go-live phase

    Hypercare exit criteria met, GP databases to read-only archive mode, ISV contracts on schedule to lapse, long-term cloud archive migration scheduled, infrastructure cost savings tracked from day 1.

    The dynamics gp migration checklist items consultant-led projects miss

    Six items that frequently get omitted from generic ERP migration checklists — and that the Syntra ETL platform treats as first-class.

    📝

    Per-ISV contract end date capture

    Mekorma, Greenshades, Integrity Data each have annual contracts. Without explicit capture, contracts auto-renew past cutover and orphaned costs persist 12+ months.

    📜

    Customisation source-code handover

    Dexterity .dic dictionaries and VBA projects often live on partner workstations rather than customer systems. Source-code handover needs to happen before partner relationship ends.

    🗝️

    Credential issuance log

    Read-only SQL credentials, eConnect access, Web Services for GP credentials — issued, scoped, tracked, revoked. Frequently happens informally and creates security debt.

    📋

    Audit evidence pack signoff in week 6

    Litigating evidence pack format post-cutover is the worst possible time. Internal audit signoff in week 6 prevents the post-cutover rebuild conversation.

    🔁

    Rollback drill completion

    Tier 1 rollback (GP back to read-write during cutover weekend) must be rehearsed, not invented in panic time. Drill captured on the checklist with evidence link.

    💰

    Infrastructure cost savings tracking

    SQL Server licence cost, application server cost, ISV contract cost — each tracked from day-1-post-cutover so finance sees the cost-avoidance story landing in real time.

    Frequently asked questions

    What does a complete dynamics gp migration checklist actually look like?+

    A complete dynamics gp migration checklist has 60+ items spanning seven workstreams. Discovery and inventory: enumerate every active company DB from DYNAMICS, catalogue Dexterity dictionaries, fingerprint ISV schemas, inventory SmartList Builder queries, document partner relationships, capture current GP version and support status, classify customer's position on Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle clock (September 2025 mainstream-end, April 2031 extended-end). Design: per-company COA crosswalk, vendor / customer de-dup rules, item rationalisation, Dexterity classification, SmartList rebuild plan, ISV decommission sequence. Build, test, validate, cut over and post-go-live each have their own sub-checklist. The Syntra ETL dynamics gp migration checklist is delivered as a tracker with owner per item, due date per item and evidence link per item — not as a slide deck.

    What discovery items go on a dynamics gp migration checklist?+

    Discovery is the foundation. The dynamics gp migration checklist captures: every active company database name, fiscal year start/end per company, account framework definition per company (segment count / width / order), live account combinations per company per fiscal year, GP version and last patch level, GP licence count, Web Services for GP and eConnect installation status, Process Server installation status, every Dexterity .dic dictionary with file size and last-modified date, every Modifier-altered window resource, every VBA project (events and modules), every SmartList Builder query with last-run date and frequency, every ISV add-on installed with current contract end date and current data footprint, every active partner relationship with contract status.

    How does a dynamics gp migration checklist handle ISV inventory?+

    ISV inventory is its own workstream on the checklist. For each ISV add-on installed (Mekorma, Greenshades, Integrity Data, Rockton, Encore, plus customer-specific add-ons): vendor and product name, current version and last patch level, current contract end date and renewal status, current data footprint inside GP databases (tables and row counts), current functional purpose (AP payments, payroll filings, utilities, custom approval flows, custom reports), Fusion-equivalent target (Fusion AP Payments, Fusion Payroll, OTBI, BI Publisher, third-party Fusion-friendly successor), decommission date plan, data preservation strategy for audit. The dynamics gp migration checklist makes ISV decisions defensible and prevents orphaned contracts running 12+ months past cutover.

    What partner-contract items belong on a dynamics gp migration checklist?+

    Partner-coordination items frequently get under-tracked on GP-to-Fusion projects. The dynamics gp migration checklist captures: every active GP partner relationship (implementation partner, ISV reseller, customisation support partner), current contract end date and renewal status, current support hours / SLA terms, current customisation source-code ownership and handover status, current credential issuance (GP SQL Server access, eConnect access, Web Services for GP access, application server admin access), notification status (has the partner been notified of the migration timeline in writing), cooperation expectations (read-only credentials for Syntra ETL extraction, customisation source code handover, scheduled decommission date). Every item with owner, due date and evidence link.

    What audit items go on a dynamics gp migration checklist?+

    Audit items determine whether external auditors sign off post-cutover without rework. The dynamics gp migration checklist captures: reconciliation evidence pack template signed off by internal audit (per-company trial balance format, AP aging by vendor format, AR aging by customer format, inventory on-hand by site format, fixed asset NBV format, bank rec balance format), retention strategy signoff (IRS Pub 583 7 years, HMRC 6 years, GoBD 10 years where applicable, indefinite SOX trace, 3–7 years state sales-tax by jurisdiction), audit trail strategy (GL journal line → subledger distribution → source document chain, hash-signed evidence at every link), legal-hold handling strategy, e-discovery readiness plan.

    How does the dynamics gp migration checklist track Microsoft Modern Lifecycle status?+

    September 2025 mainstream-support end and April 2031 extended-support end frame the planning window. The dynamics gp migration checklist captures: current GP version (typically 18.x for 2018 R2), current support status (mainstream / extended), current patch cadence and last applied patch, partner availability assessment (Dexterity developer pool, ISV partner cooperation expectations through 2030–2031), customer's stated cutover target date and its position on the lifecycle clock, contingency plan if cutover slips past April 2031 (which is operationally untenable — unsupported software running production financial records). Plus the conditional path if Business Central is also being considered as an alternative target — most customers who reach this checklist have already decided on Fusion, but the option is captured.

    Does the dynamics gp migration checklist include a Dexterity / VBA sub-checklist?+

    Yes. Dexterity / VBA / Modifier inventory gets its own sub-checklist because the customisations drive critical business logic and the developer skill pool is shrinking. For each Dexterity .dic dictionary: file name, file size, last-modified date, source dictionary or third-party origin, identified business purpose, classification (auto-populate field, override post logic, custom validation, custom approval, custom report, custom integration), Fusion-equivalent recommendation (DFF + value-set, AMX flow, OTBI analysis, BI Publisher report, REST integration), retire-or-port decision and signoff owner. Same pattern for Modifier-altered windows and VBA project event handlers and modules. The dynamics gp migration checklist treats each customisation as a discrete decision, not a lumped 'custom code' bucket.

    How long does it take to work through a dynamics gp migration checklist?+

    The dynamics gp migration checklist is worked end-to-end over the 12–18 week project timeline, with most items concentrated in the first 6 weeks. Discovery items: weeks 1–3 (Syntra ETL's discovery engine populates 80% of the checklist automatically). Design / signoff items: weeks 3–6 (workshops with finance, AP, AR, ops, IT, audit). Build / test items: weeks 6–12. Validation / parallel-run items: weeks 10–14. Cutover items: weeks 13–16 (with dress rehearsals at T-3 and T-2). Post-go-live / hypercare items: weeks 16–18. The dynamics gp migration checklist is a living document with daily standup-style status, not a one-time deliverable produced and forgotten.

    Get your tailored dynamics gp migration checklist

    Tell us your GP company DB count, ISV add-on landscape and target cutover window. We will deliver a tailored 60+ item dynamics gp migration checklist with owner per item, due date per item and evidence-link per item — ready to run as a project tracker from week one.