Microsoft is retiring Great Plains. What's your next move?

Great Plains migration, defined.

A Great Plains migration is the process of moving your finance and accounting operations off Microsoft Dynamics GP — which is reaching end of life — onto a modern, supported platform such as QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, or NetSuite, including platform selection, data conversion, integrations, and change management, so the transition strengthens your finance function rather than disrupting it.

Capital Advisors is your migration home.

We are not tied to a specific platform, and we don't start with the software. We start with your business — where you are today, where you're headed, and which platform best supports that journey.

The honest case: why most GP customers should leave the Dynamics path.

When support ends, Business Central is Microsoft's preferred next step — but "stay inside the same vendor" is rarely the same as "best fit for your business." For a lot of former Great Plains customers, the better outcome is a purpose-built cloud platform.

Here's the reasoning we walk clients through:

• The migration is roughly the same effort either way. Moving from GP to Business Central is still a re-implementation and data conversion — not an upgrade. If you're doing the work regardless, the question becomes which destination is genuinely best, not which is most familiar.
• Financial reporting is often stronger elsewhere. Finance-led organizations frequently get cleaner multi-entity consolidations, dimensional reporting, and close speed from Sage Intacct or NetSuite than from a general-purpose Microsoft ERP.
• Simpler businesses are over-served by any mid-market ERP. If you're a single entity with modest complexity, QuickBooks is faster to implement, cheaper to run, and easier to staff — and you stop paying for ERP depth you never use.
• Avoid choosing by default. The most expensive mistake isn't picking the "wrong" brand — it's letting the incumbent vendor's roadmap pick for you, then discovering the fit is poor after implementation.

Read the full breakdown: Dynamics GP vs. QuickBooks, Sage Intacct & NetSuite →

Start here: what should you replace Great Plains with?

The right platform depends on business complexity (entities, locations, inventory, reporting), growth plans (acquisitions, expansion, PE ownership), and finance requirements (consolidations, forecasting, board reporting, compliance). We focus on the three platforms we know deeply.

The library.

Platform guides, the case for leaving Dynamics, cost and timeline planning, and the end-of-life facts you need to plan around.

How we help.

Capital Advisors guides the whole decision — not just the software.

• Evaluate options objectively across QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, and NetSuite
• Build a migration roadmap tied to your business and growth plans
• Help select and manage the implementation partner
• Prepare data, the chart of accounts, and processes for conversion
• Manage change so the team actually adopts the new system
• Reduce implementation risk and avoid an expensive wrong turn