How to migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central
To migrate a client from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central with superglue's AI agent, upload the client's portable company file, and give superglue access to the client's Business Central account. superglue assesses the data in minutes, plans every phase, recommends an answer to each decision, and runs a trial load that reconciles to the cent before cutover. You review, decide and sign off with the client.
Intuit released its last annual QuickBooks Desktop versions in 2024 and stopped selling Pro Plus and Premier Plus to new US customers in September 2024, so most Desktop clients plan their move now.
What are the steps to migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central?
Migrating from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central takes six steps: connect both systems, assess the data, plan every phase, decide the mapping, run a trial load and cut over. Each load repeats exactly what you tested, and every write waits for your approval.
- 01
Connect QuickBooks Desktop and Business Central
The client saves a portable company file (.QBM) and sends it to you. superglue reads the whole company from that one file, without QuickBooks. The client then gives superglue access to Business Central.
- 02
Assess the QuickBooks Desktop data
In minutes, superglue counts every record, finds the open items and lists the data issues with examples. You know the size of the migration before you quote it.
- 03
Plan every phase
superglue drafts the plan from discovery to cutover, with tasks, owners and the QuickBooks Desktop specifics already in it.
- 04
Decide the mapping
superglue brings each decision below with a recommendation from the client's own data. You confirm or change each answer, and the client signs the mapping.
- 05
Run the trial load
superglue loads a Business Central sandbox environment and compares it with QuickBooks Desktop: the trial balance per period, the open receivables and payables per customer and vendor, and the inventory value. superglue explains every difference before cutover.
- 06
Cut over
At cutover, superglue loads the final data with the same steps as the trial load, and you sign the reconciliation with the client.
How do you get the data out of QuickBooks Desktop?
- Ask the client for a portable company file (.QBM). superglue reads the whole company from it, with the full history, and needs no QuickBooks and no session on the client's computer.
- Collect what the file does not hold in readable form: the Attach folder with documents, and the tax IDs and bank account numbers that QuickBooks encrypts.
- At cutover, ask for a new file. superglue reads it again and loads production with the same steps as the trial load.
Steps to forward to the client: QuickBooks Desktop files
What needs to be configured in Business Central?
The client signs in to Business Central with superglue's Microsoft app. superglue configures Business Central and loads the data through that access, in a Business Central sandbox environment first, in this order:
- 01
The chart of accounts, then the posting groups and the setup that links them to the accounts.
- 02
Dimensions, with the two global dimensions.
- 03
Number series, VAT or sales tax, payment terms and the allowed posting dates.
- 04
Customers, vendors and items with their posting groups.
- 05
The opening balances and the open items, posted through journals.
What moves from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central?
| In QuickBooks Desktop | In Business Central |
|---|---|
| Chart of accounts | G/L accounts |
| Classes | Dimensions |
| Customers | Customers |
| Jobs under customers | Projects |
| Vendors | Vendors |
| Items | Items |
| Bank and credit card accounts | Bank accounts |
Open items
Open invoices, credit memos and unapplied payments, open bills and vendor credits, open sales and purchase orders, and inventory on hand with its cost.
Open items load as open customer and vendor ledger entries with their original document numbers and due dates, so the aging in Business Central matches on day one.
History
The portable company file holds every transaction since the company started, with each payment still applied to its invoice, unless the client condensed the file. Condensed years are summary entries.
History loads as general journal lines per month, account and dimension.
Which decisions do you make when you migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central?
- 01
Where do QuickBooks classes go in Business Central?
Classes become dimension values in Business Central, and a dimension can carry each meaning the classes had.
superglue recommends one dimension for each meaning the classes carry, such as department or location.
- 02
What happens to jobs under customers?
Business Central projects carry tasks, budgets and usage. Customers can also have several ship-to addresses.
superglue recommends projects for jobs with costs, and ship-to addresses for jobs that only hold an address.
- 03
Which posting groups does the client need?
General business, general product, customer, vendor and inventory posting groups decide which G/L accounts sales, purchase and inventory documents post to.
superglue derives the posting groups from the accounts that each customer, vendor and item used in QuickBooks Desktop, so postings stay the same.
- 04
Which two dimensions become global dimensions?
Business Central shows two global dimensions on every entry and offers six more shortcut dimensions on documents.
superglue recommends the two dimensions the client filters on most, measured from how often each one is used in QuickBooks Desktop.
- 05
How much history moves?
Most clients need the open items plus one to two years of monthly balances in Business Central, and older years as yearly balances. The client keeps the older detail in an archive.
superglue recommends two years of monthly balances per account, and full transaction detail only where the client needs to look into single transactions.
What are the common challenges when you migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central?
Old opening balances sit in three holding accounts
QuickBooks posts the opening balances of accounts and inventory to Opening Balance Equity, and those of customers and vendors to Uncategorized Income and Uncategorized Expenses. Ask the client's accountant to clear these before the trial load, so the new system opens with a clean trial balance. superglue traces each entry to its source.
Names must be unique across the name lists
QuickBooks does not allow the same name on a customer, a vendor, an employee or an Other Names entry, so clients add suffixes such as "Acme (V)". superglue finds these pairs and proposes one clean name for each company.
Undeposited Funds hides open payments
Payments that were received but never deposited stay in Undeposited Funds, sometimes for years, and the bank reconciliation in the new system cannot start clean with them. Ask the client to deposit or void each one before cutover. superglue lists them.
Items decide the accounts
Each QuickBooks item posts to its own income, expense or asset account. superglue groups the items by those accounts, so the account defaults in the new system produce the same postings.
Plan the time for the financial setup
The chart of accounts, dimensions and posting groups are the slow part of a Business Central setup. The standard API cannot create them, so consultants usually build configuration packages by hand. superglue builds this setup from the signed mapping and reads every value back before the first trial load.
Check posting groups on every new customer and vendor
Customers and vendors created by an integration start without posting groups unless a template sets them, and their first invoice fails to post. superglue fills the posting groups as each record is created, so the trial load posts cleanly.
superglue also runs the rest of the Business Central project. See the Business Central implementation
Frequently asked questions
Which data moves from QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central?
The chart of accounts, customers, vendors and items, the open items, and as much history as the client needs. The mapping table on this page shows where each record lands in Business Central.
Does the client need to run QuickBooks for superglue to read the data?
No. The client saves a portable company file once. superglue reads it without QuickBooks and with the full history. At cutover, the client sends a new file.
Does superglue write to Business Central without my approval?
No. superglue only reads QuickBooks Desktop. Before any write to Business Central, it shows the target, the connection and a transformed sample, and waits for your approval.
How do I know the migration is complete?
superglue reconciles the trial load and the final load against QuickBooks Desktop: the trial balance per period, the open receivables and payables per customer and vendor, and the inventory value. You get a reconciliation report to sign with the client.
What happens when I start this migration?
You sign up and connect the client's systems. If you want to see a full migration run first, superglue can set up Pinecrest Supply, a sample client.
Start your QuickBooks Desktop to Business Central migration
Sign up and connect the client's systems, or let superglue set up Pinecrest Supply, a sample client, to see a full migration run first.