On September 25, 2024, Microsoft announced their end-of-life plans for Dynamics GP (Great Plains).
Here’s the timeline as it stands now:
Since this sunsetting timeline was released, GP users have begun to explore their options. There are several factors that GP users should take into consideration as you’re planning your next steps and the clock keeps ticking toward GP’s end-of-life.
GP’s end-of-life may seem far away, but it will be here before you know it. That doesn’t mean that you need to make a quick decision about what’s next right now. It does mean that you need to be considering your options and planning for what’s next.
One of the best ways to do that is with the help of GP’s most experienced partner. Start with a Roadmap Consultation! In this complimentary 2-hour consultation, an Enavate expert will help evaluate your GP solution via a quick Health Check and then guide you through your options for moving forward – whether that includes optimizing your GP, moving your GP to the Cloud, or considering a migration to a cloud-based ERP.
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This shift is especially critical for businesses using GP Payroll, as tax update releases will stop once support ends, making it impossible to continue running payroll within GP. While this news may feel daunting, it’s not a reason to panic—it’s a reason to plan. Businesses have time to prioritize payroll and evaluate the right solution for their future needs.
Even if you don’t plan to move to Dynamics 365 Business Central for a few years, you can take the first step toward your future by moving to a new payroll solution first.
While Business Central doesn’t include built-in payroll, there are quality third-party solutions that integrate seamlessly with BC and GP, so you can start using a new solution now and it’s one less thing to worry about when you’re ready to make the move.
To simplify this decision, Enavate offers a free Payroll Assessment that helps you evaluate your payroll complexity and requirements, then recommends tailored solutions. By planning early and partnering with experts, businesses can ensure a smooth transition, uninterrupted payroll operations, and a stronger foundation for future growth.
You’ve invested in your Dynamics GP solution for years and it has served you well – and it can continue to if you optimize it. There are several ways to do this:
If you’re staying on GP for the time being, making sure you’re on the latest version makes good sense for your business.
Support for older versions like GP 2015 and earlier has already ended, while GP 2016 remains on extended support until 2026, and GP 18.0/18.2 until 2028. Staying current is critical—updates not only provide security and compliance fixes like payroll tax updates and bug patches, but also improve performance and integration with tools like Microsoft Office and TLS. Upgrading to the latest GP version extends system life and buys time for you to plan your long-term ERP strategy.
Learn more about why you should upgrade even though GP is nearing retirement
It’s hard to know where to go next when you don’t know where you’re starting from. That’s why it’s important to assess your GP set-up in order to build plans for your next steps. An ERP Roadmap Consultation is a great first step but going deeper is key to developing a guided go-forward plan to make the most of your GP.
A GP Optimization Consultation starts with a deep functional and technical assessment, through which our experts uncover inefficiencies, performance gaps, and opportunities to modernize your ERP environment. From eliminating manual processes to introducing automation and identifying new functionality, you’ll walk away with a clear, actionable roadmap that aligns GP with your business goals—whether that’s improving day-to-day operations or laying the groundwork for a future migration.
The consultation includes both a functional review of financials, operations, HR/payroll, reporting tools, and integrations, as well as a technical health check of your SQL environment, system architecture, and disaster recovery processes. You’ll receive a detailed findings and recommendations report that not only highlights risks and inefficiencies but also points to areas for optimization, upgrades, and cloud-readiness. The result: greater performance, stronger security, streamlined workflows, and a GP system that works harder for your business.
Get Started with a GP Optimization Consultation
In addition to Microsoft’s support, you can get tremendous value from having the partner that knows you solution inside and out providing you with support.
With over 40 Microsoft alumni and team members with over 400 combined years of experience developing and supporting Dynamics GP, Enavate provides unmatched expertise to keep your Dynamics GP operating at its best and your business processes optimized for your success.
Enavate offers five different GP support options to fit your business needs and budget.
Learn more about Enavate’s GP Support Plans
To help you get started with some of these Enavate Service options, we’re offering incentives that result in real savings while we deliver real results.
See if you qualify for up to $10,000 in Enavate’s Services
Downtime is one of the costliest risks businesses face. Studies estimate it costs SMBs an average of $429 per minute and can soar to $9,000 per minute for larger organizations. While many SMBs assume hosting ERP systems on-premises gives them more control, in reality, on-premises servers are far more vulnerable to disruption than Cloud-based solutions.
Why On-Premises ERP Systems Fail More Often:
By moving your Dynamics GP to the Cloud with Enavate, you can avoid these risks and gain the advantage of 99.95% guaranteed uptime, enhanced security, and flexible scalability. Instead of pouring money into servers that fail under pressure, you can look to the Cloud to keep systems online, resilient, and ready for growth.
Get Started with an IT Roadmap Consultation
With GP’s end-of-life on the horizon, you can’t stay on the solution forever. While you don’t need to make a move today – you do need to keep an eye on that horizon and choose the right moment to modernize your ERP by moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
According to a Forrester TEI study, companies like yours could lose $529,000 in net value over three years by not migrating to Dynamics 365 Business Central. Key loss areas include:
The bottom line? When you total it up, the cost of doing nothing is significantly higher—and migrating to BC isn’t just an expense, it’s an investment that pays off.
Making the move to BC isn’t as costly or cumbersome as you may think. With Enavate’s Xcelerate one-of-a-kind implementation methodology, you can get up and running on Dynamics 365 Business Central with a fixed-price and timeline, so you can get back to business faster. You can also migrate and retain your GP data, so you aren’t starting from scratch, but rather, taking your business to the next level with next generation technology.
Get to Know Enavate Xcelerate BC Foundation
Clearly, there’s a lot for GP users to consider as the end of your ERP’s lifecycle grows closer. Just as we said when the announcement was originally made – it is not time to panic, it is time to plan.
You have options and you can get help weighing those options, making informed decisions, and taking action to ensure your success with Dynamics GP and beyond.