Your ERP has an end date. Your plan should have one too.
ERP modernization means bringing an older ERP up to date: upgrading it, moving it to the cloud, replacing it, or extending it with integrations and AI agents. QServices helps companies on Dynamics GP, NAV, SYSPRO, Epicor, Sage, Infor and SAP Business One pick the right path, then make the move without receivables, orders or month-end close stopping.
Two weeks to a plan with dated phases. Your old ERP keeps running until finance signs off the new one.
ERP modernization is the work of bringing an ageing ERP system back to a supported, connected and maintainable state. It can mean upgrading to the current version, moving to the vendor's cloud or to Azure, replacing the ERP, or keeping the core and extending it with integrations, apps and AI agents. It rarely has to mean all four, and it rarely has to mean a new ERP.
Microsoft's Cloud Adoption Framework gives every workload eight migration strategies, from retain and rehost to replace. Its advice: don't rehost a problem system, and modernize after the move, not during it.Day counts update every time the page loads. Most companies need 6 to 12 months of work before a cutover, so anything under two years is already close.
No more tax tables, payroll updates or fixes. Moved from 30 Sep 2029 so you can finish the tax year.
Security fixes only, if needed. Nothing else.
Applying any tax update moves you to 18.5 or later, which follows the 2029 date instead.
No security fixes. Mainstream support ended in January 2023.
No security fixes. Mainstream support ended in January 2024.
Sustaining support only from 1 Jan 2030: limited phone help, no new modules. Last on-premises release planned for 2028.
Sustaining support from 1 Jul 2029. Last on-premises release planned for mid-2028.
Final release planned for December 2026.
SAP offers no extended maintenance for this release. SAP has moved this date before, so check again.
No security updates for the server your ERP runs on.
Already ended. Paid Extended Security Updates run to July 2029, at about 75% of the licence a year. Unlike SQL Server 2014, they are paid even on Azure VMs.
No security updates for the database under your ERP.
No security updates after this date.
Microsoft and SAP dates from their lifecycle pages; Epicor dates from Epicor's 6 January 2026 announcement. Checked October 2026. SYSPRO publishes each release's lifecycle stage on help.syspro.com, and Sage supports the current Sage 100 version plus the two before it. Infor dates aren't public, so we confirm yours in the assessment.
Most companies end up combining two. A survey of 100 IT specialists at small and mid-sized firms found 42% planned to add functions, 37% to upgrade and 34% to replace, with plenty doing more than one.
The vendor still supports a current version and the system still runs your core transactions well.
Your ERP, your data model and the screens your team knows.
Old customizations that break on the new version. Rebuild them the supported way so the next upgrade is easy.
The pain is the servers, backups and patching, not the software. Same vendor's cloud, or your ERP on Azure.
The same ERP and data, with someone else running the infrastructure.
Microsoft's own advice: don't move a problem system as it is. Fix what's broken first, or plan to.
No upgrade path left, a data model that no longer fits the business, or customizations nobody can maintain.
Your history, archived or summarised, and the processes worth keeping.
Panorama's 2026 study found more than a quarter of ERP projects run over budget.
The ERP is stable but the business needs more: connections to the bank, CRM and web store, missing screens, or AI agents on the manual work.
Everything. The core stays untouched and supported.
Only works while the core is supported. Combine it with an upgrade if your date is close.
Survey: PAC for proALPHA, 100 IT specialists at small and mid-sized firms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (vendor-commissioned). Project data: Panorama Consulting 2026 ERP Report.
The rule we follow: go through the ERP's own business logic, never write straight to the database. SYSPRO built its own AI layer the same way. And note that Business Central's built-in Copilot and agents need the online version, so on-premises systems need agents built for them.
| ERP | Supported ways in | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamics GP | eConnect and GP Web Services for writes, SQL reads, Power Automate through the on-premises data gateway | Support ends 31 Dec 2029, so build integrations that can move to Business Central with you |
| Business Central on-premises | API v2.0 and custom APIs | Off by default on-premises and must be exposed through a firewall. Copilot and Microsoft's agents need BC online |
| SYSPRO 8 | e.net business objects, SYSPRO Web Services and the OData Data Connector | Business objects are licensed per functional area |
| Epicor Kinetic | REST API v2 with API keys and access scopes, BAQs exposed as REST | Old integrations writing to SQL or using REST v1 break on upgrade |
| Epicor Prophet 21 | P21 middleware: REST, Entity, Interactive and OData APIs | No OAuth or webhooks, and the API version must match the database version |
| Sage 100 | Business Object Interface for writes, ODBC for reads, Visual Integrator for batches | No full REST API, so writes need middleware |
| SAP Business One | Service Layer (REST, OData v4), DI API, Integration Framework | OData v3 was deprecated in FP2405 |
| Infor SyteLine | Mongoose IDOs over REST through the ION API Gateway | Each tenant needs its own API app registration |
From vendor developer documentation and Microsoft Learn, October 2026. Grades of Prophet 21 and Sage 100 APIs are third-party assessments.
A typical move for one or two companies. The finance lane is the point: invoices go out, cash gets applied and every month closes on time, before, during and after the switch.
Customizations, integrations, reports and data quality, read and costed. You get dated phases.
What moves (open items, balances, summarised history) and what gets archived. Your auditor agrees the approach.
Duplicates, inactive customers, unapplied cash and stale orders cleared before anything moves.
Customizations rebuilt or retired, reports replaced, integrations pointed at the new system.
At least two full test migrations, each reconciled line by line, plus user testing on real month-end work.
Go-live over a weekend right after a month-end close, then close support through the first close on the new system.
Never go live at quarter or year end. The old system stays readable for the years your records must be kept.
Durations vary with data volume and customizations. Panorama's 2026 study found more than a quarter of ERP projects run over budget.
Tick them off as you go. This is the list we work through with your controller, and most of it applies whichever ERP you're moving to.
Built on Microsoft's Dynamics GP to Business Central migration guidance and IRS record-retention rules.
Fixed price per phase. You see two full test migrations reconciled before we set a go-live date.
We read your system, customizations, integrations and data, and give you the path, the dated phases and a price for each.
Your controller and auditor agree what comes across as open items and balances, and what gets archived.
Customizations become extensions or get retired, so the next upgrade doesn't break them. Integrations move to supported APIs.
Full test migrations into a sandbox, each one reconciled line by line against the old system.
Your finance lead decides, with the reconciliations in hand. Go-live lands right after a month-end close.
Once you're live, or while you wait for your date, AI agents take on cash application, order entry and other keying. See AI agent development.
Our team stays through the first close and runs the system after, under one SLA. See managed services.
Ranges from our own projects and Panorama's 2026 ERP report. You get dated phases for your system after the assessment.
Bringing an ageing ERP back to a supported, connected and maintainable state. That can be an upgrade, a move to the cloud, a replacement, or keeping the core and extending it with integrations and AI agents. Most companies combine two of these, and many never need a new ERP.
Dynamics GP support, including tax updates, ends on 31 December 2029, with security patches until 30 April 2031. NAV 2018 extended support ends on 11 January 2028 and SAP Business One 10.0 maintenance on 31 December 2028. Epicor has announced that on-premises Kinetic moves to sustaining support after 31 December 2029 and Prophet 21 after 30 June 2029. SYSPRO, Sage and Infor set dates per version, so we confirm yours in the assessment.
It will keep working, but without tax updates, payroll updates or fixes, and with security patches only until April 2031. We cover the details for finance teams in Dynamics GP end of life: what 2029 means.
It depends most on customizations, integrations, data volume and how much history you keep. For a move to Business Central, licences list at $80 a user a month for Essentials and $110 for Premium, and ERP Research puts implementation at about $25,000 to $45,000 for 10 to 25 users and $45,000 to $90,000 for 25 to 60 (analyst estimates). Gartner expects 7 in 10 enterprise ERP initiatives to fall short of their initial expectations by 2027. We price each phase after a two-week assessment, so you know the number before you commit.
Upgrade if the vendor still supports a current version and the system fits. Move to the cloud if the pain is servers and patching. Replace only when there's no upgrade path or the data model no longer fits. If the ERP is stable but you need more from it, extend it with integrations or AI agents first.
For one or two companies, usually 6 to 10 months from assessment to go-live, most of it data clean-up and testing. Microsoft's migration tool moves open receivables and payables at their remaining amounts and the general ledger as period totals. Detailed history can go to separate tables or an archive.
They shouldn't. The old system stays live until cutover, we go live right after a month-end close, and we tie out AR aging customer by customer before you sign off. Our team stays through the first close on the new system.
We list them, retire the ones nobody uses and rebuild the rest as supported extensions, so the next upgrade doesn't break them. On Epicor, BPMs with custom code and classic screens are the usual work. On GP, Dexterity changes get rebuilt in Business Central.
Often, yes, if the version has an API or a supported integration route. Agents can take on cash application or order entry now, and move with you when you migrate.
The data work takes months, and it's the part you can't rush. Find out what yours needs in two weeks.
Facts on this page checked on 22 October 2026.
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