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data migration project from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Posted on by MB-04111615-0

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a data migration project from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central CU52 (version 14, Spring 2019).

In this environment, all the customizations are developed in AL, not in C/AL.Most of the documentation I’ve found covers data migration for C/AL-based solutions or hybrid (C/AL + AL) environments.

👉 My question is:

Is there any official Microsoft documentation or recommended procedure for migrating data from BC14 (CU52) coded entirely in AL to a later version ?Any guidance, documentation links, or shared experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Martin Dráb 239,507 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Moved from Integration, Dataverse, and general topics forum to Small and medium business | Business Central, NAV, RMS forum.

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YUN ZHU 100,552 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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As far as I know, Microsoft does not provide this tool because upgrading the AL extension requires compiling it in the latest version and then manually updating the code.

The most important Breaking Changes can be found in the document below.

https://github.com/microsoft/ALAppExtensions/blob/main/BREAKINGCHANGES.md#breaking-changes

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

ZHU

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Khushbu Rajvi. 22,350 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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The upgrade follows the same process as a hybrid system , you must perform a technical upgrade. Microsoft doesn’t have a separate data migration guide; the general upgrade docs apply.

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OussamaSabbouh 15,536 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,

For upgrading an AL-only Business Central 14 (CU52) environment, use Microsoft’s standard BC14 → BC18+ upgrade steps — the same as for hybrid or C/AL systems.

Main steps:

Upgrade to the new platform (v18+).

Use destinationAppsForMigration and migration.json for table/data transfer.

Re-publish updated AL extensions.

Regards,
Oussama Sabbouh

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Jainam M. Kothari 16,237 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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May this can help : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/upgrade/upgrade-unmodified-application-v14-v25

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/administration/migrate-data

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/upgrade/upgrading-the-data

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Jeffrey Bulanadi 9,116 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

Migrating from Business Central 14 (CU52) with AL-only customizations is a unique scenario, and most legacy documentation focuses on C/AL or hybrid environments. Fortunately, Microsoft has published a clear technical upgrade guide for AL-based BC14 environments.

Here’s what you need to know:

Microsoft’s official recommendation is to perform a full upgrade, both platform and application, rather than a technical upgrade only. This ensures compatibility with .NET 6.0 (introduced in BC22) and aligns your environment with the Universal Code initiative, which simplifies future upgrades and extension management.

The upgrade process includes:

Installing the target version (e.g., BC23 or BC24)

Upgrading permission sets

Migrating data using the Data Upgrade tools

Recompiling and validating all AL extensions

Replacing any deprecated .NET references with supported AL alternatives

Key considerations:

Starting with BC22, Business Central runs on .NET 6.0, which may break older AL extensions that reference .NET assemblies.

In BC23 and later, client add-in structures have changed, so any AL code referencing them must be updated.

Personalization and profile customizations from the Windows Client are discarded during upgrade, these must be recreated using the modern web client or AL extensions.

For AL-only environments, you won’t need to convert C/AL objects, but you should still:

Review all extensions for compatibility

Remove any unused legacy profiles

Validate all page customizations and control add-ins

Helpful documentation:
Technical upgrade from version 14 to version 23 – Microsoft Learn
Migration from BC14 OnPrem to BC25 Online – Dynamics Community

If you find this helpful, feel free to mark this as the suggested or verified answer.

Cheers
Jeffrey

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Valentin Castravet 32,685 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Yun Zhu is correct, you simply update your extension to work with the latest version of BC, its not as complex as upgrading form C/AL.

Valentin Castravet
Work: Zander ERP Services
Blog: Dynamics 365 Business Central Insights
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/valentin-c-0500a247/

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Gerardo Rentería Ga... 26,483 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi, good day
I hope this can help you, and give you some hints.Upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central 2025 release wave 2 - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards
Gerardo

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Rishabh Kanaskar 6,225 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

Microsoft does not provide a separate migration guide for AL-only environments because the process is the same as for C/AL systems. The recommended approach is a technical upgrade using standard upgrade steps.

Upgrade the platform and application to the next supported version (you cannot jump directly from v14 to v27; intermediate versions are required).
Recompile and re-publish all AL extensions for the target version.

Regards

Rishabh

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