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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Small and medium business | Business Central, N... / NAV2018 SAL to BC SaaS
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
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NAV2018 SAL to BC SaaS

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Posted on by NBERTALAN 22
Dear All, 
 
We have a client who recently upgraded from NAV2018 subscription to D365 BC cloud version (SaaS). The client wants to retain a single user to have access to the NAV2018 database as there is some historical data that they might need in the future. They have some customizations in NAV2018 relying on custom objects (tables). What is the best way to keep the access to the database? My concern is if they cancel all users but 1, and the table subscriptions, they won't be able to even read those tables. Is this correct? What is the best practice licensing-wise to keep the old version archived when moving to the SaaS from an on-prem subscription model? 
 
I appreciate any answers.
 
Kind regards,
Bertalan
Categories:
Dynamics 365 Business Central migration
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
I have the same question (0)
  • Verified answer
    Khushbu Rajvi. Profile Picture
    Khushbu Rajvi. 21,042 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    If a client moves from NAV 2018 on-prem to BC SaaS but wants access to historical data, they should retain at least one valid NAV license—either via a perpetual license with active BREP or minimal subscription. Canceling all licenses may block access to custom tables. Best practice is to keep a valid license or archive data in a readable format like Excel, SQL, or Power BI for future reference.
  • Verified answer
    Suresh Kulla Profile Picture
    Suresh Kulla 50,247 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    If you try to keep both licenses i think you have to keep maintaining the license and I don't think you can renew or update once other license is updated, the best option would be access the data using SQL if you need it.
  • Verified answer
    YUN ZHU Profile Picture
    YUN ZHU 95,937 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    The best solution is to keep only the SQL database and query the history records through SQL.
    This does not require a NAV license, nor does it require synchronizing all data to BC SaaS.
    Of course, the disadvantages are also obvious. Users cannot view data in the previous way, but the data always exists. I don’t think users will query the history records that frequently.
     
    Hope this helps.
    Thanks.
    ZHU
  • Suggested answer
    NBERTALAN Profile Picture
    NBERTALAN 22 on at
    Thank you, Everyone.
     
    The conclusion is to either archive in SQL but lose the previous UI access to the data for free OR they should keep a minimum 1 full user + the objects and retain the NAV access. From this point, it's up to the client's preference. 
     
    Again, all the help is very much appreciated! 

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