Global implementation of Business Central in the cloud

A Danish parent company with subsidiaries in Sweden, Germany and the UK can run one shared Business Central. But not in one environment with one set-up. BC online environments are tied to a country version, so each country gets its own localisation, and that is what decides whether the VAT report, the payment files and the e-invoices work locally.

Today we run group set-ups with companies in several countries and currencies. Here is what we have learned about doing it right.

Key challenges in global implementations

Localisation requirements

• VAT and reporting: Danish VAT return, Swedish VAT declaration, German Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung, Making Tax Digital in the UK
• Statutory exports: SIE in Sweden, SAF-T in Norway, DATEV export to the German auditor
• E-invoicing: OIOUBL (the Danish e-invoicing format) and Peppol in Denmark, other requirements and formats in each country
• Bank and payments: payment formats and bank integrations are local. A Danish set-up does not work for a German bank
• Currency: accounting currency per company, and a fixed process for exchange rates and exchange rate adjustment

Language and culture

• Users work in their own language. But custom fields and reports in your apps have to be translated, which is often forgotten
• Documents for customers: invoices and order confirmations in the customer's language, controlled by the language code on the customer
• Different ways of working: a Swedish warehouse team and a Danish one rarely do things the same way, and that is not always wrong
• Training and support in the local language, or in English by agreement with all countries

Data handling complexity

• Shared item numbers, customers and vendors across companies, or deliberately not
• Local fields and set-ups that only make sense in one country
• GDPR applies across the EU, but the UK and countries outside the EU have their own rules
• Group consolidation: charts of accounts that have to be mapped, and intercompany balances that have to be eliminated

Organisations that develop a comprehensive global implementation strategy are 3.5× more likely to complete the rollout on time and 2.8× more likely to stay within budget.

Strategic framework

1. Global template

• Decide what is the same everywhere: dimensions, item categories, posting groups, number series
• Decide what is local: VAT, payments, e-invoicing and statutory reports
• Build group logic as one AL app that is installed in all environments, not as copies per country
• One shared group chart of accounts for consolidation, even if the local charts of accounts differ

2. Phased implementation

• Start with the parent company or the country that is most like the template
• Take one country at a time. A big bang across countries gives you five go-lives on the same day
• Adjust the template after each country, before the next one starts
• Set up the consolidation once the first two companies are running, not at the end

3. Localisation management

Microsoft's country versions cover a lot, but not everything. Go through each country for gaps, typically bank integration, e-invoicing and specific reports for the local auditor, and decide whether to close them with an AppSource app, a local partner or your own development. Set up one process for who approves changes, so the German customisation does not break the Danish one.

4. Global master data strategy

• Decide who owns the item register: centrally in the parent company or locally per country
• Use Business Central's master data synchronisation between companies in the same environment, or an integration between environments
• Consolidation across environments via the Business Central API instead of manual file imports every month
• Clean up master data per country before migration. Duplicates do not become fewer by being moved