The test each option has to pass
Before comparing anything, it helps to write down what "keeping the history" has to mean in practice. Every option below passes some of these and fails others:
- ✓Someone non-technical can answer a question. In 2031, a controller who has never seen NAV gets an auditor's email. Can they answer it themselves?
- ✓The records are provably complete. Can you show that what you kept matches what NAV had, before you switch NAV off?
- ✓It survives without maintenance. Nobody is patching it, renewing it or remembering it exists.
- ✓It costs a known amount. Not a bill that grows, renews or gets renegotiated.
- ✓It does not hold you hostage. Your own accounting history should not depend on a subscription staying current.
The five options, honestly
1. Keep a dormant NAV VM, read-only. The most common default, because it requires no decision. Everything still works exactly as staff remember. But you are still paying for a Windows Server licence, a SQL Server licence, a VM and a backup job — and after your support date, you are running an unpatched system that holds every financial record you have. It also quietly requires that someone can still start it in five years, on an operating system that has its own end date.
2. Keep a SQL backup. Nearly free, and genuinely better than nothing. But a .bak file answers no questions. To use it, somebody has to find a SQL Server of a compatible version, restore it, and then write queries against NAV's table structure. That is a technical project each time, and the people who could do it are exactly the people who leave. A backup you have never test-restored is also not yet proof of anything.
3. Restore a copy into Azure. Exporting to a BACPAC and restoring into Azure SQL, or pushing entries into a data lake, removes the on-premises hardware. It is a reasonable technical answer. It also converts a one-time problem into a monthly cloud bill that runs for as long as your retention obligation, and it still requires someone who can write SQL to get an answer out.
4. A subscription viewer. A vendor gives your staff a way to browse old records, usually alongside the new ERP, for a recurring fee. Convenient, and genuinely the right answer if you need live integration with Business Central. The thing to check is what happens in year six, and what you are left holding if you stop paying.
5. A purpose-built archive. The history is extracted once into a file you keep, with a reader that opens it, and the totals are reconciled against NAV before anything is switched off. No server, no licence, no renewal. The trade-off is honest: it preserves and presents records, it does not run NAV, and it will not recreate every custom report layout you once had.
Side by side
| Non-technical access | Ongoing cost | Proof it is complete | Survives neglect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dormant NAV VM | Yes, if they know NAV | Server + SQL + VM + backups | Yes, it is the original | Poorly — unpatched and ageing |
| SQL backup | No | Storage only | Only if test-restored | The file, yes; the ability to use it, no |
| Copy in Azure | No, needs SQL | Monthly, indefinitely | Depends on the export | While the bill is paid |
| Subscription viewer | Yes | Recurring, per user or source | Ask the vendor | While the subscription is paid |
| Purpose-built archive | Yes | One-time, then storage | Yes, if reconciled | Yes |
What to do next
Whichever option you choose, the sequence is the same and the order is not negotiable:
- ✓Find out what you actually have. Years of history per module, transaction counts, database size, custom and third-party tables. Most teams are surprised by at least one of these.
- ✓Decide the split. What goes to Business Central, what is preserved elsewhere, and who signs off.
- ✓Preserve and verify while NAV still runs. Reconcile totals account by account. This is only possible while the source still exists.
- ✓Then decommission. And stop paying for a server whose only job was holding data.
Dates and what stops working: Dynamics NAV end of life. What migrations typically leave behind: NAV history after a Business Central migration.