Imagine a scenario where your favorite baking powder stopped being produced. You were forced to change to another product without knowing if the new powder would produce the same results.
In some cases, accounting ERP software is like that. Technology is constantly able to produce better results, but wrapping your hands around something new is neither easy nor efficient.
If you are a Microsoft Dynamics GP customer, you will not be for long. Microsoft stopped selling new GP subscriptions earlier this year and will phase out support, product enhancements, and security updates over the next five years. That may seem like plenty of time, but to keep your business ahead of the curve, it is time to start preparing for the transition now.
Breaking up with your ERP is never easy. An ERP is the beating heart of any business, rolling together key tools for accounting, purchasing, inventory, sales, and other mission-critical operations. Switching ERPs is an especially daunting process for a commercial bakery or food manufacturing firm, given the many moving parts.
You are already keeping track of numerous intricate recipes, each with its own ingredient and supplier list, production and batching process, yield-loss ratio, distribution schedule, and other important details. Managing all of that complexity often requires linking your ERP with multiple external tools, making the prospect of migrating to a different platform a difficult proposal.
Microsoft is pointing users to Dynamics 365 Business Central as a Dynamics GP replacement, emphasizing the solution’s AI tools and cloud-based capabilities. But is that actually the right move for process manufacturers? Here is SWK’s take:
Why a Dynamics GP Sunset is Harder for Process Manufacturers
No matter the industry, an ERP houses an incredible amount of information, but process manufacturers such as commercial bakeries expect more from their software, due to the inherent complexity of their business. You have got to keep track of raw ingredients, recipes, batch processing, waste, yields, and more, on top of all the usual data housed in an ERP, such as sales logs and accounting records.
Many vendors that tout their products as enterprise-level financial management solutions do not have systems that are built to function as true bakery ERP software. In Aptean’s 2025 Food and Beverage Industry Trends and Technology Report, only 41% of surveyed companies said they were using, or plan to use, an ERP specifically designed for the food and beverage sector. Correcting that problem was the top driver for purchasing a new ERP or upgrading an old one, according to the report.
If you work at one of the majority of companies that are not using food-industry-specific solutions, you will not be surprised to hear that replacing your ERP is a major pain. It often means replacing the general ledger, formula bolt-on, and the integration between them, all at the same time. What sounds like a relatively simple task in switching software solutions becomes a multi-step process with plenty of room for things to go wrong.
Is Dynamics 365 Business Central a Good GP Replacement?
Microsoft is pushing 365 Business Central as the obvious choice for customers rolling off Dynamics GP. Does that boil water for customers in the commercial bakery business?
Not necessarily, and here’s why: Bakeries typically require specialized software to handle recipes, production processes, yield calculations, and other industry-specific needs. These needs may go beyond what’s available in Business Central. That means you will have to rebuild your process layer on yet another add-on.
Switching from Dynamics GP to Business Central may initiate a labor-intensive process, only to end up putting you back where you started.
Remember: FSMA 204 is coming
There’s another date commercial bakeries need to keep in mind beyond the GP sunset. New requirements under Food Safety Modernization Act 204 are expected to take effect by July 2028. That means commercial bakeries and related food process manufacturers will need to adhere to more stringent traceability standards. Bakeries will need to know exactly which ingredients went into exactly which lot of the product, as well as the customers that received those baked goods and when they received them. Bakeries and manufacturers will also need to be able to produce that data within 24 hours.
The FDA’s readiness exercises this past spring 2026 showed that many suppliers still have a long way to go. While most firms met the 24-hour deadline, only 40% captured a properly assigned lot code at every tracking event and just 27% appropriately captured the traceability lot code source.
It is challenging enough to meet FSMA standards, assuming you are not in the middle of a long, slow ERP migration, which could be exactly the case for manufacturers forced to move away from Dynamics GP. Most GP support services are projected to end in 2029, putting FSMA 204 smack in the middle of a potential migration window.
The bottom line: Do not wait until the last minute to get your software sorted out.
What to Keep and What to Leave Behind
Just 26% of food and beverage manufacturers consider their software systems “excellent,” according to Wherefour’s 2026 State of Manufacturing report. Too many are still dealing with old-fashioned processes (spreadsheets, anyone?), jury-rigged solutions meant for other industries, and fractured software stacks that do not talk to each other.
Clearly, there is serious room for improvement in the bakery ERP software space. As you mull over a migration, look for options that allow you to keep the functionalities you really need while eliminating duplicative technology, siloed systems, and inefficient integrations.
Keep:
- Formula depth: Your recipes are everything. Make sure you have a system that can handle their full complexity to enable accurate production, scaling, tracking, and accounting.
- Batch logic: Sophisticated batch logic systems ensure the product quality and consistency that your customers expect. Plus, with FSMA 204 on the horizon, batch and lot tracking are likely to be top of mind.
- Yield and loss factors: To accurately manage inventory and product costs, you will need a robust understanding of how much raw material gets wasted during production and how many finished foods you can expect per batch run.
Lose:
- Nightly syncs: If you are working with a patchwork tech stack that syncs overnight, you may have to deal with dead times when information is not updated. Ideally, you would have seamless, continuous access to all the data you need, whenever you need it.
- Duplicate item masters: Bolting together separate systems means duplicating lots of effort and opening the door to mistakes if, for example, one item master gets updated and the other does not.
- Per-seat limits: Everyone who needs access to your software should get it, without breaking the bank. It is as simple as that.
How Acumatica Process Manufacturing Replaces Both Layers
Rather than holding together your bakery ERP software with bolt-ons and hope, look for a solution that does it all. Process Manufacturing for Acumatica by eWorkplace Apps expands Acumatica’s core features to give commercial bakeries everything they need, marrying the business functionality of a standard financial management system with process manufacturing expertise. This is formula logic, housed inside your ERP.
Familiar design and process
Users already familiar with BatchMaster Software will feel right at home in the Acumatica suite. The Process Manufacturing eWorkplace extension builds on BatchMaster’s process manufacturing innovation, making for a minimal learning curve.
One item master, one lot record, one cost
Stop wasting time reconciling different systems and burning money on various subscription fees. With Acumatica and eWorkplace, you will have a single item master, single lot record, and a single source connecting the dots between your production processes and your finances. Leaning on a universal source of truth saves time, effort, and money.
Pre-configured bakery workflows
ERP migration and implementation can easily turn into a long, drawn-out process that disrupts business as usual. Not with Acumatica and eWorkplace. The system comes pre-configured with workflows specific to commercial bakeries, meaning you will not have to spend time reinventing the wheel…or rewriting the recipe.
Taking the First Step With SWK
You may already be looking for a Dynamics GP replacement, or just not happy with your current software system. Or you are one of the roughly one-third of food and beverage manufacturers that use spreadsheets and want to move to something more robust and in the cloud.
The first step is the same whether you are a commercial bakery, kitchen, food supplier, or work in another industry: Start with a migration readiness assessment, taking account of your current systems, where your data and formulas live, how you handle tracing, how you will need to update your procedures as the regulatory landscape evolves, and potential pain points during a migration process.
Contact SWK to learn more about all of the features and capabilities of Acumatica, and how it pairs with Process Manufacturing for Acumatica by eWorkplace Apps. It is time to simplify your software and bake the best system possible.