Struggling with a legacy Navision ERP, Van Metre needed help simplifying financial operations across 170+ entities. They turned to Armanino to deploy Microsoft D365 Business Central.
Van Metre Companies, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is a diversified real estate group with operations in homebuilding, property management, manufacturing, land development and financial services.
Van Metre’s legacy Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly known as Navision) ERP was slow, fragmented and difficult to scale. Financial reporting often required manual effort, and reporting cycles were prolonged on occasion due to the additional time needed to validate data accuracy across entities.
Armanino’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation modernized Van Metre’s finance operations.
With Business Central, Van Metre reduced system downtime and significantly improved visibility across all entities.
Founded in 1955, Van Metre Companies has a longstanding presence in homebuilding, property management, manufacturing, land development and financial services. In addition to using Yardi for its property management operations, the organization had been relying on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, a system that had become heavily customized and increasingly difficult to manage.
System performance issues within NAV, like frequent locks and delays, interrupted daily operations and drained productivity.
Knowing they needed a change, the company turned to Armanino for advice because they had worked well together in the past. When Van Metre’s vendor payments software product was discontinued, Armanino offered a replacement solution.
That collaboration led to the successful implementation of AP Connect, a payment integration software that worked across both NAV and Yardi. The project built trust and laid the groundwork for broader engagement.
For Van Metre’s move from NAV to the cloud, Armanino conducted a full technology assessment and gap analysis, mapping out what functionality would carry over to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and what would require customization.
Armanino then led Van Metre’s migration to a customized version of Business Central, helping replace legacy systems, and connect data through APIs, reducing the need for manual exports and uploads. Manufacturing operations went live in fall 2024 and full deployment across all remaining entities was completed in spring 2025.
“[Before], we were constantly being blocked out [in NAV] because somebody was pulling big exports,” said Christina McCoy, senior accountant. “If you take about 20 users losing 45 minutes at a time, that's pretty huge. We haven't experienced those issues at all in Business Central.”
Armanino is helping Van Metre explore where Microsoft Copilot AI could add value across operations, with future opportunities to apply it in workflow areas. Today, the team is already leveraging Copilot to enhance efficiency and accuracy in bank reconciliations through smarter transaction matching.
While Business Central is still relatively new, Van Metre is already seeing improvements.
Microsoft’s Azure data warehouse is integrated, giving the finance team access to financial data and significantly reducing reconciliation efforts. Business Central’s cloud infrastructure has eliminated system downtime, allowing the team to focus on strategy instead of troubleshooting.
Looking ahead, Van Metre plans to continue evolving its finance operations using enterprise applications. The team is exploring how Copilot could be used in areas like budget version control and variance analysis, with the goal of reducing manual effort and improving accuracy over time. With a modern ERP and intelligent automation in place, Van Metre is positioned to grow confidently.
Still relying on workarounds to make your finance software function? Help free your team from frustrating limitations. As a Microsoft Gold-Certified and Inner Circle partner, Armanino can help you make a quick and cost-effective move to an ERP that works for you. Find out how our award-winning Microsoft Dynamics Business Central consultants can help you modernize operations and support sustainable growth.
Get a complimentary consultation with our Microsoft ERP experts to see how Business Central can simplify your operations, boost efficiency and drive growth.
