Introducing the NAV SEAL Health Check for Business Central

Overview

Most Business Central problems don't show up as a single error. They build up over time, for example a posting setup with a blank account that only fails when a new combination is used, a number series close to running out, bank entries nobody has reconciled for months, or a job queue entry that quietly stopped running. None of these are visible from the role center, but together they decide whether your system can be trusted.

The NAV SEAL Health Check is an extension for Business Central online that finds these issues for you. It scans your environment, runs 45 checks across eight areas, and produces a list of findings. Each finding explains what was checked, why it matters, what was found, which records are affected, and what to do about it.

NAV SEAL uses the Health Check as part of our implementation assessment. It turns "something feels off" into a concrete, prioritized list.

Safe by Design

The Health Check is built so you can run it without risk to your live system.

It only reads data. The scan writes nothing except its own results. It never changes setup, master data, or posted entries.

It runs only in a sandbox. If you try to start a scan in a production environment, it refuses. You copy production to a sandbox and scan the copy, so your users are never affected.

Nothing leaves Business Central on its own. Results stay in the extension's own tables until someone prints the report or downloads the Excel file.

It removes cleanly. All data is stored in the extension's own tables. Uninstalling it, or simply deleting the sandbox, leaves nothing behind.

What the Health Check Looks At

The 45 checks are grouped into eight areas.

Environment covers the overall picture: Business Central version, companies, where the data volume is, log tables without retention policies, features that will become mandatory in a future release, and settings Microsoft identifies as having a performance cost.

Extensions lists the apps installed on top of standard Business Central, including per-tenant customizations that must be maintained with every update, leftover cloud migration apps, and failed deployments.

Setup checks the foundations postings depend on: general and inventory posting setups with blank accounts, blocked or misconfigured G/L accounts, number series running out, cost adjustment settings, posting date controls, US sales tax setup, and financial report rows pointing to missing accounts.

Data Quality looks at master data and ledger entries. It checks for customers, vendors, and items with missing fields or likely duplicates, negative inventory and missing standard costs, old open entries, unapplied payments, item tracking inconsistencies, fixed asset depreciation that hasn't been run, and late-paying customers. It also flags vendor bank accounts that are shared or recently changed, which is a common sign of payment fraud.

Dimensions finds dimensions that are never used and recent entries missing dimensions that your setup makes mandatory.

Operations checks the routines that keep your numbers reliable: job queue entries in error or on hold, period-end tasks not run, unfinished documents and approvals, subledgers that don't reconcile to the G/L, a high share of manual journal postings or reversals, and stale production orders and projects.

Security reviews users with SUPER permissions, inactive users, segregation-of-duties risks such as users who can both create vendors and pay them, the change log, approval workflows, and how permissions are managed.

Integrations checks e-mail setup, integration synchronization errors, unused OAuth connections, and published web services that may no longer be needed.

Understanding the Findings

Every finding has a severity that tells you how urgent it is.

High means something is broken, will stop postings, or is making figures wrong. Fix it soon. Medium is a real risk or weakness, so plan a fix. Low is an improvement or good practice to address when convenient. Info is background information, and no action is needed.

The severities are suggestions, not verdicts. A consultant reviews each finding with the business, adjusts the severity where the actual impact is higher or lower, adds notes and agreed actions, and leaves out findings that don't apply to your company. For example, a finding about production orders is irrelevant if you don't manufacture.

Sharing the Results

Once the findings have been reviewed, the results can be shared in two ways.

The printable report is a formatted document with an environment summary, the findings grouped by severity with recommendations and consultant notes, and an appendix listing every check. The appendix lets readers see what came out clean as well as what needs attention. It can be saved as PDF or Word.

The Excel export contains a summary sheet, a findings sheet, and a sheet describing every check. It is useful for tracking remediation work or sharing with your finance and IT teams.

Requirements

The Health Check requires Business Central online, version 28 or later, and a sandbox environment. A recent copy of production gives the most useful results. The user running the scan needs the Health Check permission set along with standard read access. A scan usually takes a few minutes, and longer on large databases.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the Health Check change anything in our system?
No. It only reads data, and it only runs in a sandbox.

Does the Health Check replace a consultant review?
No. Findings are signals. The value comes from reviewing them against how your business actually operates, which is why every finding can be adjusted, annotated, or excluded before the report is produced.

Can we scan only some of our companies?
Yes. A company filter lets you scan all companies, a single company, or a selection.

What if our system comes out clean?
That's a good result, and the report shows it. The appendix lists every check that was run, so you have documented evidence of what was reviewed.

Next Steps

The NAV SEAL Health Check is part of our free Business Central assessment. To have your environment reviewed, visit our Business Central Implementation Help page or book your free assessment.