When Sarah Morris became the sole financial engine behind eight Kovar’s Satori Academy locations, she was still running on a desktop-bound legacy system that required hand-keying every transaction, twice. The migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud changed everything. And because Aaron Thomas and the Northbank team had been embedded in Kovar’s financial operations for years, the transition was less of a leap and more of a well-planned next step.
Great Plains, as we dubbed it, was Great Pains. Aaron and the Northbank team knew our business, knew our data, and knew exactly how to get us out of it. They didn't just transfer the data and go, 'okay, I'm done.' They worked closely with me on training and adoption and then built new processes to make my life easier.
Sarah Morris, Controller, Kovars Inc.
Kovar’s Satori Academy
Martial Arts Education and Youth Development
Kovar’s Satori Academy is one of the Sacramento region’s most established martial arts organizations, currently operating eight school locations across Northern California. Founded over 45 years ago by Hanshi Dave Kovar, the organization offers programs for children, teens, and adults across a range of disciplines including Mixed Martial Arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Krav Maga.
The finance function is managed by a finance team of one and spans accounts payable, revenue recognition, financial reporting, and departmental support across nine internal departments.
Before the migration to Business Central Cloud, Kovar’s had been running Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains for more than 15 years. The system worked until it didn’t. For Sarah Morris, their Controller, supporting eight schools and nine departments as a team of one meant that every transaction had to be hand-keyed into Great Plains, and then hand-keyed again into Excel-based financial reports. Nothing could be imported. Nothing could be uploaded. Nothing could be automated. Every payroll entry, every journal line, every reconciliation was done manually.
The system was also entirely desktop bound. No cloud access, no remote visibility, no ability to bring in additional help. When Kovar’s wanted to eventually add part-time support for accounts payable, the system made it effectively impossible. The limitations weren’t just inconvenient; they were a ceiling on what the finance function could do and who could be part of it.
Sarah met Aaron Thomas, Founding Principal and Lead Consultant at Northbank, when she first joined Kovar’s. When her predecessor transitioned out in 2022, Aaron stepped in to support her during the handoff, answering questions, troubleshooting the legacy system, and helping her find her footing. By the time the organization was ready to migrate, there was no evaluation process.
Aaron had a working knowledge of Kovar’s intricate account structure, what he described as “the account structure to conquer the world in martial arts,” spanning decades of history, multiple locations, and nine departments. Bringing in someone new would have meant starting from zero. Northbank already had full context.
He also had the foresight to flag an important window. Microsoft was offering cloud migration discounts that wouldn’t last forever. His recommendation to move quickly was grounded in both technical and financial logic, and Sarah trusted it.
“We didn’t need to vet anyone else. Because he’s worked with Microsoft and knows the ins and outs of both our business and the system, we felt very comfortable with his recommendations. We trusted him to help us get the job done.”
— Sarah Morris, Controller, Kovar’s Satori Academy
Northbank began with a sandbox environment so Sarah could get comfortable with Business Central before going live. Rather than simply transferring data and walking away, Aaron mapped the migration against Kovar’s specific workflows and built a structured plan.
A significant portion of the project was devoted to custom financial reporting. Kovar’s has a particular way of viewing its financials across departments, and Aaron built templated reports directly into Business Central that Sarah can easily adapt monthly by adjusting columns, filtering by location or GL code, and exporting for reconciliation without manual re-entry.
He also helped redesign the day-to-day processes that had been consuming the most time. Payroll entries that previously required manual, line-by-line keying now follow a streamlined workflow and cash receipts that were manually entered now use a Vlookup-driven upload with GL mapping already built in.
During the testing phase, if things didn’t work as expected, Aaron was responsive. He would jump on a call, screen-share a fix, or send annotated screenshots explaining exactly what had gone wrong and how to correct it. He didn’t just solve the immediate problem. He used each moment as a teaching opportunity, leaving Sarah equipped to manage the system herself.
The migration to Business Central Cloud didn’t just replace an aging system. It fundamentally changed what Sarah and the broader Kovar’s team could do. Manual work that had consumed days every month was replaced by streamlined imports and automated workflows. And for the first time, the people who needed financial visibility could get it themselves.
I can't speak highly enough of Aaron and the Northbank team. He didn't just come in and get the job done. He held my hand, he taught me the system, and he built processes that made my life easier. He's responsive, he's smart, and he genuinely cares. If you're thinking about making the move to Business Central, don't do it without him.
Sarah Morris, Controller, Kovars Inc.
Northbank Technology Group guides organizations through legacy ERP migrations and builds the integrations that make their systems actually work for them, not the other way around.
