The Glockzin Group runs groundcare equipment sales, workshop and warehouse across four locations on Business Central
Municipal & groundcare equipment
Four dealers, 115 users, a workshop without paper
The Glockzin Group brings together four dealers for municipal, groundcare, agricultural and garden equipment in northern Germany: Land & Bau Kommunalgeräte in Rendsburg, Motorgeräte Arndt in Kiel, Friedrich E. Barthels Nachf. Glockzin in Hamburg-Bergedorf and Frank Glockzin Kommunal- und Motorgeräte in Isernhagen near Hanover. They sell machines, service them in their own workshops and keep the spare parts in stock.
Business Central went live in March 2023 - first at one location, now at all four. 115 users work in it, extended with more than 40 Beyond Apps. The biggest change is the path of a service order: from dispatch to technician to invoice, without a single sheet of paper.
The move: from NAV 2017 to Business Central
Until 2023 the group ran Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017. Planning for the upgrade to Business Central version 21 started in 2022, the first location went live in March 2023 and the others followed one by one. How such a move works is covered on our page about migrating from NAV to Business Central.
Business Central is extended from the inside with Beyond Apps - each for one specific job. The workshop is at the centre: Beyond Scheduler for dispatch, Beyond Mobile Service for technicians on site and Beyond Service for the service manager who checks and invoices the orders. Beyond Mobile Warehouse followed later for the warehouse, and Beyond Barcodes creates the barcodes for its labels. Two apps run across every department: Beyond Cues puts the key figures on the Role Center as tiles, and with Beyond Document Designer Glockzin designs all of its sales and service documents itself.
Getting rid of the yellow job cards is a huge win. Every technician has their own tablet, which saves a lot of running around. And when a customer asks about their order, it's all in the system, including the missing part and its delivery date. I don't have to dig around, and I can tell them when the machine will be ready.
Christian Stehr
Workshop & sales · Glockzin Group
Digital foundation
Why Business Central was the right base
Beyond Apps are not separate systems but extensions inside Business Central. They are only as good as the base they run on - and that base brings what a dealer with a workshop needs:
Sales and workshop on one platform
Machine sales, service orders, spare parts and finance in one system - the workshop job reaches accounting without being keyed in twice.
One location at a time
Business Central could be rolled out step by step: one location first, then the other three, without stopping day-to-day business.
Standard, not a silo
Microsoft ships updates twice a year. The Beyond Apps are cleanly separated from the standard and move with it.
Open for Beyond Apps
Extended through Microsoft Marketplace, app by app - the base grows with the business.
Not everything came at once. Apps were added where they were needed - the warehouse app, for example, when stocktaking had to get easier.
Starting point
The challenge
NAV 2017 at its end
Mainstream support for NAV 2017 had ended. The move to Business Central was due - for four businesses, each with its own daily work.
The job on site
Technicians need everything on site to document a service job in full: time, material, photos and the customer's signature, even without a signal.
The way to the invoice
Dispatcher, technician, service manager: a service order passed through many hands on yellow job cards before it was invoiced. Every hand-over on paper cost time.
Stocktake without a handheld
There was no mobile warehouse app yet. Stocktaking lacked a handheld that books right at the shelf.
Four locations in the north.
Rendsburg, Kiel, Hamburg-Bergedorf and Isernhagen near Hanover.
From sweepers to chainsaws.
Municipal, agricultural, forestry, garden and power equipment - sold, rented and repaired.
Solution
40+ apps, working together
More than 40 Beyond Apps are in use. These twelve carry the daily work - from the workshop to the parts warehouse to the documents. Together they make up what we offer dealers with a workshop as the Dealer Business System.
Beyond Scheduler
The dispatch board: drag service orders onto technicians.
Beyond Mobile Service
The service app for Android and iOS: time, material, photos and signature on the order, online or offline.
Beyond Service
Service management in Business Central: copy orders, document issues, manage service items with images.
Beyond Service Time Tracking
Technicians clock on to the job card at a terminal, and the time lands on the service order with its surcharges.
Beyond Cues
Key figures as Role Center tiles, set up without code - dispatch sees at a glance what is due.
Beyond Document Designer
Glockzin designs all of its sales and service documents itself - layout and content, without waiting for development.
Beyond Mobile Warehouse
Scan, pick, transfer and count stock on a handheld, right where the part sits.
Beyond Barcodes
Creates the barcodes for the warehouse labels that Beyond Mobile Warehouse scans when counting and picking.
Beyond Catalog
Manufacturer catalogs imported with Beyond Data Importer, spare parts made searchable.
Beyond Carts
Request parts from anywhere: everyone asks for what they need, purchasing places the order.
Beyond Trade-in
Record trade-ins and value used machines.
Beyond Cloud Connector
Store documents in SharePoint or Azure instead of the database - and open them from anywhere.
Voices from the business
The best system I've worked with. Everything is connected: when I sell a machine, I have the trade-in, stock and the customer's service history on one screen, and the order runs through to accounting without entering anything twice. And if something does snag, Beyond is right there.
Lars Boie
Sales · Glockzin Group
With the Cues I see at a glance what's coming up in dispatch. That gives us transparency. And the connection to the mobile devices works in daily use.
Gerd Peper
Workshop foreman · Glockzin Group
Replacing all the paper slips was the better call after all. Everything in the app is tidier than the loose notes we had before.
Zbigniew Kopalka
Workshop & field service · Glockzin Group
In the warehouse I work almost the same way as I did with NAV. But with the tablet, stocktaking is 50 percent faster.
Olaf Arnheim
Goods receiving · Glockzin Group
The toolkit in daily work
How the apps work together at Glockzin - by workshop, warehouse and sales, and what Glockzin keeps in its own hands.
A paperless workshop
- Dispatch plans service orders on the Beyond Scheduler board
- Every technician documents jobs on their own tablet in Beyond Mobile Service, with photos and signature, online or offline
- Time flows into the order through Beyond Service Time Tracking
- The service manager checks and invoices in Beyond Service
Spare parts, warehouse and sales
- Beyond Mobile Warehouse puts stocktake, transfers and picking on a handheld
- Beyond Barcodes creates the barcodes in the warehouse, Beyond Mobile Warehouse scans them
- Beyond Catalog makes manufacturer catalogs searchable
- Beyond Carts collects parts requests for purchasing
- Beyond Trade-in records trade-ins in machine sales
In their own hands: tiles and documents
- Beyond Cues shows what's coming up as a Role Center tile - set up without code
- Glockzin designs all sales and service documents itself with Beyond Document Designer
- When a document needs to change, the team makes the change itself
- Beyond Cloud Connector stores the documents outside the database
Result
A workshop without paper
The workshop has worked paperless for a year and a half, and the yellow job cards are gone. Every technician has their own tablet. When a customer asks about their machine, the status is in the order, down to the missing part and its delivery date.
Outlook
Next up: pricing
The next topic is already on the table: keeping prices current for thousands of items. Beyond Price Changes is already in place for it - plan, simulate and schedule price changes.
First location live
Years of a paperless workshop
Device licences
faster stocktaking on the tablet
As of October 2026. Stocktaking: estimate from the warehouse.
Project questions
What software do groundcare dealers use?
The Glockzin Group runs Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with more than 40 Beyond Apps - for workshop, parts warehouse, machine sales and documents, across four locations with 115 users.
Which Beyond Apps does Glockzin use?
More than 40. The daily work runs on Beyond Scheduler, Beyond Mobile Service, Beyond Service, Beyond Service Time Tracking, Beyond Cues, Beyond Document Designer, Beyond Mobile Warehouse, Beyond Barcodes, Beyond Catalog, Beyond Carts, Beyond Trade-in and Beyond Cloud Connector.
Can Glockzin change its documents itself?
Yes. With Beyond Document Designer, Glockzin designs all of its sales and service documents itself, from layout to content. The team makes changes without a development request.
How did the move from NAV 2017 to Business Central go?
Planning started in 2022, and the first location went live on Business Central 21 in March 2023. The other three locations followed one by one.
Does the service app work without a signal?
Yes. Beyond Mobile Service works online and offline. Time, material, photos and the customer's signature are captured on the order and sync as soon as the connection is back.
Do you have to roll out all apps at once?
No. Glockzin started with one location, and the warehouse app came later. Beyond Apps are a toolkit: app by app, each for one specific job.
Let's talk about your workshop
We're happy to show you in a short demo how Business Central and the right Beyond Apps work together for a dealer like the Glockzin Group.