Book Image

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Design - Second Edition

By : Marije Brummel, Mark Brummel
Book Image

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Design - Second Edition

By: Marije Brummel, Mark Brummel

Overview of this book

This book is a focused tutorial on Microsoft Dynamics NAV application development to help you develop complete applications and not just application outlines. This hands-on guide starts off by introducing the supply chain that you will be using throughout the book. You will then implement the Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP suite and learn to set it up and customize it for various industries. You will learn how to customize Dynamics NAV to suit the different aspects of a business such as financial management, relationship management, production, jobs, trade, storage, logistics, and so on. The book will take you through these Microsoft-designed application features and show you how to customize and extend them safely. Therefore, by the end of this book, you will be able to create a structure of your own in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Setup versus customization

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV, the line between implementing and developing is very thin. Where you would perform a lot of setup in other ERP packages, you'll see that it often makes more sense in Dynamics NAV to make a change with the development tools.

The standard package is very complete in its functionality but does not support all industries. It is more a framework for partners to work with. In this book, we will explain this framework and what philosophy it is built on. Understanding this philosophy is critical to knowing how to expand the functionality.

However, expanding the functionality means customizing the application. Do end users in 2013 still want customized applications? Mostly, they will say they don't want their software customized, but in the next breath, they will say that the software should change to match their way of doing business, and that they should have to change their business to fit the software.

This is why Microsoft pushes their partners to create horizontal and vertical solutions on top of the standard product and release these solutions as products with their own versions as if they were a part of the standard applications. This way of using the partner channel is a unique concept that has proven to be very successful and make Microsoft Dynamics NAV useable in almost any industry.

Most companies, however, have such a unique way of working that they will always require more or less customized solutions. The total cost of ownership depends on the level of customizations and how these customizations are designed.

The key is in knowing when to do a setup and when to do a customization. Only a solid understanding of the application will help you determine which is correct.

After reading this book, you will know how to design your application best to have a good balance between cost of ownership and functionality.