Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009

David Roys is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV product. He has worked in the computer industry since 1992 and currently works in New Zealand for Intergen Ltd., a leading Microsoft Gold Partner and Dynamics Presidents Club member. Since getting his honors degree in Computing Science from Staffordshire University, England, he has worked with a variety of custom-written and packaged financial solutions in a variety of roles. His first programming job provided experience of financial systems using CICS, COBOL, and JCL on an IBM 3090 series mainframe. From being a very junior developer in a large organization, he went on to be a oneman IT department at a small food manufacturing company in a role that allowed him to learn and develop solutions for a Danish ERP package called 'Concorde XAL'. David moved into the world of consulting and ERP reselling in 1996 where he enjoyed working with some truly brilliant people at Columbus IT Partner and was able to work on international projects in South Africa, Hungary, Poland, and Ireland. With many years of experience in XAL and Axapta he moved to New Zealand in 2002 to work as a consultant for Ernst & Young in their IT Consulting practice delivering financial solutions in Navision Attain. He now works in his dream job as a Dynamics NAV consultant and developer for Intergen Ltd., a bunch of fun-loving, incredibly smart people. David firmly believes that ERP systems are boring and is committed to bringing some entertainment to this dull and listless world. Vjekoslav Babic is a Microsoft Dynamics NAV expert, consultant, and architect with ten years experience in the IT industry and six years experience delivering project success on large-scale, high-risk, and international implementations of Microsoft Dynamics solutions. He has project experience in various industries, including telecommunications, insurance, pharmaceuticals, industrial gasses, chemicals, food and beverage, manufacturing, printing, distribution, and retail. He is a Project Management Institute certifi ed Project Management Professional, an accomplished Microsoft Certifi ed Trainer with a track record of successful trainings and presentations, a Microsoft Certifi ed Business Management Solutions Professional with several Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics CRM specializations, and holds a number of Microsoft technical certifi cations. Vjekoslav has published more than forty articles on business solutions, software development, database design, and internet technologies; he is the author of the NAV Insights column and an Editorial Advisory Board member with MSDynamicsWorld.com. An active blogger, he frequently writes about Microsoft Dynamics implementation methodologies, Sure Step, and Project Management topics on his blog NavigateIntoSuccess.com. Based in Zagreb, Croatia, he is employed as a consultant at Microsoft. Contact Vjekoslav Babic through his blog http://NavigateIntoSuccess.com

1 Introducing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 The purpose of this chapter is a teaser introduction to get people excited about the product, what s in it in general, and what s in it as compared to previous versions, to give them a little taste of what s coming up in the book, and explain what the fuss about this new release is all about. 2 The RoleTailored Client The RoleTailored Client is the new user interface for users of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 and it is completely different to the pervious versions. We ll take you through the different components of the interface, introduce the terminology, explore the navigation components and page types and teach you how to personalize the application to meet your own requirements using the extensive personalization features. 3 Roles and the Customer Model Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 introduces a new paradigm to ERP. Instead of the system being focused on the forms that capture and present data and the functions the user can perform, the system is based around the individuals within an organization, their role and the tasks they perform. We cover how Microsoft researched the roles and explore the departments, roles and tasks that have been identified in the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model. We also show the reader how to assign the standard roles to the users, how to create new roles and how to allow departmental super users to configure the application for their role so that the change is applied to all users with the same profile. 4 The Implementation Process Microsoft Dynamics NAV is not a product with a Next-Next-Finish type of installation and it takes a lengthy project to deploy it successfully. We focus on the six phases of the implementation process, and explain each phase with details of what to do and what not to do in a typical implementation. Based on the Dynamics Sure Step implementation methodology with advice liberally sprinkled throughout, special attention is given to new features of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, and where the new capabilities must be taken into account to make the most out of the implementation project. 5 Configuring the System Every implementation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 will require the system to be configured to meet the needs of the business. This chapter tells the implementation consultant how to do this from a core financials perspective and provides valuable information that will allow developers to understand more about the application they are changing. We cover basic accounting for programmers, dimensions and posting groups, and how to use the Rapid Implementation Methodology (RIM) Toolkit to speed things along. 6 Modifying the System Hardly any standard system can fit the needs of a business out of the box. Either the customer must shape their processes to match the system, or the consultant must shape the system to match the processes, and usually the latter prevails. This chapter explains the process of modifying the system, how to design a viable data model and how to design and develop a functional user interface for both RoleTailored and Classic clients, without writing any code. 7 Extending the Application The three-tiered architecture of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 and native web services enablement opens up a whole new world of possibilities for NAV implementations. We cover some of the many possibilities for extending the application, allowing the consultant and developer to understand the technologies that are available and their respective design considerations. Our practical examples introduce the NAV programmer to the world of .NET and show how you can use the information available on the internet to develop your own killer .NET add-ons. 8 The Development Lifecycle There s much more to development than programming. It starts with understanding what the customer really needs, and usually extends way beyond the system being deployed to a test environment. This chapter focuses on the development phase, and what it takes to get from a concept to a live and working solution. 9 Troubleshooting After the system goes live, or as it grows, there are periods when new problems may arise, and often their source is far from obvious. This chapter explores the tools and techniques available for detecting problems, pinpointing the source, and helping to remove them from the system quickly and painlessly. It explains how to debug the Service Tier, how to troubleshoot performance issues, what can be done to avoid problems and how proper planning before design can help to get it right the first time. 10 Sample Application Our sample application focuses on requirements gathering, functional specification creation, solution design and the eventual build of a prototype. We look at how a business problem can be explored using techniques such as interviewing, use-case modeling, and object-role modeling to create a solution design that can be molded into a working prototype. The sample application is a real-world Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 add-on that could provide genuine business benefit to companies that use Microsoft Dynamics NAV if extended into a finished application. Approach