MS Dynamics NAV – is this the complete business application?

Formerly known as Microsoft Navision, MS Dynamics NAV is Microsoft’s high end Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application suite. It is designed for larger SMEs through to medium sized businesses. This fully integrated software manages everything from manufacturing to inventory, accounts to payroll. It has a great reputation, and for good reason. This is a very comprehensive package.

One of the most attractive things about MS Dynamics NAV from a digital perspective is that it integrates very easily with the web. Clients can place orders online which are interfaced directly into the software and routed through the life cycle of sales, manufacturing, delivery, accounting and collection. This greatly reduces problems with double entry, saving your business an enormous amount of time and cost.

MS Dynamics NAV snapshot

• Modules include:

  Financial(accounts, cash ledger, consolidation, budgeting and reporting)

  Human Resources (organise and monitor staffing and employee information)

  Business intelligence (decision making, prioritisation of tasks, communication)

  Sales and marketing (prospects, opportunities, relationships, information)

  Distribution (inventory, returns, pricing, shipment & delivery, live data capture)

  Manufacturing (capacity, planning, costing, orders, demand forecasting)

  CRM (communications, campaigns, email integration, database management)

  eCommerce (commerce gateway and commerce portal)

• No knowledge of HTML required
• Capacity for deep level and complex navigation
• Flexible - changes to menu and nav structure easy to make
• Particularly strong for community sites (membership, newsroom, forum, Content Management Systems etc)

Are there any drawbacks to MS Dynamics NAV

As is often the case, the more you want to customise MS Dynamics NAV, the more you will need to rely on expert IT assistance.

In fact, to get the best out of the application suite, you will need to work closely with the Microsoft solution centre, or an experienced in house or external consultant. The online user manuals provide a foundation of knowledge but it is not completely sufficient for the smoothest running and management of the software. It is important that you work with someone who has expertise implementing the software in your industry – otherwise you may be facing a lot of trial and error.

If you want to make considerable modifications, it is possible to purchase a license that gives you complete access to the source code. However in this situation, all responsibility for developing, testing, training and implementing will fall to you (i.e. no product support) so this would only be advised if you have a very experienced practitioner managing this.