Microsoft Dynamics ERP is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software primarily geared

toward midsize organizations as well as subsidiaries and divisions of larger organizations. Its applications are part of Microsoft Dynamics, a line of business management software owned and developed by Microsoft. Microsoft Dynamics ERP comprises four primary products: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and Microsoft Dynamics SL.

Products[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics ERP includes five primary products:

Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta) is designed to help organizations do business across locations and countries by standardizing processes and helping to simplify compliance. The latest version is Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains Software) can help companies adapt to new opportunities and growth by managing changing markets, enabling unique business requirements, and connecting business processes across the organization. The latest version is Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 (version 11.0). Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) is designed to help organizations streamline specialized and industry-specific business processes. The latest version is Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013. Microsoft Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon IV) can help project-driven organizations obtain reports and business analysis and automate projects across company divisions and locations. The latest version is Microsoft Dynamics SL 7.0. Microsoft Dynamics C5 (formerly Concorde C5) can assist with finance, manufacturing, supply chains, analytics and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises. The latest version is Microsoft Dynamics C5 2010.

Capabilities[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics ERP applications are designed to help customers:

Connect the entire supply chain. Make current financial data and reports accessible for business planning and regulatory compliance. Automate repetitious and routine functions so that employees can focus on more critical tasks. Minimize the cost and complexity of administering salaries, benefits, recruiting, and performance management. Provide greater visibility into key performance factors, such as profitability and potential issues. Meet industry-specific needs with functionality for vertical business processes.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management software

package developed by Microsoft. Out of the box, the product focuses mainly on Sales, Marketing, and Service (help desk) sectors, but Microsoft has been marketing Dynamics CRM as an XRM platform and has been encouraging partners to use its proprietary (.NET based) framework to customize it to meet many different demands. The Microsoft Dynamics family of business applications includes other related products such as Microsoft Dynamics AX(ERP application), Microsoft Dynamics GP, (ERP application) Microsoft Dynamics NAV (ERP application), and Microsoft Dynamics SL (ERP Application) and also Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System; also known as Dynamics RMS. Dynamics CRM is a server-client application, which, like Microsoft SharePoint, is primarily an IIS-based web application which also supports extensive web services interfaces. Clients access Dynamics CRM either by using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or later web browser or by a thick client plug-in to Microsoft Outlook. The most recent release added full support for the Chrome and Firefox browsers, and limited support for Safari. The current version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is 2011.
Contents
[2]

1 History 2 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

o o o o

2.1 Versions 2.2 Licensing 2.3 Updates 2.4 Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

3 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 4 See also

o o

4.1 MSSolve 4.2 MIMOS

5 References 6 External links

History[edit]
Microsoft CRM 1.0 Microsoft CRM 1.0 launched in January 2003. Microsoft CRM 1.2

Microsoft CRM 1.2 was released December 8, 2003. by industry.

[citation needed]

[3]

Microsoft CRM 1.2 was not widely adopted

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

The second version was rebranded as Microsoft Dynamics 3.0 (version 2.0 was skipped entirely) to signify its inclusion within the Dynamics product family and was released December 5, 2005.
[4]

Notable updates over version 1.2 are the ease of creating customizations to CRM, the

switch from using Crystal Reports to Microsoft SQL Reporting Services, the ability to run on Windows Vista and Outlook 2007, and support for Exchange 2007. Significant additions released later by Microsoft also allowed Dynamics CRM 3.0 to be accessed by various mobile devices and integration with Siebel Systems. This was the first version that saw reasonable take up by customers. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
[5] [citation needed]

Dynamics CRM 4.0 introduced in December 2007.

[6]

It features multi-tenancy, improved reporting

security, data importing, direct mail merging and support for newer technologies such as Windows 2008 and SQL 2008 (Update Rollup 4).
[7]

Dynamics CRM 4.0 also implements CRM Online, a hosted solution that is offered directly from Microsoft. The multi-tenancy option also allows ISVs to offer hosted solutions to end customers as well. Dynamics CRM 4.0 is the first version of the product which has seen significant takeup in the market and passed the 1 million user mark in July 2009.
[8]

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Dynamics CRM 2011 was released to open Beta in February 2010 It then went into Release Candidate stage in December 2010 The product was then released in February 2011

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0[edit]

Versions[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics CRM comes in 4 versions for installation by a partner/customer; these versions can be highly customized using advanced extensions. The CRM Online version cannot be extensively customized [citation needed] because of security issues. - Workgroup Edition

This edition is only allowed 5 CALs maximum, it is not possible to add more CALs. If more CALs are needed, an upgrade to Professional or Enterprise should be done. Also all the server roles are installed on 1 machine and cannot be separated. You can only create 1 organization in this version and the use of external connectors is not allowed. This version is ideal for small organizations that can use it with the SQL Server Workgroup Edition and on a Windows Small Business Server. - Professional Edition The Professional Edition has the same functionality as the Workgroup Edition except there is no limit on the CALs. If the installation profile calls for supporting either multiple organizations or servers, the Enterprise Edition is required. - Enterprise Edition Has the same functionality as the Professional Edition but without limits. This version is to be used when multiple divisions should be accessing CRM from one platform. - Service Provider Edition This edition is actually an Enterprise Edition that is configured to accept Internal user requests from AD and external user requests through IFD (Internet Facing Deployment). This version is mostly implemented by Microsoft Partners that offer Hosted CRM functionality, when letting external users connect to this CRM version through the Internet.

Licensing[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers two types of licenses: Server license and Client Access License (CAL). Each deployment should have at least one server license and one CAL. CAL is also known as a user license. There are two types of Client CAL: - Named User CAL: This is tied with the user name i.e. the user can access MSCRM from any computer. - Device CAL: This is tied with the Device (i.e., CRM can be accessed from only one device). This model is useful in environments such as Call Centers. Read Only Licenses

New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 are readonly licenses. Users that do not have to have write permissions can be assigned Read Only licenses. These licenses are cheaper because they do not allow any write operations on the records. If later a user should be able to perform a write operation, a step-up license can be bought to upgrade the Read-Only license to a Full Client Access License. Full Use Licenses Full Use Licenses are licenses where the client (user / device) has read, write and update permissions. External Connector Licenses Whenever an application (windows or web) reads or writes data from/in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, an external connector license is required. External Connector licenses are only valid when bought for a Professional or Enterprise edition. It is not allowed to use them with a Workgroup Edition. These also come in 3 forms: - External Connector : Is a combination of the Limited External Connector (that provides Read Only functionality) and the Full Use Additive External Connector (that provides Write Only functionality) - Limited External Connector: Provides Read Only functionality for the external application. This license can be upgraded to an 'External Connector License' when the Full Use Additive External Connector is bought. - Full Use Additive External Connector: Provides the Write functionality to a "Limited External Connector" license.

Dynamics CRM version 4.0 adds a number of new features, including support for duplicate data detection and other enhancements. Perhaps most importantly, CRM 4.0 provides true multi-tenancy, which will allow the creation of multiple organizations on a single server. CRM 4.0 was released with the following improvements: More powerful and easier to configure Reporting and BI (now based on SSRS instead of Crystal) More powerful data import tools, de-duplication capability now included

Enhanced entity relationships many to many, selfreferential Improved programmability - enhanced Web Services, unified event model, plug-ins to replace callouts Light enquiry user license now available - potentially reducing the costs associated with rolling out across larger organizations Multi Tenancy - One server can host more than one business organization Multi Currency Multi Lingual Microsoft Office Communicator / Windows Live Messenger presence integration support cloud computing with Microsoft Online Services

Updates[edit]
Microsoft publishes updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM (called Rollups) every two months. At the time of writing, CRM 4.0 Rollup 21 is available. For CRM 2011, rollup 13 is available.

Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM[edit]

In order to maximize the integration with other products and to enable basic templating, Microsoft released the Accelerators, a set of basic vertical solution templates that can be used to extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a few directions. These accelerators can be downloaded (for free) from the CodePlex website and adapted by the organization itself.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011[edit]

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is available as a cloud offering or an on-premises installation by a partner/customer. As in CRM 4 these versions can be highly customized using advanced extensions. New feature set includes Visualizations, Dashboards, Document Management, Grid Filters, Dialogs, Recurring Appointments, Custom Activities, Goal Management, Fetch based Reports, MAPI based Outlook clients, FLS etc. Native integration with SharePoint 2010 Ability to create a query behind a look-up

Placing of a grid with child records on the parent record Auto filter sorting capability like in Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office Ribbon interface replaces menus OData endpoints LINQ programming API in the SDK WCF services Customization can be packaged as solutions CRM Online supports plugins in sandboxed mode Multiple forms per entity Dashboard designer Yammer integration Lync integration

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 RTW/RTM is available since January and mid February 2011 respectively. 41 languages are supported.

Microsoft Dynamics AX
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microsoft Dynamics AX is one of Microsoft's enterprise resource planning software products. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamicsfamily.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

1.1 Development Centers

2 Versions

o o o

2.1 Damgaard 2.2 Navision-Damgaard 2.3 Microsoft (current)

3 Features (modules)

o o o

3.1 Traditional core (since Axapta 2.5) 3.2 Extended core 3.3 External components

4 Architecture 5 MorphX and X++

o o

5.1 Code samples 5.2 Future

6 Presence on the World Wide Web 7 References 8 External links

History[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics AX was originally developed as a collaboration between IBM and Damgaard as IBM Axapta. Axapta was initially released in March, 1998 in the Danish and U.S. markets. IBM returned all rights in the product to Damgaard shortly after the release of Version 1.5 before Damgaard was merged with Navision Software A/S in 2000. The combined company, initially NavisionDamgaard, later Navision A/S, was acquired by Microsoft in July 2002.[4] In September, 2011, Microsoft announced the release of new version AX 2012.[5] Today, it is available and supported in 25 countries and 23 languages.

Development Centers[edit]
MDCC or Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen was once the primary development center for Dynamics AX.[6] MDCC is located in Vedbk and also houses Microsoft Dynamics NAV and several other Microsoft Dynamics family products. MDCC employs about 900 people of around 40 different nationalities. In addition to MDCC, AX development is now performed in two additional sites in Bellevue, Washington and Fargo, North Dakota.

Versions[edit]
The early versions (from 1.0 to 3.0) were called Axapta, while the later versions (from 3.0 SP6 to AX 2012) are called Dynamics AX.[7]

Damgaard[edit]
Development of Axapta began in 1983 at Danish company Damgaard Data A/S. The software was mainly targeted at the European market, though the North American market grew rapidly following the release of Axapta 2.1 in 2000.
Version Date Description

Axapta 1.0

Mar The first version of Axapta was released in the US and in Denmark in March 1998 by Danish company Damgaard A/S. It 1998 supported both Microsoft SQL Server andOracle database servers. Notable features were financial, trade, inventory management, logistics and production.

Axapta 1.5

Nov The second major version of Axapta was released in Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK, Netherlands, 1998 Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and the European Union in November 1998.

Axapta 2.0

Jul The third major version of Axapta was released to customers in July 1999. Notable new features were the Project Accounting 1999 module, Warehouse Management (WMS), External OLAP, Option Pack concept, ActiveX support, COM-connector and an early release of the Axapta Object Server which allowed offloading of some operations from the clients onto a separate server.

Axapta 2.1

Jan This release stemmed from market demands from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain. It was the fourth major version of 2000 Axapta and was released in January 2000. The most notable new feature was the addition of a Web tool called the Customer Self-Service (CSS) which is the precursor to today's Enterprise Portal. With Axapta 2.1 SP3 (Service Pack 3), the AOS (Axapta Object Server) was introduced making Axapta the first fully three-tier ERP-system in the market.

Navision-Damgaard[edit]
Following the merger of the two Danish companies Navision and Damgaard, Axapta was to be known as Navision Damgaard Axapta for versions 2.5 and 3.0 (up until 3.0 SP5).

Version

Date

Description

Axapta 2.5

Dec 2000

As the fifth major release, Axapta 2.5 brought with it a complete web applications development environment, the Project module, Banking and OLAP. It was released first to Denmark, Austria and United Kingdom in December 2000.

Axapta 2.5 Market Pack

Oct 2001

This market pack was released for Axapta 2.5 in October 2001 in France and Italy. This new application layer contained the Customer Relationship Management module (CRM or Marketing Automation), Commerce Gateway and Product Builder (both Client-side and CSS-side (Web)).

Microsoft (current)[edit]
Microsoft acquired Navision Damgaard during the summer of 2002. Navision Damgaard Axapta was first renamed to Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta, then to Microsoft Dynamics AX for versions 3.0 SP6, 4.0 and 2009.
Version Date Description

Axapta 3.0

Oct The sixth major Axapta release brought with it the Microsoft Axapta Enterprise Portal, new intercompany collaboration 2002 functionality, actualized and rebuilt user security and system configuration, expanded geographical reach (more countries), demand planning and enhanced partner productivity tools.

Dynamics AX 4.0

Mar The seventh major Axapta release brought with it an updated look and feel. As the first version that Microsoft was 2006 involved in from the beginning it attempted to integrate better with existing Microsoft technologies. For example, the AOS became a true Windows service, a .NET business connector was provided, CLR interoperability was introduced and XML data exchanges were supported through a set of code classes (Application Integration Framework), full Unicode support was introduced[8] and a new Service Management module.

Dynamics AX 2009

Jun Originally named AX 4.1, later renamed to AX 5.0 (and finally AX 2009), the eighth major release of Axapta brought more 2008 improvements to the UI. It added role-based concepts to both the Enterprise Portal and Windows clients, support for timezones (UTC), a new Site inventory dimension, and Enterprise Portal development through Visual Studio projects.[9]

Dynamics AX 2012

Aug Known as AX 6 during development, AX 2012 was released in August 2011. It included improvements to the user 2011 interface, general application and developer enhancements, and added industry-specific solutions for Process Manufacturing, Professional Services, and Public Sector organizations. The release also included support for SharePoint 2010, Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2.

Dynamics AX Feb Released soon after AX 2012, the feature pack added a Retail solution in addition to the previously released industry2012 Feature 2012 specific solutions. Pack

Dynamics AX 2012 R2

Q4 Announced at the Convergence 2012 conference, AX 2012 R2 is due to ship in late 2012 and is expected to include 2012 enhanced support for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 as well as support for additional languages and markets.

It has been released in December 2012.

Features (modules)[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics AX contains 19 core modules:[10]

Traditional core (since Axapta 2.5)[edit]

General Ledger, composed of ledger, sales tax, currency and fixed assets features Bank Management, where cash is received and paid out Customer Relationship Management (CRM), where Business Relations (customers, vendors, and leads) are contacted and maintained

Accounts Receivable, where orders are entered, shipped and invoiced Accounts Payable, where purchase orders are issued and goods received into inventory Inventory Management, where Inventory is valued and managed[11] Master Planning, where purchase and production planning takes place Production, where bill of materials is defined and manufacturing is tracked Product Builder, where product models are created and maintained Human Resources, where employee information is kept Project Accounting, where projects are created and tracked primarily from an accounting perspective Basic, where data configuration is performed Administration Module, where system configuration is performed

Extended core[edit]
The following modules are part of the core of AX 2009 (AX 5.0) and available on a per-license basis in AX 4.0:

Shop Floor Control Cost Accounting Balanced Scorecards Service Management Expense Management Payroll Management[12] Environmental Management[13]

External components[edit]

Several external components are also available:

Enterprise Portal for Dynamics AX (built on Sharepoint Services) Microsoft SQL Reporting Services integration Microsoft SQL Analysis services (KPIs) Project Server Integration WorkFlow Application Integration Framework (Webservices + Biztalk adapter) A .Net Business Connector for third-party software (A COM adapter is also available) Microsoft Dynamics Mobile 1.5 development tools

Architecture[edit]
The Microsoft Dynamics AX software is composed of four major components:

The Database Server, a database that stores the Microsoft Dynamics AX data The File Server, a folder containing the Microsoft Dynamics AX application files (in AX2012 application files are stored in the database)

The Application Object Server(s) (AOS), a service that controls all aspects of Microsoft Dynamics AX's operation

The Client(s), the actual user interface into Microsoft Dynamics AX

See also the book Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0[14]

MorphX and X++[edit]

"MorphX" redirects here. For the video game, see MorphX (video game). Custom AX development and modification is done with its own IDE, MorphX, which resides in the same client application that a normal day-to-day user would access, thus allowing development to take place on any instance of the client. Since the Dynamics AX 2012 version, development can also be performed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 through a Visual Studio plugin. MorphX is an integrated development environment in Microsoft Dynamics AX that allows developers to graphically design data types, base enumerations, tables, queries, forms,menus and reports. In addition to design of application objects, it also allows access to any application code by launching the X++ code editor. Because MorphX uses referencing to link objects together, changes in, for example, datatypes of fieldnames will automatically be reflected in all places where they are used (such as forms or reports). Furthermore, changes made through MorphX will be reflected in the application immediately after compilation.

Microsoft Dynamics AX also offers support for version control systems (VCS) integrated with the IDE, allowing collaboration in development. There is also a tool for reverse-engineering table structures and class structures to Visio. The actual implementation limits the practical use of both these features. X++ itself is the programming language behind MorphX, and belongs to the curly brackets and .-operator class of programming languages (like C# or Java). It is an object-oriented,class-based, single dispatch language. X++ is a derivative of C++ (both lack the finally keyword for example) to which garbage collection and language-integrated SQL queries were added.

Code samples[edit]
X++ integrates SQL queries into standard Java-style code. Following are three equivalent examples (resultwise), though the first one has generally better performance. Samples #2 and #3 hint at an object-like behavior from table buffers. Sample #1 /// <summary> /// This job is used as an X++ sample /// </summary> public static void xppTest1(Args _args) { //rajeev singh(ATS) UserInfo userInfo; update_recordset userInfo setting enable = NoYes::No where userInfo.id != 'Admin' && userInfo.enable; } Sample #2 /// <summary> /// This job is used as an X++ sample /// </summary> public static void xppTest2(Args _args) { UserInfo userInfo; ttsbegin; while select forupdate userInfo where userInfo.id != 'Admin' && userInfo.enable { userInfo.enable = NoYes::No; userInfo.update(); } ttscommit;

} Sample #3 /// <summary> /// This job is used as an X++ sample /// </summary> public static void xppTest3(Args _args) { UserInfo userInfo; ttsbegin; select forupdate userInfo where userInfo.id != 'Admin' && userInfo.enable; while (userInfo) { userInfo.enable = NoYes::No; userInfo.update(); next userInfo; } ttscommit; }

Future[edit]
The LINQ library was first used in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 for out-of-the-box SSRS reporting. It is expected that Visual Studio and the LINQ library will be used more extensively in future versions of AX.

Presence on the World Wide Web[edit]

One of the most notable sources of information with regards to Axapta (prior to the Microsoft purchase) was technet.navision.com, a proprietary web-based newsgroup, which grew to a considerable number of members and posts up until 2002. Following the incorporation of Axapta into Microsoft's Business Solution suite, the newsgroup's content was transferred over to the Microsoft Business Solutions newsgroup.[15] The oldest Axapta Technet post that can be found today dates back to August 2000.[16] During the Axapta 3.0 era, this newsgroup in conjunction with secured official Microsoft websites (Partnersource for Microsoft Partners and Axapta resellers and Customersource for licensed Axapta customers) accounted for most of the official documentation sources on Axapta. During this time freely accessible documentation remained scarce. Following Microsoft's release of Dynamics AX 4.0, Axapta's presence on the World Wide Web greatly improved through heightened interest from professional blogs as well as a continually improving presence on MSDN. Though MSDN contained mostly placeholders immediately following the release, it now contains a wealth of information from a complete SDK to white papers and code samples.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software product from Microsoft. The product is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family, and intended to assist with finance, manufacturing, customer relationship management, supply chains, analytics and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises. Value-added resellers (VAR)s can have full access to the business logic source code, and it has a reputation as being easy to customize.[1] For modifications of the system, the proprietary programming language C/AL is used.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

1.1 Versions

2 Features 3 Architecture 4 Licensing Model 5 Add-ons 6 Utilities 7 Criticism 8 References 9 External links

History[edit]
The company was founded in 1983 in Denmark as PC&C A/S (Personal Computing and Communication).[2] In 1984 they released their first accounting package called PCPlus. It was for its time a very user-friendly single user package with all the basic accounting functionality. In 1987 the first version of Navision was released.[3] This was also their first client/server based package allowing multiple users to access the system simultaneous. Until 1990 the system was primary sold in Denmark, Iceland and Germany. But with the release of Navision version 3 (of the character-based system) a heavy international expansion was initiated and distributors and localized versions became available in many other countries. In 1995 their first Microsoft Windows 95 based version was released.

In 2000, Navision Software A/S merged with fellow Danish firm Damgaard A/S (founded 1983) to form NavisionDamgard A/S.[4] Later the name was changed to Navision A/S. On July 11, 2002 Microsoft bought Navision A/S to go with its previous acquisition of Great Plains. The new division in Microsoft was named Microsoft Business Solutions and also included Microsoft CRM.[5][6] In 2003 Microsoft announced their plans to develop an entirely new ERP system (Project green). But later it was decided to continue development of all ERP systems (Dynamics AX, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL). All four ERP systems will be launched with the same new role based user interface, SQL based reporting and analysis, SharePoint based portal, Pocket PC based mobile clients and integration with Microsoft Office. In September 2005 Microsoft re-branded the product and re-released it as Microsoft Dynamics NAV.[7] In December 2008 Microsoft released Dynamics NAV 2009, which contains both the original "classic" client, as well as a new three-tier GUI called the RoleTailored Client (RTC).[8] The product itself has gone through several name changes over the time. Initially Navigator was used in Denmark, although most Danes knew it as IBM-Navigator, as IBM was the distributor. Internationally it was sold as Navision, except for the US where it was called Avista. The names "Navision Financials", "Navision Solutions", "Navision Attain", "Microsoft Business Solutions - Navision Edition", and the current "Microsoft Dynamics NAV" (pronounced N-A-V, except in the U.S. where most customers simply say, "nav" which is short for Navision) have all been used to refer to this product.

Versions[edit]
Windows based Navision versions from 1.00 onwards were:

Navision Financials 1.00: 1.00, 1.00A, 1.00B, 1.10, 1.10A, 1.20, 1.30 Navision Financials 2.00: 2.00, 2.00A, 2.00B, 2.00C, 2.01, 2.01A, 2.01B Navision Financials 2.50: 2.50 Navision Financials 2.60: 2.60, 2.60A, 2.60B, 2.60C, 2.60D, 2.60E Navision Solutions 3.00: 3.00 Navision Attain 3.01: 3.01, 3.01A, 3.01B Navision Attain 3.10: 3.10, 3.10A, 3.10B Navision Attain 3.60: 3.60, 3.60A Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 3.70: 3.70, 3.70A, 3.70B Microsoft Business Solutions NAV 4.00: 4.00, 4.00 SP1, 4.00 SP2, 4.00 SP3 Dynamics NAV 5.00: 5.00, 5.00 SP1 Dynamics NAV 2009: ("6.00") 2009, 2009 SP1, 2009 R2

Dynamics NAV 2013: ("7.00") 2013

Features[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics NAV gives administrators the option of using either a Native database server or Microsoft SQL Server, as the DBMS. SQL Server is better able to cope with large database sizes, but requires more maintenance than the classic database. The original database server is often referred to as 'C/SIDE' which refers to Client/Server Integrated Development Environment. With NAV 2009, Microsoft introduced a completely new client interface which was named the RoleTailored Client (abbreviated RTC). Instead of a common experience for all users, the RTC improves efficiency by tailoring the NAV experience so users see only information pertinent to their role and day-to-day activities. Other notable improvements include several visual improvements such as support for charts, colorful reports, and adoption of a Microsoft Office style ribbon. The NAV client interface previously available in versions 5 and older was retained in NAV 2009, but renamed the Classic Client. While the Classic Client supports both Native and SQL databases, the RoleTailored Client requires a SQL database. Additionally, SQL database logins are not supported with the RoleTailored Client. In October 2012, Microsoft released NAV 2013, which discontinued support for the Classic Client. The RoleTailored Client has been renamed the Windows Client. Additionally, a built-in Web Client and SharePoint Client were added. The Web Client does not require any special add-ins and works on computers and mobile devices alike.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Web Client (Order Processor Role)

Relative to Microsoft's other 3 ERP products, Dynamics NAV's sector is distribution and manufacturing companies that want more than "out of the box" functionality. The solution has a standard feature set, but it can also be thought of as an "ERP System construction set". The Pascal-like development language is easily accessible to appropriate developers and is designed for rapidly customizing the software. There is no need for

complex server side Transact-SQL stored procedures as the one language manages the application and database. As per July 2012 Dynamics NAV is being used by 92,500 companies globally.[9] The number of end users is estimated approx. two millions throughout the world. As a native International ERP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV is proposed with 43 official localizations unofficial ones (provided by local partners). These localizations ensure the full compliance of NAV with the local legal and fiscal rules. The NAV solution is also compliant with IAS/IFRS.[11] Microsoft Dynamics NAV delivers integrated functionality to provide support for:
[10]

and several

Financial management Supply chain management Manufacturing Distribution Customer relationship management Sales and marketing Service management Human resource management

Architecture[edit]
The Microsoft Dynamics NAV software is composed of three major components:

The Database Server, a database that stores the Microsoft Dynamics NAV data (as of NAV 2013 only Microsoft SQL Server)

The Application Server (starting from NAV 2009 RTC), a service that controls all aspects of Microsoft Dynamics NAV's operation

The Client(s), the actual user interface into Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Licensing Model[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics NAV uses a concurrent user licensing model. In 2006, Microsoft introduced the "Business Ready License" (BRL) model. The customer purchases user sessions, which have access to certain parts of the system included. There are two types of user - Business Essentials (BE) and Advanced Management (AM); AM provides access to more functionality than BE. Under

the previous licensing model, "Module Based License" (MBL), users came with no functionality - this all had to be bought separately. Microsoft offers a path for customers to transition from MBL to BRL licensing. With the arrival of NAV 2013, Microsoft introduced a new licensing model called "Perpetual Licensing", which considerably simplifies the pricing structure.

Add-ons[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Add-ons are software products supplementing NAV functionality. Add-on solutions are developed and distributed by Microsoft Partners worldwide network as granules or modules to improve functionality of NAV system or make it applicable in some business spheres. Microsoft Dynamics Solution Finder is an online tool to search for solutions within vertical markets, with an up-to-date overview and identifying solutions that are Certified for Microsoft dynamics.[12] There are vertical and horizontal add-on solutions. Horizontal add-on solutions supplement one of the NAV functions or add new function (e.g. financial management, human resources management etc.). Vertical (or industry-specific oriented) add-ons expand NAV functionality to support some industry (e.g. health care, brewery, financial services etc.) The majority of add-on solutions are multilingual with most supporting English.

Utilities[edit]
Microsoft Dynamics NAV utilities are small software modules for Microsoft Dynamics NAV improving programmers and database administrators work convenience and effectiveness. Also it makes program development and implementation processes faster and their cost lower. Eventually utilities will be developed by the NAV developers/implementers for their own needs and will then be distributed as a commercial software product.

Criticism[edit]
Software configuration management can be a time-consuming manual task, because Microsoft Dynamics NAV does not integrate with any revision control system and stores code in a database. Also, integration with .NET Framework code can be difficult, because Dynamics NAV C/AL programming language is not object-oriented.