Premanath Kumarage

Microsoft has now announced the general availability of Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP. Management Reporter, formerly codenamed Management Reporter 2.0, will act as the replacement for Microsoft FRx, www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO Management Reporter extends the proven functionality of Microsoft FRx and enables people to quickly and easily create, generate, help secure and publish professional-looking financial statements, such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports, and will also allow them to take advantage of the following: • Custom reports without IT assistance. These reports reduce the burden on the IT department by empowering the finance team to create its own financial statements. • Deep cross-functional analysis. Management Reporter provides easy and accurate financial reporting, intercompany reconciliations and eliminations. • Reduced training time and increased productivity. A familiar user interface and reporting ...

Based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV Statement of Direction – April 2010 Microsoft has now announced that NAV is going to support for Unicode with the release of Dynamics NAV "7", which will be released next year - 2011. This will also mean that we are finally going to say goodbye to Navision's native database, which otherwise have served very well basically since the release of the first DOS version of Navision in 1987. It is a goodbye to this REALLY GREAT & SUPER STABLE database. Unicode has been too much of a worry to the average Navision customer. But for international customers, who have been working with many different countries in the same database, then it's going to be a great help. NAV "7" will also be another goodbye. With the release of NAV “7”, "Forms" are also going to be disappeared. "Forms" have been the data presentation object until NAV 2009; however with the introduction of the “Role Tailored Client” - “RTC”, it is now t...

The C/SIDE development environment is going to be replaced from Classic Client to RTC. As you know, still we have to depend on the NAV Classic Client for making any customization, even though we do the implementation in RTC, but this structure is going to replace with the upcoming versions of Dynamics NAV. Some of the highlights would be as follows; 1. No Object Designer! Simple. This will be replaced with Designer Home Center; it will be another role center which allows developers/consultants to make any changes to the standard objects of the application. 2. Page Designer will be replaced with another page where it will allow you to proceed with your table customizations. This feature will be brought into the other object types as well. 3. In the Object List, developer will find the all objects including data about where they used and information about the usage. 4. No Visual Studio! Own simple editor for making all changes in Code Units. 5. The structure of the Editor would be more t...

Employee Portal provides a Web-based interface that gives employees quick access to mission-critical business information such as invoices, customer data, and some selected reports. Moreover, it real time integrates with the standard Microsoft Dynamics NAV database while collaborating with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) to provide you a browser based interface. Depending on the volume of transactions and the number of concurrent users, you can setup Employee Portal to run with either WSS or MOSS. However with MOSS, you would get additional support for making further developments. Employee Portal can also be identified as a Web Portal for Sales Persons who travels all over the country. In such instances, salesperson can logging to NAV and start creating Sales Orders or Sales Quotes as required by them. Let’s look at some typical screens available in the default Web pages. Item List /Product List Page This p...

Employee Portal provides a Web-based interface that gives employees quick access to mission-critical business information such as invoices, customer data, and some selected reports. Moreover, it real time integrates with the standard Microsoft Dynamics NAV database while collaborating with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) to provide you a browser based interface. Depending on the volume of transactions and the number of concurrent users, you can setup Employee Portal to run with either WSS or MOSS. However with MOSS, you would get additional support for making further developments. Employee Portal can also be identified as a Web Portal for Sales Persons who travels all over the country. In such instances, salesperson can logging to NAV and start creating Sales Orders or Sales Quotes as required by them. Let’s look at some typical screens available in the default Web pages. Item List /Product List Page This p...

Regardless of the version from which you are trying to do the upgrade, the whole process can be divided into two main phases as Object Upgrade and the Data Upgrade. Let’s first look at the Object Upgrade. In Object Upgrade, you have to identify all the customizations done in the current live version of the customer database and implement the same in a new 2009 SP1 database. Please remember that there are no short-cuts for this process. This is entirely a manual process, but you can make use of the existing tools such as Developer Toolkit. Using the Developer Toolkit you can compare/merge the original version 5 db and the current customer database wherein you can identify the differences between the two databases and implement the modifications in a new 2009 SP1 fresh database. Once you complete this process, you are through with the phase no 1. Remember that this is the most time consuming phase in an upgrade project. If you make any mistakes then you have to suffer a lot in the subseq...

Regardless of the version from which you are trying to do the upgrade, the whole process can be divided into two main phases as Object Upgrade and the Data Upgrade. Let’s first look at the Object Upgrade. In Object Upgrade, you have to identify all the customizations done in the current live version of the customer database and implement the same in a new 2009 SP1 database. Please remember that there are no short-cuts for this process. This is entirely a manual process, but you can make use of the existing tools such as Developer Toolkit. Using the Developer Toolkit you can compare/merge the original version 5 db and the current customer database wherein you can identify the differences between the two databases and implement the modifications in a new 2009 SP1 fresh database. Once you complete this process, you are through with the phase no 1. Remember that this is the most time consuming phase in an upgrade project. If you make any mistakes then you have to suffer lot in the subseque...

Perhaps you may have inquired the possibility of executing an external program within Dynamics NAV due to many reasons such as; 1. To run an external application like Windows Calendar or Skype within NAV 2. To run a Crystal Report using a Icon available in NAV Whatever the reason, concept for making this a reality would be as follows; Initially you may have to find out the directory path where the executable file of the external application is located. For example, let's assume that you are in need of calling the windows Calendar within Payment Journal Screen. You can search the calc.exe file where it is located. Mostly this is available in the windows System32 directory. Therefore the relevant directory path could be defined as 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\calc.exe'. In CAL, you could call the Calendar Control by giving the following command; SHELL('C:\WINDOWS\system32\calc.exe'); This can be achieved by placing an additional command button in the Payment Journal Screen. I...

Perhaps you may have inquired the possibility of executing an external program within Dynamics NAV due to many reasons such as; 1. To run an external application like Windows Calendar or Skype within NAV 2. To run a Crystal Report using a Icon available in NAV Whatever the reason, concept for making this a reality would be as follows; Initially you may have to find out the directory path where the executable file of the external application is located. For example, let's assume that you are in need of calling the windows Calendar within Payment Journal Screen. You can search the calc.exe file where it is located. Mostly this is available in the windows System32 directory. Therefore the relevant directory path could be defined as 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\calc.exe'. In CAL, you could call the Calendar Control by giving the following command; SHELL('C:\WINDOWS\system32\calc.exe'); This can be achieved by placing an additional command button in the Payment Journal Screen. I...

You may remember that customers who were running NAV 5.0 and NAV 2009 with SQL Server option were required to enable the Trace Flag 4616 in the SQL server database. However, this is no longer required with the latest NAV 2009 SP1 version, as it uses “VIEW SERVER STATE” permissions to enable visibility to the required connection information for each user. Therefore, now it is recommended that Trace Flag to be disabled after upgrading it 2009 SP1. If you are going for new installation, of course this is not required at all. In most cases, we enabled the Trace Flag by adding it to the startup parameters by opening the "Configuration Tools" folder of the "SQL Server Configuration Manager". However, you can disable it now by following the below steps; 1. Go to Start-> Run and select the "Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008" program group, select the "Configuration Tools" of the "SQL Server Configuration Manager" tool. 2. Double-click on the SQ...

You may remember that customers who were running NAV 5.0 and NAV 2009 with SQL Server option were required to enable the Trace Flag 4616 in the SQL server database. However, this is no longer required with the latest NAV 2009 SP1 version, as it uses “VIEW SERVER STATE” permissions to enable visibility to the required connection information for each user. Therefore, now it is recommended that Trace Flag to be disabled after upgrading it 2009 SP1. If you are going for new installation, of course this is not required at all. In most cases, we enabled the Trace Flag by adding it to the startup parameters by opening the "Configuration Tools" folder of the "SQL Server Configuration Manager". However, you can disable it now by following the below steps; 1. Go to Start-> Run and select the "Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008" program group, select the "Configuration Tools" of the "SQL Server Configuration Manager" tool. 2. Double-click on the SQ...

What is Role Center Role Centers are one of the most attractive features available in the latest of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009. Basically, a Role Center is designed to assist users by identifying the specific roles played in their day to day life. It improves the user friendliness of the ERP system by providing them an overview of the tasks and information relevant to their job and helps to plan their daily work. A role center is a Dash Board Screen for a specific segment of users where all the frequently used options of the ERP could be organized and make available in one single screen. These selected options may contain different data entry screens, batch jobs, reports, analysis screens, data integration objects such as Data ports, XML Ports and even URLs of frequently visiting web sites & email inbox / outbox as well. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 delivers with 21 default Role Centers and they could be further optimized as per the specific needs of the customers. These Role Cente...

What is Role Center Role Centers are one of the most attractive features available in the latest of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009. Basically, a Role Center is designed to assist users by identifying the specific roles played in their day to day life. It improves the user friendliness of the ERP system by providing them an overview of the tasks and information relevant to their job and helps to plan their daily work. A role center is a Dash Board Screen for a specific segment of users where all the frequently used options of the ERP could be organized and make available in one single screen. These selected options may contain different data entry screens, batch jobs, reports, analysis screens, data integration objects such as Data ports, XML Ports and even URLs of frequently visiting web sites & email inbox / outbox as well. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 delivers with 21 default Role Centers and they could be further optimized as per the specific needs of the customers. These Role Cente...

Thank you very much for your participation in the Seminar... It was on 3rd Feb 2010 from 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. at ANC Auditorium. Our session was all about Dynamics NAV and its attractive features among the other ERP systems in the market. We shared our knowledge on MS Dynamics NAV and its various aspects; a) Brief introduction on "what is ERP" and the impact of ERP on business process? - By Apsara who is a Project Manager - MS Dynamics NAV b.) Integration facilities available in the MS Dynamics NAV with SQL server, SharePoint, MS BizTalk Server and other related technologies. c.) Some useful facts on upgrading earlier versions of Microsoft Navision into the latest version of MS Dynamics NAV 2009 and its Role Tailored Architecture d.) Flexibilities and the features available in MS Dynamics for customization in tailor-making the software according to the individual customer requirements. c.) In the arena of ERP implementation, who are the Partners and their role? what are t...

Thank you very much for your participation in the Seminar... It was on 3rd Feb 2010 from 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. at ANC Auditorium. Our session was all about Dynamics NAV and its attractive features among the other ERP systems in the market. We shared our knowledge on MS Dynamics NAV and its various aspects; a) Brief introduction on "what is ERP" and the impact of ERP on business process? - By Apsara who is a Project Manager - MS Dynamics NAV b.) Integration facilities available in the MS Dynamics NAV with SQL server, SharePoint, MS BizTalk Server and other related technologies. c.) Some useful facts on upgrading earlier versions of Microsoft Navision into the latest version of MS Dynamics NAV 2009 and its Role Tailored Architecture d.) Flexibilities and the features available in MS Dynamics for customization in tailor-making the software according to the individual customer requirements. c.) In the arena of ERP implementation, who are the Partners and their role? what are t...

MS Dynamics NAV – Setting up an Application Server (NAS) In MS dynamics NAV, there are lots of discussions about NAS and its behavior & functionality and also about installing NAV correctly. Lets’ first see what is meant by NAS? What is NAS? Navision Application Server is a middle-tier server that runs as a service. It is designed to provide access from external clients to the MS Dynamics NAV Navision database. The database could be either MS SQL Server or Native Navision Database Server. Whatever database platform it runs, NAS acts as a bridge to the NAV database when it is integrated other external applications. In this case, external applications mean any other applications apart from the typical Navision client. The key role of the application server is in the e-business solutions. For example, Navision Application Server provides connectivity between a Web client (such as Navision Employee Portal) and Navision Database Server; between an external application (such as Microsoft...

MS Dynamics NAV – Setting up an Application Server (NAS) In MS dynamics NAV, there are lots of discussions about NAS and its behavior & functionality and also about installing NAV correctly. Lets’ first see what is meant by NAS? What is NAS? Navision Application Server is a middle-tier server that runs as a service. It is designed to provide access from external clients to the MS Dynamics NAV Navision database. The database could be either MS SQL Server or Native Navision Database Server. Whatever database platform it runs, NAS acts as a bridge to the NAV database when it is integrated other external applications. In this case, external applications mean any other applications apart from the typical Navision client. The key role of the application server is in the e-business solutions. For example, Navision Application Server provides connectivity between a Web client (such as Navision Employee Portal) and Navision Database Server; between an external application (such as Microsoft...

Let’s see the main steps involved during a version upgrade. In this case, it is assumed that the customer is running a version of Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 3.7 or more. 1. Get a backup of the current customer database and restore it in a 2009 client. 2. Identify all the objects modified in the customer database. For this process, Developer Toolkit for MS Dynamics NAV is recommended and all modifications that are done in the current client installations will be highlighted by the Developer Toolkit. Text form all objects files of both current customer database and cronus database should be provided to the Developer Toolkit as the inputs. 3. Analyze the modifications in the customer db and decide whether they are really required in the new version. For example, similar functionality may have been introduced by the new version. In such cases the modifications done in the old version may become obsolete. For example, from ver. 3.6 to NAV 2009 several areas have been redesigned a...

Let’s see the main steps involved during a version upgrade. In this case, it is assumed that the customer is running a version of Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 3.7 or more. 1. Get a backup of the current customer database and restore it in a 2009 client. 2. Identify all the objects modified in the customer database. For this process, Developer Toolkit for MS Dynamics NAV is recommended and all modifications that are done in the current client installations will be highlighted by the Developer Toolkit. Text form all objects files of both current customer database and cronus database should be provided to the Developer Toolkit as the inputs. 3. Analyze the modifications in the customer db and decide whether they are really required in the new version. For example, similar functionality may have been introduced by the new version. In such cases the modifications done in the old version may become obsolete. For example, from ver. 3.6 to NAV 2009 several areas have been redesigned a...