Upgrading from 3.7 to 5.1

alex2605

Hello,
I'm planning to do a upgrade of our existing Navision 3.7 to 5.1. Our partner suggests a "two-step" upgrade from 3.7 to 5.0 and from 5.0 to 5.1 because Microsoft recommends this procedure. They say that a direct upgrade to 5.1 is too much changing for one IT department because in 5.0 changes the design and in 5.1 the whole structure.
That sounds logical to me but it dobles my cost.
What do you think about that?

Marije_Brummel

This is exactly what I am also advising, also keeping in mind that 5.1 will be largely a technical upgrade.

This means that if you prepare yourself by upgrading to 5.0 the 5.1 upgrade will be much easier.

No double costs but much less risks of things going wrong.

When customers are running on C/Side I even advise 3 steps, with SQL migration as extra step.

kriki

And 5.0 is only in beta and you are already talking about upgrading to 5.1! :shock:

nunomaia

Upgrade from 3.70 to 5.1 it will possible. Don’t forget that only some countries will have 5.0, so most of the upgrades will be directly from NAV 3.70 and 4.0 to NAV 5.1.

Portugal is one of the countries that don’t have 5.0 because doesn’t belongs to the first group of countries.

NAV 5.0 initially has to have the features of NAV 5.1, but MS to avoiding the delay released to versions.

I would advice to wait NAV 5.1, only upgrade to 5.0 if has features that you must implement in your business.

I always recommend waiting 3 or 4 months before to migrate to a new version.

Don’t hold you breathe for Navision 5.0 or 5.1 they are sill in beta.

Alex_Chow

All speculations.

Why not just wait for Microsoft to actually formally release the upgrade toolkit before recommending unofficial steps?

It's not uncommon to have Microsoft change their statements in the last minute.

nunomaia

Yep, you are right.

All speculations.

Why not just wait for Microsoft to actually formally release the upgrade toolkit before recommending unofficial steps?

It's not uncommon to have Microsoft change their statements in the last minute.

Alex_Chow

nunomaia wrote:

Yep, you are right.

One of the scariest things is to allow ourselves to start making statements to customers that were never intended by Microsoft. The mind can create all sorts of fantasies when not controlled properly.

DenSter

That's the smartest thing I've heard in this thread. Nothing 100% certain, so I would be very careful with what you tell customers. FOR SURE do not give them any date for 5.1 to come out. Two years ago it would have come out august last year, and now it's december 2007. I would not be surprised if it were postponed further. Do yourself a favor and don't talk about 5.1 to your customers yer.

I went to the roadshow in Detroit today and most of us agreed that the two step approach would work, it would basically be a two step approach to one upgrade, since there is no additional functionality planned between 5.0 and 5.1. But..... if it gets postponed even more who knows what gets put in there with the next 'service pack'.

ara3n

DenSter wrote:

That's . Do yourself a favor and don't talk about 5.1 to your customers yet.

knows what gets put in there with the next 'service pack'.

More bugs?

wwestendorp

in NAV 5.1 it will be possible to use it as 3 tier, NOT nessecary, so the difference between 5.0 and 5.1 would not be as big so you could upgrade from 3.7 up to 5.1 without any big problems (ither then upgrade to 5.0) if you still work with the server Client version instead useing the WEB Tier.

Please correct me if i'm wrong :shock:

Marije_Brummel

wwestendorp wrote:

in NAV 5.1 it will be possible to use it as 3 tier, NOT nessecary, so the difference between 5.0 and 5.1 would not be as big so you could upgrade from 3.7 up to 5.1 without any big problems (ither then upgrade to 5.0) if you still work with the server Client version instead useing the WEB Tier.

Please correct me if i'm wrong :shock:

This is exactly why my advise is this. But Daniel is correct, is 5.1 get's delayed again, the situation might me different.

Alex_Chow

I wonder if all the release and talks about 5.1 from Microsoft is labeled as "Partner Confidential"?

Nonetheless, it's still dangerous to try to sell what your expectations of 5.1 will be when it can be something completely different.

DenSter

I don't know if this is all partner confidential, but there are so many misunderstandings, misinterpretations, misassumptions and rumors flying around that it is difficult not to address some of them, because they can lead to big panics that are completely unnecessary.

I can go into a lot more detail about the 5.1 - 5.0 issue, but I should probably not.

Waldo

deadlizard wrote:

I wonder if all the release and talks about 5.1 from Microsoft is labeled as "Partner Confidential"?

Hm :-k
Several of our customers already heared a great deal about 5.1 and are expecting a lot of it.
One is even dreaming of cutting off their yearly 20000 EUR maintenance to citrix thanks to the "3-tier" structure. Where do they get this? Don't know ... I guess they have their connections.

Already on a mission to talk this out of his head. #-o

DenSter

See that's where I have the biggest problem keeping my mouth shut. I can't say anything with the %$#@ NDA, yet any bozo can spread rumors like that and get customers all in a panic or false hopes about the new architecture.

kriki

DenSter wrote:

See that's where I have the biggest problem keeping my mouth shut. I can't say anything with the NDA, yet any bozo can spread rumors like that and get customers all in a panic or false hopes about the new architecture.

Nice example of self-moderating
But I have to admit I feel the same

kine

You are not alone... :-#

ajhvdb

My customer wants to upgrade from 3.6. But what to do? Wait for 5.1 or go with 5.0 ?

They don't want to invest a lot of money in 5.0 to 5.1

denmark_serrano77

ajhvdb wrote:

My customer wants to upgrade from 3.6. But what to do? Wait for 5.1 or go with 5.0 ?

They don't want to invest a lot of money in 5.0 to 5.1

It's going to be a while before 5.1 comes out. 5.0's upgrade toolkit is still not available. You may need to consider upgrading your client to an interim version if you are thinking of upgrading them to address some issues they are encountering.

DenSter

The plan is not to add any functionality between 5.0 and 5.1. Of course now that the 5.1 release has been postponed, who knows what will happen, but Microsoft specifically stated at Convergence that they have no intentions to add any functionality beyond addressing bugs, and the postponed 5.1 release date was already known at the time.

The only thing you can expect to be added is some form revisions to accommodate easier transformation to the new client, and this would have to be done anyway, if you decide to wait for 5.1 or not.

An upgrade to 5.1 would include an object upgrade anyway, and keeping in mind that the functionality will be the same as 5.0, this would be the same amount of work, with the noted exception of some additional form changes. To repeat myself here: those form changes will have to be made anyway, whether you wait for 5.1 or upgrade to 5.0.

It does not make a difference whether you wait for 5.1 or go with 5.0 now. The object upgrade will have to be done anyway. Going with 5.0 now means that you will not have to do that later when you implement 5.1.