Upgrade to NAV 09 - Rip off ?

herbertm

Hi
We are a small company still running Navision 3.6. Our Solution Center now offered us an upgrade to NAV 2009. Since we do not have a Licence Contract with Microsoft, we were told that we have to pay a penalty for all the months we didnt pay any fees. Apparently this is because thats the only way to keep our few licences intact, which are necessary for our upgrade. Additionally, all custom modifications have to get ported to the new NAV, which will be very time consuming and therefore very expensive for us. We told them that we don't want to spend much money, but apparently that is the only possible way to realize an upgrade.

After browsing the web,especially mibuso.com, some interesting points crossed my mind.
1. Several times I read about a so called 'technical' upgrade, where only the client and the server gets updated but the database and particulary the custom objects are untouched. I read that this is only possible with NAV 2009 Classic, but this is the version we are actually interested in. At this point I have the feeling that our solution center wants to make money from us by porting custom objects to NAV 09, while using the 'old' objects would still be possible.

2. Our licenses are about 10 years old and have a value of approx. 30k. Since we only have 3 user licenses, the main part are bought modules. Our solution center told us that this modul based Navision is no longer for sale apart from existing customers.
Now it would be much cheaper for us to buy a complete new Navision with new licenses and pay the mandatory upgrade contract for 12 months. I read that the new licenses cover main features of Navision that are probably sufficient for us - so there would be no need to invest in further modules. Again, this is an option we were not told about.

Is our solution center trying to get us into our old contract and maximise their profit or am I missing something that makes their arguments valid?

Regards,
Herbert

David_Singleton

It's a very hard question to answer because we don't know the facts. How heavily customized is your implementation? What granules have you purchased that are not in the BR license?

Definitely the upgrade path form 3.60 to 2009 is a big one, and you need to make a decision on that. But with a three user system, I would tend to agree that starting from scratch is probably a better idea.

Alex_Chow

There's a promotion out right now called Sky's the Limit. The promotion basically allows you to get back on the enhancement without having to pay the years that you lapse and the penalties associated. However, you do have to sign a 3 year enhancement deal with Microsoft. I think the promotion ends April 2011.

1. You do not need to upgrade if you're not comfortable with the new features. NAV2009R2 comes with many bug fixes and new functionalities from 3.6. If you don't need the new functionalities offered, don't upgrade! Just do a technical upgrade so you guys can use Windows 7.

2. Module based licensing is still available for existing clients. You do NOT have to upgrade to the new licensing structure even if you're going to NAV2009 R2.

If you feel your solution provider's salesperson is trying to rip you off, then go to their manager or the owner of the solution provider. I would not want a misinformed or dishonest salesperson representing my company.