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Navision Independent Freelancers Unite!!!
TallMikey
Member Posts: 40
(Posted with Permission of Webmaster / Luc)
Hello, this message is for everyone who works with Navision and are Independent / Freelance consultants - i.e. work with the product but aren't really tied to an NSC. Also it may be of interest to anyone who is thinking of going the independent route.
I work independently and have joined up with some other freelancers here in the USA and we thought we can help each other out. There are many of us who either support our own clients and / or work through other organizations. The money is usually great working like this, but there are some drawbacks that we are trying to get around. We thought by working together we can all benefit!
Also, if there are end-users or NSC's that need very experienced people to help them, we are compiling a good group of veryexperienced Navision people.
Since MBS doesn't really cater to us, here are some things that by working together our group been able to overcome:
NAVISION LICENSES - How to get a (legal and current) Navision developer licenses to work with.
PARTNERSOURCE / INTRANET - How to get our own (again legal) login to all the internal MBS Navision resources.
I HAVE TOO MUCH WORK / MY CLIENT IS ASKING FOR SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT - For those of us who service our own clients, sometimes we get overburdened or a customer wants a module that we don't know so well. For example, a friend who supports a few Manufacturing and Distribution clients
had one of his clients ask him to implement payroll - luckily I knew someone who had this skill, I put them in touch, and after a few conversations, they worked together to have a happy customer.
I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH WORK - Sometimes we may be between projects with our customers and want to put some extra money in our pocket (or we are just bored!)
ORDERING NEW MODULES - Most of us are supporting clients that have a bad relationship with their NSC, and it is awkward when they want to order new things for their license (users, granules, etc.) We have a good way around this - which also brings in more money!
EVENTS LIKE THE PARTNER CONFERENCE AND TRAINING - Working independently, we sometimes don't know about the upcoming events, and if we want to attend one of those or some training classes, it is difficult to attend.
NEED SALES HELP - Sometimes an existing client may want to look into a big new project (rolling out to other locations, new modules, integrations, etc.) but sales may not be your thing. Me and a few others that I know are technical people that are used to the sales cycle (we are _NOT_ the normal sofware sales people - don't ever call me that!! :> )
LEVEL 2 PROBLEM SOLVING - Sometimes the message boards just aren't enough! Since I have started working with and trusing a few other really good Navision freelancers, they have helped me with at least two complex problems that I was struggling with alone. It's nice to have someone to help work through a problem with.
WORKING IN A GROUP - I really like working for my self and being able to service my own clients, but sometimes it is nice to have other people that are in the same situation.
GO ON A VACATION - Since I met some other independents, I can actually go away for a few days! I call one of the other people I know, and they can help out one of my customers if I go away for a few days and the customer has a show-stopping problem. Then I do the same for them when they go away.
HEALTH INSURANCE, ETC. - If we have enough people that are in the same boat, we could even see about having group health insurance, which is one thing that I really miss from working for an NSC!
If you run across any of these, please send me an e-mail and we can talk further. I have been working with Navision since 1995, and I like working for myself, but am much more comfortable now that I am working with others that have the same goals and challenges that I do.
If there are going to be enough people interested, maybe we can all get together one night during the WW Partner Conference - and if you want to go but don't know how to get yourself a ticket, let me know!
Thanks Everyone,
Michael Anderson
michael@it-force.com
+1-858-405-7172
Hello, this message is for everyone who works with Navision and are Independent / Freelance consultants - i.e. work with the product but aren't really tied to an NSC. Also it may be of interest to anyone who is thinking of going the independent route.
I work independently and have joined up with some other freelancers here in the USA and we thought we can help each other out. There are many of us who either support our own clients and / or work through other organizations. The money is usually great working like this, but there are some drawbacks that we are trying to get around. We thought by working together we can all benefit!
Also, if there are end-users or NSC's that need very experienced people to help them, we are compiling a good group of veryexperienced Navision people.
Since MBS doesn't really cater to us, here are some things that by working together our group been able to overcome:
NAVISION LICENSES - How to get a (legal and current) Navision developer licenses to work with.
PARTNERSOURCE / INTRANET - How to get our own (again legal) login to all the internal MBS Navision resources.
I HAVE TOO MUCH WORK / MY CLIENT IS ASKING FOR SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT - For those of us who service our own clients, sometimes we get overburdened or a customer wants a module that we don't know so well. For example, a friend who supports a few Manufacturing and Distribution clients
had one of his clients ask him to implement payroll - luckily I knew someone who had this skill, I put them in touch, and after a few conversations, they worked together to have a happy customer.
I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH WORK - Sometimes we may be between projects with our customers and want to put some extra money in our pocket (or we are just bored!)
ORDERING NEW MODULES - Most of us are supporting clients that have a bad relationship with their NSC, and it is awkward when they want to order new things for their license (users, granules, etc.) We have a good way around this - which also brings in more money!
EVENTS LIKE THE PARTNER CONFERENCE AND TRAINING - Working independently, we sometimes don't know about the upcoming events, and if we want to attend one of those or some training classes, it is difficult to attend.
NEED SALES HELP - Sometimes an existing client may want to look into a big new project (rolling out to other locations, new modules, integrations, etc.) but sales may not be your thing. Me and a few others that I know are technical people that are used to the sales cycle (we are _NOT_ the normal sofware sales people - don't ever call me that!! :> )
LEVEL 2 PROBLEM SOLVING - Sometimes the message boards just aren't enough! Since I have started working with and trusing a few other really good Navision freelancers, they have helped me with at least two complex problems that I was struggling with alone. It's nice to have someone to help work through a problem with.
WORKING IN A GROUP - I really like working for my self and being able to service my own clients, but sometimes it is nice to have other people that are in the same situation.
GO ON A VACATION - Since I met some other independents, I can actually go away for a few days! I call one of the other people I know, and they can help out one of my customers if I go away for a few days and the customer has a show-stopping problem. Then I do the same for them when they go away.
HEALTH INSURANCE, ETC. - If we have enough people that are in the same boat, we could even see about having group health insurance, which is one thing that I really miss from working for an NSC!
If you run across any of these, please send me an e-mail and we can talk further. I have been working with Navision since 1995, and I like working for myself, but am much more comfortable now that I am working with others that have the same goals and challenges that I do.
If there are going to be enough people interested, maybe we can all get together one night during the WW Partner Conference - and if you want to go but don't know how to get yourself a ticket, let me know!
Thanks Everyone,
Michael Anderson
michael@it-force.com
+1-858-405-7172
1
Comments
I work for an NSC myself and I am happy with that.
NSC themselves encounter problems regarding experience in a module or in finding experienced personnel.
For this reason they look for resources within other partners. Once you unite it could be helpfull to have a website where we can place a demand for resource, and where you guys can reply to...
Maybe usefull to integrate this in Mibuso...
Good luck!
Just like MBSgurus.com for MBS Professionals, something (e. g. MBS-Ressources.com or something like that) could be the worldwide MeetingPoint for sharing MBS Professionals.
There could be something like the business directory here on mibuso.com with more details of their knowledge (Products (Axapta, Navision, CRM, ...), Versions, Modules, AddOns (e. g. Payroll, ...), Special Solutions (CTI, ...), ..., ..., ...).
Perhaps it could be possible to create a business network where you can see which partner / freelancer cooperate with which partner / freelancer.
This could be very usefull if you need more than one freelancer for one of your projects. Then you can see that this freelancers are working together which results in a more efficient work for your project.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Developer since 1997
MSDynamics.de - German Microsoft Dynamics Community - member of [clip]
http://www.mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1000
http://www.mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1216
Yes I'm interested too. I sent you my email address.
Let's give it a try.
www.dasautomatisering.nl
I am an independent, but with full MS credentials - Certified Partner and MBS partner.
http://mibuso.com/blogs/davidmachanick/
We are in the process of developing our next release of mbsgurus.com now so if you have any suggestions on what we can do for all you Freelancers out there then please do let me know. We could even look at adding in a completely separate section specifically for Freelancers and companies who need/use them.
Let us know how we can help!
Brett Iredale
www.mbsgurus.com
The Global Employment Portal for Microsoft Business Solutions Specialists
Do It Yourself is they key. Standard code might work - your code surely works.
NOT Possible.
Do It Yourself is they key. Standard code might work - your code surely works.
If you have report/dataport designer you have the debugger and codecoverage.
I know it is not much, but it's a start.
And if a customer thinks hiring a freelancer is cheaper or better he will have to purchase the application designer granule. This will enable the freelancer to do his job.
Actually, if I were a customer, I would hire a freelancer as an employee for two years, and buy no implementation services, and only report/dataport designer, because if a company is flexible, then an amazing amount of customization is possible only by writing batch-mode reports and nothing else. Actually, it can be quite possible that this is the correct answer for the usual "customisation vs. upgradability" question, - it is so easy to write "wizard" reports that generate items, customers, orders,invoices... without changing the standard system.
As an NSC, I can't do it as customers expect to "repair" the software instead of adding the " 6th little transfer order generator batch job especially for Joe", but if a customer has a freelancer hired as an employee working as an internal consultant, I think it is possible to convice people that this is a better way than hackin' everything.
It might work.
Do It Yourself is they key. Standard code might work - your code surely works.
After you have 'finished' your implementation with your NSC, and you cannot afford to train your own Navision guru, you can hire a freelancer to fine-tune Navision to your orginasation. This has a few good things to it.
A NSC mostly simply does not have the time to let its good people stay at old customers,
Most NSC employees want to implement new projects, not play help-desk
If you hire a freelancer you most of the time hire one person you can call every time you need him, if you call your NSC you can only hope for 'that guy who knows my company' to be sent to you.
Freelancers are generaly more flexible and cheaper
Freelancers and small navision service centers are poping out of the ground here in NL faster than you can see.
At the end you have a more sattisfied customer and a NSC-Customer relationship that lasts longer.
As for me personal I just like to develop add-on software for navision and don't want contact with end-users at all.
I only use this forum because they don't let me out much...
Do It Yourself is they key. Standard code might work - your code surely works.
I'll tell my boss
RIS Plus, LLC
Yeah, but it took him nearly 2 years to find out.
The problem in the end is that the people who forms the group will usually want to charge for their "group" services. The reason is they need to make a profit, and it's only natural since there are certain overhead associated when forming an entity.
I'm still waiting for a non-profit group to start to unite the developers and implementors.
AP Commerce, Inc. = where I work
Getting Started with Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Development = my book
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV - 3rd Edition = my 2nd book
A person with that skillset and not charging you an arm and a leg... Welcome to our world.
AP Commerce, Inc. = where I work
Getting Started with Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Development = my book
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV - 3rd Edition = my 2nd book
Independent Consultant/Developer
blog: https://dynamicsuser.net/nav/b/ara3n
Just ask Mark or Erik how much they charge.
AP Commerce, Inc. = where I work
Getting Started with Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Development = my book
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV - 3rd Edition = my 2nd book
I clicked on your link and see a website titled Zulu trade and some rubbish. Have you changed your website?
It's a post from 2005 :whistle:
http://replay.waybackmachine.org/200502 ... x?Loc=Home
One client of me has its own license key, so I can develop there within his license range.
That's how it works for me.
www.dasautomatisering.nl
True. Extension development could bring some change