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general upgrading strategy - opinions?
Bluefinger
Member Posts: 20
in General Chat
Hi,
this might be a bit lenghty but I appreciate if you bear with me and share some thoughts.
Current situation:
We are working on a pretty old version of NAV Dynamics. The system info reads:
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1
Version AT 3.60 (6.00.29626)
The way we use it is that we take full advantage of the included accounting modules (G/L, Fixed Assets, Purchases) and a salary module. On top of that we developed a complete and pretty versatile ERP system that covers 100% of our daily business. We started out on 2.60 in 1999 and only upgraded when absolutely necessary. Upgrading so far never was much of a deal since the basic technology never changed. We have been working with the system for a little over 20 years now while constantly improving it. We would continue to do so but the extended support has ended and we need to do something. You might argue that our strategy was not very smart but that's the situation we are in right now and at least it worked for two decades.
The only reasonable thing to do if we continue to use Navision is to move to the newest version possible. Fact is that the classic client and reports as we know it are gone and we need to build the whole thing more or less from ground up. We might be able to use existing table layouts but the whole user interface with all functionalities needs to be created using the (for us) new pages, code needs to be moved to different places and most of all this is the time to clean up the code that has been tinkered with for 20 years.
The big question for me now is how long will we be able to use the new system. With the release of Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises Microsoft has shortened the extended warranty from 10 to 7 years. This means that the previous version NAV 2018 will actually live longer than the new one (11.1.2028). If I understand the Microsoft strategy correctly we cannot expect to see another version that supports the C/AL code which allows the user to develop his own functionalities. So if we develop a new system based on NAV 2018 and start using it some time next year it is very likely that we will not be able to use it any longer than 7 years before we hit another and of extended support. Chances are that by then there will be no version available to which we can migrate without developing the whole thing from ground up again or at least most parts of it.
As far as I know the new code AL is already available but without having any facts at hand I have been told that this is - for whatever reason - not ready to be used as a platform for a completely self developed ERP system.
We do love the accounting part of Navision, the fact that it's fully included in our ERP system and the powerful and comfortable functionalities it brings. So we are a bit biased when it comes to Navision.
I even wonder what risks we are facing if we are ignoring the end of extended support and just stick with what we have. My stomache tells me it's not the smartest thing to do but I have to admit that I still don't know all the facts. Security updates are a concern and not being compatible with future server platforms.
What are your opinions on this? Is there a severe misconception in my thinking? Am I overlooking something? Is there a way to stick with Navision by putting in the effort to create a new modern version of what we have without hitting a wall again 7 years down the road?
Any opinions are highly appreciated!
Thanks!
this might be a bit lenghty but I appreciate if you bear with me and share some thoughts.
Current situation:
We are working on a pretty old version of NAV Dynamics. The system info reads:
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1
Version AT 3.60 (6.00.29626)
The way we use it is that we take full advantage of the included accounting modules (G/L, Fixed Assets, Purchases) and a salary module. On top of that we developed a complete and pretty versatile ERP system that covers 100% of our daily business. We started out on 2.60 in 1999 and only upgraded when absolutely necessary. Upgrading so far never was much of a deal since the basic technology never changed. We have been working with the system for a little over 20 years now while constantly improving it. We would continue to do so but the extended support has ended and we need to do something. You might argue that our strategy was not very smart but that's the situation we are in right now and at least it worked for two decades.
The only reasonable thing to do if we continue to use Navision is to move to the newest version possible. Fact is that the classic client and reports as we know it are gone and we need to build the whole thing more or less from ground up. We might be able to use existing table layouts but the whole user interface with all functionalities needs to be created using the (for us) new pages, code needs to be moved to different places and most of all this is the time to clean up the code that has been tinkered with for 20 years.
The big question for me now is how long will we be able to use the new system. With the release of Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises Microsoft has shortened the extended warranty from 10 to 7 years. This means that the previous version NAV 2018 will actually live longer than the new one (11.1.2028). If I understand the Microsoft strategy correctly we cannot expect to see another version that supports the C/AL code which allows the user to develop his own functionalities. So if we develop a new system based on NAV 2018 and start using it some time next year it is very likely that we will not be able to use it any longer than 7 years before we hit another and of extended support. Chances are that by then there will be no version available to which we can migrate without developing the whole thing from ground up again or at least most parts of it.
As far as I know the new code AL is already available but without having any facts at hand I have been told that this is - for whatever reason - not ready to be used as a platform for a completely self developed ERP system.
We do love the accounting part of Navision, the fact that it's fully included in our ERP system and the powerful and comfortable functionalities it brings. So we are a bit biased when it comes to Navision.
I even wonder what risks we are facing if we are ignoring the end of extended support and just stick with what we have. My stomache tells me it's not the smartest thing to do but I have to admit that I still don't know all the facts. Security updates are a concern and not being compatible with future server platforms.
What are your opinions on this? Is there a severe misconception in my thinking? Am I overlooking something? Is there a way to stick with Navision by putting in the effort to create a new modern version of what we have without hitting a wall again 7 years down the road?
Any opinions are highly appreciated!
Thanks!
0
Comments
So of course while investing into NAV 2018 may be risky in case they really do stick to this decision, I would tend that way.
I don't know much about BC AL technology, but as for NAV 2018 C/AL it isn't as big of a redevelopment as you think. Tables are the same, and coding did not really change that much, the primary thing is that now instead of customizing the standard code you can subscribe to events so the standard is less touched. As for Pages, for NAV 2009 SP1 there is a tool that generates pages from forms. I have no idea where it is, most people didn't use it for like 8 years, but if you ask a NAV partner they will likely have a copy.
This is true so far if you sticked to largely basic form layouts, similar to standard. Now I know a lot of companies don't, because they think ERP means every kind of work that happens in an office and thus develop inside NAV things that require forms with complicated layouts like product configurators. After all the old Navision Forms were so flexible, there was once upon a time a Nibbles videogame uploaded to mibuso with Navision forms and buttons. Seriously.
If you have those stuff, that will have to be a C# client-side add-in. And that may be hard. Or perhaps website. That may be more modern.
Anyway at least that tool would take care of your basic forms.
Finally reports. Well it depends. I was a smart boi, from the second RTC came out, with NAV 2009 SP1, I never ever created any "printable" reports, all my reports used Excel Buffer, and only documents had the normal printable layout. If you did the same, it is not that hard but you will have to find some free add-ons like Kaufmans ClosedXML if you want an Excel buffer that is properly extensible with things like colors and multiple sheets. If you do have a lot of printable reports, that sucks.
Documents turn out to be less bad than I thought. About 2 days each. It really depends. Make functions in some function library that generates e.g. the footer data that may be the same for all reports, like company contact info. If you don't care much and just want something nice looking, you can buy a document package from a partner for about 2-3 K and it can be very pretty. I did that for one of our subsidiaries.