‘Modification’ is often seen as a taboo word but it need not be so. Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners, like Fenwick Software, are here to leverage the standard NAV solution to streamline and enhance business processes. It’s important to remember though, that Microsoft Dynamics NAV is used across the world, in dozens of industries. Whatever requirements your business has, NAV likely handles them to some degree.
Despite this, in recent months, I have dealt with several clients who have joined us from another Microsoft Dynamics NAV provider. In that time, I’ve been exposed to a very different philosophy as I’ve examined the modifications that were previously done on the client’s system.
Working within the guidelines and systems to extend existing functionality leads to a reliable and robust system that is cost effective in the long run
These include a complete custom warehouse management system that circumvented standard Picks, Put-aways and Movements; an allocation system that ignored standard availability and reservation functionality; and a random weighting solution that rendered Item Journals entirely non-functional. And in all of these cases I’ve been unable to stop asking myself, ‘Why?’
Imagine owning a solid two-story house, bare of furnishings but structurally sound. You know you want a trash disposal for your kitchen but don’t know anything about plumbing so you hire a trades-person to do it for you. The tradesman has two options: install the trash disposal into one of the current sinks where the noise will be absorbed by the existing cabinetry, or build a new cabinet specifically to hold your new trash disposal. He opts for the latter but doesn’t have much time, so the cabinet door doesn’t close properly and the noise of the trash disposal is distracting and disruptive. Hardly the best outcome.That’s what poorly considered NAV modifications are like.
Reductiveness aside, Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an incredibly powerful tool through which your business can run. Microsoft have spent years building and refining their product. Working within the guidelines and systems to extend existing functionality leads to a reliable and robust system that is cost effective in the long run. At Fenwick Software that’s what we do.
