Monthly Archives: January 2009

A look back: January 2009

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imageIs there a better way to start a week than coming to NavigateIntoSuccess.com to find a fresh new post about Microsoft Dynamics NAV or something of the sort?

Of course there is, come on.

And yet, to my surprise, Mondays seem to be the busiest days over here at NavigateIntoSuccess.com. I’ll take it you liked my new policy: a new post every Monday and every Thursday. Since it worked for both you and me, I’m going to keep it in place.

In January, I’ve introduced a lot of changes to this blog, and although I didn’t expect them to really work, you proved me wrong. So, let’s take a look back at this fantastic month.

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Sure Step in action: Architecture Assessment

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Implementing a new Microsoft Dynamics solution doesn’t merely introduce a new piece of software into your environment. Yes, the software is an important part, you need to deploy it successfully, configure it as necessary, probably even customize it and change the business logic under the hood.

One component, however, is easily overlooked, and you wouldn’t believe how often it’s not addressed until late. Or too late. It’s the infrastructure.

Infrastructure is tough. It’s not just servers and desktops with some wires, switches and access points in between. Its a lot more. What kind of hardware do you need for your servers or desktops? What kind of performance do you really need? What kind of network layout is optimal for your transaction volume? Should you run the client on desktop machines, or would a remote desktop access be a preferred method? Do you virtualize your servers? What kind of failover capacities do you need? Can you retain any of your old hardware? How many users will use the system? Tomorrow? In five years? What about interfaces and integration to other systems or applications?

A couple of wrong answers, and down you go.

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Cookbook user experience, anyone?

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image I’ll never forget my first NAV project. I was helping a customer migrate data from their old COBOL-based application, and was spending most of my time with a mid-aged lady who at first fascinated me with her mastery of their old application.

That was until I found out she actually had no clue whatsoever about what she was really doing.

What I perceived as her masterful dexterity with a character-based user interface of a DOS application, in fact was total cluelessness about both her business and her software.

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Not very-well-known NAV blogs

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When I started blogging about Microsoft Dynamics NAV back in 2007 it was because there were not too many blogs on the topic at the time. There were a few notable ones, and that was it. If you wanted to track them all, it was a piece of a cake.

Today, there are hundreds of blogs, more or less frequently updated, sharing a lot of insight, opinions, tips, tricks and stuff. There is no way to keep an eye on a lot of them, and many of them are probably slipping under your radar.

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