Anyone on Navision 4.0 without menusuite ?

Hello, we are currently on a migration from NF 2.00 to Navision 4.0, so far we made some greate steps. In the first attemp we will use the old Navision menu’s, we disscussed this very long and from our sight of view we don’t wan’t to bother the users with the new menusuite wich IMHO is more a pain than a good new feature. So i just want’t to catch up some minds on that topic and i would like to know if anyone else here is also using Navision 4.0 without the menusuite.

We have Navision 3.6, so we still have the old menu. But I took a peek at 4.0 with its menusuite. It’s a big difference compared to the old menu. I think that in the end the users will appreciate the menusuite for its flexibility and extra options. I think that “Shortcuts” can be very usefull for users. You can put together your own menu and “Hide”, “Show”, “Move up”, “Move down” whatever you want. Our users complain a lot about seeing much more links then they will ever use. I think “Shortcuts” can solve this problem. I would rethink your decision to not use the menusuite. But that’s my opinion. [:)]

For a new user I would agree with Tino that the new menu suite simplifies things. A nice feature of the menusuite is that it hides options that the end user is not licensed for or the user does not have permissions to run. This makes the software a little less daunting to new users. However, existing users who are used to Navision may find it difficult to find things in the new menu suite. How long did it take you to find the item card the first time you looked at Navision 4? [;)]. I think the problem is caused that the various menus that existed prior to 4.0 are not reflected in new menu design (i.e. there is no inventory menu in v4.0). Have you considered a compromise and design the menu-suite to reflect the structure of the pre-v4 menus a little closer?

No problem. You can run Navision - at least from ver. 3.6 - on the ver. 4.0 kernel. The MBS MenuSuite must be deleted. That means that in the Object Designer the Object List for Menu Suites must be empty. If so the old Main Menu will be called.

@Steen Fisker thanks for the Tip, but already knew that, i just wanted to catch up some minds. @Tino+Gary thanks for your suggestions.

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However, existing users who are used to Navision may find it difficult to find things in the new menu suite. How long did it take you to find the item card the first time you looked at Navision 4? . I think the problem is caused that the various menus that existed prior to 4.0 are not reflected in new menu design (i.e. there is no inventory menu in v4.0)

Well that is the point, we are only two developers, and we currently don’t have the time to teach 150 users over three countries, so for now we will stay on the old style menus and switch in a later step to the new menusuite.

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Have you considered a compromise and design the menu-suite to reflect the structure of the pre-v4 menus a little closer?

We also discussed this, and we will do something like this, but as mentioned above in a later step.

Just a side note…for clients that we upgrade from previous versions of Navision, we’ve actually given them the best of both worlds. We added a new menu choice that replicates their old Navision Main Menu. This allows users that like that old navigation process to stop complaining about the new interface. Just an idea.

@All The menusuit in Navision 4.x is just a temporary thing. In 5.0 The frontend will be completely changed. This will be released in 2006. See http://www.mbsonline.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15111 I would advise to use the menusuite, however if you cannot get used to it, use the old menu’s. Greetz, Marq

Hi Ralph, Thanks for the input, as i wrote before we will switch in a later step totaly to the menu suite or in other words, the user can decide wich menu style he wants to use (suite or old style). As mentioned in this thread both Styles will be activated.

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So this point could also be a great problem in future for you - and not only in “wage and salary administration”.

well propably this is a problem when switching from 2.01 to 2.6 but IMHO this aint a problem (or not a bigt problem)when switching from 2.01 to 4.0, The menusuite in 4.0 does not offer the abilty to use source code in a suite. The Navision 4.0 suite provides “only” links to objekts, so if you use your addon “wage and salary administration” on a 4.0 system off course with 4.0 ready objects (that means incl. menusuits) then you “simply” look what objects are linked and reproduces that links in the old style menu thats it. this how we made it for some addons we use, even we use the old report selection @marq thanks for the info best regards