First Step? (both skills and certification)

Business Central/NAV User Forum
1

Hey people,

I am sure this is the first doubt that all newbies have. To the moderators, please let me know where I should post this if there is a thread already posted.

I apologize if my post is a bit boring. I just have too many doubts [:)].

Certification:

  • My boss needs the company to become a “Partner”. As such, he has asked my work mate to do the SQL certification and me to do the the following exam immediately. Probably within the next week - Exam MB7-838 ( Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Installation and Configuration).More info is on the following link.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=MB7-838&locale=en-us

  • I was wondering if anyone out there has done this exam. What should I read to get it through. I already have the help manual “Installation and Development Guide”.
  • Is the e-learning course that Microsoft provides worth it. Its around AUD$350 and its only 2hrs. I doubt that it will be enough though.
  • We do not have a licence for the full system. I do however have the demo version of Dynamics. Would the demo be enough to help me practice the deployment of a fully fledged system for the exam? If not, how should one get the exposure to deploy the system without a full product setup.

Skill

Only my colleague and I would be involved in developing and deploying the ERP system onto clients. As such, we cannot afford to split roles I guess.Where should one start with to improve our skills. I am currently thinking of buying this book “I**mplementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009” by David Roys et al.

2

I believe the company should hire someone who si experienced in NAV. Just having newbies and running navision practice is not a good idea.

Training Materials:

“I**mplementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009” by David Roys et al.

the above book is a good to start learning navision 2009

3

The company is not in the position to hire experienced consultants. There are no live projects going on to justify hiring someone experienced. Well that is the reason that the boss gives anyway.[:D]

Any suggestions with regards to the rest of the doubts?

4

You need to give serious thoughts about your future. The implementations that your company will make are going to be disasters. You need experienced people on board to successfully implement this system. Unfortunately yoru name will be associated with anything that goes wrong and will stay with you and follow you for many years.

Tell your boss either to do it properly or not sell Navision at all.

5

Sorry if I sound arrogant.I do not know what to say. If you understood the situation of the company, probably you would be in a better position to advice on my company’s strategy. However, I do understand that newbies cannot run Navision projects on their own. Long before this topic, I did raise this concern, and my boss would consider hiring experieneced consultants BUT only after we get a live project. Right now, as mentioned before there are no projects going on, as such there is no way he will hire someone experienced.

Back to the primary focus of my doubts, is there any suggestions with regards to materials for the Exam?

6

To David and Dhan Raj,

I know you are only looking out for me and I thank you for that.[:)]

7

I really think the best thing you can do it to tell your boss that he needs to get skilled people or go a different path. He is going to a lose a lot of money when he is doing lots of free work, and evne more when the client sues him.

8

To get a return on your investment, you first have to make the investment. You can’t be a partner without certified consultants and a number of customer references. You can’t get customers until you have experienced people. Ultimately this business is about knowledge and skills. Customers hire us for our knowledge about the system and our skill in helping them with their business processes. You must invest in the skill level if you want to be successful in this business.