Hi, I’m wondering if anybody has implemented NF in several different countries only using one database? Can you in some way handle different accounting principles and other country-specific functions Best Regards Anders Lidgren Developer, Sweden ______________________________ Anders Lidgren NCSD Martinsson IS Sweden ______________________________
Hi, Yes, that has been tried. There are no definitive answer to your question, because different combinations of countries will give different answers. Generally I can say that it’s a bad idea to try and combine different countries in the same database because of the different local legislations and because og languages. Even if you can combine the different legal requirements in a database, you never know if one country comes up with a different requirement tomorrow. Please rememeber, there is a reason why Navision has one version per country! My advice to you is to contact your Local Navisoin Software Office and ask for details about running an international project. They can then contact Navision Software a/s, who are able to give you detailed information, and in addition you might even have the option to have your customer sign an international purchase agreement with Navision, which will give your customer a general discount on licenses, which is available in all Navision countries. Best regards Lars
Hi, Thank you for your answer Do you have any experince, in such cases. I think the solution is to run in regionals databases. or do you have any idea /Anders ______________________________ Anders Lidgren NCSD Martinsson IS Sweden ______________________________
I am now running two companies in a common NF database, W1 version, one Swedish and one US. A US NF consultant said that this wasn’t acceptable, because of US good accounting practises. Though he couldn’t prove his case and we are steaming on. We will soon start a Danish, an UK and a Netherlands company in the same database. All the information is there, it’s just to extract what the local authorities wants. Couldn’t you do anything with Navision?
Hi, We helped a customer implement NF in France using a US-Advanced Distribution Database. The Database is used and stored in the States and about 20 french users are connected 8 hours a day through Citrix. After 4 months, it seems that the french accounting team can handle the most important accounting issues. The US are not used to EURO and VAT issues. We just had some problems in the beginning because of some missing fields (the country code, currency code, General Product or Business Posting Group on Journals have disappeared on the US forms…). More painful was when we ran into some bugs (using EURO as Additional Reporting Currency and asking for Automatic Inventory Cost Posting doesn’t work under NF2.01 for example). It was impossible to get any help neither in France (“oh, you use an US version, please contact Navision US”), neither in the States (this a problem linked to EURO, what is EURO ?.. please contact Navision France…). Even if it seems to work, we still have some open problems (some specific development needed just for one of the companies in the Intrastats Granule for example). You’ll probably waste the money you’ve spared because of different local legislations and different user-habits that need specific developments. I agree with Lars when he says that “there’s no definitive answer to you question”. Best Regards. Edited by - fredh on 6/9/00 10:21:38 AM
There are a couple of things you will need to take care of. Some countries, for instance, require a specific setup of the G/L Accounts (i.e. Belgium, Hungary). You will have to setup a system to keep track of the various tax issues (i.e. VAT for local deliveries, VAT for EU deliveries, Sales Tax in the US, but also WithHolding Tax for other countries). Or think of the differences in handling depreciations. And so on and so forth. How do you expect to get knowledge for all these different situations and aspects? How do you expect to provide support? Are you sending out a consultant/programmer every time? But yes, international projects have been done and are being done in Navision. We are currently involved in a multi-country project for a multinational, whereby the general special methods and rules for this customer are developed by one NSC (that’s us), but for each country a local NSC will be involved for the localization and local implementation. John
Can someone post the code to check what country the Financials system is running please? I cant find it on here … but I know its somewhere… thanks in advance Craig Bradney Technical Manager Navision Solutions & Services, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Email:cbradney@deloitte.com.au
A little off-topic but ok - it’s my fault that the topic wasn’t closed already. I don’t think there is any code that you can use to display the C/SIDE / CLIENT EXE version, but you can display the database application verision. See in codeunit 1 - ApplicationVersion. Best regards, Erik P. Ernst, webmaster Navision Online User Group
Surprised at finding this topic still alive I have this to report (quite lengty): We are now running four companies in the same W1 database, located in DK, NL, SE and US. Two more are under implementation (GB, SE). My impressions to date: The decision to run several companies in one database is a balance of some factors: a) The complexity of the installation. Big investments in a customer specific Navision solution would probably be much more expensive to implement with one installation and one solution center in every country. b) Overall size of the installation. a & b: The benefits of running one database is greater for a group of small companies that need a lot of special programming, then for a group of big companies with a more standardized solution. Development and support can be centralised. c) Cost of acceptable distance user connections. The cost of leased lines is high, and the quality of ADSL/SDSL lines vary a lot between regions. If the distant user need guaranteed continous full time access with short response times it could be very expensive. d) Benefit of simple intercompany routines. Common business structure, Items, Bill of Materials and Accounts etc., combined with a lot of intercompany transactions are more easily handled in a common database. e) Benefit of centralised control. Using a common database simplifies group sales statistics, liquidity analysis etc. f) Maintenance. Every Navision server needs harware/software maintenance. Make them few. g) Using the same database forces companies to standardize routines. It is a great help in implementing a common group policy. The obvious problem with different accounting practices and tax/VAT systems doesn’t seem to matter much. After all, all the info is there, so it is merely a question of designing your reports. And I hear that European accountants are adopting the US GAP. Pelle