Navision 5.0 Help

Hi

Our company started using Navision roughly two years ago. We have four locations and several divisions that include, landscape construction/maintenance, 3 retail centers, a tree farm and a nursery stock growing facility. Our retail centers have a POS that feeds into NAV, but not vice versa. We have had a string of bad luck with our consultants/consulting companies. The first 3 companies we were with fell apart/or went bankrupt. We had inadequate training and most of what we learned was self taught. We have established ties with a new and seemingly reputable company but have yet to use their services. We recently requested a quote for some additonal training on the jobs module as well as some changes to a couple of reports within that module, after receiving a quote for 18,000.00, we are now wondering if NAV is really the correct program for us. We have ran into several issues in each of our divisions and can not come up with the answers on our own. Issues:

  1. Growing side- We produce stella daylilies and also purchase them. We currently have two items set up, one for the purchased and one for the produced (due to cost difference), each with their own UPC. However when the stella is used on a landscape construction job, we have no idea which one was used, so inventory is not correct. We have remedied the situation by having crews remove strip tag and return with job sheets so the correct item is invoiced. It was brought up in a meeting yesterday to possibly condense the two items into one, use colored tags for the produced, so when month end inventory is taken we will know what is left that was produced or purchased and can make the cost adjustments accordingly.

  2. Retail side: Our retail portal feeds into Nav but not vice versa. Whenever there is a new item, price change or inventory count, a double entry needs to be done to have correct info in both systems.

  3. Landscape Construction: We are not using the job module due to lack of training. I’m sure I will be able to figure it out via manual in the off season, but for now a quote is being typed in Excel and the invoice in NAV. The main problem is setting up items. We do not stock landscape lighting, but we do order it in and install it. The customer is quoted a $ amount for Landscape Lighting which includes the materials and labor. We do not want to set up an item for each piece of lighting being installed because we want to invoice one lump sum. Our accountant feels that an item needs to be set up for each item due to the cost issue. I find myself doing alot of invoices in Excel for customer and another invoice in NAV using all the items and adjusting the labor to make the invoice equal the quoted price. We have come up with several different ideas to avoid setting up items for non inventoried items, but I would interested in hearing other peoples ideas.

We have invested a lot of time and money in this system and would really like to make it work for us. We are looking to initiate contact with someone that has used or has knowledge of Navision being used in a similar scenario as ours. We would like to get answers to some questions in order to make an educated decision on whether to continue to move forward with Navision.

Please Help us.

wow 18K for training and reports? I would need some more info to see. Training in jobs shouldn’t take than a couple of days. Do you have an itemized quote for each task? Also may I ask what solution center is this? 2, For retail, I would write some dataport that will do the sync at the end of day. 3. Jobs is something you could use, but you’ll need to implement the fixes that were released for 5.0. so make sure you test it.

you can contact your regional Microsoft office, then request the officer to introduce you to some partners. you need to evaluate some partner (consultants) to address issues in your company. you can not rely to only 1 consultant and take whatever suggestion he gives.

by cooperation and partnership with good consultant, you will be able to take the maximum benefit of NAV for your business and operations.

Sabrina,

It’s a pity to read, that somewhere again unsucessful implementation and/or low-qualiefied Partner(s) have spoiled the whole opinion about Navision as product…

All your problems can be solved - as you described your business, there is nothing very complicated or time-consuming to implement in Navision, but you must get qualified assistance. The same with training - in-house training will be more expensive, but you may consider looking for some Certified Training centre. The latter will give you more overall knowledge of Navision, if you will have some modifications/customizations done to fit your business processes, then training should be done by Partner, who will implement these changes.

As Joe already wrote, you should rather contact local Microsoft office, tell them your history and ask for advice, which Partner to choose for getting things done properly. All Partners ARE controlled by Microsoft, they are not left on their own after receiving their Business Solutions Competence status. MS should be aware about what happened to your previous Partner(s), and, as they know Partner companies in your region, they can help you - actually, it’s their job.

added: link to Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/contact-us.aspx