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It’s official now, and it’s time I announce it here: after two years at Microsoft I’ve decided to take the helm of my career and venture into the realm of independent consulting. Two days into it, and all I can say about it is: what have I been waiting...
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I’m not sure about you, but I’ve missed last week’s update to this free download from Microsoft Download Center: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Developer and IT Pro Help . Published in December 2008, this set of help files and guidelines contains valuable...
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One of the biggest absurdities about ERP systems springs from the very word we use so often when describing ERP: integrated . ERP is an integrated system: it integrates all data and processes into a single application. Different modules look over different...
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You can’t avoid customizations. Vanilla ERP is a great first step, and a valuable tool for establishing common language between the customer and the consultant. But in the long run? Probably not. Pristine uncustomized ERP won’t be sufficient, because...
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- “We need a report which groups our sales by product components.” - “And we need it broken down by cost centers.” - “And it must show comparison with last month, quarter and year, and with budget and forecast, with indexes and trends. In linear regression...
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How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Swallowing it all at once might be tempting as it has all the potential you need to get into the next edition of Guinness World Records . Likewise, trying it with an ERP implementation has all the potential...
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“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” That’s the very first principle of the Agile Manifesto . The problem with ERP is that the first deliveries are all but early: they typically...
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In my previous post I’ve (what, again?) shared some statistics about success and failure rates of software projects in general and ERP projects specifically. It seems that ERP projects fare somewhat worse than generic software projects, which I stated...
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Last week I delivered the C/SIDE Development course for partner community in Zagreb . As always, questions abound afterwards. Today, I’ve got a question from an attendee: “What’s the best way to print a report in multiple languages?”. Up front: this is...
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According to Standish Group , top causes of failed IT project are these: lack of end-user engagement, unclear specification, changes in scope, lack of management support, lack of planning, unrealistic and unclear goals. I haven’t seen too many failed...
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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...
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(Three compelling reasons to reshape your business processes, not your software) Has your computer ever crashed while you were doing something important, causing you to lose all your work? A natural first reaction to this situation is frustration: your...
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(A short rant about eye-contact-based specifications.) In short, there is no such things as an eye-contact-based specification. And for a reason. While kicking-off of a project, we had a discussion with the customer about the change management approach...
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Last Friday, while enjoying a not-at-all healthy Salisbury steak with cheese, I had an interesting discussion with a partner: should NAV consultancies create default databases? A default database (in this context) is a packaged solution built upon standard...
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Some time back, as I was riding a taxi from Prague airport to Holiday Inn hotel, I wondered about the fixed price I was about to pay for the ride. - “Airport to city is 700 flat.” - said the driver when I asked how much approximately will...
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Each phase of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology is equally important in an implementation project. You could argue that analysis is the most important, or that design is the most important, or that operation is less important. I’ll paraphrase...
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Hint: this is a post for developers, and mostly junior developers, those who are still learning how to code properly. I know, I promised not to blog about stuff like this, but I simply couldn’t help this time. A friend of mine has asked me for help...
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A few days back, while prototyping a new solution for a customer, one of the key users said: “But in our old software it didn’t work like that.” I was about to try to explain why the change, but then the user’s boss said: - We...
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The biggest jeopardies often lurk where we least expect them. When implementing an ERP system such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV, what should be one of our best allies, turns out to be our mortal enemy. It has a simple name: The Standard. Standard processes...
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It’s a well known fact that IT projects fail every so often. Standish Group has been researching the success and failure factors of IT projects for a decade and a half, and they publish their results in their CHAOS report every two years or so....
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