Navigate Into Success

Requirements and Process Review – Critical vs. Non Critical

2010-03-12T22:52:57Z

Requirements and process review is one of the decision accelerators in the Diagnostic phase of the Sure Step, aimed at gaining deeper understanding of customer’s business processes, and documenting high level requirements, as well as possible implementation issues. As such, it is an indispensable input into further decision accelerators and the implementation project itself. One of the activities done in scope of this decision accelerator is identifying high-level implementation issues which are...(read more)

Fit Gap and Solution Blueprint Estimates

2010-03-11T22:31:47Z

The Sure Step season seems to have started in its fullest for me – it is the second time this year already that I’m delivering the Sure Step course, this time in Copenhagen, Denmark, and I must say that I truly enjoy it. Anyway, while discussing the Fit Gap and Solution Blueprint decision accelerator, an important component of the Diagnostic phase, a student asked me an interesting question: why do we need to give effort estimates to meet the requirements at this stage? And indeed – isn’t it far...(read more)

Decisions Spring 2010

2010-02-28T20:13:07Z

After successful Decisions NAV 2009 and Decisions AX 2009 virtual conferences, MSDynamicsWorld.com has went for it once again, this time expanding the conference to cover full range of Microsoft Dynamics products, and merging it into a single event. If you are unsure whether to attend this event or not, take my word: you shouldn’t be. You should be there. Virtually, that is. The event is fully virtual, which means no travel required, no missing your work schedule, you can enjoy it from your office...(read more)

Sure Step 2010

2009-12-22T10:12:34Z

One of the drawbacks of being a freelancer is a slight risk to learn a bit late about anything new. Once upon a time, when I was still blogging actively, I made sure I was the first to blog about something new, as long as it relates to Sure Step. This time, the news came to me through two channels: through Microsoft Dynamics UK Blog and through Chandru Shankar’s post in SureStep PM Methodology group on LinkedIn . So, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, I’m just reposting the content from these two...(read more)

Microsoft Dynamics for Manufacturing – differences between various Dynamics flavors

2009-11-30T23:53:45Z

Houston Neal from Manufacturing Software Advice recently wrote a nice and a very detailed article on the Differences Between Microsoft Dynamics products. It’s an interesting article and gives a good overview of where different Microsoft Dynamics products stand, and overall I recommend you to read it, even though personally I don’t agree with everything in there. I like good argument, but I don’t like disagreeing just for the sake of it, and this was one of those articles that I would prefer disagreeing...(read more)

Parallel or serial?

2009-11-20T22:17:06Z

Long time no see, eh? I know I’ve promised to write about a lot of stuff here, and I see this queue of you hardly waiting to read my next topic on process manufacturing, but I am just far too lazy to think it out thoroughly. So, an easier one, but still about manufacturing. I spent this week delivering two courses about manufacturing in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Usually, these trainings are gatherings of partners who discuss geeky stuff over coffee breaks. This time, it was kind of different – there...(read more)

NAV Decisions 2009 is over, but not quite

2009-10-16T06:12:35Z

Did you have a chance to attend the NAV Decisions 2009 virtual conference? If yes, how did you like the event? To me, this was a great experience. It wasn’t the first virtual conference I was a part of, but it most certainly was the best. But if you didn’t have a chance or time to be there (virtually), you don’t have to worry. Even though the conference is over, the website and all the content will be available for three more months. So, until midnight of January 15, 2009, you can still visit the...(read more)

NAV Decisions – an event you should NOT miss

2009-09-19T06:35:34Z

On October 14th you should not miss the NAV Decisions 2009 virtual conference organized by MSDynamicsWorld.com , the independent authority for news and views on Microsoft Dynamics. NAV Decisions 2009 is a virtual conference & tradeshow for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Professionals seeking implementation strategies, thought leadership, and best practices for maximizing the value and effectiveness of their organization’s NAV platform and initiatives. The best news about the conference is: it’s...(read more)

My new career path – independent consultant

2009-09-02T23:08:11Z

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 for this long? While at Microsoft, I had a chance to work on some very exciting projects, I was sitting at the source of information, and the thrill of being able to know about all the news and developments before anyone else is priceless. But the...(read more)

ERP and Business Processes: a new book

2009-08-28T22:39:54Z

There is a new book available about ERP business practices. It is titled “ ERP and business processes ” and is written by Hans van der Hoeven, MSc, a senior lecturer in ERP, Business Management and Accounting at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The book is targeted primarily at business and management students and managers running ERP projects, and explains what ERP business processes are about, rather than focusing on technical issues or specific products. This book gives...(read more)

Sure Step available to all partners

2009-07-14T05:20:52Z

Today at Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, during his keynote speech, Doug Kennedy, Vice President Dynamics Partner Team, announced the availability of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step to all Microsoft Dynamics partners. So far, Sure Step has only been available to partners enrolled in a service plan, which was a big obstacle to smaller or new partner companies who saw investment in a service plan as a significant expenditure. Here’s a part of the message of Doug Kennedy’s speech: “One of...(read more)

I’m back

2009-06-28T22:40:22Z

It hit me hard today when I realized how long it has been since I last wrote something here. More than a month since my last post, slightly more since anything barely useful. I’ve been trying to write a new post for a while now, and today I just found enough time and inspiration to finally do it. So, I’m back. So, I welcome you all back to my blog, and I hope to keep it up for you. I can’t promise I’ll get back to my previous twice-per-week schedule, but I’ll do my best not to lose the enthusiasm...(read more)

Discreet and process manufacturing difference

2009-06-28T22:28:22Z

When implementing NAV in manufacturing companies, I’ve sometimes heard complaints that the type of manufacturing supported in NAV doesn’t fit the customer needs. And sometimes that’s completely true. NAV supports discreet manufacturing, and it handles it pretty well. But the things do get bumpy when you venture into process manufacturing world. Sometimes customers or even consultants don’t really understand why this happens. It’s simple: there is a big difference between process and discreet manufacturing...(read more)

Two years of Navigate Into Success

2009-05-24T20:57:52Z

Can you believe it? I can’t. Almost. Two years ago I started this blog as a hobby, and I myself didn’t believe it would work out. It was months before the first reader appeared, but then it kind of just happened. Blogging was fun. It was tough. It was thought provoking for myself, because as I blogged I often found myself change my mind about stuff, and adopt new ideas or abandon old ones more quickly then I normally would. I started this year rather ambitiously: with a commitment to blog twice a...(read more)

Contingency or re-baselining, what’s the difference?

2009-05-10T23:22:29Z

I’ve seen a few projects where customers said they didn’t need contingency, because they decided to adjust the budget as changes happen. How does this sound to you? To me, this sounds pretty bad, because there is an important distinction between adjusting the budget based on change requests and consuming the contingency reserve. Let’s start with the project budget. After most planning activities have been completed, after all project activities have been defined and estimated, and after the resources...(read more)

IT Knowledge Exchange

2009-05-07T00:05:00Z

Blogs are a great thing. They allow people to share their own knowledge, experience, thoughts, ideas. But communities are the real thing, they allow many people do the same at once, expanding the sharing into exchanging knowledge, experience, thoughts, ideas, advice, you name it. One of the best IT communities out there is IT Knowledge Exchange . In their own words, “IT Knowledge Exchange was created to allow IT pros to ask questions, get answers, collaborate and exchange knowledge with their peers...(read more)

NAV blogosphere in April

2009-05-04T00:05:00Z

April. There is definitely something upside down with this month. I’ve started it with a somewhat ambitious decision to blog a post a day. And it worked. Kind of. For the first eight days, anyway. And then it happened. Suddenly I’ve found myself blogging only occasionally, practically chasing my promise to deliver a blog post twice a week. And boy did it feel like delivery, every single time. At first I thought it was about me, but it seems it wasn’t. All of NAV blogosphere was dormant in April....(read more)

My book featured on MSDynamicsWorld.com

2009-04-30T16:57:16Z

MSDynamicsWorld.com has just posted an excerpt from my friend Dave’s and my book Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, delivering some content from chapter 4, focusing on the implementation process. The Chapter 4 draws a lot of its content from Sure Step best practices, and the fact that MSDynamicsWorld.com has decided to post this content on their website shows how important a standard methodology is for a successful implementation project. This excerpt is only the first part of a series of...(read more)

Do you need contingency reserve?

2009-04-30T00:41:14Z

If projects were completely predictable, there would be no need for risk management . Everything could be planned and executed according to plan. However, we know better. Unexpected things happen, disrupt the original plans and cause time and cost overruns. In IT projects, these overruns are far too common to be ignored. How do you handle unexpected events which cause your schedule to extend or your project to cost more? If you hope to address such events as they happen, you must expect to either...(read more)

My WinDays9 presentation online

2009-04-27T00:05:00Z

WinDays9 is over, thank you all who attended my presentation “What’s new in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009”. I hope it was worth your time. For all you lucky ones, I hope you liked the book! I would prefer if I had enough of them to give you each a copy, but let’s just say I was logistically impaired. Also, I hope you enjoyed the presentation, and learned a lot about this, for Croatian market, still upcoming release. For me, preparing (and delivering) this presentation was a challenge, regardless of...(read more)

Panorama ERP diagnostic and Assessment

2009-04-23T00:05:00Z

Panorama Consulting Group , the authors of the ERP report , have just made available two interesting tools: ERP Quick Diagnostic, and ERP Readiness Assessment. According to their website, if you are “in the early stages of selecting a new ERP software or if you’ve already completed your project, our ERP Quick Diagnostic will help you benchmark with other ERP projects across the globe”. On the other hand, if you are thinking about starting an ERP project, you can take advantage of the ERP Readiness...(read more)

WinDays9: see you in Opatija next week!

2009-04-20T00:05:00Z

Often you don’t even notice how quickly time goes by, except for a few milestones, which happen once a year and remind you that another one’s over. WinDays conference is one of such milestones, and I’ve barely published a handful of posts here since the last time it was the most discussed topic in Croatian IT community. So, an incredibly short year later, here’s another one: WinDays9. I’m not going to tell you much about conference, you can read most of it on it’s official site ( click here ). I...(read more)

Panorama’s ERP report, part III

2009-04-16T00:05:00Z

I’ve just got the news about Part III of Panorama’s ERP Report in my inbox. If you missed my analysis of the report , please read it first: part three builds on findings of the first two. I know that I am biased when writing about this, but how can I not be? Microsoft Dynamics is the best choice ERP and the report (as a whole) clearly shows why exactly. The third round of this report focuses on ERP implementations in SMB segment, and has been conducted over a fairly large participant base in the...(read more)

What’s a project plan?

2009-04-13T00:05:00Z

Project plan. A fancy term we all like to use. But believe it or not, most of us don’t even know what a project plan really is. I don’t know why, how and when it came to be that in IT we started using the term project plan , but whatever the origin, the term we use is somewhat incorrect, and when attached to what we often attach it to, it’s downright wrong. Honestly, when thinking of a project plan, what’s your first idea? I bet my project schedule that the picture you had in mind, more or less,...(read more)

Hollywood Secrets of Project Management Success: a review of a sort

2009-04-09T00:15:00Z

Take that project you are currently running, and imagine, just for a second, that it came with only 3% budget overrun. Most of people in software industry would call it wild success. In motion picture industry, however, trampling measly 2% or 3% over initial budget would be considered a failure. While movie industry and software industry are seemingly light years apart, there are many things these two have in common, and there are obviously many things we can learn from them . James R. Persse in...(read more)