dynamicsusers: The Differences between NAV and AX – Microsoft Dynamics – Part I

[Blog bot]

A question was asked recently, that in summary, went something like this:


Where is the "cut-off" between NAV (Microsoft Dynamics Navision) and AX (Microsoft Dynamics Axapta)? Why do business chose one over the other, and essentially, stripping away the Microsoft-speak, what are the differences between the two products?


Whilst I could not answer the question directly posed in the forum (http://dynamicsuser.net/forums/p/218...55.aspx#106955) I felt I was at least in a unique position to comment. In June 2007 I left a NAV reseller after 8 years worth of NAV Implementation, support, development and anything else I got given experience, to move to a larger Dynamics reseller where my skills have been utilised to train on AX.


This means from a functional perspective I can start to give some opinions on the differences. My implementation experience is not there with AX yet, but it is coming, and insights will be given here where appropriate.


Because of the size of the question the first post started as a ramble. Again I will let it be known that these are my personal opinions and should not reflect on anyone else. All inaccuracies are mine and I am only too happy to be corrected.


Additionally I am a blog virgin, so commence this blog, and to make the subsequent postings make sense, this opening blog references the starting point, and also contains the original post:



 

Disclaimer first. For anyone who knows me or who I work for these are personal opinions based upon my last 8 years in the Dynamics channel, they do not reflect my current employer. Also some parts of what I say maybe outdated, or I may repeat something I have "heard" rather than have experience of, my apologies, I am not perfect, I will try and put down as much as I can, but feel free to correct me  


Background second I am Navision centric, have been for 8 years now. I am now a certified AX Solutions Professional, (They moved the goalposts on the NAV one so I have now dropped out of this but still have lots of exams!) but do not be fooled into thinking that as I have passed some exams I know the product in-depth, this can only come with experience, and I have 9 months of it with AX. I am a functional consultant, I deal with trade and logistics and manufacturing. Coming from the NAV world it will not surprise you to hear I have also done Finance as well as some basic development (report writing, data migration with dataports, development I should not have been doing etc) and I also worked first line support in the last company, so I have experience of that side as well.


Starting with the sales side there is a 5% difference in the license fee between the two products as a guide, there are of course different ways to sell them, but that is my understanding, so even on a large budget the software element difference is small. You also get more for your money with AX, but I will come to that in the functional differences. The user count, whilst always argued, I honestly do not find that relevant. Whilst there will be exceptions I am aware of NAV sites of 200+ users and AX sites of less than 5. Historically the difference in the products was always defined glibly by users, "if it is 100+ you have to go AX" etc. What should be considered at greater depth is the size and scalability of the database, in today's market business can transact 1000's of entries an hour/day and it is the capability of these solutions to handle this requirement that is key.


I have no experience on the retail side so I can give no comparison between the two, you will need to read the previous postings for some information there.


Having worked in the NAV side and now the AX side the difference I see in the projects is simply size, it takes more man days per comparable project to implement an AX site than a NAV site. This is using the Sure Step implementation methodology of Microsoft, although even they have a fast track, which frankly AX cannot be used with in my opinion. To answer they questions of girish.joshi why do so many AX implementations fail, well first where is this source of information, do we have any figures comparing to NAV? I would guess not, it is very difficult to judge what is a failure and then where the balme lies. My experience in the NAV world has seen many implementations start and conclude, at the smaller end, without the customer having a project manager. This would not be the case with AX, the projects are bigger because more decisions are required, and I would say an AX implementation is far more likely to fail without one than a NAV project, but please customers, give yourself a chance and have a project manager, and if you are feeling generous even give them the time to do the task. So are there fewer skilled staff on AX than NAV, again difficult to comment worldwide, it depends where the need is, what I will say is in the UK there is a shortage of skilled staff across the entire Dynamics suite. This is being addresses, in part by Microsoft, but mainly by the partners who badly need the resource. I am aware of consultants being trained up from other software; Sage, SAP, Baan, etc, but this is a common aspect of the business we are in. I would though say the shortage is comparable on both sides and I do not see this as a factor of differentiation between the two. As for is the product crap, my simple answer is no.


Okay, the functional stuff, try to remember I am NOT an expert, so all errors are my own! AX5 is due out later this year, so for this I am comparing AX4 to NAV4.


User Interface


The menu suites are the same to look at, slightly different to modify. I struggle with AX navigation, it seems a little clunky, however this could simply be personal experience bias.


The AX screens are too large for standard resolutions at times, although you can hide the at the click of an arrow rather than through view. You can also open a new workspace, a new separate version of what you are running. Ultimately I find AX asthetically more messy than NAV, but it is a personal choice.


The filtering in NAV is more slice and dice, it is quicker if you know what you are doing, but AX has the ability for you to save these filters and then you pick them again from the same screen.
The designing and setup of the forms is per user and involves all fields in AX, not just the line sections for movement, it requires more development in NAV and it affects the form, not just the user.
You can create a template in most places in AX, once activated you are prompted each time. NAV templates are a later invention, which take a lot more setup, arguably making them more flexible, but different. Not sure if the master templates came into NAV at 5 or 4.


Function keys and lookups/drill downs work differently, which is a little annoying, but hey who uses both?


One thing I will say is the products are becoming more and more alike from a user perspective.


Overall 

AX has a series of layers where the objects are placed enabling different objects to be placed in different layers, with the lowest layer being the object taken. This is different from the object handling in NAV.


I have a vague memory telling me that AX has an advantage in a global role out, different language sets can be used within the same database, or different localisations can, or something, which gave it an advantage over NAV in this area.


I will put some details in the following areas later



 


 


 



Подробнее... http://dynamicsuser.net/blogs/adamroue/arc...ics-part-i.aspx