Make Way for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016

Microsoft yesterday announced the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016, and they made clear that it’s a new NAV-deeper in the cloud, easier on integrators and of course, on users.

Microsoft had previously codenamed the release “Corfu,” leaving open whether it would be a minor release as 2015 R2 or a major release.

With NAV 2016, Microsoft is delivering everything that had been on the roadmap it released at NAV Tech Days 2014 last November, and then some. That list included new baseline capabilities around workflow, document management and OCR, and E-services integration.

“Personally I am very enthusiastic about the release since it shows the NAV teams has their ducks in a row. We get a lot of new application features, development enhancements and a phone client,” wrote Mark Brummel, a career NAV consultant who founded the think tank Partner Ready Software.

On top of that, “Microsoft goes full speed ahead with its paradigm of making Dynamics NAV the ERP cornerstone of its cloud offering,” wrote Gary Winter, also a founder of Partner Ready Software. “This means more native integration of crucial cloud components, more platform support for professional software production and a compelling end-user experience.”

So it seems. Practically every enhancement is cloud-ready or cloud-based. According to Microsoft’s overview, expect:

• An enhanced Office 365 experience, which works natively with Power BI
• An enhanced “on” Azure experience, which works natively with Azure SQL
• Usability enhancements in Windows for desktops, tablets “and NOW phone”
• That NAV 2016 will work natively with CRM Online
• e-Everything; electronic invoicing, OCR, and the ability of third parties to add in their own data sources (e.g., exchange rate lookup)
• Workflow enhancements including process automation, which allows easy customization via events introduced into C/AL (business language)
• Finance functionalities including posting preview, deferrals and Positive Pay (for US)
• Engineering, including a test automation suite available to partners, and releases every year with updates every month.

Microsoft has promised more details on the release in the fall around NAV Directions partner conferences in North America and Europe.

There is also a beta program for NAV 2016 now open, ending on September 1.