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Decoding Microsoft Dynamics– Overview from Systems Integration Experts

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In an environment of rapidly growing competition and rising business standards, many companies are faced with the challenge of integrating their different business systems and processes. Our company, EDI2XML, has been working in the field of business systems integration for over 24 years, assisting companies across various industries in enhancing their operational workflows.

Why Microsoft Dynamics Matters

Microsoft Dynamics is a suite of business applications developed by Microsoft, played a pivotal role in this journey. From customer relationship management (CRM) to enterprise resource planning (ERP), Dynamics offers a comprehensive set of tools designed to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, and drive growth. As experts in the field, we recognize the impact that Dynamics has had on businesses worldwide.

Dynamics Family Explained

Over time, Microsoft has rebranded and evolved its Dynamics products, leading to different names.

Let’s break down the different terms related to Microsoft Dynamics and explore their meanings and differences:Dynamics: This is the overarching brand name for Microsoft’s suite of business applications. Originally introduced in 2001, it encompasses a range of ERP and CRM solutions designed to streamline various business processes.

Microsoft Dynamics GP (Originally known as Great Plains) is a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers modules for financial management, supply chain management, human resources, and more. While it’s part of the Dynamics family, it’s often referred to separately due to its long-standing history and dedicated user base.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision): NAV stands for “Navision,” the original name of the product before Microsoft acquired it in 2002. Dynamics NAV is an ERP solution primarily aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. It covers financial management, manufacturing, distribution, customer relationship management, and e-commerce.

Dynamics 365: This is Microsoft’s cloud-based suite of ERP and CRM applications. It combines Dynamics ERP and CRM solutions into a unified platform, leveraging the power of cloud computing and offering scalability and flexibility. Dynamics 365 includes modules for finance, sales, customer service, marketing, operations, and more.

Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV): In 2018, Microsoft rebranded Dynamics NAV as Dynamics 365 Business Central. It’s essentially the cloud-based version of Dynamics NAV, offering similar functionalities but with the advantages of cloud deployment, including automatic updates, improved accessibility, and integration with other Microsoft services like Office 365.

How is Dynamics 365 Different from Other Dynamics Products?

Here’s a summary of the key differences:

On-Premises vs. Cloud: Dynamics GP and NAV (now Dynamics 365 Business Central) were traditionally on-premises solutions, meaning they were installed and operated on local servers. Dynamics 365, on the other hand, is cloud-based, offering the benefits of remote access, automatic updates, and scalability.

Target Audience: Dynamics GP and NAV/Business Central are aimed at small to medium-sized businesses, while Dynamics 365 caters to businesses of all sizes, including large enterprises.

Flexibility and Scalability: Dynamics 365 is designed to be highly flexible and scalable, allowing businesses to adapt and grow without significant infrastructure investments. It also offers tighter integration with other Microsoft cloud services.

Subscription Model: Dynamics 365 follows a subscription-based pricing model, where customers pay a recurring fee to access to the software and updates. This contrasts with the traditional perpetual licensing model used for Dynamics GP and NAV.

In summary, while all these products are part of the Microsoft Dynamics family and share similar goals of improving business operations, they differ in terms of deployment model, target audience, and pricing structure, catering to various needs and preferences within the business community.

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365?

Dynamics 365: This is the flagship product within the Microsoft Dynamics family. As we mentioned above, it combines customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) functions into one platform. Here are the key components:

Dynamics 365 CRM

Purpose: Focuses on managing customer interactions, sales, marketing, and customer service.

Key Functions:

Sales Management: Tracks leads, opportunities, and deals.
Customer Profiles: Stores customer information and interactions.
Pipeline Management: Manages sales pipelines.

Dynamics 365 ERP

Purpose: Handles broader business processes such as finance, supply chain management, human resources, and manufacturing.

Key Functions:

Financial Management: Manages accounting, budgeting, and financial reporting.
Supply Chain Management: Handles inventory, procurement, and logistics.
Human Resources: oversees employee information, payroll processing, and benefits administration.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Versions and Editions

Dynamics 365 offers various editions tailored to different business needs. These include:

Sales Enterprise: A comprehensive CRM solution for sales teams.
Sales Professional: A scaled-down version of CRM for smaller businesses.
Finance and Operations: An ERP solution for financial management, supply chain, and manufacturing.
Business Central: A mid-market ERP solution.
Human Resources: Focused on managing HR processes.
Customer Service: Enhances customer support capabilities.

Dynamics NAV vs. Dynamics 365 Business Central

While Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has become the preferred choice for many organizations due to its cloud-based deployment and modern features, some companies still use Dynamics NAV (Navision) on-premises. Let’s explore the reasons behind this:

Legacy Systems:

Companies that have been using Dynamics NAV for years may have extensive customizations and integrations built around it. Migrating to a new system can be complex and costly, especially if the existing solution meets their needs.

Industry-Specific Requirements:

Some industries have unique requirements that are well-supported by Dynamics NAV. Customizations allow companies to tailor the system to their specific business processes.

Data Security and Control:

On-premises deployments provide greater control over data security and compliance. Companies with strict data privacy regulations may prefer to keep their systems on-premises.

Resource Constraints:

Smaller businesses or those with limited IT resources might find it challenging to transition to a cloud-based solution. Maintaining an on-premises system allows them to manage it locally.

Cost Considerations:

While cloud solutions offer scalability and flexibility, they come with subscription costs. Some companies weigh the ongoing subscription fees against the one-time investment in an on-premises system.

Hybrid Approach:

Some organizations adopt a hybrid approach, using both on-premises and cloud solutions. They may keep critical data on-premises while leveraging cloud services for other functions.

In summary, while Dynamics 365 Business Central is the future-forward choice, Dynamics NAV continues to serve companies with specific needs, legacy systems, or resource constraints.

Dynamics 365 Third Party Integration with EDI2XML

EDI2XML, a trusted integration service provider, offers a cost-effective and fully managed solution to integrate Microsoft Dynamics 365 with other third-party systems, software, and applications.

Let’s explore the key features and benefits of our integration service:

Fully Managed Dynamics 365 Integration Service

EDI2XML ensures a hassle-free integration process by expertly connecting Dynamics 365 data with various enterprise applications, including SCM, FSM, ITSM, ERP, and CRM systems. Our no-coding visual approach simplifies the process, allowing businesses to automate workflows efficiently.

Certified Connectors: When integrating with major branded software systems (such as JD Edwards, SAP, Salesforce, and more), EDI2XML provides certified connectors. These connectors ensure compatibility and reliable data exchange, minimizing the risk of errors and enhancing overall efficiency.

Ecommerce Platform Integration: EDI2XML enables seamless connectivity with popular e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and BigCommerce. By syncing data across these platforms and Dynamics 365, businesses can manage orders, inventory, and customer information effortlessly.

Benefits of Dynamics 365 Integration

Visibility and Decision-Making: Critical data from dispersed systems becomes accessible within Dynamics 365, empowering better decision-making at all levels.

Speed and Cost Efficiency: Information flows faster, reducing operating costs associated with manual data entry and export/import processes.

Enhanced Productivity: Automation eliminates manual tasks, improving overall enterprise operations.

EDI2XML’s Dynamics 365 integration service ensures a quick return on investment (ROI) and positions businesses for success in today’s competitive landscape. Trust our professional integrators to deliver a seamless integration experience.

Ready to Get Started? Reserve a spot on our calendar for a free consultation with one of our integration experts!

Whether you’re exploring integration possibilities or need guidance on optimizing your existing setup, our team is here to help. Schedule your consultation today and take the next step toward seamless integration!

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May 1, 2024/0 Comments

Shopify and Microsoft Dynamics Nav Integration: Things You Should Know

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms that allows you to set up an online store to sell your products. With Shopify, you can easily organize your merchandise, customize your storefront, accept credit card payments, track and respond to orders. In addition, Shopify can cover not only online selling, but also your sales on social media, or in-store.

Challenges of Selling on Shopify

Many businesses with online commerce on Shopify, use also Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Most of these companies are facing great challenges when it comes to managing their online Shopify store and synchronizing data between their in-house Microsoft Navision ERP on-premises and Shopify.

The major challenge is synchronizing data back and forth between both platforms, on a near real-time basis. Having the synchronization in place will help avoid major logistics and supply chain issues such as:

– Adding and removing SKUs to Shopify platform,

– Updating SKUs pricing

– Enabling and disabling SKUs to sell on Shopify,

– Updating the status of orders that came in through Shopify,

– Synchronizing orders between Navision and Shopify,

– Over ordering of discontinued or out-of-stock items,

– Synchronizing shipment information

– Synchronizing payment information

– And the list goes on…

All these challenges will only create a bottleneck for the enterprise, where inefficiencies will prevail and companies will have to hire more people to manage their online store on Shopify, in addition to the maintenance of their NAV ERP.

As a result, companies won’t be able to improve their online business and run efficiently, if they still manually extracting information from Shopify, and transferring it into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, also manually by keying it in.

This process of manually keying information in both platforms (Shopify and Navision) is a time-consuming open door for human errors, and in a sense, it is an avoidable expense for an enterprise.

Do you want to know more about what Microsoft Dynamics is? Read this article “What is Microsoft Dynamics?”

Magic xpi: the API Driven Integration Platform

Magic xpi, is one of the leading integration and orchestration technologies in the IT market. In fact, it is one of the oldest in this space. Magic xpi helps companies in their digital transformation journey, and empowers them to integrate heterogeneous systems, databases, and business processes using certified connectors by the manufacturer. It is a reliable SOA, API-driven integration platform for all connectivity needs. I have described Magic xpi in a more detailed post: Systems integration platform to improve business performance

Integrating Microsoft Dynamics NAV with Shopify will help overcome all the above challenges, by automating the flow of information between different business systems, and eliminating expensive “manual” order management and fulfillment processes.

Magic xpi Integration platform can do the integration job and save companies time and money, allowing human resources to focus on important business tasks. Magic xpi can automatically synchronize Shopify and Microsoft Dynamics NAV, in a non-stop mode, 365 days a year.

Shopify Automation Benefits

Here are the benefits of implementing and deploying an integration platform like Magic xpi to automate Shopify by integrating with Microsoft Dynamics NAV:

Saving of Time and Effort: Avoid repetitive manual data entry and associated errors and inefficiencies

Improvement of productivity: Use the company’s human resources in more important business tasks, rather than redundant data entry. Your company will reduce the risks of human errors.

Improve fulfillment time: Considerably cut down the order fulfillment delay; a Shopify order will be integrated seamlessly into NAV and processed on-time.

Click here to download our free White Paper on Magic xpi Integration Platform

Microsoft Dynamics NAV & Shopify Integration Endpoints

The following are a few basic endpoints, most commonly used to integrate Shopify and MS Dynamics Navision. Certainly, there are more end-points ready for integration, however, most businesses start their Shopify integration projects with the following endpoints:

Clients: Synchronize information about the online customer from Shopify to Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Contacts: Synchronize Contact information, billing & shipping address, etc. synchronized from Shopify to Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

SKUs: Synchronize SKUs and items information (i.e. Stock level, pricing, active, discontinued…) from Microsoft Dynamics to Shopify. online store.

Orders: Synchronize Shopify sales orders placed by the online customer, to Microsoft Dynamics NAV Sales Orders.

Payments: Synchronize payment Information and Payment Method from Shopify to Microsoft Dynamics NAV in Sales.

Delivery: Synchronize Delivery information (i.e. tracking No, shipping company…) from Dynamics NAV to Shopify

EDI2XML & Magic xpi are Your Digital Transformation Partners

Magic xpi proved to be a leading, cost-effective solution to integrate easily and quickly Microsoft Dynamics with Shopify.

Magic xpi is a cost-effective, code-free, drag-and-drop with pre-built generic connector able to connect to Microsoft Dynamics. Integrating with Magic xpi, companies are capable of reducing their deployment lead time from months to a few days, which creates a great ROI.

We at EDI2XML have been a partner of a global enterprise software company Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. for over 20 years, and we are ready to take your integration challenges.

Looking for an Integration solution? Contact Us Today

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July 18, 2018

The Main Reasons Why You Need Microsoft Dynamics Integration with your Business Systems

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information

Microsoft Dynamics is an enterprise resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software applications. Microsoft has several product lines within Dynamics:

Microsoft Dynamics GP – Great Plains
Microsoft Dynamics SL – Solomon
Microsoft Dynamics AX – Axapta
Microsoft Dynamics NAV – Navision (Dynamics 365 Business Central now)

Today I want to talk about the most popular of the Dynamics product line – Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision)

What is Microsoft Dynamics NAV?

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an Integrated Business Management Solution (ERP) for midsize and small businesses, delivered by Microsoft in the Microsoft Dynamics product line. Microsoft Navision combines ERP and CRM business solutions.

Besides being known as Microsoft Dynamics Navision, this robust Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution has also been referred to by a few other names over the years. Here are some of the alternative names for Dynamics Navision:

1. Navision: This is the most common and concise way to refer to the ERP system. Many users and professionals in the field simply use “Navision” to discuss it.

2. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: In recent years, Microsoft has integrated Navision into its broader suite of business applications under the umbrella of Dynamics 365. As a result, Dynamics Navision is now often called Dynamics 365 Business Central. This name emphasizes its central role in managing various business processes.

3. Microsoft Business Central: Some users shorten the name even further and refer to it as Business Central. This streamlined version highlights its core purpose as a central hub for business operations.

Regardless of the name, Dynamics Navision (or its modern counterpart, Dynamics 365 Business Central) remains a powerful tool for managing finances, supply chain, inventory, and customer relationships. If you’re exploring ERP options, it’s worth diving deeper into its capabilities!

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Microsoft Dynamics NAV is designed to manage customer relationships, finances, production supply chains, analytics, and e-commerce. Microsoft Dynamics NAV — the development of the Danish company Navision Software A/S, which Microsoft acquired in 2002.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Technology

The Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a three-tier client-server application. It consists of three main components:

The Database Server
The application server
The Client(s) who connects using Windows or the web interface.

As a database management system, Microsoft SQL Server is used. SQL Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services are used to analyze and process operational data. Microsoft Dynamics NAV’s adaptability is provided by the object-oriented development environment of C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment). This allows to freely change the application code: modify the standard functionality, create individual reporting, etc.

According to Statista 22 percent of respondents said that they used Microsoft Dynamics for the purpose of CRM.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Modules

Microsoft Dynamics NAV, has several modules delivering multiple functions for an enterprise. The main modules of Navision from Microsoft are:

Financial Management
Distribution Management
Customer Relationship Management
Products management
Projects management
Human resources management

There are more of the core modules by now, but I wanted to give an idea about Dynamics ERP.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Integration

Companies using Microsoft Dynamics NAV, often need to integrate it with third-party systems. It is a rare exception to find a company that uses only Navision without any other system on-premises (or in the cloud). For example, lots of companies doing eCommerce use either Shopify or Magento (or any other eCom platform), and they use Microsoft Navision as their ERP backbone. Another example, is a company might be using some point of sale (POS) software, exchanging data with a 3PL, or even exchanging EDI with its partners; To avoid redundant data entry and data processing, companies decide mainly to go with full integration and automation of their flows and processes.

Integrating Microsoft NAV with other business systems is a big challenge and it’s possible to realize in-house, considering a company has enough qualified IT personnel and resources. Most companies outsource such a job in order to optimize the time of their internal IT staff, already stretched thin…

The Main Signs that You Need Microsoft Dynamics NAV Integration

There are many common factors that indicate the necessity of Dynamics NAV integration. But I would like to draw your attention to the following three main points:

You and your staff spend a lot of time on manual data entry in different systems

Entering the same information into different business systems takes a lot of time. If employees spend aт hours to moving data manually, this is a sure sign that you need to think about automation and integration. You can free up your employee’s time to perform more important tasks.

Mismatch information in your business systems

You can’t avoid the human mistakes when you manually enter information into the system. Typo errors such as invalid addresses or inaccurate numbers can be transferred from one software business system to another and lead to a wrong delivery address or inaccurate inventory (for example). As a result, such errors can create a great loss for any enterprise if it is happening frequently.

Unproductive Processes

Can you quickly get new items up on your eCommerce store? How much time does it take to update your inventory? When these processes are not smoothly running and it takes a lot of human intervention and time it negatively influences your business performance.

So, Integrating Microsoft Dynamics NAV permits to automatically synchronize information between your ERP and other software business systems.

Third-Party Integration Platform

You don’t need to have the capabilities in-house, for realizing an integration Dynamics NAV with the other systems. You can use a third-party integration provider that has a platform for integrating NAV with other business systems, from the cloud and without any installation on your premises. The best solution in the integration market is Magic xpi Integration Platform. Magic xpi delivers code-free, enterprise-grade integration, business process automation, and data synchronization solutions. This integration Platform uses pre-built certified connectors for automatic, real-time integration of CRM and ERP data with other enterprise applications such as email, calendar, and database systems.

Seamless integration with EDI2XML and Magic xpi

Find the Right Partner for your integration project. Contact us if you want to improve and change the way you do your Business. Click the image below to get a Free consultation about automating your processes.

July 3, 2018/0 Comments