skills all dynamics nav developers need to know

Skills All Dynamics NAV Developers Need to Know Today to Keep Their Job

Eric WautersiFacto Business Solutions

Eric Wauters

• Development Manager at iFacto Business Solutions

• Co-Founder Belgian Dynamics Community• Blog: www.waldo.be• MVP

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this presentation, are soley mine. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of

iFacto Business Solutions.

Agenda

• What’s to know?– In the (very) old days– In the (very) new days

• What is “knowing”?• Static knowledge or Creativity?• Conclusion

Agenda

• What’s to know?– In the (very) old days– In the (very) new days

• What is “knowing”?• Static knowledge or Creativity?• Conclusion

What’s to know - before

• Development environment• Database– Native Database– Closed

• Simplicity• Deployment• Easy installation

What’s to know?

• C/AL• Solution Standards• Native Installation• Native Database• NAS• SQL Server• Automation• SQL Performance tuning• Testability• NAV 2009 Web Services• .Net Interop

• New C/AL statements• SQL Server• Add In / Client extensibility• CRM connector• Three Tier Server Installation• Role Tailored Client• RDLC Reporting capabilities• Jet Reports Express• ExpandIT Office 365 AddIn

Microsoft buys Navision

• More focus on SQL Server• Office Integration• Performance

Microsoft buys Navision

What’s to know?

• C/AL• Solution Standards• Native Installation• Native Database• NAS• SQL Server• Automation• SQL Performance tuning• Testability• NAV 2009 Web Services• .Net Interop

• New C/AL statements• SQL Server• Add In / Client extensibility• CRM connector• Three Tier Server Installation• Role Tailored Client• RDLC Reporting capabilities• Jet Reports Express• ExpandIT Office 365 AddIn

What’s to know?

• C/AL• Solution Standards• Native Installation• Native Database• NAS• SQL Server• Automation• SQL Performance tuning• Testability• NAV 2009 Web Services• .Net Interop

• New C/AL statements• SQL Server• Add In / Client extensibility• CRM connector• Three Tier Server Installation• Role Tailored Client• RDLC Reporting capabilities• Jet Reports Express• ExpandIT Office 365 AddIn

With NAV 2009

• Middle Tier• RTC Client• Reporting• Web Services• Add Ins• Dynamics Connector

With NAV 2009

What’s to know?

• C/AL• Solution Standards• Native Installation• Native Database• NAS• SQL Server• Automation• SQL Performance tuning• Testability• NAV 2009 Web Services• .Net Interop

• New C/AL statements• SQL Server• Add In / Client extensibility• CRM connector• Three Tier Server Installation• Role Tailored Client• RDLC Reporting capabilities• Jet Reports Express• ExpandIT Office 365 AddIn

What’s to know

• C/AL• Solution Standards• Native Installation• Native Database• NAS• SQL Server• Automation• SQL Performance tuning• Testability• NAV 2009 Web Services

• .Net Interop• New C/AL statements• SQL Server• Add In / Client extensibility• CRM connector• Three Tier Server Installation• Role Tailored Client• RDLC Reporting capabilities• Jet Reports Express• ExpandIT Office 365 AddIn

Future

• Forms are likely to disappear (SOD)• Classic Reports are likely to disappear

(Directions announcements)• New .Net Interop capabilities• New Web Service capabilities• Sharepoint Client• Windows Azure

Agenda

• What’s to know?– In the (very) old days– In the (very) new days

• What is “knowing”?• Static knowledge or Creativity?• Conclusion

Quote

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find

information on it. Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

What is “knowing”?

• Knowing everything ≠ knowing every detail of every piece of development feature in NAV

• Knowing everything = – begin aware of every piece of development

feature in NAV– Being aware of its limitations– Being aware of its possibilities

Quote

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Experience

• 15 years experience doesn’t make you the best developer out there..

In fact:Intellectual Property has the shelf life of a

banana. Bill Gates (1955 – ??)

How to gain awareness – blogs & Forums

• Mibuso• DynamicsUser• Freddy’s blog

• NAV 2009 Web Services• .Net Interop• Cloud

• Mark Brummel’s blog• SQL Server Performance• All-round

• Waldo’s blog• .Net Interop• Platform Updates

• Allround• Dynamics NAV Team Blog

• RDLC Reporting• SQL Server• All-round

• Dynamics Connector Blog• Dynamics Connector

• Navigate Into Success• All-round

How to gain knowledge - Books

• Programming Microsoft NAV 2009 (David Studebaker)

• Implementing Microsoft NAV 2009 (Vjekoslav Babic & David Roys)

• Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Application Design (Mark Brummel)

• The NAV/SQL Performance Field Guide (Jörg Stryk)

How to gain knowledge - Courses

• Great way to get going in a direction• Already courses about:• Report Design• Finance & Core Setup• Upgrading• Installation and Configuration• ...

Know what not to do...

• Performance impact• Innecessary complexity

Experience can help with that .. but is no guarantee

Agenda

• What’s to know?– In the (very) old days– In the (very) new days

• What is “knowing”?• Static knowledge or Creativity?• Conclusion

Quote

The only limitation is the creativity of the developer.

Eric “waldo” Wauters (1977 - 2977)

Some examples

• Connecting 50 pharmacists (.Net Application) to one supplier (NAV)– Cloud– NAV Web Services

• Drop documents in NAV to upload them to Sharepoint– Client Extensibility– .Net Interop

Static knowledge - Creativity

Static knowledge - Creativity

Used technology

• NAV 2009 Web Services• .Net Interop

Windows AzureStorage

Services

Windows Phone 7 App

NAVService

Tier

Firewall

Proxy

Services

Service Bus

Used technology

• NAV 2009 Web Services• Windows Phone Services• Windows Azure Storage• Bing Maps Services• Service Bus

Agenda

• What’s to know?– In the (very) old days– In the (very) new days

• What is “knowing”?• Static knowledge or Creativity?• Conclusion

Conclusion

• Big challenge to be a good NAV developer– NAV standards– Different technologies– Changing environment– Changing “Best Practices”

• Keeping up-to-date/being aware/ ... is a must