SIS Global

Simple. Smart. Innovative. Microsoft Dynamics® NAV 2009 builds on the core principles that have guided the solution’s evolution for years. We know that business success depends on people, and that if a business management solution is to work for an organisation, it needs to work for everyone within the organisation, not just the IT staff and leadership team. In a global, networked business world—prime examples include multi-site organizations, dispersed supply chains, and cross-department teams that work closely together--everyone in the organisation needs to access and share current, centralized information. Just as important, they need the agility to keep pace with information that can zoom across the globe in seconds. So we’re putting innovation to work for real people. We’re providing businesses with a product that people will want to use because it’s easy to use. We’re providing people with tools and information that can unleash their individual potential and, in turn, fuel new levels of business performance.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 delivers 21 out-of-the-box Role Centers designed for people in job roles ranging from the president, to the sales manager, to the warehouse worker. The Role Centers provide employees with tailored, easy-to-navigate windows into their work world, which enables them to quickly organize work and prioritize tasks. They can also personalise menus and set up shortcuts so that they can easily access the tasks and reports they use most often (including information from other Role Centers and other business systems), manage communications more precisely, and collaborate across teams and departments.

Without leaving their Role Center, people can work with Microsoft® Office applications, graphical, real-time KPIs, and more. With quick access to company-wide reports available in the system, they can create relevant analyses of information to share with specific people and departments. And because we know that a job role can differ widely from business to business and from person to person, the flexible design of Microsoft Dynamics NAV makes it easy for IT staff or partners to customise Role Centers or even create new ones.

Let’s look at how Phyllis, accounting manager, can take advantage of her Role Center to work at peak potential—and enjoy her work! Phyllis manages the accounting processes throughout the company. Part overseer, part business analyst, and part detective, Phyllis succeeds or fails by her ability to access to data. Along with high-level and drill-down views of financial information, she needs ready access to standard and customized reports to verify and document financial information, and at any time she may need information that enables her to research detailed questions from management, customers, and external auditors.

The scope is dizzying, to say the least, and to date she’s had to juggle applications, sticky notes, manual report generation, endless e-mail strings requesting information, knocks on the door, and too many phone calls. Like many hardworking employees, she’s emerged as a strong performer, although her responsibilities and workload make her feel like she’s always riding the edge between chaos and smart, strategic productivity. With her Role Center, however, she can take her own performance—and the business that depends on her—to the next level. From first log-in, she’ll have single-click access to critical information from the chart of accounts, to cash receipts and payment journals, to overdue sales notices. E-mail responses to specific questions are neatly organized and prioritized. She can take those answers, export data into Microsoft Office Excel® reports or other formats, and post them on the team SharePoint site for broader review. If she needs to look at information from sales or purchasing—no problem. She’s got the shortcuts set up and can visit those areas of the application in a heartbeat.

When we say our design reflects the way people really work, we’re speaking about people at all levels of the organization. Phyllis is a heavy user of data, which helps her gain insight and manage accounting processes across the company. But Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 also offers entry points for employees who need more focused information to help them do their jobs. Take David the sales rep, who is on the road much of the time and now can tap into real-time Microsoft Dynamics NAV information using a mobile device. Whether he needs to review relevant sales information, take customer orders during a sales call, or capture digital signatures to provide order confirmation, he’s equipped to close the deal. David can even scan product barcodes, enter the quantity required, and send the information directly to Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Or let’s look at John, who spends his days in the warehouse tracking inventory availability, shipping and receiving details, and picklist priorities—the “invisible” details that can make or break a business. He doesn’t need to know how to use the system—but he does need information from across multi-site warehouses. Simply by logging into his Role Center, he’ll have a clear, real-time view that makes sense of stock counts, reserved inventory, items returned for repair, picking/packing summaries, and more. With a single click, he can run a simple Excel report that turns Microsoft Dynamics NAV data into the answers he’s looking for.

With Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, we’ve listened to what customers are saying: We need technology to help us stay focused on our business and be competitive. But make it simple for us to work with, so that our people want to work with it. Give us solutions that help people work smarter. And don’t stop at innovation as an end point in itself—use innovation so that our business can move forward now and into the future.