Chapter 2. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 – An Overview

There are quite a few new things in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018. Releases prior to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 mainly concentrated on application or architectural changes, while Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 incorporated changes in relation to both aspects at the same time, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 has made drastic improvements to what was originally built for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013.

In this chapter, we will get an overview of the new features included in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018. We will first go through the features that end users will appreciate in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018. After this, we will take a look at the features that developers and administrators will appreciate (the IT changes).

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, as mentioned in the previous chapter, is the evolution of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018, and contains all the features that will be illustrated shortly.

The Web client of Microsoft Dynamics...

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 – what's new

We will now talk about the features introduced in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018; some are completely new, while others are functional optimizations already present in previous releases.

There are many interesting features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. I have decided to report some that I consider to be important and that need to be borne in mind with regard to projects. Anyone wanting to use Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central must be aware of these features in order to use them in projects. These features are outlined in the following diagram:

Note

The product is really vast, so it is not possible to illustrate everything. The important thing is to provide the pills to remember what is, and what was, introduced over time, as illustrated in the project's timeline in the first chapter. For more information, you can refer to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV portal page on Microsoft docs athttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics...

Application changes in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018

There are many things that have changed in the new release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. A number of things have disappeared, some have changed, some have remained identical to Dynamics NAV 2016, seen in the previous edition of this book, and a bunch of new functionalities and improvements have been added.

The first thing that users will see is the new look and feel of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Microsoft has implemented a metro-style design across all of their product lines. Microsoft Dynamics NAV is no different. The basic metro design is essentially focused on the content of the application, and not its graphics.

Note

This new look and feel of the Windows client is not all that different from its predecessors; it is different, however, to the Windows client of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central does not have a dedicated Windows client; its Windows client is the same as that found in Microsoft Dynamics...

IT changes

Several IT-related changes have been introduced with the release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018, including the following:

• Easier installation and deployment
• Easier administration
• New clients
• New services

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server administration tool

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 includes an updated server administration tool for administering Dynamics NAV Server.

It is a snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). When installing the server option, the server administration tool is a default feature.

Once the server option is installed, you will find it on your Windows Start menu with all the other Microsoft Dynamics NAV components installed on the same machine.

From the server administration tool, we will have a clear picture of all the Microsoft Dynamics NAV instances running on the machine, their version, status, and configuration (name, the database to which the instance connects, ports for the different types of services, and so on).

From the server administration tool, we...

Best features from previous releases of Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 has introduced many architectural changes, but also a number of updated application functionalities. As already mentioned, since they are interesting, I decided to report on them in this edition of the book as well.

Best and updated application features

Some of the features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 that are new or improved from previous versions will now be illustrated. Users who will use Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 should be aware that they exist.

RapidStart services improved

If you're migrating from your legacy system to Microsoft Dynamics NAV, one of the most important steps is to migrate the data from your legacy system to Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Using the RapidStart service, you can now map the data from your old legacy software to Microsoft Dynamics NAV directly.

This will eliminate the need for a developer to write custom import processes that are only used once (for example, for a new company...

Summary

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 introduces a number of changes compared with the previous versions of the application. These changes are applicable to all the application areas; there have been changes to the client in the way it accesses the application, to the functionality, to the way development is executed, and there have also been IT-related changes.

In this chapter, we went through most of the relevant changes concerning an implementation introduced in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 and some interesting features from the previous releases.

In the next chapter, we will examine a number of general considerations relating to Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, such as the data model used in the application, the way posting routines are developed, and the SIFT technology.