8 ways integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV increases productivity
Integration between Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 and other Microsoft technologies increases productivity
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 works smoothly with other leading Microsoft products and technologies to boost productivity, improve collaboration, and increase business insight for small and midsize companies.
Integration lowers the total cost of ownership of your Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution because it makes it easier for Microsoft partners to deploy, customize, and maintain your solution.
Once the solution has been deployed, the integration helps you do more, faster because:
| • | People can work faster in familiar programs. Integration takes the hassle out of administrative tasks because Microsoft Dynamics NAV works better than ever with the Microsoft Office system and other Microsoft software. The familiar user interface and well known Microsoft Office system look and feel help your people work more efficiently. |
| • | You can maximize your existing systems. Microsoft Dynamics NAV doesn't disrupt business because it connects smoothly with existing systems and helps you get the most out of your existing technology investment. |
| • | You can more easily gather and collect data. Microsoft Dynamics NAV makes it possible to bring together the right data from multiple systems and enables you to share the information cost efficiently. |
| • | You get the support you need for confident decision-making. Integration gives you access to a wide range of business insight tools that help people make the right decisions at the right time. |
8 ways integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 helps you get more done—faster
1. Work fast in Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets
Integration with Microsoft Office Excel makes everyday tasks much simpler and less time-consuming. There's no need to jump from one application to another. For example, let's say a sales manager needs to hand out a customer list to his team, but wants to modify it in Office Excel first. The sales manager can click the Export to Excel icon in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Then the sales manager can use Office Excel as usual, adding columns and inserting comments with additional information, such as the responsible account manager, a priority number, and other information about each customer.
2. Use Microsoft Office Word formatting when you need it
It's just as easy to export data to Microsoft Office Word as it is to Microsoft Office Excel. If a salesperson wants to send a customer a letter, for example, the salesperson can export all the necessary information from the customer card in Microsoft Dynamics NAV directly into a sales letter style sheet in Office Word.
The salesperson might also want to export information that requires a calculation, such as a price list with availability of products. Once the data is exported, the salesperson can continue to use Office Word formatting as usual, including adding headings, making text bold, inserting images, and so on.
3. Save time and hassle by synchronizing with Microsoft Office Outlook
Any field from any table in Microsoft Dynamics NAV can be synchronized with Microsoft Office Outlook. The only limitations are the restrictions your administrators place on a given user. People can schedule meetings, manage contacts, and send e-mail messages in just one program, and the data will automatically be updated in both Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Office Outlook.
4. Exchange data in a cost-efficient way with Microsoft BizTalk Server
Tight integration with Microsoft BizTalk Server helps you reach out to new trading partners. You can exchange data cost-efficiently, regardless of the system a trading partner uses or the standards they require. Information sent or received is automatically updated in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and significantly increases data accuracy.
5. Create links to control and share unstructured data
Companies often have a lot of relevant information they need to refer to in unstructured formats and sources such as e-mails and Web sites. In Microsoft Dynamics NAV, you can add links to any Web site or file stored on a document management system, such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. For example, you could create links from an item in Microsoft Dynamics NAV to a product Web site, a video demo of the product, images of the product, or to other documents created in the Microsoft Office system. Links can be created from any form in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
6. Find maps and directions directly from the program
Integration to Microsoft Windows Live Local Search gives you access to a valuable, time-saving function. You just click a button next to the relevant address in Microsoft Dynamics NAV on the customer card, for example, and then follow the simple driving directions on the screen. You can also print out a map and step-by-step directions. You can view, print, and get driving directions between any two addresses stored in the system.
7. Make decisions confidently with built-in business analytics
With tools such as online analytical processing (OLAP) enabled by Microsoft SQL Server, you can draw upon table relations within Microsoft Dynamics NAV for a multi-dimensional view of data (for example, how a particular product is performing in a certain region in a given time period). You can access the cubes in a reporting application tool, such as Microsoft Office Excel or the Business Analytics Advanced Viewer.
8. Get the right information to the right people
You can easily store and share information from Microsoft Dynamics NAV with your people. For example, if a manager wants to make weekly sales reports available to salespeople in the field, the manager can maintain the list in just one place. The relevant salespeople (who have been given access rights) can then view the sales report using Microsoft Dynamics NAV Employee Portal. Employee Portal connects Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to give people a simplified view of important business data on their own personalized intranet home pages without having to be trained on Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
