How Sure Step for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Is Finally Catching Up to AX and CRM

Sure Step, the official Microsoft implementation methodology for business management solutions from the Microsoft Dynamics family, is gaining momentum and becoming increasingly interesting to Microsoft partners and customers alike. It is robust and comprehensive, yet adaptable and simple to use.

For some reason, though, its support for Microsoft Dynamics NAV has always seemed to lag behind that for Dynamics CRM or AX. Is the situation going to stay that way, or the things are moving forward for NAV?

It's a peculiar situation. When the first version ever of Sure Step was released, it was largely based on On Target methodology, the official methodology for implementation of NAV specifically. However, project templates have been mostly available for AX and CRM, while other Dynamics products, including NAV, were neglected. Yes, it was still possible to implement NAV using Sure Step, however it took a while to adapt the documents to allow for differences between AX and NAV. Also, it was not possible to use the product outside the box without at least some customization of the content.

Two releases further, and Sure Step still seemed to be largely unaware of the fact that NAV, AX, GP and SL are all different products, and many document templates included in the methodology simply ignored the fact that there is a world beyond AX.

With the latest release, Sure Step 2010, things are definitely developing in a direction more favorable to NAV customers and partners.

Improvements for NAV in Sure Step 2010 can be grouped into the following two categories: template content improvement, and project guidance improvement. Let's take a closer look at each.

Project documentation templates, one of the core components of the Sure Step methodology, now take greater account of NAV specifics ...