Upgraded search, navigation, tools will revive PartnerSource, CustomerSource, Microsoft Dynamics team says

Sometimes change feels good right away, other times it's the start of a journey toward what everyone hopes will bring good things soon.

The latter appeared to be closer to the case when Microsoft took its first steps in overhauling PartnerSource and CustomerSource, the company's primary online resources for Dynamics ERP and CRM partners and customers.

Adjusting to change

While the need for an upgrade is seen as long overdue by most, users seem to have been caught off guard. They weren't exactly sure the changes they saw were going to be a good thing.

One user asked, "Are we really making a move forward in PartnerSource?" "They (Microsoft) can do this for sure. It's more the question of wanting to..." Another user said, "To be honest .. not really a step forward :(." And still another said, "Even worse than the old site . . . broken links and good luck trying to find what you're looking for. Took me 10 minutes and 22 clicks to get to the download dvd for GP 2013."

Last week, Eric Wauters wrote on his blog that when he heard the news his first thought was "finally."

"I definitely agree: something needed to be done. It wasn't too easy to find stuff on PartnerSource -- it was darn difficult," he wrote. "And because it was difficult, many people in the Dynamics Community (and this time, I'm not only talking about the NAV community) were helping people ... to guide them to really important information."

Wauters explained that he had written numerous blog posts where he linked back to specific pages on PartnerSource, but after Microsoft migrated PartnerSource to ...