Six ways the ACE initiative shapes the future of Microsoft Dynamics NAV

If you are a Microsoft Dynamics NAV partner or customer eager for more influence on the roll out of new product features, then you need to know about the NAV Agile Customer Engagement, or ACE, program.  ACE started about two years ago and has grown into about a dozen communities all focused on the future of the product. 

ACE community input has already shaped features of NAV 2015 and the next major release, codenamed "Corfu", says the program's creator, Microsoft senior program manager Brett Johnson. The annual release cycle for Dynamics NAV means that the team is already looking for participants for 2016.

So just what is ACE? Is your organization you a good candidate to participate? Here are six facts about the program to consider before reaching out the ACE team (contact information is at the end of this article).

ACE is a component of the NAV R&D team's agile development process, so it moves fast

ACE is, as its name implies, a program that ties customer and partner input into the Dynamics NAV R&D team's agile development process, Johnson explained.

"The point of it is to focus on the features. We recruit SMEs from customers and partners to join and we build virtual communities for each new feature area for a NAV release."

Most features are under NDA, but some Corfu features with ACE communities have been revealed recently, like a native workflow engine, document management, and e-services.

ACE participants have some strong opinions on what a feature like workflow should do, says Johnson.

"We check in pretty often ...