Microsoft Dynamics NAV Upgrade Realities: Users, Pros Sort Out Their NAV 2013 R2 and 2015 Options

If you are planning to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 or NAV 2015, you want the process to be fast and cost efficient, and you want it to pose the least possible impact on your business. The process inevitably starts with questions. What tools are available? Do we have the right people internally to manage an upgrade? How do we deal with our customizations? How much will it cost?

Now that NAV 2013 R2 has gained some relative maturity and NAV 2015 has been in market for several months, customers and partners have a more focused view on the methods, tools, and techniques to use - or avoid - when assessing an upgrade. Let's look at a few recent perspectives on the subject from NAV customers and professionals.

A Customer's Perspective: Know Your Skills, Know Your Users

Jason Wilder, Senior Application Developer, Stonewall Kitchen, shared some upgrade tips with MSDynamicsWorld.com. The first thing he noted was that upgrading is not for everybody.

"Some really good developers are not good at upgrades and some non-developers are really good at upgrades," he said. "You could be really smart but maybe don't pay attention to detail and that means you're not going to be good at an upgrade."

His company has started planning its upgrade from NAV 2009 R2 Classic to NAV 2015. Wilder said Stonewall Kitchen will do 99% of the upgrade and then turn to its ISV partner for the other 1%.

"One tip would be to make sure you know the new product so while you're upgrading you can most likely rip out bunches ...