Home Hardware Stores Limited adopts Microsoft Dynamics NAV as a platform for in-store operations

As a senior programmer and analyst for Home Hardware Stores Limited, Jason Down was first introduced to Microsoft Dynamics NAV about four years ago when his company was looking for an ERP system suitable for their Dealer stores.

Down is part of a team of eleven developers that provide software for Ontario-based, Home Hardware Stores Limited, Canada's largest Dealer-owned hardware, lumber, building materials and furniture cooperative with close to 1,100 stores. They maintain a range of custom and off-the-shelf software solutions for the retail stores, working with the corporate team and with the Dealer network.

About four years ago, Home Hardware Stores Limited partnered with LS Retail to develop a Dynamics NAV solution that also gave them an integrated point of sale system. They worked together to create a customized system that Down's team now manages and builds on, but that LS Retail still collaborates on.

For Down and the rest of the team, learning Dynamics NAV (the company is currently running NAV 2013 R2) required a combination of training, reading blogs, and other written materials, and getting their hands dirty by playing with the system. Down also recently started blogging about his experiences programming for NAV, adding to his other interests like .NET and Ebooks.

"Basically we were looking for a new way to introduce some [features] so we could offer it to all of our stores and not have to bolt on an integrated GL," Down says. "We wanted something that was an excellent financial system from the ground up. Our Business team did some research and decided Dynamics NAV would be ...