The New Dynamics NAV-CRM Connector Is Welcome News to Many, But At Least One Company Will Hang Back

The news coming out of Microsoft that Release 2 of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 will have a “connector” linking it with Dynamics CRM should be good news for Augsburg Fortress, a small distributor of Lutheran texts.

The organization has since 2008 wanted to link its Dynamics NAV and CRM applications. But alas, Kerry Rosvold, Augsburg’s corporate controller, isn’t running to sign up for Release 2.

The obstacle: There are just too many bad memories of the organization’s intensive effort to provide its own linkage between Dynamics NAV and CRM in late 2008. “We implemented NAV in December 2008,” recalls Rosvold. “We planned to integrate Dynamics CRM at the same time. We were trying to take on the world, but we bit off more than we could chew.”

The result: “There was no connector built that was easy to integrate.” A partner tried to devise its own, and the result was a disaster. “It brought our warehouse to its knees. It was scary. It took us three weeks to disconnect NAV and CRM.”

There were any number of problems, in retrospect, says Rosvold. Augsburg Fortress didn’t do enough testing. The project was too ambitious. “There were lessons of limiting the scope, or limiting the list of things to be done…Shame on us.”

The organization’s recovery from the disastrous efforts to join the applications took almost two years. “Our own users didn’t trust us,” Rosvold says.  So now Augsburg Fortress continues to use both applications…separately.

The hangover from  the 2008 problems will likely keep Augsburg Fortress from pursuing the new release of NAV 2009. ...