7 New and Improved Updates in Dynamics NAV 2017 and 2018

Are you a current user of Microsoft Dynamics NAV version 2016 or earlier? If so, could your business benefit from the latest enhancements? There have been many updates in NAV 2017 and 2018 that focus on improvements to user experience and productivity and we’ve compiled a list of some of the major new features, so you can decide for yourself if an upgrade might benefit your organization.

Below is a shortlist of significant new features and functionality that were introduced in NAV 2017 and NAV 2018. You can also watch our video summary of What’s New in NAV 2017-2018 for an in-depth walk through of these and more enhancements.

1. Integrations with Other Microsoft Solutions

Improvements within NAV 2017 and 2018 have focused on allowing tighter integrations with other Microsoft applications. For example:

• Office 365 now includes a multitude of apps and helpful tools such as Microsoft Flow. These are designed to work together with Dynamics NAV to provide a seamless user experience.
• Power BI can now be embedded directly into NAV role centers, and Power BI content packs make it easy to pick and view exactly the metrics that matter to each user.
• Dynamics 365 for Sales (formerly Dynamics CRM) has an improved integration with NAV. Sales data can now be viewed directly inside NAV, and vice versa. You can synchronize data between the two solutions for everything from sales orders and item availability, to units of measure and currencies.

In addition to including a wider range of integrated functionality, all of these integrations are now much easier to set up. The latest versions of NAV are easier and cheaper to integrate with other applications in general, and especially with other Microsoft solutions.

2. Simplified Setup and Configuration

The new Setup and Extensions page is a single place where you can access all your settings, setups, service connectors, and extensions. Specific setup guidance wizards help users create new companies, approval workflows, data imports, new users, template downloads, and more. 

3. Improved Mobile Experience and Touch Functions

The newest versions of NAV offer users the ability to optimize their user interfaces for touchscreens. For example, users now have the option to quickly toggle between a list view (for traditional screens) and a brick view (for touchscreens). You can also use swipe gestures to set up an action of your choice when the user swipes from the left or right edge.

4. Simplified User Interfaces

The user interface in the newest versions of NAV has been simplified to provide an easier user experience. Pages have been redesigned so that a lot of fields which were previously default have now been moved to the “additional” tab.

5. Finance Improvements

NAV 2017 and 2018 have simplified scheduling for a wider variety of report types, including Balance Sheet, Income Statements, Cash Flow Statement, Retained Earnings Statement. In addition, you can now categorize GL reports.

6. Employee Ledger

The new employee ledger makes it possible to create journal entries directly for employees, so there’s no need to set them up as a vendor. On the employee card, you can now define a default posting group to be used for each employee.  You can request a list of outstanding employee payments and make payments to the employee in the Payments Journal.

7. Item Attributes

Items can now be assigned an unlimited number and type of attributes, such as color, model year, and more. These attributes can be used as filters and can be extended to eCommerce capabilities. The new image analyzer uses a machine learning engine to scan an image of an item and automatically identify attributes such as type and color.

Want to learn more?

This is truly just a shortlist of the major improvements available in NAV 2017 and 2018. If you’re interested in learning more about, watch our video tour of What’s New in NAV 2017-2018 to explore several new and enhanced features.

Western Computer has 30 years of experience helping businesses like yours maximize their technology investments. Contact our Dynamics NAV experts with any questions.