ArcherPoint Microsoft Dynamics NAV Developer Digest - vol 24
The ArcherPoint technical staff—made up of developers, project managers, and consultants – is constantly communicating internally, with the goal of sharing helpful information with one another.
As they run into issues and questions, find the answers, and make new discoveries, they post them companywide on Yammer for everyone’s benefit. We in Marketing watch these interactions and never cease to be amazed by the creativity, dedication, and brainpower we’re so fortunate to have in this group—so we thought, wouldn’t it be great to share them with the rest of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Community? So, the ArcherPoint Microsoft Dynamics NAV Developer Digest was born. Each week, we present a collection of thoughts and findings from the ArcherPoint staff. We hope these insights will benefit you, too.
Question regarding NAV 2015’s integration with Microsoft Word and formatting outputs:
Question: With NAV 2015’s integration with Microsoft Word, will we now be able to do all “formats”, such as checks and invoices, using Word as opposed to Visual Studio?
Answer: Invoices – absolutely! That’s what NAV2015 is doing out of the box. Checks – probably not so much. The Word documents are not meant for “tricky” reports. It’s also important to understand any code that is required as part of a report is still completed in the report object. Only the formatting/layout is completed in Word.
Question regarding the best way to perform a project implementation:
Question: I am on my first implementation project in quite some time. What do you do about databases and settings prior to go live?
I thought that having a Golden Settings database, and then a Test database that would be refreshed periodically from Golden during training and testing prior to going live was a good idea. Now I’m not so sure, as it turns out there are a lot of settings that only got done in Test.
Now I’ve been asked to somehow magically sync the two.
What have others done that worked well?
Answer: For the implementations I participated in, we made the adjustments in both test and the golden disk as we went along.
I use SQL scripts that move some key tables from test to prod or whatever “from” and “to” database you choose. This is especially important for tables that are not possible to do manually, i.e., personalizations. Permissions and Access Control are handy as well.
What has also worked well in other implementations was a code unit function that would delete all transaction history. This way, settings can be refined, master file records added, etc., and then a testing / training database can be easily generated. Obviously all settings are made in a Master Database.
An interesting article on diet and productivity:
Even the author points out that just about everyone knows what’s good and bad for them, but he makes a compelling case for realizing the impact diet has on our work performance.
What You Eat Affects Your Productivity
I would like to add to the author’s observations:
Many years ago, I was introduced to a book by Barry Sears, PhD, Enter the Zone. It promotes a version of a low-carbohydrate diet, but based on insights of the biochemical interactions that occur when we eat what we do. One of the most insightful concepts from the book is that food is the most powerful drug you will take because of how it affects your body and that you will have to take it for the rest of your life. Another powerful insight is that you are never more than a meal away from getting back on track.
Like this article points out, Dr. Sears shows how eating smaller, frequent meals keeps the blood sugar at optimum levels for peak performance. He discusses how Olympic athletes have similar diets – for the same reasons: peak performance. Anyone who has wanted to doze off in the afternoon or lost focus writing software (or web content) can appreciate how alertness and creativity are essential for peak job performance.
As a developer and a creative person, I can feel the difference between the days when I follow a structured diet plan and a series of days when I “catch it on run”.