What is this book about

The title of the book is "Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Application Design". What does Application Design mean? And what does it mean in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009?

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 is a very complete ERP package, but unlike other ERP packages it has a design capable of providing an open structure and a development platform. The idea is to provide 80% of the solution out of the box and allow the other 20% to be designed by qualified business application developers.

The partner channel is a unique part of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. From the first moment that Navision was introduced, company management decided that it would only make sense to have an indirect selling model and to let the resellers (called partners) have the availability to change the product and add new functionality.

This book is about both the 80% and the 20%. We'll see that the percentages differ as per the industry where it is applied. Some industries have close to a 100% fit while others have a need for 80% development.

So there is a thin line in this book between using the standard application and designing changes and expanding the product. Although this is not a development book, we'll dive into code and objects in almost every chapter.

To understand the code it should be enough to read this chapter but if you want to know more we highly recommend reading "Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009" written by David Studebaker and also published by Packt.

This book is not a manual for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009. It should give a clear idea of how the structure of the application is laid out and about its possibilities. We do not want to replace or rewrite the Microsoft Documentation but rather want to provide ideas you might not have thought about.