Dynamics NAV 2017 and ”Madeira” project

On April this year, Microsoft announced the launch of ” ”Madeira”, a solution dedicated  to SMB companies and which can be accessed in Cloud only, on the model SaaS ( Software as a Service).

First, was thought that ”Madeira” will be the future Dynamics NAV 2017 but  Microsoft’s officials made some clarifications regarding this rumour.

The Madeira project belongs to Microsoft Dynamics 365′ suite, which wants to provide some of the functionalities of traditional ERP systems, being fully integrated with Office 365 and Cloud optimized.

“Madeira” borrows most of its functionalities from Dynamics NAV. We could  say it is a “light” version of Dynamics NAV. It contains  Financials, Sales and marketing, Purchases, Inventory.

“Madeira” wants to be a solution for companies who need more than a simple accounting program, but they don’t need yet  a “full-options” system such as Dynamics NAV (Navision).

Dynamics NAV is expected to be launched on October this year. For now, there are not many details available regarding the new version. Yet, enhancements are expected regarding:

• Office 365 integration
• Web client
• Import of historical data from other systems
• Workflows
• Code development through extensions (modifications that do not affect the standard code)

Dynamics NAV 2017 and “Madeira” will be two different products having a parallel evolution  and most likely there will be a cross-fertilization between them. Dynamics NAV 2017 will remain the main option, but “Madeira” will cover the needs of customers who don’t need yet all that Dynamics NAV could provide and are willing to embrace the Cloud technology.