Microsoft offers different ERP software packages to suit the requirements of various organizations of different sizes located in different parts of the world. The ERP product line of Microsoft includes Great Plains, Solomon, Axapta and Navision.
Dynamics GP: Microsoft Dynamics GP suits the requirements of mid market organizations and it is popular in North America, Middle-East, Australia, UK and New Zealand. The software is written in the language "Dexterity" and it provides multi-user features. It was initially developed by Great Plains and it is one of the biggest competitors of Navision.
It excels in providing the general ledger module but it is not used extensively outside U.S. and Canada. It has the features to provide solution to companies having multiple subsidiaries in various parts of U.S. and it best suits the companies using English as the primary language.
Dynamics AX: It suits the requirement of mid and large sized organization where traditional ERP system was used. It provides strong manufacturing and distribution modules, and it can provide streamlined and centralized solution to small organization. The solution provides role centers and enables efficient decision making. The 2009 version includes tools for business intelligence and to delivers KPIs.
The major disadvantage of Axapta is that it can get expensive and difficult to handle due to multiple features.
Dynamics NAV: Navision provides solution for small and midsized companies where number of users is 20 to 200 and it suits the requirement of all types of businesses.
NAV can be easily integrated to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and to the online payment module, which enables the software to provide e-commerce solution, point of sale and other features required for the call centers. It also provides facilities to accept payment through credit card. The software uses Windows 7 features and allows tree-map visualization and virtualization support.
NAV Vs AX
1. When NAV is compared to AX it is found that the implementation time for AX is more than NAV.
2. Manufacturing module of AX is better featured as compared to NAV.
3. The menu and user interface of both the software is almost same. The screens of AX are larger than NAV.
4. AX and NAV handle objects and layers differently. AX considers a series of layers where objects are placed.
5. When compared to NAV, AX provides multi-location solution and can work on global platforms.
6. The major disadvantage of NAV is that it is not strong like AX and its database feature is not very strong.
Dynamics SL: Solomon is suitable for small and mid-sized companies and it is used in small section of organizations specializing in project management, distribution and service industry. It is not strong like NAV and GP.
Dynamics CRM: The customer relationship management of Microsoft provides multilingual features and it is based on .NET framework. The new features are new portal accelerators, new developer tools to allow the software to connect to on demand software and new services. It can be integrated to Microsoft GP 2010 to improve productivity and it can support the on premise version of GP 2010 and GP 10.
