Three college friends from Copenhagen created a single-user PC accounting solution to track warehouse, finance, debits and credits all in one place. It was called Navision. Microsoft partnered with Apple to release the new Apple Macintosh and Microsoft’s custom designed productivity software: Multiplan, Chart, Word, File and BASIC. IBM and the Danish trio launched the first version of IBM-NAVIGATOR. Version 2 followed shortly after, providing a multi-user solution and one of the first client/server applications. IBM-NAVIGATOR rapidly became a bestseller which, after a plethora of names, ultimately became Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Microsoft announced their new computer mouse, nicknamed the ‘Dove Soap Bar’. Expansion moved beyond Copenhagen and into Germany, Iceland, Spain and then the UK where the name ‘Navision' was used for the first time. Windows 3.0 was released, boasting new features such as streamlined graphic user interface GUI – it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks. ‘Avista’ (Navision) was launched in America. As the Americans pronounced Navision as ‘no-vision’, marketeers decided to rename it Avista. Apparently not only would it appear at the beginning of a product list, but names ending in an ‘a’ had a more preferable sound! The Microsoft Developer Network (MDN), a new customer service established to support all commercial and corporate developers, is announced. Get in touch here Navision initiates a major development effort to create a new generation of solutions based on Microsoft Windows 32-bit client/server platform. Microsoft Encarta, the first multimedia encyclopaedia designed for a computer, is released. Navision 1.0 was released in 1995 and became the first accounting system to be independently certified as ‘designed for Windows 95’. It was rewritten from the ground up to attain the Microsoft certification, running true and without the need for porting. Our Managing Director Ian Humphries and former Chairman Peter Lingham discovered Navision. The launch of Navision Financials 1.0 was quickly followed by version 1.1 aka the ‘stable release’ with most of the initial bugs fixed and an upgrade path from DOS to Windows. It’s also the year that Navision was named in the ‘Top 100 Software’ list by Accounting Today magazine. Ian, Peter (our former chairman) and some Icelandic people (now LS Retail) created Alpha Landsteinar, one of the first Navision resellers in the country. At the same time, David Walker (now Operations Director at TNP) had also started an early Navision reseller called Symtech. A year later, Navision Financials 1.2 was released, which included the ability to hyperlink data with Internet sites and to use the Internet for data transfer and management. Microsoft announces the immediate availability of Office 97, the new version of the world’s best-selling productivity suite. Navision Financials was named in the ‘Top 100 Software’ list for the third year running. They opened offices in Italy, South Africa and Canada, which expanded the total to more than 800 Navision Solution Centres globally and used by more than 32,000 customers worldwide. Navision Manufacturing was also released. The Microsoft Cordless Phone System was released, featuring personal computer integration. It was the only phone product made by Microsoft until the Windows Mobile series of smartphones. The merger of Navision Software and their Danish rival Damgaard Software created an international market-leader with revenues of more than $1.2 billion – to the delights of those three former students bank balances! It was also the year Navision Financials 2.6 received the Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional logo and became the world’s first solution to be based on Microsoft’s Digital Dashboard. NavisionDamgaard A/S was changed to the more easily pronounced Navision A/S. Its growth rate was astounding as the rest of the accounting software industry had been slumping since the ‘Y2K bug’ period. Microsoft launces Xbox, a gaming console to compete with Sony’s Playstation 2 and Nintendo’s GameCube. Windows XP was also released. After much speculation, Microsoft bought Navision in a $1.3 billion deal and it became part of Microsoft’s Business Solutions division. As Navision generated about 86% of its business in Europe, its headquarters in Vedbaek became its application business base for EMEA. It was the first acquisition for Microsoft since they bought Great Plains Software. The takeover sparked a bitter war of words with rivals Sage! As of May2002, over 60 million Office XP licenses had been sold. Microsoft announced the rebranding of Microsoft Navision to Dynamics NAV and similarly rebranded all of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) products. Having previously employed a very young Matthew Dredge and many other employees now at TNP, fast forward to 2005 where the business was acquired by K3. Dynamics NAV 5.0 was released (a year late) delivering improved functionality and stability. After continuing the company for a number of years, Ian left K3 to see if it was a fluke the first time and, with some former partners, set up Cenium Ltd with a mission to sell NAV to the hotel industry. Familiar to some of you, Rob Targett, who was employee number one, and Paul Wellingham joined. Dynamics NAV 2009 was released with the long-awaited new user interface Role Tailored Client, which was the first change in the look since 1995. Deciding to get back into the mainstream NAV market, and being joined by a slightly less youthful Matthew Dredge and David Walker, Touchstone NAV was created as a joint venture with Touchstone PLC from their fledgling NAV business. Dynamics NAV 2013 has been a landmark release, breaking the links to the old Navision technology. It has provided 25 years of dedicated service from the good old DOS days to a fully integrated web application, soon to move into the cloud… Ian met an enthusiastic Andrei Popescu where he was working in a restaurant kitchen. Andrei asked if he could work for free to gain some experience, an offer too good for Ian to miss. After the first week, it became clear that Andrei would be a hugely valuable asset to the company and clearly worth paying! Today, Andrei heads up the UK Managed Services team and in Ian’s words, “that free working week was one of the best investments we ever made!” Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 continues to deliver improved performance, new technology components and strong functional improvements - it just keeps getting better! 2013 marked the debut year of TNP's 'Ultimate Guide' publication where we shared the latest news from Microsoft surrounding our beloved Dynamics NAV product. NAV 2015 saw the introduction of a dedicated Tablet Client, Office 365 Integration and improved Upgrade Tools which made the 'merging' of existing changes to a system much easier and quicker than before! During our 4th Annual Microsoft Dynamics User Day for customers, other NAV users and partners, we announced nYwhere, our customer-led mobile sales application used by customers such as ScS in retail stores across the country. Another major release, NAV 2016 is unveiled. Workflow and Dynamics NAV extensions are introduced. Integration with Azure SQL and the release of the phone client fills the last gap in the out-of-the-box functionality! Our nHanced for Classic was released in 2015, way past the ‘Classic days’, as our way of demonstrating that we are as committed to those on older version of Dynamics NAV as we are to those on the latest. A huge amount of time and effort has been accorded to simplifying NAV for the 2017 release; clutter has been removed from list pages and card pages making sure that the right information is front and centre. But the real piece de resistance of 2017 is Outlook Integration – NAV right where you need it. In addition to ourNewbury HQ, we decided to hire heavily in Manchester –an investment that has well and truly paid off. Building our resources in the North of England means being able to physically support and visit our customers more frequently. Release of NAV 2018 and announcement that the Dynamics 365 rebrand is imminent! More Office 365 integration and new web client tailor-ability features. TNP were awarded 3 Star accreditation by The Sunday Times Best Companies survey and were voted the 29th best small company to work for in the UK. 2018 saw thecompleterebranding to Dynamics 365, with the public cloud being joined by private cloud and on-premise versions. With the retirement ofIan’s business partnerof manyyears,co-founder of TNP Peter Lingham, private equity firm FPE invested in TNP to help with its next stage of development. We gratefully receivedthe Spring and Autumn releases of Business Central, the huge focus on the latter (Business Central 15) being the end of the Windowsclientand the C/AL development environment. These positive moves confirm the web client as by far the better client and AL established as the superior developing environment. Tonnes of functional improvements matched with advanced usability features made this a major release year for our beloved product. Post Chairman Peter’s retirement,TNP openedup our old office across the car park and lovingly named it ‘Lingham’sLodge’. With twohighly anticipated releases of Business Central in 2020, which we documented in our 'Release Wave 1' and 'Release Wave 2' blogs, we welcome Microsoft's continual dedication to customer and Partner feedback. Integration to the Common Data Service for use with the Power Platform, as well asgeneral UI and usability improvements,make 2020 an exciting year for Business Central. Following theadministrationof K3 Retail’s Dynamics division,TNPbought the support contracts for the customers and rediscovered old relationships from Ian’s days at K3. As has become the 'norm', both the spring and autumn release of updates to Dynamics 365 Business Centralwere packed with fresh developments. Business Central was integrated with Microsoft Teams in 2021, a fantastic feature that makes seamless workflows possible. Answer queries quickly, connect with teammates on customer orders, look up contacts without leaving Teams. It's an exciting development that will only get better as it evolves. TNP acquired a small analytics practice to build out our Power BI team, a section of The Power People that are dedicated to Microsoft's Power Platform offering. Get in touch 
1984
The Birth of Navision
1987
Microsoft's New Computer Mouse Raises Eyebrows
1990
The Roll-Out into Europe
1992
Microsoft Developer Network is Born
Interested in talking to us about your ERP solution?
1993
The First Multimedia Encyclopaedia!
1995
Designed for Windows 95
1996
Alpha Landsteinar - Openfor Business
1997
Hyperlinking Data Became a Reality
1998
Microsoft's Wireless Phone
2000
Navision Received the Windows Professional Logo
2001
Navision A/S Avoids Y2K Bug Slump
2002
Over 60 Million Office XP Licenses Sold
2005
Navision is Rebranded to Dynamics NAV
2007
Rob Targett is Employee Number One!
2009
Release of the Dynamics NAV Role Tailored Client
2012
A Memorable Recruitment
2013
Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 Delivers Great Performance Improvements
2014
TNP's nYwhere App
2015
The Introduction of the Dynamics NAV Phone Client
2016
Expanding in Manchester
2017
The Sunday Times Best Companies
2018
Dynamics 365 Business Central is Born!
2019
Celebrating Peter Lingham's Time at TNP
2020
Excitement for Microsoft's Power Platform
2021
MicrosoftTeams Integration with Dynamics 365 Business Central
Speak to us about Microsoft Teams integration and how we can introduce it to your business
FAQs
What is the history of Microsoft Navision? ›
Navision 1.0 was released in 1995 and became the first accounting system to be independently certified as 'designed for Windows 95'. It was rewritten from the ground up to attain the Microsoft certification, running true and without the need for porting.
When did NAV become Business Central? ›Dynamics NAV becomes Dynamics 365 Business Central
In 2018, Dynamics NAV became part of Microsoft's Dynamics 365 universe. The solution was renamed: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Business Central is licensed on a per-user basis, while Dynamics NAV is licensed on a per-server basis. With Business Central, you only need to pay for the users who will be using the system, while with Dynamics NAV, you need to pay for the server regardless of how many users are accessing the system.
How long has Business Central been around? ›Originally developed under the name Great Plains Software in Fargo, North Dakota by CEO Doug Burgum in 1993, this accounting software was one of the first in North America designed to accommodate multiple users.
When did Navision become NAV? ›History of Navision
In 2002, Microsoft acquired the company and it became part of Microsoft Business Solution and was renamed as Microsoft Navision. As it progresses and alongside with the changes in Microsoft's business vision, it was then renamed to Microsoft Dynamics NAV in 2005. The name has been retained since.
What is Microsoft Navision? Microsoft Navision is the old name for Dynamics NAV (which is now known as Dynamics 365 Business Central!), an ERP system that provides businesses with an end-to-end solution for connecting and managing all processes (such as sales, purchasing, accounting, plus general reporting).
Is Nav Now Business Central? ›Microsoft Dynamics NAV was rebranded in 2018 to Microsoft Dynamics Business Central for on-premises and private cloud versions, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for the cloud version.
What is the new name of Business Central? ›Business Central - New name, same solution
Dynamics NAV changes its name to Business Central, at the same time, the solution also gets a new license model.
Navision was developed by a Danish software firm originally known as PC&C A/S (Personal Computing and Consulting) in the 1980s.
What programming language is Navision? ›C/AL (Client Application Language) is the programming language used in the Client / Server Integrated Development Environment (C/SIDE) included with Navision Solutions. What is it used for? There are many purposes for which you can use a computer programming language.
Is Navision an ERP system? ›
Yes, Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a fully integrated ERP system. With Dynamics NAV, formerly Navision, now Business Central, you get all the functionality you need to run your business efficiently and smoothly.
Is Navision better than SAP? ›Perhaps the most important difference between SAP B1 and Dynamics Navision is where we see these platforms getting deployed and how much they cost. Navision is used in the small-to-midsized space much more often, and SAP B1 is typically more expensive to implement and maintain than Navision.
What language does Business Central use? ›AL is the programming language that is used for manipulating data such as retrieving, inserting, and modifying records in a Dynamics 365 Business Central database. It controls the execution of the various application objects, such as pages, reports, or codeunits.
What is the purpose of Business Central? ›Business Central is a business management solution for small and mid-sized organizations that automates and streamlines business processes and helps you manage your business.
What is the difference between Microsoft Dynamics and Navision? ›Key Differences between Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365
NAV can be hosted on-premises or on the cloud. Also, NAV, software is purchased and each user has to purchase a license. There is limited flexibility. With Dynamics 365, the software is hosted on Microsoft Azure servers.
- Financial Management.
- Sales and marketing.
- Procurement.
- Storage.
- Production.
- Resource planning.
- The service module.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Dynamics NAV is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) app that assists with finance, manufacturing, customer relationship management (CRM), supply chains, analytics, and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized companies and local subsidiaries of large international groups.
The Dynamics NAV / Navision CRM Dashboard makes all the information salespeople and customer service needs just one mouse click away. Users can view how many unpaid invoices, open orders and quotes are in the system for this customer and have the ability to drill down and see the actual documents.
How long does it take to learn Navision? ›| Track | Week Days | Course Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Course Duration | 25-30 Days | 8 Weekends |
| Hours | 1 Hrs. Per Day | 2 Hrs. Per Day |
| Training Mode | Classroom/Online | Classroom/Online |
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server is a . NET-based Windows Service application that manages communications between Dynamics NAV clients and Dynamics NAV databases in SQL Server.
Does Microsoft NAV use SQL? ›
Dynamics NAV can run on Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database. For a list of supported editions of SQL Server, see Microsoft Dynamics NAV Database Components for SQL Server Requirements.
What is the difference between NAV and 365? ›Differences and similarities
However, the difference between the two solutions is that Dynamics 365 is only a 'SaaS' solution, which means that it is only avalible through a cloud based application that, you can connect to via the Internet, whereas Dynamics NAV can be implemented locally on your own server.
On July 12, 2002, Microsoft purchased Navision for $1.33 billion. The company, which developed the technology for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV enterprise resource planning software, was integrated into Microsoft as a new division named Microsoft Business Solutions, later renamed to Microsoft Dynamics.
Is NAV the closing price? ›NAV is commonly used as a per-share value calculated for a mutual fund or ETF. NAV is calculated at the end of each trading day based on the closing market prices of the portfolio's securities.
Who owns Business Central? ›Business Central was first published as Dynamics NAV and Navision, which Microsoft acquired in 2002.
What database does Business Central use? ›Main components
A SQL database (SQL Server, SQL Server on Azure VM, Azure SQL Managed Instance, or Azure SQL Database) that contains application object definitions and business data.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution designed for midsize organizations to streamline business operations and accelerate cash flow.
Is Navision easy to learn? ›It is quite easy. The problem is to know the functionality and how to use it. That insight mostly comes with experience (an experienced C/AL developer to guide you a little is advisable!) . Even after 10 years, I'm still learning new functionalities in NAV.
Who uses Navision? ›| Company Name | Website | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Siemens | www.siemens.com | $70 Billion |
| Amway | www.amway.com | $8 Billion |
| Ceterus | www.ceterus.com | $6 Million |
| Chippenhook | www.chippenhook.com | $230 Million |
Access License Types
Concurrent Client Access Licenses (CALs), only available under the Perpetual Licensing model, and User Subscription Access Licenses (SALs), only available under the Subscription Licensing model. Concurrent CALs are based on the number of users accessing the solution simultaneously.
What are the 3 common types of ERP? ›
There are three main types of ERP systems that function with different deployment model options. The most common types of ERP systems include cloud ERP, on-premise ERP, and hybrid ERP.
Is Navision cloud based? ›The Navision cloud version includes wide-ranging capabilities and team collaboration as it can easily use by any remote location.
Is Navision still supported? ›The first 5 years are mainstream support and the final 5 years extended support. On January 11th, 2022, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 will be the latest version to go out of mainstream support and into extended support. As shown in the table below, all versions prior to NAV 2017 are also out of mainstream support.
Is Business Central easy to learn? ›One of the key benefits of Business Central is that you quickly learn how to use the system. This shortens the implementation project and ensures a pleasant user experience. But why is Business Central so easy to learn and use?
Is Business Central the same as dynamics? ›There isn't a difference between Dynamics 365 and Business Central, in fact, Business Central is part of the D365 platform. However, there is a difference between the CRM applications which sit under the Dynamics 365 'umbrella' and Business Central.
Does Business Central use SQL Server? ›The Business Central Server uses ADO.NET to connect to the SQL Server database. The ADO.NET interface is a managed data access layer that supports SQL Server connection pooling, which can dramatically decrease memory consumption by Business Central Server.
What are the key benefits of Business Central? ›With Business Central you can improve communication and allocate jobs and tasks. Automate and keep track of your business processes. Helping your team accomplish more everyday with an easy-to-use interface that is familiar across the full Microsoft suite of products, reducing the learning curve for your team.
What are the advantages of using Business Central? ›This flexible and easy-to-scale cloud solution allows organizations to easily grow their business while enabling seamless integration with a host of other Microsoft applications and product suites. Built with enterprise-grade security, Dynamics Business Central ensures data is always secured and backed up.
Who created Navision? ›1 Navision – The Birth of an ERP Company and a Product
In 1984 three students from the Danish Technical University, DTU, Jesper Balser, Peter Bang and Torben Wind, founded a company called PC&C. A few years later this became Navision (Fig. 1).
Dynamics NAV (formerly known as Navision) is an easily adaptable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution which helps small and medium-sized businesses to automate and connect their sales, purchasing, operations, accounting, and stock management.
What language does Navision use? ›
C/AL (Client Application Language) is the programming language used in the Client / Server Integrated Development Environment (C/SIDE) included with Navision Solutions.
What is Business Central used for? ›Business Central is a business management solution for small and mid-sized organizations that automates and streamlines business processes and helps you manage your business.