History of Microsoft Dynamics NAV: A Look Back

Posted by Jody Leoni on August 11, 2010

When it comes to ERP, Dynamics NAV is a household name. But the Dynamics NAV we know today is much different than when it came to be 25 years ago. From starting as a small accounting solution software product from a company in Denmark, to becoming a leading comprehensive business software solution, Microsoft Dynamics NAV has seen its share of changes along the way.

Here’s how it got there.

The 80s: PC Plus is Born

Dynamics NAV began as PC Plus, an accounting software package released by PC&C in Denmark, which is the only country that saw its release. Several years later, the company released the first version of Navision, although it went under the name IBM-Navigator. Rather than operating only on single-user systems, Navision was able to work across LAN Networks and servers, allowing businesses to share information within the network.

Fun Fact: “Beauty of Simplicity” was the first company slogan

The 90s: The Expansion of Navision

1990 saw the release of the earliest iteration of what is Dynamics NAV today. One of the major changes to the software was its ability to allow users to make major modifications to the software due to the introduction of an application language, or AL.

Navision arrived in North America in 1994 as a DOS-based system called A/Vista. Navision immediately gained support for Windows 95. Throughout the rest of the decade, newer versions of Navision software are released, continuing to improve upon its simplicity and performance.

Iterations went from 1.X through 3.X by the late 1990′s. Version 2.X brought the ability to utilize SQL Servers as the RDBMS. Version 3.X was a critical release for North America as it initiated the process of combining the Navision Financial Management, Distribution, and Manufacturing Databases into one single Database. Other notable advances in Version 3.X were the combination of Canadian and U.S. databases into one, as well as the addition of unlimited dimensions building on a truly relational chart of accounts.

Fun Fact: In 1990, the name Navision was used for the first time

The 2000s: The Times They Are a Changin’

The new millennium brought about several more changes to Navision, beginning with the approval of Windows 2000 Professional Certification as well as the merging of Navision and its competitor Damgaard A/S to become NavisionDamgaard A/S. A year later they will become simply Navision A/S while receiving certification for Windows XP.

But 2002 was the year that Navision really became integrated with Microsoft, as the software giant purchased Navision as part of its goal of to create a major business solutions software package named Microsoft Business Solutions, changed to Microsoft Dynamics in 2005. That same year Microsoft would begin announcing a vastly improved version of the software with a new user interface.

Although the release of Dynamics NAV 5.0 did not see the new user interface, it did bring several big changes, including an updated cost accounting feature that allows for more accurate inventory valuation. It would be Dynamics NAV 2009, the latest version of the software that would introduce the new user interface, known as RoleTailored client or RoleTailored interface, as well as other significant changes.

Fun Fact: Microsoft’s initiative to merge Navision, Axapta, Great Plains and Solomon into one system was called Project Green.  Despite the cool name, it was later decided that the products are best served individually, and are now known as Dynamics NAV, Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, and Dynamics SL respectively.