[Baden Burt]

We are looking to upgrade to Nav 2018, what are the thoughts of hiring an independent consultant to do the Needs and Analysis versus using a Microsoft partner.

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Baden Burt
AgraWest Investments Limited
Ririe ID
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[Jason Wilder]

Some random thoughts on this:

If you have a good relationship with your partner and they know your mods there would be an advantage to having someone familiar with your database to do the work.  You need to consider moving some of your customization’s to events and though this will cost a little more up front is well worth it in the long run and eventually might be required anyway.  Consider moving your Page mods (and maybe Table mods) for base objects to Page and Table Extensions.  All these things will make your next upgrade easier and faster.

You can probably find an independent contractor who is experienced and a bit cheaper than a partner which is a plus.

Your partner may not like that you are using someone else to do the work.

An independent contractor may run into licensing issues depending on the add-ons that you have installed.

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Jason Wilder
Senior Application Developer
Stonewall Kitchen
York ME
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[Ted Johnston]

Is your business going well? Do you have a good relationship with your partner? Are you looking for a differing viewpoint?

The challenge with using your current partner is the risk of “always done it this way” thinking. Bringing in an outside resource can bring a fresh point of view. However, my guess is it will take longer and cost more for someone not familiar with your business to dig into all the aspects and make recommendations for change.

How open is your company to change?

My company is on a very old version of NAV due to our resistance to change and the cost of same. I want to re-implement rather than upgrade when the time comes, but I’m somewhat pessimistic about my ability to drive change and kick folks out of the “just keep it the way it is” syndrome.

I think the answer to the current partner vs. outside resource will be answered differently by different organizations.

Perhaps getting some outside help on business process first, then look at the upgrade with the knowledge of the processes you want to change.

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Ted Johnston
IT Director
Streicher’s
Minneapolis MN
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[Ahmed Amini]

There are some very good points mentioned above. 
I want to add a couple of things. 
It all comes down to individual(s) who are working on the project. If the partner is doing the the upgrade the resource doing the upgrade may not be person who had done all the mods.  Usually they have an upgrade team, or they send it to India to do the upgrade.  With a partner the mods are usually done by resource that is available at the time the request was asked from the client.  With some partner an employee might get a list of clients that they are working. Other partners cycle through different project and depending on availability.  

Most Independent consultants worked at one point  for a partner. So you are working with an employee directly.

Depending on the size of the partner, you have more resource available.

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Ahmed Amini
Indepedant Consultant
Scotts Valley CA
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[Alex Chow]

If you’re going to hire someone to do a needs analysis, you may as well hire that person/company to do the upgrade.

IMHO, an implementation is not science, it’s more of an art. There are infinite possibilities and  interpretations of how to solve a business problem that each consultant/company will have their preferred way to address those problems.

Having a person do the analysis and have them give proposal on how to address the business problem is reflective of their thoughts and knowledge for the business and the software. To a certain extent, their world views on how a business SHOULD function. 

To have one individual do the analysis and have someone pick up where the previous left off will usually not blend very well. 

It’s like having an interim-CEO come in and put a plan in place for what he/she thought the right direction for the company should be, only to have the next CEO come in, with a different interpretation on the goals and directions, redo everything. 

This will only cause confusion and frustration on your users.

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Alex Chow
Dynamics NAV MVP
AP Commerce Inc.
Los Angeles CA
Blog: http://www.dynamicsnavconsultant.com
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[Cynthia Priebe]

makes great points. I would add that if your partner does not, in your opinion, have someone or a team to do this analysis work? to your satisfaction, I would not want them doing the upgrade work either.

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Cynthia Priebe, MCP, ACP
Senior Analyst and Project Manager
Liberty Grove Software

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[Amanda Mayer]

I think this is somewhat subjective and truly depends on the parties involved. That being said, if you are going to utilize an independent consultant to help with needs analysis because of a potential knowledge gap with your partner (industry, finance, etc.), it should definitely be done in conjunction with the partner you will be utilizing for the upgrade.

There is a LOT of knowledge required for business processes and how you can implement NAV to meet the needs of any business. One company/partner many not have all that experience and knowledge. It makes sense to find the experts that you need.

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Amanda Mayer
New View Strategies
Milwaukee WI
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