Dynamics F/SCM Customer Experience (CRM) Dynamics GP Dynamics Business Central (NAV) Dynamics SL Power Platform Fabric Copilot

[Colin Neech]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to see if anyone has integrated NAV with an external WMS (Warehouse Management System)?

We are currently looking to do the same (still looking at the available options); but wanted to get an understanding on the amount of development days which it took to build the interfaces in NAV?

What were the challenges faced when building the interfaces?

We currently use advanced warehousing; requiring picks and put-aways.

Many thanks in advance.

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Colin Neech
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[Franz Kalchmair]

depends on the external wms and which interfaces it needs to connect to nav.
in general it’s no easy issue, so not quick done. 
in most cases interfaces are done using text export/import.

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Franz Kalchmair
Microsoft MVP
Senior Consultant
Austria, Europe
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[Ron Ketterling]

You are very brave. I wouldn’t do it. There are many good options already integrated. 

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

——Original Message——

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to see if anyone has integrated NAV with an external WMS (Warehouse Management System)?

We are currently looking to do the same (still looking at the available options); but wanted to get an understanding on the amount of development days which it took to build the interfaces in NAV?

What were the challenges faced when building the interfaces?

We currently use advanced warehousing; requiring picks and put-aways.

Many thanks in advance.

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Colin Neech
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[Paul Simpson]

We are going through this at the moment. We have selected a WMS system. They have started their work and they have selected another company to provide the interface.  I don’t want to name either here at the moment so I’ll call them simply “WMS” and “MW” (middleware).

When WMS needs to read information from NAV, they have opted to simply read the SQL tables directly.  I’ve made it clear to them they CANNOT update NAV in that way (and will be checking their permissions to ensure that).

Instead, to create, populate and/or update NAV data they will make an API call of some sort to MW and MW will interface with NAV via Web Services (we’re on NAV 2013 R2 so don’t have the new “API” option).

In my testing, I found for MW to create, populate and update table data is quite straightforward.  It gets more difficult for any posting/registering functions as those  functions in NAV’s standard Codeunits are not exposed as public functions, so some sort of new ‘bridge’ Codeunit is required (unless I’ve missed something somewhere).

Clearly the specifics of that interface – the parameters which need to be passed to it and any success/failure returned status values need to be specified and agreed – and that itself will take some time.

Overall I absolutely agree with Franz: You need to consider how many interfaces are needed plus how complex they need to be – i.e. is a simple success/fail error code okay or will you need something more elaborate?

In my case, MW’s expectation is I would ask my NAV partner to estimate for and ultimately do the work.  However, I’m still waiting for a specification from MW so in the meantime I’ve created my own (at least) as a proof of concept covering one function – posting a warehouse receipt.  I’m relatively new to this and that probably took me a couple of days to create and test, starting from scratch.  Obviously I should find each extra function now to be quicker for me but the key is I feel I’m better placed to judge if and when we do ask our NAV partner to estimate.

You will need to judge your situation for yourself, but for me, although my NAV partner would doubt be much quicker than I am, I would still expect them to take care to do it right – it’s going to be critical after all – so I would still feel if they quoted around half a day per function it would be reasonable and I could probably be persuaded that it could be more where there is more complexity (I have an uneasy feeling updating the Production Order Status could be a particularly tricky one).

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Paul Simpson
Business Analyst
Vado
Cheddar
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[Ron Fullmer]

Hi,

NAV has a great WMS system and works for many. 

However if you require something else we have an out of the box integration to a WMS system for NAV that leverages web services and NAV business logic.

http://www.icepts.com/warehouse-management-for-dynamics-nav/

It will take a very long time to create an interface that is acceptable from scratch.

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Ron Fullmer
iCepts Technology Group, Inc.
Middletown PA
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[Jason Luchka]

?We wrote an interface between Manhattan SCALE  and NAV with assistance from our partner. We are currently using flat files up and down between the systems and it works with minimal issues, overall. There are occasional bumps in the road due to ensuring the systems are always in synch, but it’s been a great improvement over our prior EShip and stock NAV WMS implementation.

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Jason Luchka
Senior Enterprise Applications Analyst
FFR Merchandising, Inc.
Twinsburg OH
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[Andrew Good]

As pointed out, this can be complex integration. If you are able to find a WMS with an existing NAV connector I would suggest that you carefully consider it. There are a number challenges that need to be addressed in the connector (e.g. changes to orders after they are sent to WMS, serial and/or lot tracking, allocation and re-allocation of inventory…). That said, if you can get an very good/robust interface specification from the WMS provider, you can design and build an interface.

Most likely, you will require a person to periodically check the interface log and deal with errors.

Good Luck (and Planning)!

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Andrew Good
President
Liberty Grove Software
Oakbrook Terrace IL
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[Adriana Di Vito]

Andrew is offering up some great advice.  It is advisable that you seek a WMS that has an existing integration with NAV (or whatever ERP you are using).

Our own WMS (formerly known as Solochain), integrates with NAV using web services, interfacing with the core processes with NAV.   We provide the integration package to your NAV developer.   They can implement the package and it is basically plug and play.  With that foundation, it should be fairly easy to make adjustments and customizations to fit your specific needs.

We have customers who have engaged their partners to assist in this, and others who have their own dev or IT lead do the job!

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Adriana Di Vito
Marketing Director – Relationship Management
Generix Group North America (formerly Sologlobe)
Montreal QC
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[Annette van der Muur]

I think the WMS in NAV has a lot of functionality.
There is only a lack of Logistic Consultants to assist companies how to use this optimal.
We did the most by self-teaching.

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Annette van der Muur
Application Manager
Hal Leonard Corporation
The Netherlands
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[Chris Hanson]

Hey Colin,

We’ve worked with a handful of WMS companies that provide solutions across Dynamics NAV and GP. One of those companies, Without Wire, has bundled an integration in with their offering. They have created an API for their warehouse management system and then they take advantage of the API for the ERP system system the customer is using. So in the case of Dynamics NAV they are using the existing NAV services which you can publish (and customize if needed) to communicate to and from the NAV system.

The integrations are built out between the commonly needed objects: inventory, POs, SOs, fulfillments, and then any needed vendors and customers for the transactions, etc. Then those mappings can be configured or changed to fit your specific business processes, as we’ve seen very few customers use the exact same setup.

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Chris Hanson
SmartConnect Product Manager
eOne Solutions
Fargo ND
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[Joseph Flynn]

?I’ve had experiences with interfacing NAV to third party WMS systems. Each one has their own level of difficulty. We just disconnected one where I currently work and implemented NAV WMS with some of ACE Warehousing by Lanham. We also have a lot of customizations to make it work for us.

As stated previously, NAV WMS does work as long as it is fully understood.

If you do not have a well seasoned NAV developer on staff, my recommendation would be to use one of the WMS systems that are already configured to work with NAV. Also make sure it has Voice Picking. I have been hearing so many favorable reviews about it.

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Joseph Flynn
Gold Star Foods INC
Ontario CA
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