14 January 2016

Introducing To-Increase Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Solutions 2016

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Smaller, simpler, easier, more versatile: To-Increase Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016

Now available for our customers and partners is To-Increase Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016 for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. In this release, we aligned our popular manufacturing solution to take full advantage of the new features of Dynamics NAV 2016. We also simplified many common functions, which have become easier to learn and use, and reduced the solution’s overall footprint and complexity by combining and eliminating objects and steps in many areas. Today’s and three upcoming blog posts provide an overview of the new and enhanced capabilities you will find in Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016.

Increased usability and transparency in lifecycle management

New in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 is a workflow capability that enables companies to structure processes consistently and reduce manual intervention. The simple concept behind workflows is prompting Dynamics NAV to initiate a pre-set activity in response to an event in the system. Many companies use workflows to manage approvals of work items, tasks; or documents, notifications that tell people to perform specific actions when certain events occur. In many organizations, automating standard processes through workflows is also a frequent practice. Dynamics NAV 2016 includes 20 ready-to-go workflows for various business processes, and companies can also create their own.

When manufacturers use the enhanced workflow functionality in Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016 together with that in Dynamics NAV 2016, they can benefit from better usability and visibility, along with greater simplicity. Renamed to Lifecycle Studio to make a clear distinction from the workflow capability in Dynamics NAV, the former Workflow Studio, which is based on a framework that is part of the Solution Center in each of our NAV solutions, includes a number of new features and enhancements. We can go into more detail about this framework, which evolves within the Business Integration Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, when we discuss the 2016 update of the Business Integration Solutions.

Integrating Industrial Equipment Manufacturing life cycles and Dynamics NAV workflows

We understand the Dynamics NAV workflows as sequential workflows, whereas life cycles in Life cycle Studio are state machine workflows. Integration of the two makes them more powerful, because it lets you automate a process, such as an approval request, by launching a workflow. When the workflow provides a response, the life cycle state automatically changes accordingly. That means you can use the life cycles in Life cycle Studio to propel workflows in Dynamics NAV. Throughout the existence of a record, the life cycles track changes in status and indicate clearly what the current state of a record is, with detailed visibility for the user above what is available in NAV workflows.

Thus, in Industrial Equipment Manufacturing, you can define the states that a record can be in as well as the transitions that move it from one state to another in a standardized sequence. For example, you create a sales order, give it a confirmation, ship the items, and invoice them in the next step. You can enforce a firm process where no step is left out, or you can make certain steps optional. You can also set conditions for each of these states, such as making invoicing dependent on a price in the sales order. In addition, you can now trigger approval processes at every state, for example, having accounts receivable approve before items are shipped. And, you can prompt other, related events to happen, such as a warehouse document to be printed when that approval is recorded. The versatility of the life cycles and workflows integration lets you closely adjust Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016 to your specific operation.

 

Other blog posts about Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016:

In Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016 for Dynamics NAV, service management gains ease and mobility (January 20)

If you are interested in exploring Industrial Equipment Manufacturing 2016 more in-depth, please fill the form below to get in touch and arrange for a demo or to have your questions answered. 

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Luciano Cunha
Luciano Cunha,
Luciano Cunha,
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

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