NAV TechDays 2013

Directions EMEA is over (and there is much to talk about – since NAV2013R2 is bloggable now;-)). Directions US is coming, but I’m not taking part of that either – because of my son being born and such ;-). But what I AM going to take part of, is this year’s NAV TechDays on the 7th and 8th of November. It’s in Belgium, so that do-able for me ;-).

This time again, it’s going to be a special one. Not only for all the things that are coming in the next release .. but also because you can always expect something special at NAV TechDays.

I’m not only looking forward to do a new session on the Partner-Ready-Software initiative (and yes, we’ve got something completely new for you again .. :)). But also the really technical DeepDive sessions like the .Net Interop Black Belt that Vjeko is doing. His sessions are amazing! Here is a complete overview of the sessions:

• Microsoft .NET Interoperability for Beginners
• Microsoft .NET Interoperability Black Belt – Tips & Tricks
• Creating and Upgrading Reports in NAV 2013
• NAV ALM with VS Team Foundation Server (TFS)
• NAV’s Secret Code: Design Patterns of Today and Tomorrow
• Add-in development in NAV with or without graphical element: Visual studio + NAV development
• Upgrade from Classic Client to RTC Tips & Tricks overview: Forms, Reports, Integration, batch job function changes
• Dynamics NAV on Azure: how to get started – field experiences
• What’s new in Dynamics NAV clients
• Dynamics NAV application design
• Multi tenancy and how it changes the NAV developer experience
• NAV deployment and servicing for Azure and on-prem
  

If you’re a NAV developer, this should really get you excited. ;-).

As I said: there is going to be something new this year, which is: Labs and Pre-Conference Classes.

The labs are during the event itself, where you’re able to work in a virtual environment with your laptop, to get a glimpse or to look at best practices regarding one of these topics:

• Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 on Windows Azure Infrastructure Services
• Large scale hosting scenarios with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2
• Best practices in Microsoft Dynamics NAV RDLC Reporting
• Shorten implementation times with Rapidstart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 and Office 365 integration
• Integrating and extending Microsoft Dynamics NAV2013 R2

The Pre-Conference Classes on the other hand, is an extra day that was added just before the conference itself. So, Wednesday the 6th of November 2013, you’re able to follow a one-day “course” to get in familiar with:

• Microsoft .NET Interoperability for Beginners
• How to write RDLC reports in NAV 2013
• Development Best Practices for creating Partner Ready Software

When you’re not able to split yourself into 3 pieces, you’ll have to choose between these topics.. . And I can imagine, it’s really difficult to choose (that’s a political statement – of course we all know that the “Dev Best Practices” is the one to go to, right 😉 ).

Download the App!

NAV TechDays wouldn’t be the best convention ever (OK, I’m a developer .. so a little bit subjective may be .. but still) if it wouldn’t be perfect .. . This year again, there is a “NAV TechDays App” for all smartphones and even Windows 8! :-). How cool is that?

• Windows Phone: http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=2fb2f70f-80d5-df11-a844-00237de2db9e
• Windows 8: http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/eventboard/39113bd7-1b2e-48ca-b744-a587a3ad0a2f
• iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/eventboard-mobile/id422463208
• Android: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.falafel.eventboard&feature=search_result

It’s based on the “eventboard” app, so if you look for that, it’s easy to add NAV TechDays as your event.

Here are some totally random (;)) screenshots:

Some statistics

It’s going to be one hell of a convention once again. This is shown by the statistics (which I got on the 1st of september – these are probably already different):

+200 registrations already from 28 different countries. Here is the top 5 countries: 

Or on a map:

Already 44 registrations for the pre-conference classes. So that initiative is really appreciated by the attendees. Nice one!

What am I doing on NAV TechDays

In my understanding .. quite a lot, I guess. Hope I’ll manage to do it properly.

First of all, I’ll be having a big part in the Pre-Conference class “Development Best Practices for creating Partner Ready Software“. In a way, I’m preparing that class with my own experience, having built a completely new product with a development team, applying the DEV-best practices and design patterns that resulted from our meetings with PRS.

To give you an idea: the product has about 1200 objects, where we changed 350 objects from default, localized, translated NAV. We are able to upgrade this product, including data, in less then a day (doing it ourselves, while we’re definitely no upgrade-specialists). And then we’re only talking about “upgradability”. In this class, we’ll give you tips how you can make your product fully flexible, upgradable, maintainable, standard, app-like, .. . Be sure to register!

Next, i’m involved in the session “NAV’s Secret Code: Design Patterns of Today and Tomorrow“, which I’ll be doing with Gary and Mark. We’ll share an overview on design patterns, and we might even be sharing our “tools” that we have to make your life easier.. ;-).

And then again, we’re having a booth with iFacto ReVision. Be sure to visit us if you value the versions of your code a bit ;-). I even heard that ReVision will be handled in the session “NAV ALM with VS Team Foundation Server (TFS)” from Luc Van Vugt.

 So, if you haven’t already, there are reasons enough to register for NAV TechDays2013!!