Please watch the video in 1080p because it is recorded in High Resolution.
Please note the script of the presentation is below so you can read along with the demonstration if you like.
Hello and welcome to our latest blog post.
I am really pleased you have come back to see our latest news!
I am really pleased to be able to bring you some news that I think will really interest you.
This video is intended for companies who still have Navision 2018 installed on premise.
We are also working on a similar demonstration for Business Central in the cloud.
1. Why Would You Watch This Video?
So, the questions for you to be interested in this video are as follows.
Does it take you too long, and does it cost too much, to get one off questions answered from Navision?
Or worse?
Is it so hard and so expensive to get questions answered from Navision, that you actually gave up?
Do you have questions you would like the answers to, but you don’t even bother asking IT because it takes too long?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you will want to watch this video today.
Over the last 30 years of being in Business Intelligence, we have found that some of the hardest questions to answer are such questions as.
- How do I optimize my marketing dollar spend so that I am getting the best results from my marketing investment?
- How can I introduce differentiated customer service levels such that my investment in customer service and support will encourage an “up or out” process among our customers?
- How can I tell which of my customers are more likely to grow into better customers?
- By what mechanisms can we encourage customers to be better customers?
Getting the answers to these questions is not a matter of asking a one off question and getting a one off answer.
Getting the answers to these questions takes cycles of asking questions, getting answers, asking more questions, getting more answers. And on it goes.
If you have to go to IT every time you want to ask a question, that can get pretty tedious.
What we have found to be one of the most useful tools to answer questions like this is Meta5.
Today, we are going to show you that you can ask any question you want from your Navision 2018 system.
Of course, if your staff do not know the Navision database in detail, we can answer your questions for you a whole lot faster than anyone else can.
Or at least we think so.
2. On With The Demonstration
Here we are on our Meta5 evaluation machine.
You can get access to this machine by contacting me and scheduling time on the machine.
We will give you a Remote Access user id.
Then you will have access to this machine, as you see it today, from your desktop.
You will want to use a large screen as Meta5 is intended to be used on large screens.
We will enter the user id and password for Meta5.
Meta5 single user edition has user id and password required to gain access to the desktop.
Now that we are on the desktop you can see there are filing cabinets and folders.
These are the sorts of things you will find in a regular office space.
We keep this desktop very clean for those people who want to evaluate Meta5.
Now, you can see there is a folder called Nav 2018.
So I will open up this folder by double clicking on it.
You can see inside the folder is a demonstration capsule.
So, I will open the demonstration capsule by double clicking on it.
Inside the demonstration capsule I can see a whole series of query icons.
These have names like.
- Activity
- Account Schedule
- GL Entry.
And so on.
We also see an icon called Nav 2018 WTDD.
WTDD stands for Workstation Tools Data Dictionary.
This is a small and simple dictionary Meta5 uses to describe the database you want to query.
Meta5 uses this dictionary in its query tool to give you a simple graphical way of writing SQL that is sent into the Navision database.
So, what we are going to do is open this dictionary tool.
Now you can see the dictionary tool opened.
You can see there is a logical database.
In this logical database there are a set of categories.
The categories are set up in alphabetical order.
These categories are copied from the excellent Navision documentation site called Dynamics Docs dot com.
We want to provide full acknowledgement to their great site which was very helpful.
If you have Navision or Business Central, you might want to go and have a look at Dynamics Docs dot com and have a look around.
In the list of categories, you can see all the categories you would expect to see.
- Fixed Assets.
- Financial Management
- Purchasing
- Sales
- Service
These are all core components of Navision, and you would recognize them.
We will click on the category of Financial Management.
You can see that the tables inside the category are numbered by alphabetical order.
This is to make them easier to find.
If we scroll down you will see there are 222 tables in the Financial Management category.
And yes, we do mean that you can query any table in Navision directly from this Meta5 desktop.
So, let’s go to Sales now.
In sales you can see such tables as Customer, Customer Account, Customer Ledger Entry.
All the tables in Navision are available to you.
Now, if we click again on the Sales Category.
And then we click on Show Joins.
We scroll across.
And then we can see that the Customer table is joined to a lot of different tables.
We have analyzed the Navision database and we have added over 5,000 joins to our dictionary.
We have saved you and your colleagues weeks and weeks of work by defining all these joins.
Of course, we believe there will be a few mistakes in what we have done, but we have done a lot of the work of setting up the joins for these tables for you.
We will scroll down the sales category and you can see just how many joins and how many tables there are.
Now we will scroll back to the top.
And we will scroll back to the left.
You can see at the current state of development there are some tables that do not have joins defined yet.
When you are creating a query, you can actually add your own joins just for that query.
So if we have missed a join you can add it yourself for the query you are writing.
Also, you can create template queries that can be put into a folder in a filing cabinet for re-use by others for common questions.
So let us close the sales category.
And let us close the dictionary tool.
Now we will double click on the icon called Activity.
As we double click on it, you will see it open up.
It connects to the database server when you open the icon.
Now you can see the open query icon.
Each query icon opens up and has available up to three windows.
There is the query window itself.
Then the Query Control
And lastly the Query Catalog.
The query catalog gives you access to all the tables you are authorized to.
You could deploy a Meta5 workstation in each area of your business.
For example, Finance might want one of their own.
Sales might want one too.
In this sort of situation we would set up your Meta5 desktops to only have access to the data that you are authorized to have access to.
This very simple and easy to use query icon is your “window to your data world”.
We will click on Show DBA Catalog.
And we will make the window larger.
Now you can see the categories and the tables.
They are all available inside the query catalog.
By pointing and clicking on any table you can gain access to the data in that table.
The joins will be read in and you will not have to worry about them.
We will make the query catalog small again.
In this query we are just querying the Activity table because it is the first table.
I will record the SQL being generated.
To do this I will click on capture SQL.
A query log window will open up.
And I will make it larger.
Now I will click show data.
You can see that 9 rows were found.
This data is coming directly from the Navision 2018 demonstration database.
You will see in the query log window that we are using the CRONUS UK demonstration database.
You can see the SQL that was generated.
So, this very simple point and click query interface is available to you.
Through this simple query interface, you can gain access to all your data in Navision 2018.
Indeed, you can gain access to just about any data anywhere as long as you have the authority to access that data.
This includes data from web-based applications.
This does require another piece of licensed software.
We are not going to discuss that here.
Now we will close the Activity Query Icon.
Next, we will open the Account Schedule query icon.
In this query icon you can see that there are two joins between the tables already created when you open the query icon.
These joins are in the dictionary and were automatically drawn by the query tool when fields from both tables were requested on the output line.
Again I will click on capture SQL and then run the query.
You can pause the video to read the SQL generated in more detail.
Now I will close the Account Schedule Query Icon.
Now I will open the GL Entry query icon.
In this query icon you can see that it’s possible to request many fields from the GL Account and the GL Entry.
You can see that any field you want is there and available.
In this demonstration we just want you to see for yourself that Meta5 provides a simple query tool that can generate SQL and retrieve data from any table in your Navision system.
I will close the query catalog and you can see how many fields are available from the GL.
Again, I will click on capture SQL and then run the query.
You can pause the video to read the SQL generated in more detail.
Now I will close the GL Entry Query Icon.
Now I will open the Fixed Assets Ledger Entry query icon.
I will scroll down the Query Catalog, and you can see how many fields are available.
Again, I will click on capture SQL and then run the query.
You can pause the video to read the SQL generated in more detail.
Now I will close the Fixed Assets Ledger Entry Query Icon.
Now I will open the Sales Lines query icon.
I will scroll down the Query Catalog, and you can see how many fields are available.
Again, I will click on capture SQL and then run the query.
You can pause the video to read the SQL generated in more detail.
Now I will close the Sales Lines Query Icon.
Now I will open the Purchase Inventory query icon.
I will scroll down the Query Catalog and you can see how many fields are available.
Again, I will click on capture SQL and then run the query.
You can pause the video to read the SQL generated in more detail.
Now I will close the Purchase Inventory Query Icon.
Next to the DBA tool you can see an Excel Spreadsheet.
This is an Excel dictionary for Navision 2018.
It is helpful to be able to search for tables and field names.
It is the subject of our next video demonstration.
Now I will open up the DBA Tool again.
As you can see from the 14 categories, all the tables that you want to query from Navision are already in the dictionary.
Of course, if you have customized Navision you will need to customize the dictionary.
We would be pleased to do that for you too.
There are some tables that are not in any category.
There are many more tools in Meta5, around 150.
You can send any data you get into Meta5 into Excel for further reporting.
Those features are covered in separate videos.
Summary
To summarize what we have shown you today.
We have captured the entire dictionary for Navision 2018.
We have put all the CRONUS standard tables in to the Meta5 dictionary.
We have added more than 5,000 joins to that dictionary.
We have grouped tables into categories.
We have numbered all the tables to make them easier to find.
We have made all this available through the very simple and easy to use Meta5 query tool.
And we have shown you a series of 6 very simple queries just to show you how the query tool generates SQL, sends it to your Navision system, and retrieves the results to your desktop.
The data returned to your desktop can then be further analyzed or sent into Excel.
We believe this “direct query” to Navision 2018 is the simplest and easiest to use on the marketplace.
We would be very happy to use Meta5 to answer any and all questions you have that can be answered from your Navision system.
We would be very happy to build the Excel Dashboards you want to run your business.
Of course, if you would like to play with this evaluation machine yourself or have one of your colleagues play around with it.
Please just contact me to schedule availability of the machine.
If you would like us to set up a Meta5 desktop on your premises so you can try this out on your own data, please just contact me.
And with that?
I would like to say thank you for watching our demonstration today.
I really appreciate your time and attention.
We hope you found this video interesting and informative.
It has never been this easy to ask Navision a question.
We would love to hear your comments so please feel free to use the comments section below.
I wish you a good day.
Thank you.
Mihai Neacsu
Business Development Manager
BIDA