Posted: May 20, 2002

Today, Navision sells applications in three different product lines: Axapta, Attain/Financials, and XAP. Each product line consists of several modular applications grouped into functional categories. Navision's channel partners take these applications and arrange them into solutions for their customers.

Axapta

Acquired when Navision bought Damgaard, Axapta is designed for enterprises with up to 1,000 employees, and it is marketed as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for businesses with a manufacturing focus. Axapta applications are divided into the following categories:

Finance includes basic financial accounting software with features such as a general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, and bank transaction tracking; a cost accounting application that lets companies track and organize finances by division, department, or subsidiary; and an application for tracking fixed assets.

Production includes various applications for tracking time and attendance on factory or warehouse floors and managing and scheduling production and inventory. A Master Planning application is available to help plan the entire production process, from estimating demand through coordinating orders and production, all the way through delivery.

Logistics includes applications for managing warehouse receiving, shipping, placement, and packing; monitoring inventory; estimating demand; and communicating with vendors and customers via "trade agreements."

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) includes applications for salespeople to manage their contacts (this functionality is integrated with Outlook); coordinating sales teams; and overseeing telemarketing teams (e.g., creating call lists, distributing and managing calls).

Knowledge Management includes applications setting budgets and goals based on answers to customer and employee surveys, and tracking employee or group performance against these goals.

Human Resource Management includes applications for tracking payroll, benefits, professional development (e.g., managing absences for employees at courses), and contractors' time.

E-Business lets a company set up an Internet or extranet e-commerce portal and connect it to other Navision products.

Project includes project management applications that can be applied to any part of a business (e.g., finance, operations, sales).

Trade is an overarching set of applications that captures real-time data from all other Axapta applications to help businesses automate the sales and purchasing process (e.g., checking a customer's credit ceiling and time demands, then comparing quotes to see which vendor can meet these parameters).

Attain/Financials

Introduced in July 2001, Attain is the brand name for the latest version of Financials, Navision's product line for small to mid-size businesses (five to 300 employees). Attain/Financials applications are divided into the following categories:

Financial Management includes a general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, inventory tracking, fixed asset management, cash management, and other applications.

Manufacturing includes applications for processing orders, scheduling, routing, tracking and estimating supply and demand, and facilitating "just-in-time" production.

Advanced Distribution applications are geared toward wholesalers and help them negotiate with customers by giving them up-to-the-minute information (e.g., prices, inventory) at any time during the buying process.

CRM includes a basic contact manager that integrates with Outlook. Navision also resells Siebel 2000 Mid-Market Edition and a connector to its other Attain/Financials products for customers who need greater CRM functionality.

E-Commerce consists of two applications: a Commerce Gateway that uses BizTalk to link data in systems throughout a supply chain, and a Commerce Portal that enables businesses to set up an extranet for suppliers and customers.

Navision Analyst collects data from Attain/Financials applications into reports and delivers them in personalized fashion to each user.

User Portal is based on Microsoft's digital dashboard and Web Parts technologies and allows companies to create a personalized portal for any employee using Attain/Financials. (For background on digital dashboard and Web Parts, see "Corporate Portal Strategy in Flux" on page 3 of the Nov. 2001 Update.)

XAL

XAL was acquired when Navision bought Damgaard. It is similar to Axapta, but is less expensive, offers less functionality, and is designed for smaller businesses. Although Navision continues to release upgrades for the approximately 10,000 existing XAL customers, it is emphasizing Attain for new customers in this market.

XAL applications are divided into categories similar to the other Navision product lines:

Finance includes accounting and financial management applications.

Production is almost identical to the Axapta line of the same name and lets businesses track the production process.

Stock offers inventory tracking.

Project offers project management applications.

E-Commerce applications help businesses set up a Web site with no programming knowledge.

Trade offers basic CRM functionality, including tracking and customers, and integrates this information with inventory and production tracking systems.