Consolidation Progress Report

Shortly following the acquisitions of Great Plains in 2001 and Navision in 2002, Microsoft began discussing plans to consolidate the four separate but similar ERP products-now called Dynamics AX, GP, NAV, and SL-that those acquisitions netted. A single ERP product serves several business objectives for MBS, which attained profitability in fiscal year 2006 after five years of steadily increasing revenue. Most obviously, it will eliminate the redundant development efforts that exist today among the group’s four overlapping product lines. In addition, a more coherent strategy centered on one product should simplify Microsoft’s marketing and partner efforts and improve the efficiency of its sales channel, helping it to attract new customers and partners.

Announced in 2003 and referred to as Project Green, the initial consolidation plan called for a ground-up, .NET-based rewrite of the business management features in the four lines. According to that plan, the new Project Green code base would eventually replace the acquired products and their separate code bases with a single product. However, Microsoft gave no assurance that this future product would be compatible with shipping MBS products, causing many existing and prospective customers to question the wisdom of investing in those shipping products.