In a couple of weeks time the Microsoft Convergence London event will be upon us. For those going to Twickenham I’ve had a quick look at the Breakout sessions that have been organised for the Dynamics NAV community and I thought I’d give you a brief list of what’s available and what I’m expecting the sessions to deliver. It took more time to work out what was available and when; I found the best way to do it was to look for sessions in London on the NAV track for each Time Slot and then decide which one to go for.

We’re all expected at the Keynote between 9.15 and 10.15 which will give you an idea of what Microsoft’s current plans are for the Dynamics Product Set. If you’re not aware by now, I should warn you that this view tends to be based on what Microsoft would like you to buy from them for their own purposes; and not necessarily a carefully researched view of what’s best for you … Still, there will be some important ideas which will be raised and which will probably be worth discussing in the pub afterwards.

Between 10.45 and 11.45 the only session is LOGENAV01 Innovation & Microsoft Dynamics NAV: Today, Tomorrow, Together; but it looks like it sets the scene for the other NAV sessions so worthwhile to go to.

Noon to 1 pm there’s a choice. For those of you interested in Manufacturing there’s LOBRNAV05 Manufacturing & Planning with Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Microsoft PTAs (Partner Technology Advisors) Phil Newman and Will McIntee will be running LOBRNAV06 Extended ERP for Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

But I’ll be headed for LOBRNAV02 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009: Leveraging Workflow Integrations in Microsoft SharePoint 2010. SharePoint is a huge product. Microsoft has made those features that in 2007 were interesting but very hard to configure much easier in 2010. They’ve added a whole new bunch of  stuff as well so it will still take a lot of technical nous to get SharePoint 2010 working well. I’m interested in what can ‘really’ be done sensibly with NAV; and I’m assuming this will be talking about what the next release of NAV (2009 R2) will bring in December and what we can expect in ‘NAV v7’ in this area.

After lunch, it’s LOBRNAV01 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1 Web Services & the Cloud which is not about how R2 will work in the cloud but how the current Web Services in the current release can be used. The speaker Freddy Kristiansen has his own ‘blog’ about NAV and Web Service connectivity https://blogs.msdn.com/b/freddyk/ for super techies.

3.30 – 4.30 it’s LOBRNAV03 Microsoft Dynamics NAV: RTC & Client Extensibility which is all about how it’s possible to include external applications directly in the NAV 2009 RTC using Web Services to link and update data between the external application and NAV. If you have an application which involves a lot of rekeying of NAV data and which your users have open at the same time as NAV then this part of the RTC may well give you a big productivity boost.

The final session timeslot also has a choice; either LOBRMI01 Achieving More with Business Analytics for Microsoft Dynamics ERP or LOBRNAV04 Microsoft Dynamics NAV: Ask the Experts which will be my choice.  Although I think people could get a lot more value through simple use of Business Analytics; on the other hand I need to hear what the Experts tell you about the future for NAV as there will be an element of the ‘Keynote’ in this session and I’ll need to know what ‘spin’ has been presented.

And then the pub on the way back to Twickenham station. If you don’t manage to bump into me during the day then make sure you go past the Station over the bridge and I’ll see you in The Cabbage Patch https://www.cabbagepatch.co.uk/welcome.htm.

On the sailing front it was my turn to help man one of the Safety Boats that Itchenor has to make sure the racing goes as smoothly as possible and to pull people out of the water or tow boats off the mud when they go aground. Chichester Harbour is very tidal so every race involves getting out of the tide as much as possible by going inshore. I was in ‘Dolphin’ which is a very old-fashioned ‘ferry’ boat so normally the only excitement involves laying the Starting Line mark and helping to alter courses when the wind changes.

Normally; but not last weekend. After the 1st race, we came across a capsized Wayfarer dinghy which the crew was struggling to right and sail on. Eventually, one of the crew suffered a very nasty blow to the head so we had to call out the Chichester Harbour patrol (all blue lights flashing and very fast) to take him ashore as the crew had an egg-sized lump on his head, was suffering from ‘shock’ and had started to bleed from the nose.

And then before the 2nd race could start we came across another dinghy of the ‘420’ class which had also capsized, had been righted but one of the 2 crew couldn’t climb back on board. He’d been in the water for 40 minutes so was starting to suffer from hypothermia. We hauled him into ‘Dolphin’, called for the CH patrol again (all blue lights etc) and transferred him to their boat for care.

I’m afraid that in both cases the fault lay with the crew. The Wayfarer crew didn’t know how to deal with their capsize and didn’t have the necessary bailing bucket to get rid of the water; the 420 crew were way too big for the boat and so hadn’t the necessary gear to get back on-board. Most concerning of all was the suggestions of both crews that they were thinking of swimming to shore. That’s what leads to people getting drowned. Always stay with the boat.

Richard