Monday, May 18, 2020

Business Central Navigation Challenge: Finding "Hidden" Pages?

By Steve Endow

I'm new to Business Central.  So please excuse my lack of proper Business Central decorum.

I don't yet know the lingo, the tricks, or the secret handshake.  I barely know the basics as I slowly learn the product.

So...I'm like a new "User".  One of those pesky new users who asks the "dumb" questions.  The obvious questions.  The questions that all real Business Central users already know and don't even think about.

Like how to navigate and find pages in Business Central.

Can I just ask for directions?

"Don't navigate! Just use Search!", is the obvious response.

But I, as a typical User, will find the oddities and exceptions.  The apparent secrets of Business Central that are not obvious to a new user.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

How will developers and customers deal with software EULAs in the age of SaaS?

By Steve Endow

In the last 10 years, I've sold software to over 500 "mid-market" customers.

Only 8 of those customers read the software license agreement that I provided to them.  Which is fine--I don't read them either.

But 8 of my customers did actually read the license agreement--all were large corporations.  Presumably they reviewed the license agreement because it is their corporate policy, and likely because they actually have a "legal department" or some legal resource that handles the task of reviewing software licenses.  Fun job, for sure.

We've all ignored it

If you've ever had a lawyer read a legal document drafted by someone else, you know that they will always come back with requested changes.  Always.  Whenever I hear "legal department", I know what happens next.

Of the 8 customers who had their lawyer read my license agreement, all 8 requested changes to the agreement.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

When will we attend physical conferences again?

By Steve Endow

I thought I was being prudent and organized in January 2020 when I booked my flight and hotel for the Directions NA conference to be held in Orlando in June 2020.  I'm used to hotels quickly filling up for Dynamics conferences, so I thought I'd reserve my room early and get a good price on my flight.  I also made sure to get the "Super Early Bird" registration rate for Directions NA.  I was all set!

But of course, things changed drastically by March, and physical conferences were all cancelled or rescheduled.  Microsoft has cancelled all physical events through July 2021.  Many companies put a hold on all business travel.

Directions NA was rescheduled for December 1-4, 2020.  My Super Early Bird registration applied to the new conference date.  I was able to cancel my hotel reservation.  The airline will not give me a refund if I cancel my flight, so I'm going to try to reschedule it to December.  So I assumed that I would be going to Directions NA in December.

This week I looked at the dates for Community Summit North America.  October 6-9, 2020, in Nashville.

Hmmm.  October 2020?  I guess that might be possible.

What about Community Summit Australia?  August 19-21, 2020, in Melbourne.

How many digits can a Business Central Amount field actually support?

 by Steve Endow (If anyone has a technical explanation for the discrepancy between the Docs and the BC behavior, let me know!) On Sunday nig...