Yule (B)log Number 1 - A Christmas Carol. Thanks to Equisys.

Our thanks to Chris Oswald at Equisys for bring Dickens alive for the NAV Community.... read on... 

It is a snowy and dark Christmas Eve, two years to the day after the recruitment of Ebenezer Newman's business partner Jacob McIntee. Most businesses are now closed for the holidays, having given their employees the day off. But not Newman. He has an outdated ERP system that produces roomfuls of dusty paper files and exhausts his faithful clerk Bob Farr, whom Newman will not allow home until he has finished the long and tedious process of printing, stuffing, franking and posting out all of the statements to customers. Once again Farr quietly suggests they consider using NAV with the Zetadocs add-on, but Newman rebuffs him with his usual “Bah, humbug!”

However later that night, the ghost of Jacob McIntee (glammed up as his alter ego order processor, Susan) appears before Newman and warns him that his soul will be bearing heavy chains for eternity if he does not change his terrible ERP system, and also predicts that a series of other ghosts will follow. Three Christmas ghosts do indeed visit Newman during the course of the night, fulfilling McIntee's prophecy.

Aman, the Ghost of Christmas Past, fires up his beta of PowerPoint 2010 and skilfully shows Newman the scenes of his boyhood and youth when he managed his pocket money perfectly. Aman explains how such efficiency is possible today, too, by combining NAV and Zetadocs to email and fax paperwork to suppliers and customers to save time and money. This stirs Newman’s gentle and tender side, and the pair down shots of flaming Sambuca.

The second spirit, Claire, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Newman to his nephew’s Directions EMEA party, where VARs are playing the yes/no game about whether Newman will ever realize the value of the role tailored client and how client extensibility can be used to display the supporting documentation for each transaction that Zetadocs captures into SharePoint. She then takes him on to the humble dwelling of his clerk Bob Farr to scoff Zetadocs chocolate bars with Tiny Rebecca and Louise in search of the Xbox winning golden ticket.

Finally, the third spirit, Paul, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, fires up a livemeeting, which Newman accidentally ends. When he gets it to work smoothly, Paul harrows Newman with dire visions of the future if he does not give Paul a slot at future NAV roadshows to present Zetadocs integrated with the NAV SharePoint client. Paul shows a world where competitors such as Schmidt, Jobs and Ellison are using Dynamics and Zetadocs to run their businesses far more efficiently, with dire consequences for Newman.

At last, Newman sees the errors of his ways. He promptly changes his ERP system to NAV with Zetadocs and becomes a champion for the products. His business now trounces the competition, with everyone praising him for his insight and vision. He awards Farr a liberal pay rise, and as a result of the new efficiencies, Farr manages to get home early most days. Indeed, nowadays, Newman even closes his offices for Christmas Eve so his staff can write witty yuletide blogs about their favourite festive culinary experiences and he gives each of his loyal business partners a generous bottle of vintage port.