My experiences with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 …

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I spent last week performing a Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 Update 1 to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 database conversion for a customer. The process went very smoothly and the customer was very excited about the increase in performance we were able to achieve.

Just as an illustration of our success, the customer ships hundreds of packages a day. This process has been very painful in the past. When the conversion was completed and a little tuning was done, we were able to achieve the following improvements …

· Create a Shipment --> Reduced by 27%

· Create a Pick --> Reduced by 15%

· Register a Pick --> Reduced by 54%

· Post a Shipment --> Reduced by 53%

 

Now, I mentioned a little tuning was necessary so let me elaborate on that. SP1 seems to highlight poor filtering used for the FlowFields. The tuning that I had to do amounted to determining which CALCSUMS were not performing well. I did this by using the Client Monitor in the Performance Toolkit. I was then able to examine the filters that were applied and determine what a more appropriate key would be. I added the additional key to the table along with the appropriate SumIndexField(s). This made all the difference for this customer.

 

This customer was also plagued by a large number of locking/blocking issues. After applying SP1, with the Bulk Inserts and Indexed Views, the locking/blocking issues became almost non-existent.

 

Some other pieces of information that might be helpful:

· Log file size – during the conversion, the log file did NOT grow at all.

· Database Size – when the conversion was done, this particular customer was able to get back approximately 10 GB of free space in the database out of a 65 GB database.

· Conversion Time – it took between 40 -60 seconds per GB depending on what hardware was used.

· Indexed Views – do NOT add any additional indexes to the Indexed Views. When you design the table that the Indexed View is associated with, the view will be dropped and recreated and so will any additional indexes that you might have added.

Robert Miller

Escalation Engineer

 

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