Issue 19

David Roys

<P>Introducing the co-author of 'Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 2009'</P>

What do I do?

I work in the Dynamics Solutions Practice and am a developer and consultant for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV product in the Christchurch office.

How do I make a difference?

I have worked with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for many years as both an application consultant and developer. My application consulting experience makes me a better developer because I understand how people use ERP and how they carry out their business processes. My development knowledge makes me a better consultant because I understand the application at an extremely low level and can always look at the source code to figure things out. I am one of a few Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVP) for the Dynamics NAV product which means I get to chat with the team at Microsoft that build the product about upcoming features and I also get opportunities to see pre-release versions.

What do I love about my job?

I love to solve problems. Working with businesses and their unique processes means there are always new challenges to be met. Programming in NAV’s application language and using the built-in development environment means I get all of the fun of programming without the hard work of making simple things happen (like making my data appear in a form). The new NAV 2009 architecture means I also get to play with .NET and Visual Studio.

A bit about myself...

I have co-written a book entitled “Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009.” This was an incredible experience and took up a lot of my free time in 2008. I made a great friend in my co-author, although I have never met or spoken to him. All communication surrounding the book was done through emails and a few instant messages. Writing a book has helped me learn how to take criticism and to not take my work too seriously. I try to spend some of my free time helping people in the NAV community by answering forum questions and blogging from my experiences. I like to play music at home and, between my kids telling me to stop, I play drums and classical guitar.