"TEC Accounting Product Certification Report: Navigator One for SAP Business One (v88)"

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Resources Related to TEC Accounting Product Certification Report: Navigator One for SAP Business One (v88):

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TEC Accounting Product Certification Report: Navigator One for SAP Business One (v88)

Table of Contents

• TEC Product Certification Report
• Benefits of Evaluating a TEC Certified Product
• Analyst Commentary
• Product Highlights
• Product Analysis
• Analyst Summary

TEC Product Certification Report

Navigator One for SAP Business One (v88) has been certified by
Gabriel Gheorghiu, TEC Research Analyst
Aleksey Osintsev, TEC Research Analyst

Demonstration conducted by
Richard Haugen, Vice President Sales, Navigator
Kent Blackhurst, Channel Manager, Navigator

Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) is pleased to announce that the Navigator Business Solutions product, Navigator One for SAP Business One (v88) is now TEC Certified for online evaluation of accounting solutions in TEC's Accounting Evaluation Center. The Accounting ERP for SMB Evaluation Center enables you to compare and evaluate functionality based on TEC's comprehensive model of accounting software. Data used in the Evaluation Center are obtained from the vendor's responses to TEC's request for information (RFI). Certification ensures that

• The capabilities of Navigator One for SAP Business One have been demonstrated to a TEC analyst based on the responses Navigator provided in its completed TEC RFI;
• A TEC analyst has analytically and comparatively reviewed Navigator One for SAP Business One RFI data against known benchmarks.

Benefits of Evaluating a TEC Certified Product

There are many benefits to evaluating a TEC Certified product. To potential clients of a software vendor, TEC certification provides the following:

• Reassurance : You can be assured that the data TEC provides about its certified products conform to a well-defined standard of accuracy. When a vendor's product is TEC Certified, it means that a trusted, independent third party has seen the product up close.
• Better communication with vendors : TEC certification helps ensure that vendors understand and respond accurately to their clients' RFI criteria. Certification with TEC analysts provides the opportunity to clarify any issues with the RFI criteria. This ensures that the vendor is speaking the same language as its potential clients, and gives the clients an unambiguous specification of product functionality to inform their selections.

The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations that rely on the integrity of TEC's research services for assistance with their software selection projects. Organizations looking for a solution can be confident that they're comparing the product on an "apples to apples" basis with other, similar products.

Navigator One for SAP Business One Market Data Summary

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Pleasant Grove, Utah (US), Navigator Business Solutions develops SAP Business One Extensions. The company offers installation, training, and implementation services for technology created exclusively for SAP Business One. Navigator Business Solutions focuses mostly on the North American market, with more than 1,000 implementations and 150 partners, but it also does business in Europe, China, Australia, South America, and Africa. It has sales and support offices in more than 20 cities in North America.

Through its North American-based local offices, Navigator offers implementation (software installation, system configuration, data conversion, and training) and consulting services (business process modeling, project management). It also offers these services via Web education and Web application consulting. Client support is provided based on an annual maintenance and support agreement, plus a Web education subscription. Web support is available 24/7 via SAP, and phone support is provided from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM (Mountain Time).

Product pricing is per user and per module. Navigator One offers the option to rent the software through its Cloud One offering, which is defined by Navigator as "hosted software as a service for SAP Business One that allows you to run Business One on a 'cloud'." Almost all of Navigator's customers (90 percent) have opted for maintenance and are using either the current version or the previous version of the software.

Analyst Commentary

Product design and development, as well as quality assurance and support, are handled in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Navigator One suite is comprised of two types of products: standard (delivered as part of the standard product) and advanced (which provides add-ons to the standard package). A brief description of the modules and add-ons follows:

Navigator will perform SAP Business One customizations, but generally its implementations involve "off the shelf" modules configured by industry. The company offers modules that can be used with SAP Business One, and targets existing SAP customers as well as new customers. The extended functionality provided by Navigator allows it to address the needs of companies that do more than distribution and light manufacturing (the sweet spot of SAP Business One).

From a sales perspective, Navigator's main goal is to sell packages consisting of SAP Business One and the modules Navigator has created. It can also provide customers with SAP Business One only, or sell modules to companies already using SAP Business One.

Navigator One for SAP Business One competes against products such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV and GP, Sage MAS 500 and MAS 90/200, SYSPRO, and Oracle (Enterprise Business Suite and JD Edwards), depending on the industry. Epicor ERP is the main competitor for manufacturing, Activant Prophet 21 for distribution, WinServ for services, Deltek Costpoint for project-oriented industries, and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) for retail.

The industries Navigator concentrates on include the following: business services and consulting, equipment manufacturing and service, construction, electronics and high tech, food and beverage, oil and gas, telecommunications, warehousing, and retail.

Navigator One is best suited for companies having 10 to 1,000 employees, but can also be used by larger companies. The product is generally not targeted at companies with more than 1,000 employees. Extensive support is offered in Asia and Southeast Asia (including the Far East and Japan), Europe, Latin and North America, and Oceania, with some support offered in Africa. Navigator also has the ability to support customers in the Middle East.

The product described in this report is a combination of SAP Business One and the modules offered by Navigator Business One Solutions. Some of the options or functionality described derive from SAP Business One, while others derive from the modules developed by Navigator; we do not make a distinction in this report, as they are delivered as a single solution.

Product Highlights

Based on five main principles, here is how Navigator One for SAP Business One fared.

Ease of Use

• Layout: The look and feel is very similar to SAP Business One (see videos of the SAP Business One solution), except for the Retail One module, which has an interface similar to a point-of-sale (POS) system.
• Interface: Menus are organized in several different ways: as text menus, where the user can click or use keyboard shortcuts; as buttons for the most frequently used functions (print, export, help, etc.); and as menu bar that can have multiple tabs, with an easy-to-navigate hierarchy. The right mouse button can be used to open lists of options in certain areas of the interface.
• Navigation: Multiple tabs for different sections of the system can be used, minimized, or maximized, with straightforward navigation between them. Visual indicators for mandatory fields, drop-down lists, and different colors for active and inactive fields make accessing screens fairly intuitive, even to users who are not very computer-literate.
• Integration: The product takes full advantage of the extended integration of SAP Business One with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, and Excel).
• Wizards: Predefined wizards guide the user step by step through some of the most important processes in the system, such as forecasting, material requirement planning (MRP), stock optimization, and payments.

Workflow Design

• Business processes: SAP Business one provides functionality for business management processes, enhanced by modules created by Navigator for project management (Project One), product and sales process configuration (Configure One) and production scheduling (Production One and Production One APS).
• Reporting capabilities: Before generating reports, a screen with multiple tabs allows the user to select criteria to limit the output. These options can be defined by selecting multiple date types, the use of ranges, options for display of data in the report, etc.
• Warnings: Pop-up windows warn users when they are about to initiate actions that may break the logic defined by the administrators (e.g., credit limit exceeded, customer on hold, etc.). Warnings can notify the user, who will decide to continue or not, or can prevent the user from completing an action that should not be executed.

Ease of Implementation

• Server: Navigator One can be installed on-premise, but the vendor also offers the option to host the application.
• Customization: Although Navigator does not perform customizations per se, a software development kit is available for customers who want to make changes to the system (add/remove fields, modify screens and menus, etc).
• Integration capabilities: The system takes advantage of SAP Business One's integration with Microsoft Office, including Outlook.
• Project management and consulting: Navigator offers consulting services to its customers, including documenting business processes, change and project management, testing, and rollout.

Innovation

• Wireless: Navigator provides barcode, touch screen, or wireless hand-held data entry through its Data Collect One module.
• Mobile: Users can access the system remotely for sales, service, and delivery needs using the Data Collect One Remote Module. There is also an app for the iPhone, powered by coresystems (a company providing cloud applications for SAP Business One).
• Web portals: Business partners (e.g., customers, vendors) can access the system through Web portals using the Web Portals One add-on.
• Architecture: The current version of the product is based on client/server architecture, but Navigator plans to develop a service-oriented architecture (SOA) version that will Web-enable the product.

Data management

• Data Import: The Data Import Wizard allows users to import or update data from text files into the system. The wizard supports files containing character-separated values.
• Data archiving: Using the Data Archive Wizard, transactional data can be archived, which will decrease the size of the database, thereby solving storage problems and increasing the speed at which data is extracted.
• Server and database: Navigator One works exclusively on Microsoft Windows Server. As for the database, Navigator One works with Microsoft SQL Server only.

Product Analysis

Using the TEC Advisor decision support engine, we have prepared a few high-level graphs that identify this product's functional focus and competitiveness.

The TEC Focus Indicator (FI)^TM

This TEC Focus Indicator (FI) tells you which types of functionality are most likely to differentiate Navigator One for SAP Business One from other products in the accounting space. It includes three zones indicating the product's focus: the Dominant zone, Competitive zone, and Not Competitive zone.

TEC's model of accounting systems is designed with a comprehensive breadth; generally vendors will deliver a common base of functionality. While we believe in the necessity of knowing whether a product supports a base of common functionality, it's very helpful to understand how a product really differs from the crowd.

The bars in this FI chart represent neither the quality of the product nor an absolute quantity of supported functionality. Rather, the bars show support relative to the average solution.

The functional focus arrow indicates which modules of this product provide an equal or greater quantity of support than the average solution. Modules near the top of the functional focus arrow reveal where Navigator One for SAP Business One is more likely to differentiate itself through breadth of functionality. The more concern you have for the type of functionality near the top of the functional focus, the more it's to your advantage to explore this product further.

Understanding the TEC FI Zones

The top Overall bar shows the overall difference in supported functionality between Navigator One for SAP Business One and the average solution. To understand how we calculate this difference, read the Calculating the TEC FI section (page 14).

The Overall bar is our measure for determining which modules fall within the Dominant zone. If a module's difference from the average is greater than the product's overall difference from the average, we label it dominant. Those are the modules most responsible for pulling the Overall bar beyond the average.

Modules with values that do not extend beyond the Overall bar but still provide as much or more functionality than the average solution, are labeled competitive.

Dominant Zone

Navigator One for SAP Business One has five modules located in the Dominant Zone: Manufacturing, Inventory, Order Entry, Multinational Accounting, and Job and Project Costing.

Manufacturing is by far the module where Navigator One shows its best competitive advantage compared to the average solution. This is due to the combination of existing SAP Business One functionality, enhanced by add-ons created by Navigator to address the specific needs of manufacturing companies (e.g., Production One, Production One APS). This also explains the dominance of Navigator One for Inventory, Order Entry, Multinational Accounting, and Job and Project Costing.

More details for the modules in the Dominant zone are available in the Functionality Benchmark section later in this document.

The area of functional focus within the green Dominant zone indicates two things. First, it indicates which of the most competitive modules contribute the most pull in raising the product's score above the average. Second, it indicates where the product has a significantly greater level of support for functionality than the average solution in this space.

This also may reveal how the vendor has focused its product development. These modules may or may not make up the bulk or even the core of the functionality within the product, but if your clients require more than the average breadth of functionality from these modules, this product will stand a better than average chance of satisfying your requirements.

Competitive Zone

Navigator One for SAP Business One has six modules located in the Competitive Zone: Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, Payroll, General Ledger, and Budgeting.

Among these modules, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, and Payroll show the most important differences between Navigator One and the average solution. For General Ledger and Budgeting, Navigator has a slight advantage when compared to the average solution.

Navigator One receives a higher rating score than the average solution areas across all modules. For your specific needs, we recommend you to look into finer granularity of the functionality in accordance with your requirement priorities, by visiting our Accounting Evaluation Center.

More details for the modules in the Competitive zone are available in the Functionality Benchmark section.

The area of functional focus within the green Competitive zone indicates where the product has a level of support for functionality that is somewhat greater or on par with the average solution.

In some cases a module may be considered a commodity within the market: many vendors offer the majority of the functionality, which makes it difficult to differentiate a product based on breadth of functionality. In other cases, a vendor may intend its product to compete on a level that satisfies most customers' requirements for certain modules, with a market focus requiring that it differentiates itself through other modules.

Not Competitive Zone

Navigator One for SAP Business One has no modules located in the Not Competitive Zone.

The area in the red Not Competitive zone indicates where the product supports a lesser quantity of functionality than an average solution. Modules listed in this section are unlikely to be as important to the vendor's target market as the other modules. It may also be the case that the product is a newer entrant to the space. If the product has many modules in the Not Competitive zone, this indicates a more finely scoped target for its functionality than other products, which may be indicative of a point solution. Even if a product has modules in the Not Competitive zone, it may still be entirely capable of satisfying your requirements for this functionality, particularly if the average solution offers more functionality than you require. Nevertheless you should be aware that if you require a greater-than-average breadth of functionality from a module in the Not Competitive zone, this product may not offer all that you require. It's likely that you would need to review the product in more depth to determine whether its functionality is sufficient.

Calculating the TEC FI

TEC defines an average solution using data about real software products available on the market. We calculate an average of the capabilities about which vendors recently provided us with information and that we've certified. We define these capabilities and assign numeric ratings representing various levels of support in our models of enterprise software. These models may be accessed on our publicly available Evaluation Centers. Typically, we use anywhere from a thousand to several thousand criteria to determine the average scores.

The average solution forms the benchmark from which we calculate the difference in functionality offered by Navigator One for SAP Business One. We plot the average solution's capabilities at point zero on the x-axis.

Next, we determine the quantity of functionality supported by Navigator One for SAP Business One for each module in our model. We assume that all criteria are equally important. In a real-world situation, you would give a greater priority to criteria that are more important for your needs. However, for the sake of the TEC FI analysis, we want to draw conclusions about the product's focus independent of any users' functional priorities. (Note: If you wish to prioritize and evaluate the product's functionality, you can do so online in our Evaluation Centers.)

We calculate the difference between Navigator One for SAP Business One and the average solution, and we plot that value as a positive or negative distance from zero (the average solution's capability). If, for example, Navigator One for SAP Business One offers a greater quantity of support for a particular module than found in the average solution, its line will extend to the right of zero.

It's important to note as well that just because a product has more or less functionality than other products, does not mean it is a good or bad product. To understand whether it will do what you need it to do, at a price within your budget you must evaluate the product in depth.

Functionality Benchmarks

The following functionality benchmark graphs represent Navigator One for SAP Business One's quantity of support for the functionality within each module identified in the TEC Focus Indicator. The further the solid line extends toward the edge of the graph (or, in the case of the initial bar chart, the closer the bar is to 100 percent), the more functionality Navigator One for SAP Business One supports. For the sake of comparison, you can see what you might expect from the average solution by referring to the dashed orange line.

About General Ledger

The General Ledger module covers the functionality required for managing an organization's chart of accounts, transaction processing, and month- and year-end closing, as well as reports and financial statements.

Navigator rates higher than the average for all submodules in General Ledger, except for Month and Year End Closing, where the score is slightly under the average. For Chart of Accounts and Transaction processing, the difference between Navigator and the average is 20 points or more, and the scores for Control Reports and Financial Statements are very close to 100.

About Accounts Payable

Accounts payable management covers functionality including vendor master file management, purchasing controls, data input, payables analysis, check writing, and control and financial reporting.

The difference between the level of support offered by Navigator One and the average solution is 20 points or more for four of the subsections in accounts payable. For check writing, control reports, and financial reports, the Navigator solution still provides stronger support than the average solution, but the difference is less significant.

About Accounts Receivable

The Accounts Receivable module addresses the processes associated with maintaining customer data (contact information, financial, etc.) and customer interactions. This includes the following submodules: Customer Master File, Customer Relationship Management, Invoicing, Cash Receipts, Debt Collection, Control Reports, and Financial Reports.

Accounts receivable as a whole is well covered by most accounting solutions. That said, the average product in our Accounting Evaluation Center does not cover customer relationship management and debt collection extensively. Navigator does support these two areas well, along with the other areas.

About Payroll

The Payroll module provides functionality for payroll processing and management. It covers submodules for employee files, human resource management, Canadian payroll processing, data input and cost distribution, payroll check writing, control reports, and financial reports.

When it comes to payroll functionality, the average accounting product supports all subsections well, except for Human Resources Management and Canadian Payroll Processing. This is not the case for Navigator, which ranks high or very high for all subsections, with the exception of Control Reports, where the solution falls slightly under the average.

About Inventory

The Inventory module provides functionality for managing the inventory of a company. This includes the Inventory Master File, Inventory Control/Assembly Systems, Data Input and Cost Distribution, Receiving Activities, Shipping and Withdrawal Activities, and Financial Reports submodules.

Navigator One's level of support is equal to or greater than 95 for all inventory submodules, outranking the average solution by 40 or more points for each. For Inventory Control and Assembly Systems, the difference is even bigger (over 50 points).

About Job and Project Costing

The Job and Project Costing module provides functionality for job management and cost tracking for jobs. This includes the Job Initiation, Data Input and Cost Distribution, Job Control, Cost Analysis and Reports, and Job Invoicing submodules.

It's interesting to note that Navigator One follows the pattern dictated by the average for project and job costing, with very high support for Job Initiation and Cost Analysis, and lower support for the other submodules. Still, the difference between Navigator One and the average solution is 30 points or more for all submodules.

About Fixed Assets

The Fixed Assets module provides functionality for managing equipment, machinery, and other types of assets. This includes the Equipment Files, Cost Calculation and Distribution, and Reports submodules.

Fixed assets functionality is typically not one of the main priorities for companies looking for accounting solutions, which explains why the average for this module is not very high. Navigator One provides stronger basic functionality for asset management than the average, for all three submodules.

About Order Entry

The Order Entry module provides functionality for sales order management and tracking. This includes the Order Entry (Set Up), Order Receipt, Order Tracking, Shipping, Invoicing, and Reports submodules.

All submodules for Order Entry have ratings of 90 or more for Navigator One. For Order Entry (Set Up), Order Receipt, and Shipping, the difference between Navigator One and the average is more than 40 points.

About Budgeting

The Budgeting module provides functionality for creation, revision, and management of budgets. This includes the Budgeting (General), Review Process, and Construction of New Budget submodules.

Navigator One outranks the average for the Review Process and Construction of New Budget submodules, but falls a few points below the average for general budgeting functionality.

About Manufacturing

The Manufacturing module provides functionality for product and production management. This includes the Product Costing, Master Production Scheduling (MPS), Material Requirements Planning (MRP), Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP), Shop Floor Control, and Quality Control submodules.

Accounting solutions are generally considered to be weak in manufacturing functionality, but this is not the main reason why Navigator One is strong compared to the average. The modules created by Navigator to address manufacturing needs provide strength in the Product Costing and MPS submodules (with ratings of 100), as well as in MRP, CRP, and Shop Floor Control.

About Multinational Accounting

The Multinational Accounting module provides functionality for financial management for multinational companies. This includes the Installation and Support, Basic Information, Currency Rate Tables, Transaction Entry, Gain/Loss Reporting, and Financial/Management Reporting submodules.

Navigator One does very well in this section, with ratings of 100 in Basic Information and Currency Rate Tables. The main differentiator between Navigator One and the average solution is Installation and Support, where the difference is almost 50 points.

Analyst Summary

Navigator One provides modules to enhance existing SAP Business One functionality, allowing users to benefit from both the SAP Business One options and the advanced features provided by add-ons created for specific needs (e.g., Production One for manufacturing companies, Project One for project-oriented organizations, and Matrix One for Fashion and Apparel).

While the majority of Navigator's customers are based in North America, this will change in the future, with an estimated increase of sales in Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Distribution, marketing, services, project, and retail are the top five industries targeted by Navigator.

During the certification process, we learned that the product integrates with a third-party tool for electronic data interchange (EDI), and Unipoint is used for quality management. Also, a partner-supported solution is used to integrate Navigator with carriers for shipping (UPS, DHL, etc.).

Navigator One can be a very good fit for companies in business areas such as accounting and finance, administration, operations, planning, production, purchasing, sales, warehouse, and inventory control, with employees numbering between 10 and 1,000 and budgets up to $1,000,000.

As for any software selection, the criteria mentioned in this report should be evaluated for your particular needs. For a detailed analysis of the functionality provided by Navigator One, or to compare the solution with similar products, please visit our Accounting Evaluation Center.

Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) provides insight and expertise in offering impartial resources and services to minimize the costs, risks, and time associated with software selection. Over 3.5 million technology decision makers visit TEC's Web sites each month, to find information on hundreds of solutions, and to access articles, white papers, and podcasts. TEC's decision support system (DSS) and analyst data assist with the evaluation, comparison, and selection of enterprise solutions and services. TEC's offerings include in-depth research, detailed product information, and software selection services for any industry or company size.

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