Project Madeira” – is a cloud based ERP system, highly integrated into the Microsoft Cloud world.
Madeira is the current name (because location names cannot be trademarked/copyrighted) and has it roots in Dynamics NAV, an established ERP system with 30+ years of accounting knowledge build in, and with an impressive technology stack. NAV is used by 100,000+ + companies thousands all over the world, ranging from large, to small single person shops.
NAV has always been able to detach business logic from technology. This feature enabled Microsoft to move this subset of the NAV application into the cloud, the result Madeira. This is not quite NAV, but a version of NAV tailored to a “cloud first, mobile first” world. It runs in the browser, and as apps on Windows 10 UWP, iOS and Android phones and tables.
This provides a cloud offering but new, but also a very mature system. Microsoft wants to make ERP more accessible to SMB users with Project Madeira, a SaaS product connecting business processes to Office 365 apps.Though it’s built on the Dynamics NAV platform, Madeira is not the next version of Dynamics NAV, which is also expected to become available in the second half of this year.
Madeira can also be customized, this is done through extensions, and already in this preview version there are three extensions installed:
•Bank statement integration
•Paypal payment integration
•QuickBooks data migration – which indicates, that Microsoft is targetting the SMB sector
Madeira automatically identifies what the user is doing (for example sorting invoices in Outlook) and presents the user with relevant tools within their current app, so they can use the tools without switching windows. One benefit of that is users performing business functions can reduce the time it takes them to jump back and forth from Office applications.
For instance:
– Madeira “automatically identifies business context such as invoices and quote requests within Outlook, and presents the user with the tools and data needed to take immediate action — all without leaving Outlook:
– Use Word to create custom layouts for reports, effectively turning Word into a report designer
Expect CRM online integration.
1. With this product full financial processes can be completed seamlessly within Microsoft Outlook in Office 365. There is no need to login to a separate ERP system. You can create customers, vendors, quotes and invoices without leaving Outlook. More sophisticated tasks are completed from the web client.
2. The solution is optimized for 10-99 employee companies. This does not mean larger companies can’t use it. Microsoft believes the 10-99 employee company market is underserved. And they have “zero scalability concerns”. .
4. Project “Madeira” is based on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform as well as a number of other Microsoft services. It will also bring in features from Dynamics GP such as All in One view etc…
5. Project “Madeira” will include more than just core accounting (GL, AP, AR). A full list of functionality will be announced soon.
6. There is support for multi-company in a single database.
8. There will be a pre-defined chart of accounts.
9. It includes wizards to set up Financials.
10. It has built in financial reporting.
11. Workflow configuration is available.
12. ISV’s will be important for Project “Madeira”, there will be a robust Marketplace strategy.
13. Project “Madeira” is a global product. It will be releasing in the US initially.
14. The data resides in Azure SQL database, it is a multitenant public cloud service from Microsoft.
15. It will integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
16. There will be an app for Windows phone.
