After many years working with a 3rd party integration solution between NAV and CRM , we have to abandon it completely.   The solution tries to work with too many different ERP systems and in the end it consists of too many components.  It becomes tedious to set up and to maintain.  To make matters worse, the solution is not real time.   Users have to wait a few minutes to see data sync’d to the other system. When data is not sync'd, users are not sure whether they should continue to wait or to start troubleshooting.   When errors happen, it is time consuming to go through various components to troubleshoot.

The new Microsoft out of box NAV to CRM integration is also not real time.  It may work for customers who have light integration requirements.

The real solution to integrate NAV and CRM must be real time integration using web service.  When users insert/delete/modify CRM records, web service calls are triggered to update NAV records right away.  On NAV side, we add Status field to tables like Customer, Ship-to, Item, etc.  When Status = Open, users can modify records.  When Status changes to Release, web service calls are triggered to update CRM records right away.  Messages are popped up right away when error happens, so that user can correct and then save again.

Using real time integration solution with web service, we can integrate any NAV and CRM tables, including CRM tasks, appointments, calendars, or any large text fields in CRM (with unlimited characters).   Integration between NAV and CRM becomes seamless and maintenance free.