About the Authors
Mark Brummel is a teacher and evangelist for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, focused in helping partners and end users of the product.
With NAV-Skills.com he evangelizes and documents the "NAV way". This is a combination of architectural principles and design best practices formalized in a workshop called Master Class for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Application Architecture and Design Patterns. The methodology helps in creating solutions that are easy to upgrade, recognizable for users, and maintainable outside of the ecosystem of their creators. All three elements apply to the original Navision product that shipped in 1995 and are extracted, updated, and documented in this methodology. In September 2015, his new book Learning Dynamics NAV Patterns was published which is about this methodology. He also organizes hands on workshops together with a group of MVPs and MCTs all across the globe.
He started in 1997 as an end user and worked eight years for NAV partners after that. Designing and maintaining add-on systems was his specialization. Some of these add-on systems exceed the standard product where it comes to size and complexity. Coaching colleagues and troubleshooting complex problems are his passion and part of his day to day work. His first book, Dynamics NAV 2009 Application Design, was published in 2010 and updated to Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Design when a new release became available.
Many end users of Microsoft Dynamics NAV struggle with questions about how to upgrade their two-tier solution to a three-tier solution. Mark can help you answer these questions and plot a roadmap to the future, retaining the investment in the solution.
When Microsoft introduced the three-tier architecture in 2009 it meant a major shift for experienced NAV developers and consultant. Mark has trained most of them in The Netherlands and Belgium.
In 2015 Mark got the NAVUG All-Star award on behalf of all the members. He was amongst the first to recepe this prestigious award.
In 2010 he started a think tank called Partner Ready Software together with four other Dynamics NAV Experts. Partner Ready Software brings fresh ideas of designing applications in NAV and creates awareness for applying design patterns in creating repeatable solutions.
Mark is an associate in the Liberty Grove Software network, member of the NAVUG advisory board, co-founder of the Dutch Dynamics Community, vice-president of the Association of Dynamics Professionals and advisor for Dynamics HUB, a special project and performance tuning of the Dynamics NAV product on SQL Server. As a unique specialist, he has done breakthrough research in improving the performance of Dynamics NAV on SQL Server.
Mark maintains a blog on https://nav-skills.com/ . This blog contains a wide range of articles about both the Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SQL Server product. He is also a frequent speaker at Microsoft events. He also publishes articles on Pulse for LinkedIn.
Since 2006 Mark has been rewarded by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional award for his contribution to the online and offline communities. He receped the award eleven times.
Mark is a father of four, married, and lpes in a small town in The Netherlands.
He is an author of the books, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Application Design, Microsoft Dynamics 2013 Application Design, and Learning Dynamics NAV Patterns, all for Packt.
David Studebaker has been a software consulting entrepreneur and manager most of his career while always maintaining a significant role as an application developer. David has been designing, developing, and teaching software since 1962. He has been a founding partner in fpe software service firms, most recently Studebaker Technology and Liberty Grove Software. Among his special achievements was the design and development of the very first production SPOOL system, a 1967 AT&T / IBM joint project.
David has been writing for publication since his college days. His published writings include a decade of technical reviews for the ACM’s Computing Reviews and a variety of articles and reference material on shop floor data collection. David is the author of four other Packt books on programming in Dynamics NAV C/AL, two of which were co-authored with Christopher Studebaker.
David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue Unpersity and an MBA from the Unpersity of Chicago. He is a life member of the Association for Computing Machinery and was a founding officer of two ACM chapters.
Christopher Studebaker has worked as a NAV Developer / Implementer since 1999. He has experience designing, developing, implementing, and selling in the NAV and SQL Server environments, specializing in retail, manufacturing, job shop, and distribution implementations, mostly in high user-count, high data volume applications.
Chris has worked on many NAV implementations with integrations to external databases and third-party add-on products. Some special applications have included high volume order entry, pick-to-light systems, point of sale, procurement analysis, and web front ends.
Chris acts in a consulting and training role for customers and for peer NAV professionals. He provides training both in informal and classroom situations, often developing custom course material to support courses tailored to specific student group needs. Courses have included various NAV functional and development areas. Chris was a co-author of two previous books on programming in NAV C/AL.
Before becoming a certified NAV developer, Chris was a certified environmental consultant. His duties included regulatory reporting, data analysis, project management, and subcontractor oversight in addition to managing projects for hazardous material management and abatement.
Chris is a Microsoft Certified IT Professional, SQL database developer, as well as a Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Professional in NAV Development and NAV Installation and Configuration. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois Unpersity and has done graduate work at Denmark Technical Unpersity.
Chris was a co-author of the Packt books, Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015.