The end users are actually the people who will be using Dynamics NAV on a daily basis. The project will truly succeed if they fully utilize the system. And they will only fully utilize the system if they believe it's reliable and find that it makes their job easier.

For all of this to happen, it is important that they get involved in all the steps of the implementation from the very beginning. They may not have a high position within the company, and they may not have the power to take certain decisions but they definitely have a lot to say.

When we talked about the definition of the internal processes, we said that you had to ask yourself and your people what were your processes, the activities inside each process, and the information used by the process. We also said that the real processes should be considered and not just the theoretical processes. The ones who actually know the real processes and activities are the end users. If their input is not taken into consideration, and you do not involve them, you will not be working with complete information and thus, you will not be able to define your real requirements.

Even if the final solution really meets all the requirements defined in the project, if those are not well-defined requirements, the project will fail as the end users will not find it useful. Instead, they will keep doing their extra processes and keeping their own information in spreadsheet files. In fact, it will make your existing process even worse.

The definition of the processes and requirements is the most important part in which the end users should get involved. If they get involved in defining how they work and how the system should behave, they will really find the system useful and actually embrace it.

But that's not the only part of the implementation process in which they should get involved. It is also important that they participate in the testing process, especially in those functionalities that have been either modified or completely developed. If they participate in the testing process, they might find errors or any other kind of improvements that could be done to make everything easier. If they bring it to your attention, the Dynamics NAV implementers will be able to fix or improve the process. If they do not get involved in this process, they may find errors or improvements once the functionalities are live but they might never tell you. Instead, they will create exception processes for their daily job that will make everything less efficient and more chaotic.