The core of Navision Financials is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Since it is a development environment for a client/server structure, we have combined these two concepts in the name C/SIDE (pronounced "seaside"). C/SIDE is a 100% graphical development environment that, like the application, has a graphical user interface.

C/SIDE consists of three systems that are fully integrated with one another and with the application. All the main components in the base technology have been developed together, with one objective: to create a complete solution for accounting and business management that is as simple as possible to use and maintain-at all levels, from the user interface to the operating system.

Since all the components are designed to function as a single unit, it is possible to give the solution qualities and capabilities that are not available in solutions assembled from separate base technology products. The three systems in the development environment are: a 4GL Development System; a Database Management System; and a Client/Server Communication System.

4GL Development System

The development system has an open, object-oriented structure. One of its central features is the C/AL™ programming language, which was developed specifically for C/SIDE. This language is used to program the entire application code.

4th-Generation Programming Language

C/AL is a 4th-generation programming language that has a structured, object-oriented syntax similar to many of today's popular development tools. The application code is therefore clear and recognizable to programmers. Access to this technical level of C/SIDE is optional. With it, programmers can maintain, change and add to the application code. Navision business partners, both Solution Centers and other software developers, undergo extensive training to become certified to work with the application code.

Working with the base technology of Navision Financials, you can have existing functions customized and create whole new functionality. You can adjust the smallest details to fit your requirements, gradually, as such needs arise.

Object Designers

The development system contains five object designers which are the tools that are used to create the functionality of the application. There is a designer for each object type-table, form, report, code unit, dataport. The entire application is made up of these interconnected building blocks of objects. The same object can be used in many contexts, reused for the same task in various application procedures. This creates a consistent interface for the applications. Developers do not need to consider many details when they use the development system since standards are automatically incorporated with default values. This reduces the volume of code and makes it easy for developers to use the components and functions consistently for new purposes.

Fully Integrated Development

Because the development system is integrated with the client/server communications and database management systems, programming and defining relations can be done at a single location in the development environment. When a new field is created in an application table, it is created in the database at the same time, with the relationships and capabilities specified in the object designer. No extra work is required to set up the field correctly in all areas of the solution. The integrated environment ensures complete agreement between the application and database, and it reduces the risk of errors in the developer's work. These principles and tools are the reason that the volume of code in the entire solution is limited and easy to manage. Further modification and development can be done quickly, efficiently and with a minimal risk of programming errors. Put simply, the solution is very easy to maintain, modify and expand.

Database Management System

The database management system (DBMS) contains the database itself and the control functions that ensure the best possible coordination between users and the database operations.

The DBMS in Navision Financials was developed specifically to fulfill the demands of a client/server structure. The database is the result of further development of the database in the character-based NAVISION, which today is a thoroughly-tested market standard with a wide international distribution.

Version Management

The database is a relational one that works on the version principle. At the same time that the version principle ensures the greatest possible user-friendliness, the methods of recording data in the database guarantee that the data is always consistent. This combination of traits is a good example of a simple solution to a complex challenge.

The version principle means that the user always receives the most recently updated complete version of the data that he or she needs to work with. A user can work with this version of the data, modify it and add new data; afterward the changes will be included in a new version of the database. Another user can work on the same version of the data at the same time, and the two sets of changes do not interfere with each other.

For example, you might need to print a complete balance sheet, and you receive the latest consistent version of the chart of accounts and the balances as a basis for the printout. You have a complete version of the data, and the balance sheet that you print will always balance. If another user posts new data to a general ledger account at the same time, this data will be recorded only in the next version of the database and will not affect the figures in your balance sheet printout. This principle also allows you, for example, to make a backup copy while the solution is in full operation.

Consistent Data

The version principle also has significance for the posting of data. Before data is recorded in the database itself, the posting operation is subject to a test function. Not until after all the data has been correctly written in the database, and the test confirmation has appeared, is the data deleted from the posting table and registered in a new version of the database. This means that, if the writing to the database is interrupted-because of a power failure, for example-the "partial" posting will not affect the latest complete version of data in the solution. And since the new data can still be found afterward in the posting table, the user can simply open the table and restart the posting routine.

SIFT™ - Sum-Indexed Flow Technology

Data integrity is at the center of the base technology development. However, when you create your own environment, you can add certain extra dimensions to the product-and in Navision Financials, you will find truly unique properties.

An accounting and business management solution has special requirements for data utilization and calculation, and the Navision Financials database has been designed for just these functions. This was done for the benefit of the user who has several special facilities for filtering information and calculating figures very quickly. This was also done for the benefit of developers and programmers who can very simply create new functions based on the totaling and updating of figures. This special technology is called SIFT: Sum-Indexed Flow Technology. SIFT is based on extra dimensions in the database and a unique principle for processing sums and other statistics, including minimum, maximum, average, and count. This means that the statistics used in the application are always fully updated in the database. When you want to see or work with a statistic, it does not need to be generated from a large number of database entries. It can be produced immediately, fully updated, every time you open a window or filter a statistical field.

Client/Server Communication System

The client/server system is the medium of communication between the desktop computer and the database. This system ensures that network traffic is limited. The structure distributes operations efficiently between the client and the server.