Design Factors Related to the User Interface

The user interface within Microsoft Navision provides consistency across all windows that assist ease-of-learning and ease-of use. In addition, a graphical user interface supports user-defined work flows so that a user can select the desired step and access the relevant window. A few illustrations are provided below about the basic types of windows comprising the user interface.

Card vs. List Format Records can be viewed individually in card format or all together in list format, where the list format works very much like a spreadsheet. Customer master data, for example, can be viewed and maintained in card format for a single customer or viewed in list format for all customers. Both formats support access to related information and forward/ backward browsing. The card format often segments data into tabs, while records in a list format can be copied and pasted into a spreadsheet.

Some windows with header and line item information employ a combination of card format and list format. A sales order, for example, consists of header information in card format and line items in list format. The header information for all sales orders can be viewed in list format.

Find Capabilities Find capabilities can be based on any string of embedded text in a record identifier (such as customer number) or its attributes.

Filtering and Sorting A filter limits the displayed records based on values in one or more fields, with sorting based on any field. The user can browse forward and backward through the subset. Filtering logic includes equal to, different from, greater than, less than, intervals, and wild cards.

Drill-Down Analysis The system supports several drill-down approaches, such as drill-down to the source transactions and drill-down to the details comprising a summarized value.