Microsoft MVP Erik Hougaard published his first book this week, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Field Guide, and he joins the MSDW Podcast to talk about the book, the state of Business Central, and his experiences with self-publishing.

Erik has been working with NAV and Business Central for a long time. He's perhaps best known for his work as a developer and architect and his related blogging and speaking. The Field Guide is a departure from some of the topics he usually discusses. It is written for new Business Central users and administrators, whether they have experience with Dynamics NAV or not. It is not intended as a cover to cover read, he says, but rather as a real field guide – something meant to be picked up as needed to learn more about specific topics, from standard features to integration options to reporting and customization.

We discuss a few important chapters, Erik's experience writing and publishing the book, and plans for updating it as Business Central is updated by Microsoft every six months going forward.

Show Notes:

• 2:00 – Why write a book, and why make it a field guide?
• 7:45 – What is it like to write about Business Central for the newcomer?
• 10:00 – Thoughts on the real uses of the "Intelligent Cloud" tools for linking on-prem to cloud BC
• 13:20 – User productivity in the Business Central interface
• 19:00 – What topics around BC could use a deeper dive?
• 21:30 – The strength of standard BC integration via APIs
• 22:45 – How to keep a Business Central book current.
• 24:50 – Thoughts on self-publishing
• 26:10 – What else you need to know about the book.