Efficient and Clear: How to Manage Projects in Business Central
In Dynamics 365 Business Central, you digitally model all projects. This way, you always have an overview of the budget and the time.
Navision Projects:
Project Management in Dynamics 365 Business Central
What does Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV/Navision) offer in the field of project management? With Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can manage your projects, including timesheets, and execute them within the allocated time and budget. This allows you to compare actual costs with the budget at any time or make statements about the project progress (e.g., profitability, project status, resource utilization) based on consolidated real-time information.
Are you already familiar with Navision/Dynamics NAV project management? In Dynamics 365 Business Central, the well-known functionalities have been further developed and expanded.
Microsoft Dynamics Project Management Reloaded
Your Functions for the Project Management
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers comprehensive project management functionalities to plan, control and monitor projects efficiently. Project managers maintain an overview of the status, budgets, costs and resources at all times – even with several parallel projects.
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central project module is fully linked to other areas such as financial accounting, purchasing, sales and warehousing. This means that all relevant project data is available company-wide.
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In the system, you can manage projects through the so-called project card. Here, you can provide various details, including:
- Description of the project
- Customer
- Project management
- Tasks including start and end dates, budget, and costs
Project map in Dynamics 365 Business Central -
In the ERP system, you can define project tasks and milestones, allocate resources (employees, machines, materials) and plan their capacities.
Project task lines in Dynamics 365 Business Central -
You can carry out budgeting for each project in the system. The budget can be very simple or complex, covering a large number of items that are divided into different activity levels.
On the one hand, the budget is used to plan the resources that are allocated to a project. On the other hand, you can compare your planned amounts with actual consumption at any time, allowing you to easily monitor an ongoing project. This procedure also contributes to higher quality in later projects, as it reduces the risk of underestimated costs.
Project plan lines in Dynamics 365 Business Central -
Project costs (e.g., resource consumption, materials, project-related purchases) can be incurred in an ongoing project and documented with the help of the system. These are regularly invoiced to the customer.
You can use the invoicing flexibly, as there are various options. You can:
- Invoice several projects at once.
- Invoice entire projects, projects within a project or individual project planning lines separately.
- Invoice several project planning lines from different projects in a single sales invoice.
This process is usually the responsibility of the financial accounting department:
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Gain insight into project-specific key figures (e.g. profitability, resource utilization, project progress) at any time based on real-time data. You can do this for individual parts of the project or as a whole.
Dynamics 365 Business Central offers integrated reports and ad-hoc analyses. You can also link Power BI with the ERP system and analyze your data individually and in depth.
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Materials and external services can be ordered and booked directly on a project basis, which enables precise cost and requirements planning. You can also track the consumption of parts of a project (e.g. resource quantities). The raw materials purchased or times booked for the project can be viewed at any time. You can use the project plan lines on the project card for this purpose.
Project plan lines in Dynamics 365 Business Central -
Employee hours and machine times can be recorded and evaluated on a project-specific basis. You can keep track of the hours worked on a project in the “Timesheet” table provided for this purpose. It is possible to copy project plan lines into the timesheet to save yourself the hassle of manual recording.
It is also possible to define different work types if you need to invoice your customers for different services.
Finally, the timesheet is checked and approved by the person responsible for the project.
Time sheet in Dynamics 365 Business Central
Navision Project Management Is Strong in Comparison:
Your Benefits through Our Project Management Functions
Realistic Planning
Project management in Dynamics 365 Business Central enables you to realistically plan your capacities and resources for projects.
Simple Adjustments
Parameters such as budgets can be adjusted and controlled at any time using the system, depending on the progress of the project. This allows you to remain flexible.
Real-Time Reporting
You can view the progress and profitability of your projects at any time, compare invoices and planned costs and adjust the progress.
From Theory to Practice:
Tutorial: How to Manage Projects with Dynamics 365 Business Central
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The project management team should be able to oversee projects and make statements about their status at any time. In the dashboard of the project management team, you can see all current activities and relevant statistics at a glance. Additionally, you can track working hours here. From the dashboard, you can also navigate to the project overview via the “Projects” bookmark or search, and access individual projects there.
By reviewing project cards, quick statements can be made regarding:
- Budget actuals vs. forecasts
- Task actuals vs. forecasts
For more detailed information (e.g., resources, materials) about the tasks, refer to the planning lines for each project:
Project task lines It is also possible to display an overview of all project tasks:
Project plan lines This data helps project management to realize projects on time and within budget.
Project management staff can also obtain an overview of the project team members involved at any time:
Project resources This allows you to ensure that you allocate your resources appropriately. It is also possible to view capacity reports for each resource – by day, month or any other period. This allows you to quickly see which employees are overbooked or still have free slots.
In the end, bottlenecks that result in customer dissatisfaction are prevented.
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Once the timesheets have been submitted and approved, project management books the respective projects. To book a project booking sheet, also go to your dashboard and click on the tile labeled project booking sheet, which is located next to the new project tile.
Click on this to prepare for the booking and you will then see the following view:
View of the project booking sheet Now, select the Propose Lines from Timesheet option from the menu to automatically populate the lines with data from the approved timesheets.
Once all the details are correct, finalize the process to complete the booking.
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Within projects, project employees should track their time so that it can be billed. Project managers are responsible for approving this time. In the system, project employees can record their time per project (e.g., Project A, 4 hours on Tue., Thu., and Fri.). Afterwards, they submit the timesheet for approval.
As a project manager, you can either approve or reject the submitted timesheets. Accordingly, the status of the timesheet changes.
In your dashboard, you can see Pending Timesheets and get an overview of which timesheets have been submitted, rejected, and approved.
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Once the timesheets have been submitted and approved, the project management will book the respective projects. To book a project booking sheet, go through your dashboard and click on the tile labeled Project Booking Sheet, which is located next to the tile New Project.
Click on this to prepare for booking, and you will then see the following view:
View of the Project Booking Sheet Now, select Suggest Lines Based on Timesheet from the menu, so the lines are automatically filled with data from the approved timesheets.
If all the information is correct, complete the process.
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You can generate an invoice for the entire project or for individual project tasks. Simply select the project or projects for which you want to create a project sales invoice from the project overview.
Preparation of a project sales invoice Finally, the sales invoice must be posted. You still have the option of editing the invoice beforehand.
If all the details are correct, post and send the invoice.
Processing the sales invoice The advantages for project management are obvious. The system provides all the functions that enable project managers to perform their tasks much better. The ERP solution increases productivity as you spend less time on routine tasks and data entry. In addition, sources of error are minimized and the constant overview of all activities in the dashboard and extensive analysis options ensure that you always make the best decisions.
Decision Made Easy:
Why anaptis? Your Benefits
We have been a Microsoft-certified partner for medium-sized businesses for over 20 years. We assist you with the implementation of Dynamics 365 Business Central, upgrading existing systems, or providing support for your current software. Our clients operate in a wide range of industries, as we do not offer pre-packaged solutions but instead provide tailored, near-standard solutions that are precisely adapted to your individual processes. No frills. Only what you truly need.
Why anaptis? Discover the advantages that will make your heart beat faster:
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We prefer a standard-based software approach and first assess if a requirement can be solved with the standard. This is how we ensure that you remain independent and
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From day one, expect honest and fair statements. We also stick to our commitments.
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You receive fair usage rights to the individual content created by us, including editing and access by third parties.
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You’ll be supported by a dedicated project team. We ensure that everyone feels included and understood.
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Our unique project methodology is structured but flexible – with maximum transparency, minimum costs, interactive workshops instead of specifications and comprehensible communication without technical jargon.
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With state-of-the-art technologies and a specialized innovation team, we help you get more out of your data.
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